Chapter 41 As Flat As A Pancake

Chapter 41 As Flat As A Pancake

Eltanin snaked his arm around her waist to hold her tightly against his chest and then shook his head. "I will be fine," he replied with a sad face. Then he made a more serious face. "The perils of having a secret scribe," he tsked with a sigh as if trying to explain what he was doing. This time he picked up sausage from the plate and gave it to her, totally not seeing how flustered she was. When she opened her mouth to protest, he inserted the sausage in and she mumbled her words around it. Her lips moved in a certain fashion that reminded him of certain things and his chest vibrated with a rumble. This girl was going to be the death of him. "I don't want Menkar to think that I malnourished his scribe." He smelled her hair and got lost in it.

She gulped her sausage down quickly. "Do you mean you take such personal care of every person who does a secret job for you?" she asked innocently.

Eltanin raised an eyebrow. "No, only for the scribes," he replied dryly. He pulled her closer and her back rubbed his shaft. He tried his best to think of everything else to wane his erection, but…

Tania on the other hand, was now sitting against his swelling. Her gaze flitted back to the paste in the jar. If the king was taking so much care of her, even she should show the gesture that she was concerned about him, right?

Eltanin had gone out to order his guards to get his breakfast and not to barge in. If they came inside the library without his consent, he would simply behead them—those were his orders. He didn't trust his guards and stood outside the door to guard it until breakfast arrived.

Tania ate as quickly as possible in order to get off of his lap and he had ensured that she finished eating absolutely everything on the tray. His arm was still wrapped tightly around her. "Can I get up, Your Highness?" she asked. Why was his body so hot?

"Yes, you can," he replied, reluctantly.

She tried to remove his arm but it was like moving a log with a twig. When she managed to get out of his embrace, she walked straight to the jar, picked it up and said, "Let me help you, Your Highness. This healing paste is wonderful. It cools down the pain." She rushed back to him while opening the jar as Eltanin watched her with horror on his face. He would have loved to have her fingers wrapped around his member but certainly not like this.

"It is not painful," he grunted.

Tania stared at it and it twitched under her scrutiny. The king was really a fantastic man. Not only did he make her eat food while she sat on his swelling, he said that it wasn't painful. She softened. "Your Highness," she said looking at his beautiful face. She walked closer to him, scooping out a dollop and rubbing between her fingers. "Just rest back and relax. As soon as this paste is on you, you will feel wonderful!"

Eltanin knew that he would die. He shrank in the chair to maintain distance. "Tania, it is not what you think it is," he tried to reason with her without violating her innocence. "It is—"

All of a sudden, heavy knocking pounded on the door and he growled dangerously. "Who's there?" he asked. Thank the lord, he was saved! He jumped out of the chair.

"Your Highness!" Fafnir called from the outside. "Princess Morava is— is—" he couldn't complete the sentence.

Eltanin gritted his teeth. He really had to get rid of Morava, she was interrupting his time with Tania and he hated it as hell.

He looked at Tania and said, "I'll be right back. Don't go anywhere, okay?"

"Yes, Your Highness," she replied, the tension in her shoulders visibly relaxing. "I will apply the paste when you are back."

He got up, walked to her and took the jar from her hand. "It won't be needed," he said and stormed out of the room and when he opened the door, he started shouting a few choice curses at his General for disturbing him from important work that was crucial to the kingdom and that the kingdom's future depended on it. He stated the gravity of the situation that the fate of Araniea depended on it. Fafnir listened to him the entire time he harshly scolded him.

Once he was quiet, Fafnir said, "Your Highness, Princess Morava's friends, Giada and Orna, were attacked this morning. They were kicked and assaulted by a servant girl whom they can't find now. They have complained to the princess about it and she is calling for urgent action to be done."

Eltanin sucked in a sharp breath as anger flooded him. These were the same girls who beat Tania. His hands curled into fists, his knuckles turning white. Fafnir guided him through the foyer that led to the throne hall. Morava was standing with the two girls. The third one was standing a few steps behind them. They all bowed to him. Morava's anger was showing in the tight expression on her face. Eltanin could sense that she wanted to lash out, but was controlling herself. He thought, 'Come on, shout at me Morava and I will send you to the dungeons.'

Morava started, "My friends got attacked by a servant girl, Your Highness." She said in a controlled, yet soft voice as if accusing him of letting his servants do what they like. "This behavior is unacceptable from a servant." She pointed at her friends whose gowns were damp with mud and water.

Eltanin couldn't help but smile openly. Tania made him proud.

Seeing him smiling, Morava's temper rose a notch higher. "This is not a simple matter, Your Highness. The girl should be punished."

Giada and Orna looked like they were devastated. Their faces were smeared with caked mud and drooped like old willows. They nodded in unison. "We demand that the servant girl appear in front of you," said Giada in a sad voice.

"And she should be punished," Orna added. She showed a thin bruise on her left arm. "She picked up a stone and threw it at me and then kicked me. Not only that, she cursed at us in a vulgar language. The wench ran away after."

"I demand that you find this servant girl and punish her severely," Morava said as she seethed with barely controlled fury, trying her best to contain it nonetheless.

Eltanin narrowed his gaze at the liars. "Why did the servant attack you?" he asked.

"Because—" Morava said. "They—"

"Giada has a tongue to speak," Eltanin cut her off harshly. Morava jerked her head back slightly in surprise at his crudity, but became quiet.

"Yes, of course," Giada rasped. "We stopped her from taking a bath in the open. She was naked and bathing in the stream that runs at the back of the servant quarters. We suspect that this is how she whores her way into the palace. This is an indecent act."

"When we stopped her, she attacked us ferociously," Orna added and pouted. "Look," she pointed at her chest. "She kicked me here and then tore my clothes." The strings of her gown were broken, revealing her breasts in a full display.

"Look at what?" Eltanin said without an iota of shame. "There's hardly anything there. Appears to be as bare and flat as a pancake."