Authors: Ruby Royce
They had not spoken anymore. Somehow, everything had been said and both Flora and Francesco, who was just as talkative as she was on a normal day, were completely contented by the each other's presence.
Francesco was kneeling between her legs and he was so glorious before the night sky that her heart skipped a beat and there were tears in her eyes as she watched him undress. From the first time she had seen him, his body had fascinated her, called out to her, engraved itself into her mind. In her imagination she had touched it, stroked it, kissed it and tasted every inch of it. Now, she was finally getting to know how all of this felt for real. She had no qualms at all about giving her innocence to him, he would take good care of her, of that she was sure. Her fingers reached up and the tips softly caressed the muscles just above his belt. He opened it and his trousers fell down.
Flora saw for the very first time what she had read and wondered so much about in her most private musings. An aroused man.
He lowered himself and for a while they simply kissed. But there was a new urge in his kisses and she herself felt the need for more closeness, for a deeper joining.
He began to kiss her neck, then her breasts and her stomach. Settling back a few inches, he kissed the inside of her thigh and from there, he was moving slowly upwards.
Soon, his mouth was covering her core and his tongue split the soft folds of flesh apart, playing around, suckling on her, licking her, while his hands were resting warmly on her belly.
She had to let her head fall back into the grass and close her eyes, so overwhelming were the showers of pleasure that overcame her.
After a while he moved up again, caressing her firm, round breasts and finally their mouths met anew. His hands, she noticed, had started to lift up her legs and much to her excitement, for the first time, the tip of his manliness pushed against her own sex. Anticipation rushed through her forcefully. She was breathing heavily, trying to control her heartbeat, that threatened to run away with her.
Still kissing her, Francesco positioned himself higher, brought her legs with him and slowly, almost agonisingly so, the long, hard shaft moved into her.
He stopped kissing her and looked at her intently, almost questioningly. She was about to say something when a sharp pain went through her loins and she softly cried out, burying her fingers in his back and her face against his chest.
He waited a little, still appraising her from above, obviously expecting her to signal him whether to stop or to continue.
The muscles inside of her relaxed and the pain gradually ceased.
He pushed again and Flora groaned as his fullness entered her completely. She uttered a guttural sound and so did he.
His pelvis made slow, gentle movements that translated directly to the highly sensitive nerves of her femininity. The feel of him so deep inside was beyond anything Flora could have ever imagined and the intensity began to grow the more he moved. All the time, her hands were on the small of his back, enjoying the motions of the muscles under his skin.
He was moaning softly with every move he made and not even the angels singing in heaven could have made a more beautiful music to Flora's ears. He was so magnificent, the way the veins showed at his neck, with his shoulders glistening in the moonlight, and his smell, his hair…
she wanted to explode with gladness.
All of a sudden, without warning, he pulled out of her and got back onto his knees. What had happened?
But she did not need worry for long because he pulled her up against himself, onto his lap, and he was back inside of her. She wrapped her legs around him instinctively and he went in even deeper than before.
And now she understood why he had wanted to change their position. Their faces were almost the same level and he could kiss her while their bodies were so deeply linked. She also found that she could move against him and hold on to him much easier this way.
His arm went around her hips and he lifted and lowered her, until she was moaning loudly, helplessly, not caring anymore about the outside world, not about the moon, not about the stars, only about his body and what he did to her with it.
She heard him sigh her name against her mouth, before he fiercely claimed it once more.
Suddenly she needed air.
She threw back her head and cried out, when an impact of pleasure, so strong she thought it would throw her to the ground, hit her. There was nothing she
could do but lean forward against his shoulder, whimpering and gasping desperately.
When it had passed, she lifted her head and somehow her mind felt clearer.
Francesco was still breathing heavily, still moving forcefully.
Without pulling out of her this time, he laid her back onto the ground.
She knew that what had just happened to her would still have to happen to him and it still felt so wonderful the way his manhood went back and forth in long and rhythmic strides. She was swiftly losing the clarity she had gathered shortly after her climax.
He moaned with every move, then he stopped and a shudder went through him, he closed his eyes, made two more strong strokes, shuddered again and with a sigh he emptied himself inside of her.
He put his head down next to hers. "My sweet
Lady Of The Lake
, I don't care if you don't love me… But I will love you, no matter what you say."
***
Flora awoke when a sunbeam fell into her eyes. She stretched her wonderfully heavy limbs and nuzzled against Francesco under the bedlinen.
At some point later in the night they had finally transferred their love-making to his bedroom for reasons of practicality. A mattress was so much more comfortable than the hard earth.
In between their more passionate episodes they had whispered to one another. He had told her about his time in England and she had told him, well, about her time in England too, because until now, England had been the only place she had ever been.
They had also reviewed their first encounters and Flora had been a little angry to find out that he only had only fallen for her in the opera house, whereas she had been on fire since their very first meeting by the lake. But when she had found that he had kept her scarf under his pillow, she had forgiven him and rewarded him generously.
Alas, after a last act of love making, which took place when the sun was slowly rising outside, they had drifted into sleep.
"Good Morning, orchid eyes." His deep voice created goose-bumps on her skin.
"Good Morning, Altezza." She turned towards him and they kissed for a long time.
"I think they will miss me over at Palazzo Sforza", Flora sniggered. "I hope they won't worry too much."
"We'll send them a letter right away," Francesco replied and smiled. "And then I believe you will have to convert and be a catholic."
She laid one leg over one of his and dropped little kisses on his chest. "Me? A catholic? Why should I need to become a catholic?"
He snorted derisively. "All the Karlsburgs are catholics."
"I'm not a Karlsburg…"
He put his hand under her chin and made her look at him. "No, but you will be."
"I… What?" Flora sat up.
"When we are married, of course."
"Married?"
"Yes, well did you think I was not going to marry you after this?"
She shook her head. "No. It had been decided that I should be your mistress, not your wife! What made you change your mind?"
"Really, Flora, I never meant it. You must know that. It just pleased me to know that you would still give yourself to me, even if there was no prospect of marriage to you."
Her mouth dropped open. "You
tested
me?"
Francesco rolled his eyes. "Of course not, I merely wished to see if—"
"You tested me!"
"My furious little flower, you look so pretty when your eyes are shining like this…"
"Don't try your Italian tricks on me!" She shrieked, then she said more silently to herself, "I can't believe it…"
"Oh, come on, Flora," the Prince sat up as well, reaching for her, but she pulled back.
"I'm not a villain, girl, I won't compromise a young lady and not do the right thing, and I told you I love you, I want you! And you will be a princess. Everybody gets what they want and—"
"NO!" Quickly as a snake Flora had wriggled herself out of the bed. She found her nightgown and pulled it over her head.
"It's not what I want! Have I not told you a million times that I do
not care
about being a princess? If I marry you, that's what it will all end in, everybody telling me everyday how lucky I can be, to have married a prince and everybody will whisper behind my back how I must have manipulated and schemed myself into your bed! It will always be that! And I don't want it! I don't want that! God, I thought you understood!"
He was coming around the bed towards her. "Yes, I understand, but I think you're exaggerating and whatever people will say, what can it do to us? Nobody speaks ill about the Karlsburgs anyway, they'll only turn green with envy. Flora, you have to marry me, I won't let you
not
marry me!"
"No, no, no!"
She was out of the door before he had reached her and blindly raced through the palace until she found a door that led outside. She found herself back in the park and saw that her little boat still lay on the rocky beach where she had left it.
"FLORA!" Francesco called after her. He had fortunately thought of putting on his trousers and came running out of the house, just as she reached the boat. "Flora wait! Don't be silly! We can talk about it!"
"I don't want to talk! This discussion is over!" She pushed the boat into the water. As soon as she sat down she took hold of the rows and pulled frenetically. Francesco had made it to the waterfront.
"You can't just leave, Flora, be reasonable!"
It was terrible, she thought, that in rowing one had to face one's back to where one was going and one's front to from where one was leaving. She saw him jump in to the lake, coming after her.
"Flora, wait!" he sputtered when his head came up.
"I won't marry you!" She tried to row even faster but he kept up with her. In fact, he seemed to gain on her!
Oh, why did he have to be so stunning and so manly and so determined? Why could he not just leave it?
"Yes, you will!" he spat. "What if we…" water was in his face, "what if we made a child tonight? Would you want to be mother to a bastard?"
Good Lord, why had she not thought of that before falling into his arms like an imbecile? He had a point there. But if she were to have been his lifelong mistress, there would have been children anyway, right?
"I have taken it into consideration!" she panted.
"I don't believe…" splash "…you! You are not that ruthless."
"Yes, I am, you have no idea! You only saw me a few times, you know nothing about me and how ruthless I can be!"
Shouting whilst rowing at full speed was becoming difficult. Flora decided to save her energy.
Shouting whilst swimming appeared to just as strenuous, since he did not say anything anymore either.
Flora rowed and Francesco swam. In silence, only their heavy breathing - which not such a long time ago had been caused by a quite different activity - could be heard.
Flora stared at his shoulders and arms in the water.
He must be exhausted after last night. Oh Jesus, I hope he won't drown!
Palazzo Sforza, about that time
"How nice of you to have made it to this quiet abode, excellency," Lady Cartwright said and poured some tea for the Bishop of Cambridge. "Has your trip been of great gain to you?"
The old clergymen bowed his head to the formidable woman. "Ehem, indeed, my daughter, indeed, it has. Even if the Church of England has seperated itsself from Rome, it is still the place where Christendom is deeply rooted. I believe, there should be no enmity among the children of Christ."
"Certainly not, your Excellency."
"Pah!" General Cartright puffed on his pipe. "As long as there's mankind, there's war. There's always more land to be held somewhere. They will fight the others and one another, christians, muslims, buddhists and jews. It's human nature."
"Oh, Cartwright, you are always so absolute in your views…" his wife patted his arm the way she always patted everybody's arm when she wanted them to know she disagreed.
"Hmmmpf," Baron General Cartwright said enigmatically.
"Found Rome rather a stuffy old place," Dominic St. Yves declared. "I cared more for Pisa and Verona."
"I wished I could go there…" Clara sighed, gazing once more forlornly into the distance.
Dominic threw her a sharp glance. "I'm sure Darlington will only be to happy to oblige you. You could go to Tuscany on your honeymoon."
Clara nodded. "I guess…"
Gigi walked onto the terrace, wringing her hands. "I can't find Flora. She's not in her bed! Oh my God, what if something has happened to her, she was in so much distress lately, I could never forgive myself!"
"Oh no!" Clara exclaimed, genuinely worried.
"Not to be found?" Lady Cartwright energetically put down her tea cup. "Impossible. She must be somewhere!"
"I've looked everywhere, she simply disappeared!" Tears were running down Gigi's cheeks. "She must have gone into the lake!"
"Oh no!" Clara exclaimed again.
"She has not," Dominic St. Yves said coolly. "If anything, she has gone across the lake."
"Hm, hm, hmmm, I agree," the General chuckled.