Earning the Love of a Princess-Chapter 115: A Risk Worth Taking

5 June, 1359. Magdaline Castle, Islia

That night, after the usual dinner banquet, Camilla found herself with a dilemma on her hands.

What had started as a relatively chaste good night kiss outside the doors of her presence chamber had then turned into a frantic one. William had kissed her like a starving man and she had found herself clinging to him as if her life depended on it.

He had managed to fumble one of the doors open while his other hand remained tangled in her hair. William had then lifted her slightly so her feet were no longer on the ground and, without breaking the kiss, pivoted them both into the presence chamber.

Camilla vaguely heard the door being slammed - whether closed by hand or kicked shut, she didn’t know or care. All she could focus on was the sound of her breath tearing from her throat as William wrenched his mouth from hers and began tracing her collarbones with his tongue. His leg slid between hers so that his thigh was pressed against her core, sending a jolt through Camilla.

She instinctively pressed her hips against his and could feel how hard he was against her. She heard him growl deep in his throat and felt a hand cup her backside, pressing the two of them together so tightly she could barely breathe.

A warning started screaming in Camilla’s mind that they needed to stop before the situation was beyond control.

Unfortunately, that warning refused to reach her hands, which were pulling on William’s belt as he tugged at the laces on the back of her dress.

Camilla felt herself being walked backwards until something bumped the backs of her legs. She wasn’t sure what it was until William broke their kiss and pushed her back gently so that she tumbled onto the couch. Before she could lift herself upwards to protest, William was already hovering over her, taking the weight of his upper body on his elbows.

Tell him, the voice in her head screamed! Tell him about what Bess warned! She wanted to tell him. She truly did. But when he brought his mouth hard against hers again, the caution flew out of Camilla’s mind. Instead, her eager hands pulled up his outer tunic and then his shirt until it was completely untucked. She slid her hands under his clothes to stroke his smooth, hot back, feeling his muscles move and clench under her fingers. He took her earlobe between his teeth and began to suck on it while his right hand started kneading her thigh over her skirt.

"William..." Camilla gasped, with every intention of uttering a stern warning of why they needed to stop such sweet torture.

He wasn’t listening.

To be fair, she hadn’t said anything besides his name.

She squirmed beneath him to try and close her legs and move his thigh out from between hers. That only elicited a groan from him as he ground against her harder.

This is going very badly, the little voice in Camilla’s head scolded her.

William muttered something that sounded like "Hold on," though she wasn’t entirely sure. Her hearing felt somewhat muffled, all she could hear was their shallow, harsh breathing as well as her own pulse thudding in her ears.

She felt herself being rolled over and for a split second, the disorienting sensation of falling. She unwittingly gave a little shriek.

William chuckled and she realised they were both now on the floor, with her on top of his long, muscular frame. William reached up and buried both hands in her hair, which was starting to come unbound from the pretty twist that Bonnie had arranged that morning. He pulled her mouth against his again before she could make another sound, sucking slowly on her tongue in a way that made her squirm.

Using every lash shred of willpower, Camilla braced herself against his chest and pulled away. "I have to talk to you about something."

William shot her a look that was half annoyed, half aroused. "You can talk to me about anything you like, but not just now." He slid his hand down her back, where he had unlaced her dress to a disturbing degree. Soon he’d start sliding it down her shoulders and...

"This is important." Camilla managed to reply. "I don’t think-" Her words were interrupted by a gasp as William rolled them over again until she was tucked beneath him.

Before he could kiss her again, Camilla blurted out, "I’m not going to lie with you! I can’t." Not her most eloquent words but they at least got her point across, she concluded.

William quirked an eyebrow at her and scowled. "Why not?"

Camilla swallowed hard, knowing he’d never just accept her refusal without question. When she’d asked Elizabeth a couple of days earlier how to discourage William, her lady had cheerfully suggested she use the excuse of having her monthly course. "Men tend to keep well away when they hear that," had been Elizabeth’s exact words.

As sensible as Elizabeth’s words were, Camilla knew they’d only buy her a few days’ reprieve and she’d be having the exact same conversation with William again. It was probably better to be honest from the outset.

Camilla could feel her face heating up. The truth was the better option but it was also beyond embarrassing. "I...uh..." she stuttered. Was it too much to ask for William to just know what she was trying to hint at? Did men just not think about those risks?

"Are you going to lie and tell me you don’t want to?" William moved his hand to cup between her legs, over her dress. The soft pressure of his hand made Camilla arch and hot sparks of pleasure started to radiate through her body. She bit down on her lower lip.

William half smiled down at her in a way that made her want to slap the smugness off his flawless face. "I thought we were past the point of pretending we don’t desire each other." He brought his face down close to hers.

"I’m afraid..." Camilla managed to whisper, just before he brushed his warm lips to hers.

"Afraid of what?" More warm brushes against her mouth. William’s hand between her legs was grinding slowly against her, making her thoughts collide and melt together.

"Afraid of ending up with child before our wedding day!"

Her words had the desired effect, even if her voice had been shaky and a little bit hysterical. William froze for a moment and then pulled himself off her, raising himself to his knees. Seizing the opportunity, Camilla quickly sat up and scooted backwards a little from him, using one arm to hold her dress in place and stop it sliding off her shoulders.

For what felt like an eternity, the two of them just stared at each other, the gravity of Camilla’s words echoing between them. "A child?" William finally repeated, his voice sounding oddly choked.

Camilla nodded. "The king...and everyone...would be able to count back from our wedding day. The way they did for Leo and Violet...I’m already not well liked by many here. I don’t want to create more scandal around our marriage."

"A child..." William aimed a hard, calculating frown at her. "The odds of that misfortune happening aren’t very high though, are they?"

"What? I don’t know!" Camilla scrunched her brow at the ridiculous question. "I mean, it’s not like I’ve ever thought about conceiving before, or had to worry about how to avoid it!"

"The odds must be against it." William muttered, more to himself than her, his eyes looking into the distance. Camilla realised what he was doing - literally running the different scenarios in his head and weighing up the possible consequences. What seemed like an obvious no in her mind was something William might consider worth the risk.

She also knew that this wasn’t the kind of decision one made when half dressed and flustered. Pushing a lock of her messy hair behind her ear, Camilla said as resolutely as she could, "I’m sorry but we can’t take the risk. We need to wait until after we’re wed." 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

"Goddamnit!" William snarled under his breath as he pushed himself backwards until he was sitting on the rug covered floor with his back to the couch. "That is still more than two months away! Are you trying to kill me?" He rubbed his hand across his tightly closed eyes in obvious frustration.

Camilla ducked her head, feeling inexplicably guilty at the impossible situation. Either she lay with him and risk scandal or she kept him at arm’s length until August and risk driving him away.

He has no obligation to stay faithful to you, the spiteful little voice in her head whispered. You’re not even married yet. There are plenty of ladies who’d be happy to meet his needs in your place, especially as he’s probably angry at you now.

"Will you go and seek out other company between now and our wedding day?" Camilla wasn’t sure what was more painful - knowing or not knowing.

William aimed a dark look at her.