Unchanging
By Misha
Disclaimer- Not mine. I’m just borrowing them and will return them when done.
Author’s Notes- So today marks 1 year since The Crown and the Flame ended. A whole year without Kenna and Diavolos and I’ve been writing them less as other books (*cough*bloodbound*cough*) have taken over my muse but I wanted to mark today. I was also inspired by the last couple of chapters of TRR and the discussion of the treaty signed when Cordonia was first founded and that inspired this. This is set about a year and a bit after the events of “Hollow”, this is 11+ years into Kenna and Diavolos marriage.
Pairing- Kenna/Diavolos
Rating- NSFW
Summary- On the eve of the creation of the new country of Cordonia, Diavolos and Kenna discuss all the things that will change and those that never will.
Words- 1556
“Are we doing the right thing?” Kenna asked quietly, staring out her bedroom window at the moonlight. She was unable to sleep, the weight of the world on her mind.
“Do you have doubts?” Diavolos asked her, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her against his bare chest.
Kenna leaned into his embrace, savoring his strength. After over a decade of marriage, Diavolos was still her rock. They had gone through rough patches, but in the end, they always had each other.
“This feels more like your father’s vision than my mother’s,” Kenna confessed, the words almost hesitant.
Her mother had dreamed of a united Five Kingdoms, an alliance of equals, while Luther had dreamed of a Five Kingdoms united under him. Kenna had never wanted that, never wanted to be the sole power and yet, events had conspired against her in a way.
“It’s neither of their visions, it’s your reality,” Diavolos corrected, as if reading her thoughts, “your mother dreamed of a peaceful alliance that was idealistic, but limited, and my father dreamed of a world that bowed only to him, what you are achieving is somewhere in between, but is the solution that best fits the situation.”
“When did you get so wise?” Kenna asked softly, gazing up at him.
“It must be my advanced years,” he teased, “I mean, you are always pointing out how old I am.”
“Hmm…” Kenna agreed, taking in the sight of him. Age looked good on Diavolos. It was hard to tell he was approaching his 45th winter. His dark hair was threaded with silver, but his body was still as hard as ever and the years had just made him even more handsome. “Maybe, you are so very old, after all.”
“If that’s your way of trying to get me to prove how age is just a number, I am always willing,” Diavolos teased, his lips trailing over her neck, as he pulled her closer against him, showing just how willing he was.
It was tempting, even after all these years, she still found her husband irresistible, but she couldn’t quite relax. Not yet.
Tomorrow would be a momentous day for the Five Kingdoms. It would be the end of the Five Kingdoms and the beginning of a new era, of one kingdom.
One ruler.
It was a decision that had been over ten years in the making, as they’d tried to make peace work, tried to work in unison. It had taken Kenna’s near-death at the hands of rebels for them to accept that that solution wasn’t the right one and they needed a more permanent solution, now after a year of debate and hammering out an agreement, the day was finally here.
The day that would see Kenna no longer rule as Queen of Stormholt, but instead as Queen of all of Cordonia.
“Rowan is still upset,” Kenna said quietly, staring into the starless sky, addressing the issue that was truly weighing on her. “I think she feels like I’m going back on the promise I made her all those years ago.”
When she’d gone against Leon’s advice and made it clear that Rowan would be Queen of Bellemere and would be allowed the privilege of ruling as Kenna’s equal.
“Then she should have kept a better eye on her nobles,” Diavolos snapped, his fury barely contained. His hand moved from her waist, to lay on her chest, over the now-healed wound that lay there. “She’s lucky that this is the solution. I wanted to raze Bellemere to the ground, if you remember.”
Kenna laughed, despite the gravity of the situation. She loved her husband’s fierce protective side. “There’s no evidence that Rowan was involved,” she reminded him, “and after a decade, she’s earned my trust.”
She needed to believe that the other woman hadn’t known about the plot, that she’d just been stubborn and single-focused and had missed the signs of an uprising like they all had. But either way, the die was cast.
“The agreement is fair to her,” Diavolos pointed out, “She keeps her land, she’ll be a duchess under the new kingdom and will have a place on the Cordonia council, as will her descendents and she negotiated very advantageous trade considerations.”
“That’s true,” Kenna agreed, “she did raise one other concern about the agreement.”
“The part about the Nevrakis line,” Diavolos commented, his hand falling back to her waist. “I warned you…”
“I don’t care,” Kenna answered, jutting out her chin. She knew history would assume it was Diavolos or Zenobia that had insisted on those concessions, but she was the one who had wanted them. “It makes sense. Leon is our heir, he will be the next king of Cordonia, but Rys will be head of the Nevrakis family line, he’ll carry on the name, and our blood flows through his line as well. It makes sense that if, for some reason, the royal line doesn’t produce an heir, that we turn to the Nevrakis line instead. It keeps the blood strong.”
“Ok, that sounds like my father,” Diavolos told her and she could hear his smirk.
“Well, not everything he came up with was awful,” Kenna conceded, “just the way he went about it, and I know it’s self-serving, but we are doing this for the strength of our people, our kingdom, and our children.”
“Yes,” Diavolos agreed, he turned her in his arms, so that she was facing him, cupping his face. “This might not be your mother’s exact vision, Kenna, but it will guarantee a safe future for our children and for their children and I think she would approve of that. One kingdom, finally at peace, no separate alliances or agendas.”
It was a wonderful thought, Kenna had to admit. It wasn’t something she’d sought out and she’d never imagined herself in this position, but she wasn’t going to back away from it either.
“Now, with that settled, why don’t you let me take you back to bed and make love to you,” Diavolos suggested in a low voice, “tomorrow will come soon enough, but tonight I want to focus on my wife,” his voice dropped even lower, taking on that seductive note that made her weak in the knees, “my queen.”
With that, he swept her off her feet and into his arms, carrying her across the room to their bed. He placed her on the bed with infinite tenderness. When she’d gotten up earlier, she’d grabbed a robe and now Diavolos carefully peeled it off her, leaving her bare before him.
“I will never get tired of looking at you,” he told her, as he gazed at her in the dim light from the fireplace.
Kenna smiled, twelve years of marriage and four children and her husband still looked at her like she was the most beautiful women he’d ever seen.
“The feeling is mutual,” Kenna murmured, tugging at the ties of Diavolos pants and pulling them off and tossing them on the floor alongside her discarded robe.
Diavolos leaned over her, his weight resting on his hands, and claimed her mouth in a long kiss, his body blanketing hers. After a moment, he shifted so that he was kneeling, between her legs, his hand reaching down to tease her soft folds.
“Tell me what you want,” he whispered in her ear, his teeth grazing her earlobe.
“I want you,” Kenna gasped, reaching up and running her hands over his bare chest and then down to stroke his hard length.
Diavolos’s breathing increased and his hands did some teasing of their own, his fingers sliding inside of her with expert precision, moving at just the right speed guaranteed to drive her crazy.
“Diavolos,” Kenna moaned, arching her hips into his hand, her hand still cupped around his hard length, “I need you. Please.”
“Anything my queen wants,” Diavolos told her, shifting them slightly. Kenna guided him towards her entrance, sighing in pleasure as he filled her.
She wrapped her arms around his neck as they began to move together, their pace leisurely, neither of them in a hurry and just savoring being connected. They exchanged long, slow kisses as their hands caressed each other’s bodies.
“I love you,” Diavolos told her as he continued to move within her, his legs tangled with her.
“I love you too,” Kenna told him, gazing up at him. “And I know that while some things will change tomorrow, that never will. This never will.”
“No it won’t,” Diavolos agreed, speeding up his thrusts and hitting a pace that made her moan, “tomorrow will bring what it will, but this, this is forever.”
“I love the sound of that,” Kenna said with a gasp, feeling the orgasm build closer and closer. “Diavolos… Oh… Diavolos…”
“Kenna…” He groaned at the same time as they came together.
Diavolos collapsed on top of her for a moment, his breath still rapid, both their bodies covered in sweat. He kissed her briefly and then rolled onto his back, taking her with him, their bodies still connected, so that she rested on his chest.
Kenna knew she would have to pull away eventually, but she wanted to stay like this for a long moment, savoring the feel of being one with. So much was changing, but this never would.
- End
