A Knight and his King

Chapter 3

That evening d’Eon stopped in the hall outside of Louis’s bedchamber. Located in the back of the palace, it afforded a privacy the king truly preferred. Only Duke Broglie occasionally entered. Intrusions here warranted punishment, perhaps death in the Bastille.

A single dimly candle on a black lacquer dresser illuminated the hall. Its flickering light cast sublime shadows luring d’Eon ever closer. The door to Louis room, decorated in gold floral patterns creaked open swallowing all light. An elderly man appeared from there.

“Duke de Broglie,” d’Eon whispered.

Nodding, Broglie took him candle, candle in hand. Except for that light, darkness cloaked the room. Its grand interior opened up to a high raised ceiling. Its massive walls encompassed a vast spacious chamber. D’Eon treaded in, showered in streaming moonlight. Large vaulted windows revealed the night sky flooded with stars.

“Broglie, you may go,” Louis dismissed from his bed.

“As you wish, Sire,” Broglie replied, placing the candle aside it then leaving.

Lowering himself on one knee, with his front arm positioned over, and back by his side, d’Eon inclined his head, still hearing the king’s tone echo in his ears. Steal a glance the chevalier noted a curtain blocked his vision around Louis’s candlelit bed.

“Have you received Our orders?” Louis inquired gently.

Short thick bangs hid d’Eon’s downcast visage. “Yes, Your Majesty, I have.” Speaking, his cadence fell tremulous and low.

Since Louis’s kiss that morning a feeling lurked haunting d’Eon all day. *Tonight I depart for Russia. If seized or captured the French government will deny my very existence, including the King’s Secret. *

Twisting as he rose, d’Eon stumbled before his lord.

“Dear knight, what do you truly fear?” Moving closer, Louis brushed aside all drapery that veiled him.

“Only your displeasure, my liege.” His small frame bent, d’Eon felt regret. “If I die in your service, we may never meet.”

The king stood up. “Think instead of a castle that awaits your return.”

Visage still averted, d’Eon proclaimed humbly, “Your Majesty, I seek no reward.”

Contemplating, Louis circled him intently. “Surely, your heart must seek something.”

D’Eon gasped, refusing. “No, Sir…it mustn’t…”

“Why?” Treading closer, Louis’s stroked d’Eon’s face, raising his smooth round chin.

“Because, it hurts.” Head tossed back, d’Eon’s lids fluttered slightly open. “ To want and never…have you.”

“What if I say…you may?” Louis whispered, his breath on d’Eon’s lips.

“The day I knighted you, I saw your deepest feelings.” Smiling, the king leaned in, arms encircling his knight. He reached up undoing d’Eon’s s ribbon. Hair free, his fingers combed through relishing the feel.

Extending a finger, Louis hooked it in d’Eon’s collar down his cravat. He pulled the knight’s shirt open, bound by his outer-skirted coat. Grabbing it, Louis stripped it off. His finger, he traced the interior neckline of d’Eon’s inner waistcoat, still on, unbuttoned down swiftly.

“What feelings, Your Majesty!?” d’Eon cried, swept off his feet, the last button ripped out.

Laying d’Eon on his bed Louis straddled over. His voice lilted like honey on d’Eon’s flicking tongue. Blinking, d’Eons opened his eyes, reflecting his lord’s noble image. Louis’s pools mirrored his subject back.

“Love,” Louis answered.

“But I—” D’Eon’s cried.

“I see it in your service. Why is that, my knight?” Smiling broadly, the king planted hot kisses along the chevalier’s dainty jaw.

Searching his heart, d’Eon let it escape. “Because, Sir, you know how I feel. Afraid show you, I strayed from Versailles…alone.”

“You shall be…no more.” Louis held his object’s gaze caressing his face.

Body responding, the chevalier sweated aware of his breeches constraining. “Please, Sir, I…” he protested.

“What?” A low growl rumbled in Louis’s deep throat.

“I’m a man!” d’Eon begged.

“More beautiful than all the ladies of France.” Seizing his subject’s undershirt, Louis stole it off, revealing alabaster skin. “Do you deny my affections?”

“I would never, my liege.” The knight quivered, exposed from the waist up. “But I fear church law that sodomites are condemned to trial by…”

“Am I not king by God’s dear grace, my d’Eon?” Trailing kisses up d’Eon’s bare stomach, the monarch stared soulfully. “I ask you not to fear me, but love me as you serve me. Too often have I lost those dear before acting upon my heart.”

It struck d’Eon that he too felt alone having lost Lia. Whether it was love or isolation that drew both men together neither truly knew. Only in shared company did they find a solace long yearned for in truth.

Moving atop, the king placed one hand behind d’Eon’s neck, the other behind his back pulling d’Eon close. Kissing him, Louis’s tongue darted out tasting his knight’s sweet lips. Trembling, his mouth allowed entrance, invaded by the king. As d’Eon moaned his own tongue played back, wrapped about his liege’s.

Breathing deeply, d’Eon’s arms twined around, fingers caught in Louis’s waving mane. Chests pressed together, d’Eons heart raced. His hands latched on his lord’s silken shirt. Removing it, d’Eon left him half bare looming over.

Louis’s kisses traveled past his knight’s thin neck. Tongue tasting, teeth grazing the monarch’s hands glided down his back. A shiver shot up, consuming d’Eon in tingles. At the dip of his collarbone, Louis kissed most passionately, making d’Eon arch up.

Roaming lower, the king brushed the smooth plains of knight’s chest and stomach. Stopping, he tugged at d’Eon’s breeches. Painfully constricted, the chevalier whimpered begging. Head inclined, his lord understood.

How preposterous a king serves his knight, d’Eon thought, confounded. Yet I receive this surprising sort of reward.

Inching his breeches off, Louis teased his slowly rising arousal.

Pouting, d’Eon glared. “Your Majesty!”

“Ah, yes, I shan’t delay, that is if you fancy I do.” The peal of Louis’s laughter rang clear.

Pushing himself up, d’Eon blushed like a maid her fist time in bed.

“It is naughty of a subject to order his king.” Grinning, Louis’s lips parted, his wet cavern swallowing his knight’s straining desire.

Sliding completely in the vast reservoir of heat, d’Eon bucked in bliss and mounting pleasure. He cried hands tangled in Louis’s silver hair. Before he might dissolve, the king nimbly opened his mouth and throat releasing his knight’s full length.

A stupefied expression broke out on d’Eon who lay languidly in bed.

“Not yet, my beauty,” Louis chided, his chiseled face tender.

Seeing his lord speak in riddle and poetry d’Eon was not sure what course of action he should take. “Why do you hold me so dear, Sire?” he inquired.

“You question me yet again, Sir d’Eon.” Sighing playfully, the king crooned over, nuzzling their noses a moment. “You serve me with all your heart. My courtesans desire favors and ministers my position. In the end, Versailles is a place of games where none can be trusted.”

“That is why you formed the King’s Secret?” the chevalier put forth.

“Yes, in hopes of strengthening my rule. But also…” Louis reflected, gazing deeply at d’Eon. “Finding one who serves me who is sincere and loyal. When you said ‘I seek no reward’ I knew you were one I could love without betrayal.”

*Please, d’Eon* Lia implored in her last words. *Stay as you are, with a sincere and loyal heart*

Rolling onto Louis’s naked chest, d’Eon asked, “Regarding my sister, did you ever…?”

Shaking his head, Louis smiled, pressing his forehead to d’Eon’s. “No, she kept all, even her king at a distance. As my knight, you carry on her faith and duty.” He paused thinking deeply and then clasped d’Eon’s hand to his heart. “You hold a special place here, in me, forever.”

“Your Majesty…” Awestruck, d’Eon could only exclaim, whispering his name.

“Now that I told you, I want you to *feel* not just hear what I said before you depart to Russia.”

Feeling meant lovemaking, an experience d’Eon never partook of, especially with another man, the fear making him quake.

“Don’t be afraid, I will be gentle, my love,” his lord reassured.

*My love* the king addressed him. No longer king and knight they shifted in relation to lovers.

TBC