The Prince's Mate

Bound to the Prince

They spent several hours in Flock’s study, going over several things, but mostly what he wanted to know about as the English language, which those on Atla called Pine; and he was interested because he wanted to decipher her many files and folders that had been in her car, all of which was surprisingly in perfect condition.

It was a shock to Cecelia was sure she had spent several minutes trapped underwater before the car was completely flooded and she passed out, her phone was fine and working in perfect condition, and the old man had made a marvel of her fingerprint being able to unlock it when nothing in hsi magical arsenal worked, but that was expected, the technologies of both worlds were polar opposites,the fact that she didn’t have a charger in the car meant it would eventually die anyway so he lost his fascination with it, even the car was fine, save for the dents and scrapes it recieved when it crashed the reception, basically everything had been spared somehow, and this baffled her, but for the time being flock was more interested in the texts more than anything else, and learning that Dylan could read and write to a certain degree they came to an agreement that the child would teach the mage whenever she was unavailable which would be often according to Lifa who demanded she learn proper etiquette howeevr long it took.

“Lady Cecelia, you have gone too far.” Lifa looked up at her as they were walking toward the west wing where her room was, after spending the day with Flock. “Not only did you challenge the Queen, but you even went as far as to outright spit in the grace of the eldest and youngest princes.” She ranted as they walked, flailing her arms with exaggerated motions to express herself as best as she could.

“Yes-yes, consequences, blah-blah, etiquette, blah-blah, manners and all that stuff, you’ve said it all a million times already in the past few hours, but you’re failing to grasp one thing here Lifa.” She looked back at the elf after rolling her eyes and making mocking gestures. “I don’t give a s**t about any of that right now, I don’t know how you people do it here and frankly I’m not the kind of person who changes like that simply because of my environment, call it stubborn if you will but I will not allow this place to change who I am.”

“And who are you?” Lifa asked curiously after taking a few seconds to regret accepting Cecelia as a charge.

“Cecelia Holland, born and raised in Europe, where women are free to do as they please, I am independent of any and all so long as I don’t break the law, I come from a free society and I’d be damned if I were to reset my mind to a four hundred year old mindset, that’s moving backwards,” She looked at Lifa and the elf had a look of astonishment as she heard the years it took to get from kings and knights to what she saw in the car earlier.

“Humans on earth must all be geniuses if they created such spender in such a short time.” Lifa acknowledged what Cecelia was saying but she was greeted with a raised eyebrow from the aforementioned as Cecelia thought about it properly.

“Absolutely not,” Cecelia shook her head causing Lifa to once again fall into doubt. “The people are idiots, just like I myself would be considered as a head in the masses, what we had are thanks to very few smart people who decided to go against the religious factions in order to force change, very select individuals who stole credit from a minority of even fewer individuals, the earth is overrun with dumb men and foolish women.” She admitted and then looked at the setting sun outside, seeing the greenish glow it gave off when it started dipping beyond the horizon. “But if they knew of Atla, I guarantee a lot of them would wise up.

Atla is beyond what anyone could expect, and a lot of them, novelists and artists always dreamed of places like this but seeing that one exists really makes me feel small,” She sighed. "If they knew for a certainty that this place existed, if they were even slightly aware of a one percent possibility of a world where elves and all manner of magical creatures existed, wars would cease, governments would wise up, they would reform in an attempt to join hands to come here regardless of the cost or consequence, but since they do not, they will continue to be the same ignorant fools who believe themselves to be the centre of the universe, how small minded I feel, I have been humbled."

“You suddenly sound smarter than before.” Came a voice from behind them, and Lifa spun first with a bow expecting Cecelia to once again make another potential enemy, but beside her, Cecelia gave a light curtsey and smiled respectfully.

“Your Highness.” Cecelia kept her head down a little longer and then stood and looked back at Lifa who’d been frozen. “Is there something I can assist you with?” She asked, and even Lucas had an eyebrow raised as he stared back at her. “But seeing her questioning gaze he shook his head and gestured with his hand.

“I was reminded by her Majesty the Queen that we had yet to perform the binding spell, so I came to personally escort you to my chambers so we may do just so,” Lucas responded as he held out his hand, and her heart stopped for a second before almost exploding as her blood began racing according to her own pulse, was this really happening now?

“You mean,” She started then trailed off looking at Lifa, and knowing just what the woman was thinking Lifa gave her a small smile and a nod, after only a day, it was already time for her to throw herself at the Prince’s loins, she couldn’t even feel any anger because this was unavoidable, and it wasn’t as if she was a virgin but she didn’t know him or know anything about him, to her it felt like a meet and f**k situation and it made her anxious to no end, so anxious that she couldn’t even form words as she slowly reached out and took Lucas’s hand with a gulp. “L-lead the way then.” She stuttered as he took her by her arm and began walking with her.

“Flock will have already been waiting there, and he will oversee the first half of the bonding,” Lucas informed her and it made her think, suddenly it felt more like some kind of slave contract rather than some oath or binding promise.

“What exactly is this...”

“The binding spell will see that I am able to discover your whereabouts in the castle, it will also make me aware of you being touched by any other man, it will make you more comfortable around me and more accepting of my advances, not to the point where I am irresistible, but just enough that you will not protest whenever I call upon you, as this is my first time I have no idea what to expect either, but you may think of it as a lion’s hierarchy, but with myself as the sole male, I will have the right of way at all times and refusal to lay with me could result in unforeseen consequences; a backlash from the spell acting up to subjugate you,” He told her all he knew, and she felt even more restless than before, that wasn’t some slave contract, that to her was like being kept on an electric collar that would fry her to the bone if she did something displeasing or ever said no.

“I don’t agree with any of what you just said.” Cecelia looked at him perplexed, but he chuckled her worries to the side and stared back at her.

“I do not believe it is as bad as it sounds.” He responded with a smile, and Cecelia immediately balled her fist as she thought of punching the smile off his princely face, but Lifa grabbed her hand and placed her other hand on her back to soothe her, even just spending a little time with her she was able to read Cecelia quite a lot, and the most obvious thing she knew for a fact thus far, was that the woman loved her own freedom and space, this binding was everything she stood against, it was almost like a twisted hand was messing with her. “Just relax and leave it all to me, I will be sure to treat you gently,” Lucas spoke again and Cecelia started developing a dislike for him as well, he might have been a gentleman, but he definitely didn’t know how to properly comfort a lady.

“Lifa,” Cecelia looked down at the elf and bit her lip as she began feeling even more fear the closer they reached to what was the last door in the hall. “I really don’t want to do this,” She commented, but Lifa could only smile at that point when two guards approached and stopped in their way before parting to the sides and bowing, the other thing to note was that Lifa stayed behind with them as she was led into the room by the Prince, the sealed doors opened with a hiss as the creases lit up upon Lucas pushing them only slightly, and Cecelia gasped at the sheer size of the lounge which seemed to be several sizes larger than all of her rooms combined.

There in the middle waiting was Flock, and as soon as they entered he gestured to them and began walking to the bedroom which had already been prepared, inside was a woman playing a string instrument she’d never seen, but the melody it produced caused her mind to go lazy and relaxed as soon as she attentively listened to it.

“Do I need to undress right away?” Cecelia heard herself ask, but she didn’t feel like she was the same person that asked, it felt foreign, and as she slowly looked over to Lucas she realized that he was also in some kind of trance, and there behind him was a large wolf-like creature standing on its hind legs, but when she slowly blinked and looked again it was gone, the next thing she remembered was Lucas undoing the back of her dress, he did it so carefully that it felt like a phantom touch most of the time, and after he was finished she felt her clothes grow lighter as he stood behind her and took her hair in his hand and balled it I to a fist, then pushed her forward, her vision blurred for a second, but she felt in that time as her back became exposed while her torso rested on the edge of his bed, she was on her elbows, and she felt even her stomach exposed as her dress held on to her breasts and shoulders for dear life, and she gasped and clenched her teeth when Lucas pressed himself against her ass while still holding on to and pulling at her hair.

“Continue,” He commanded, and she felt the cold touch of flock’s staff as it started at the base of her neck and then slowly moved down her spine before stopping at her lower back where the dress held on. “What the blazes...” Lucas cursed before slowly releasing her hair and easing off her.

Not knowing what was happening anymore because of her hazy head Cecelia plopped onto the bed with her ass still sticking out, she was anticipating some kind of touch again, but it never came, and soon she realized that the music had stopped as well, this led to her being awake once more and she immediately grabbed on to herself and spun on the bed, but what she saw was that the musician was missing, Flock had his back turned, and Lucas was staring at her with a shock-riddled expression on his face. “Did something happen?” She asked, but was greeted with silence as flock turned around again and looked at her as well. “Did something go wrong?” She asked, and both of them looked at each other perplexed then looked back at her.

“The bonding has already taken effect, but it seems she is unaffected by the magic that would otherwise make a woman lose their head to lust.” Flock scratched his beard as he looked at her. “This goes more in-depth than I had originally expected it to; this is beyond my wildest imagination!” He exclaimed and extended his hand to Cecelia and then his other to the door causing it to open wide revealing Lifa sitting on a small bench next to the guards. “Come elf, I have need of your cloaking magic.” He called at her and she quickly jumped to her feet and ran into the Prince’s room stopping short of Cecelia and gasping.

“What the devil?” Lifa asked out as she immediately rushed over to Cecelia and held on to her hand. It was then that she realised that her skin was giving off sparkles like starlight, they fell from her and vanished while a majority of them stuck to her, it made her entire being seem surreal. “Lady Cecelia...” She called at her, but Lucas pushed her out of the way and grabbed on to Cecelia’s shoulders and shook her so hard she fell back to the bed, and frightened beyond words by her own appearance, she let out a gasp at the sudden rough treatment and then scurried backwards until her back hit the head of the bed.

“Where did you actually come from?” Lucas asked, and she felt tears brim at the corners of her eyes as she thought for a second that she’d be imprisoned again because of what was happening to her, which of course, she knew nothing about. “Is Cecelia Holland even your real name?” He asked and Flock placed a hand on his shoulder, but he shook the old man off and stared darkly at Cecelia. “She lied about being human, of course, she isn’t, her tears glow!” He stated an obvious fact. “But not just her tears, now even her skin is glowing, I can’t help but wonder what else she lied about...” He ground his teeth staring at her. “She might be some kind of spy or catalyst after all.”

“Cecelia; If that is your name at all...” Flock called to her while she curled there in the shade of the bed on the verge of a panic attack.

“What are you?"