A month had gone by where Kurt and Blaine had kept their little affair a secret from anyone else. They had enjoyed this time together without the pressures of the crown or the noble titles that accompanied their names. But it had gotten more difficult as days went by. Neither could conceal their excitement when the other appeared in the room. They couldn't stop their eyes from softening and glistening with what could only be described as pure love and adoration.

So both were fairly surprised it had taken the rest of the people in the palace to discover them. They had gone out on horseback one morning and after their return, they stayed in the stable for a while, laughing and kissing until they were interrupted by Blaine's right hand and best friend, Wes.

At first, they had been embarrassed and shy about it but Wes' shocked face immediately turned into a smile and – after a quick congratulations – went on to tell the rest of Blaine's personal guard that he had "won the bet."

Kurt had just laughed as Blaine cursed under his breath with a promise to get back at the boys. They noticed the looks on every person on the castle when they returned. Most of them were happy that the couple was together but there were one set of eyes that would've gotten Kurt murdered if looks could kill. Sebastian had thrown a fit when he had his worse suspicions confirmed and had stopped talking to Blaine, throwing nasty glances at Kurt and avoiding dinner altogether that night.

Neither paid attention or cared, since they were too overwhelmed by the response of the rest of their friends and servants. Later that night, Kurt stayed in Blaine's chambers and after he had taken a bath and had gotten ready for bed, Blaine told him what had been on his mind for quite some time.

"Kurt, now that my guys now about us – and Rachel too, apparently – I think it would be a good time to tell my father."

"Y-Your father?" Kurt stuttered slightly as he joined Blaine in the large bed.

"Yes. I-I mean – wait, I am doing this all wrong," he muttered as he got out of the sheets and knelt next to Kurt, who had just accommodated himself with his back on the headboard. Blaine took one of his hands and kissed it lightly, making Kurt blush the most adorable shade of red.

"I love you, Kurt." He whispered intently and Kurt's eyes shot upwards to meet his hazel ones. Kurt knew how he felt, he knew how they both felt but amongst the reconnecting and enjoying and sneaking around of the past few weeks and the frenzy of just being able to be with each other, the words were never said. But now, just like that, Blaine had said it. Like it was the easiest thing in the world. Which, between them, Kurt guessed it was.

"I – God! I love you, too! So much…" Kurt whispered back as his voice broke because of everything he was feeling. Blaine smiled sweetly and kissed Kurt's hand again before continuing.

"I think I've loved you since we were children and having you back… The way we seem to be tethered together just confirms this to me. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. In my kingdom or yours, in this life or the next, I am yours. So, what I'm asking, Your Majesty, is… will you be mine? Will you be my king?"

Kurt's eyes swelled with tears but he nodded immediately, tugging at their joined hands to have Blaine fall on top of him. Kurt let go of Blaine's hand to tangle his on Blaine's dark curls, pulling him closer and kissing him softly.

"So tomorrow we tell the king?" asked Kurt when they broke apart.

"I think it'd be best, yes," Blaine mumbled resting his chin on Kurt's chest. "And then, when this whole nightmare with David is over and he's captured, once you're completely safe, I will go back to Winstow with you and properly ask your father to marry you."

"You make it sound like I'm a princess," Kurt said but there was no reproach in his words. He was smiling. "While I think it to be a sweet thing for you to be the one that asks for my hand in marriage, it would probably be better if we both asked the other's father, don't you think?"

"Well, um, yes. Yes, I think you're right. Then, tomorrow… it'll be you the one that speaks to my father?"

"Yes, let him know his princess is safe in my care," Kurt mocked and Blaine smacked him gently on the arm, smiling a smile that reached his hazel eyes. He leaned in and kissed Kurt who hummed happily as he kissed back.

"I just hope Sebastian doesn't kill me before then. Did you see the way he looked at me whenever we ran into him?"

"Oh, don't worry. It'll pass. I'm sure he'll find another person to bother in no time." Blaine said pecking Kurt lightly on the lips. "Besides, he knows I would kill him if he so much as touched you."

Kurt smiled at that, brushing a stranded curl from Blaine's face. Blaine suddenly shifted above him with his arms on either side of Kurt's face. He leaned down to kiss him, sweet at first but more passionately and desperately as they carried on kissing.

They had to pull away for air but Blaine wasted no time in attaching his lips to Kurt's neck, who moaned softly and tangled his hands on Blaine's hair while Blaine's lips worked their magic. The trail of kisses continued to his chest and Kurt arched against the touch. He felt Blaine's hands tugging at the waistband of his trousers, pulling them down slowly. His hand found Kurt's length and started stroking slowly, almost lazily while Kurt just sighed and gasped and moaned.

"Blaine…" Kurt whispered as Blaine continued his ministrations on Kurt's body. He began to tug at Blaine's arm to attach their mouths together. Their kiss was all teeth and passion and love. Kurt almost bit Blaine's lower lip when the curly haired man resumed stroking Kurt. He squirmed and his hands roamed all over Blaine's chest, traveling to his back and letting his hands fall on Blaine's ass, squeezing hard.

Blaine gasped against Kurt's lips and removed his hand from his length, earning a displeased groan. But Blaine quickly readjusted himself so he was sitting and he then pulled Kurt back with him so he'd sit on Blaine's lap. The readjustment made their erections rub against each other, earning a deep growl from Blaine and a shaky moan from Kurt. Blaine slid his hands through Kurt's back as Kurt wrapped his arms around Blaine's shoulders.

Blaine did one thrust upwards and Kurt threw his head back moaning. The sounds Kurt made were driving Blaine crazy and he tried to distract himself by kissing and sucking at Kurt's neck. Kurt soon meet his thrust creating a rhythm that had them both panting and moaning loudly, kissing hungrily and biting each other's lips as they began to feel their release drawing nearer and nearer. Their thrusts became erratic, desperate, rutting to create the friction they wanted and they clung to each other as if they were the other's lifelines. Then they reached their climaxes, screaming each other's names, they both so stars.

For a moment, they stayed as they were, panting heavily. Blaine had his face hidden in the crook of Kurt's neck who couldn't let go of the tight grip he had on Blaine's shoulders, even if he felt incredibly dirty with their stomachs covered in cum. Once they got down from their high, they disentangled themselves and Blaine stood up to grab a clean cloth to wash the stickiness away. He then jumped back into bed and snuggled next to Kurt.

They laughed and kissed through the night, until their exhausted bodies demanded rest and they went to sleep holding each other tight with smiles plastered in their faces from the bliss they were caught in.

David sat by the fireplace in the small cottage that had taken him in and kept him safe since Finn and his search party had almost caught him. There'd been no sight of them and David was finally beginning to relax, after being on edge for so long.

The young woman who lived in the cottage with her small son, Sandra, had taken him in with such gentleness and care, inviting his party to stay in the rather small but cozy place. She feed them and turned on the fireplace for their bodies and hearts to warm up. They had all been impressed by the woman's generosity but the minute he and his three companions had rested and eaten, she immediately went to write a letter, resulting in the four of them cornering her and demanding to know the contents of the letter.

The result was not at all what they were expecting.

As it turned out, Sandra was Sebastian Smythe's sister. David had heard of Sebastian before, as the brightest soldier on King Robert of Davon's army. Sandra had been living on the outskirts of the kingdom since she got pregnant and was abandoned by the father. Avoiding the humiliation, her life was now peaceful and quiet. At least until David and his men had showed up. She had strict instructions from her brother that she was to contact him when or if he ever appeared on her doorstep to ask for refuge. The reasons, though, she refused to tell, only letting them know they were in no way useful to David's pursuers.

David had not been able to trust her words for weeks but after seeing nothing happened and Finn's party still had no clue of his current location, he decided to let it go and trust Sandra and her brother as much as he could in his current circumstances.

"Oh, what great news you dear boys have given me!" King Robert happily exclaimed after Blaine had told him they were together and Kurt had properly asked for his blessing to marry his son. He then proceeded to reveal how he had always hoped they would grow to love one another, after spending all those years of their childhood watching them be together in perfect harmony.

After they had hugged and laughed and tossed into the air ideas for their happy union, the king said that when the time came for Kurt to return home, he and Blaine would join him to share the news with Kurt's father and begin their preparations, assuring the young couple that they would take care of every political matter while Kurt and Blaine's only job would be to have the marriage they wanted and love each other.

"I believe your father would agree with me if he could hear me, Kurt," the king said placing a hand on Kurt's shoulder. "After the war broke here and you were taken away from us, after I saw the way Blaine's mind slowly began to forget you, I though there would be no man on this earth worthy of my son. But you made your way back to us and now I can safely say that there is such a man and that my boy has chosen well."

"Dad, stop this! You're making me tear up!" Blaine pleaded blushing.

"Well, all right then. Off you go," the king said as he gently pushed them out of the room. "Go be in love somewhere else while I sob quietly from happiness."

The two men laughed and did as he told them, leaving the room with joined hands. King Robert followed them for a moment with his eyes before smiling to himself and closing the door, already thinking of the ways to arrange this union that he and King Burt had once discussed so many years ago.

Meanwhile, the couple walked around, deciding what they wanted to do for the rest of the day. Kurt suggested going riding with the horses so they stepped into the bright light and cool breeze of the morning and into the stable to get the horses ready. Just as they were about to let the horses out of their compartments, Nick came in to discuss a quick matter concerning a new training strategy with Blaine. Kurt nudged him on and Blaine left to see what Nick was talking about, promising not to take long and telling Kurt to get both horses ready so they could leave for their ride when Blaine came back.

Kurt was brushing the hair on his horse's back when he heard footsteps coming from the entrance of the stable. Thinking it was Blaine; he left the brush in its place and circled the horse with a smile on his face. A smile that quickly vanished as he realized whom it truly was.

"Sebastian," Kurt greeted coolly.

"Your Highness," he responded with that mock tone he always seemed to use whenever he talked to Kurt. "Going on a ride? Back to your filthy kingdom, perhaps?"

"You wish, don't you?"

"You can't really blame me for wanting Blaine to see he's settling for so much less than he deserves."

Kurt just laughed. "Oh, how sad that you have to recur to insulting me to feel better about yourself. I would be hurt if you weren't so pathetic. Does it lessen the pain, Sebastian? Because if insulting me is what it takes for you to sleep at night, then by all means go ahead. I have no trouble sleeping at night… wrapped in Blaine's arms."

Sebastian lunged forward then, pushing Kurt against the wall of the stable with too much force. Kurt huffed at the impact, glaring angrily at Sebastian while curling his hands on the other man's hands to push him away.

"What the hell is going on here?" Blaine barked as he reentered the stable only to find Sebastian cornering Kurt against the wall.

"Nothing that concerns you," Sebastian muttered stepping back and straightening his clothes before leaving the place. Blaine rushed to Kurt's side, taking his face in his hands and inspecting him with his wide hazel eyes.

"Are you all right? Did he hurt you?" Kurt shook his head and smiled gently, grabbing one of the hands from his face and entwining it with his.

"Let's go for that ride," he said instead.

They rode for a couple of hours in a slow pace and then stopped in the clearing Blaine had showed him a few weeks back to let the horses rest while they just sat and basked in the bliss of being together like this. When the sun began to hide behind the mountains they made their way back without rushing.

They arrived back at the stables when the sun had completely disappeared behind the mountains and the only light came from the moons soft glow. It was extremely quiet and they thought they were the only two that were still outside but when they came out of the stables to get back to the castle, a small boy bumped into them, mumbling a quick apology and continuing his run for the castle. He was a messenger from town, they both discovered and shrugged it off. But when they reached the entrance, a servant was already waiting for them and told them the king needed to see them urgently.

Sharing a worried look, they walked quickly behind the other servant that had come to guide them to the king's personal parlor where all the kingdom matters were treated. The king was seated at his large wooden desk when they came in. He had a letter in his hands that he was reading over by the candlelight. He raised his eyes when he heard them come in and let the letter fall in the desk. He rose from his seat and for a moment both Kurt and Blaine thought he was about to tell them some bad news but the smile that was growing on the king's face told them different.

"What is it, dad?" Blaine asked him and although his father's smile calmed him, his tone was still a little shaky and nervous.

"David was caught," king Robert told them as his eyes fell on Kurt to catch his reaction.

Kurt froze as the words sunk in. David had been caught. He was no longer in danger. And that meant…

"I can go home now?" he whispered hopefully.

"Yes, my boy. You can."

Kurt let out a small, disbelieving laugh and turned to Blaine who was smiling too. They hugged each other and sighed in relief.

"Is my brother safe? And his search party?" Kurt asked when he and Blaine pulled apart.

"They are and all are very grateful for Sebastian's leads that lead them to David."

"S-Sebastian?" Kurt and Blaine mumbled at the same time.

Their socked expressions must have spoken volumes to the king since he shrugged and answered. "Like it or not, Sebastian has to follow the orders his king gives him and I can't deny he is an excellent, strategic man and he gets the job done."

"Ugh, I think I need to thank him," Kurt muttered to Blaine who snorted in response but then turned to his father.

"So, when is Kurt expected to return to Winstow?"

"Well, as soon as he pleases," the king said and arched an eyebrow at Blaine. "I'm assuming you'll be going with him?"

"Yes," Blaine beamed. "It's my time to talk to king Burt."