Sins Among Royals
Chapter 58

Indie struggled to contain her amusement as she looked at Noah. His face seemed contorted in confusion and curiosity. “Were you joking?” he finally asked after a long silence. He was clearly struggling with the thought of marriage.

“Why are you stressing out about it? We’re already mates, isn’t marriage the next logical step?” Indie reasoned as her amusement slowly melted away. He seemed absolutely petrified.

Noah glanced towards her and the emotions fell away from his face leaving a blank slate. He thought about her question and wondered why the thought of marriage scared him so much. His parents were not married until just before Lori was born. It just wasn’t something many took seriously. It was a human tradition and not one of their world. Mating was their tradition.

The longer he pondered the thought the more he noticed the anger grow in Indies eyes. Was it that important to her? “Well,” Noah tilted his head to the side gently, “I never thought I would be married so soon but I guess I’m going to mark you and eventually sleep with you so I guess a ring is a small price to pay.”

Immediately the tension was broken as Indie let out a breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. A smile spread quickly across her lips as she pushed herself off of the desk enthusiastically, “good!” She exclaimed, “cause I kind of made a promise to the universe to stay a virgin till the night of my wedding,” she smiled sweetly, almost sarcastically. “So if you want to sleep together then you’ll put a ring on my finger.” She smiled smugly, it was a sweet moment for her to see him so troubled.

“We can still spoon right?” Noah asked, seemingly concerned.

Indie again broke out in a fit of laughter, “sure! I don’t think you’d be as good as Poppy but we can give it a go,” she watched as Noah feigned pain.

“You wound me with your words Indie. I’ll show you just how good I can be,” Noah pushed pushed himself up off of his desk and walked slowly towards Indie who seemed to still most with each step he took.

Their gaze locked on each other, their eyes boring into each others souls. Noah could see the desire she had for him but it wasn’t as much or as intense as what he felt for her. He held her gaze as he closed the gap between them slowly, purposefully.

He reached Indie in no time and pressed his body against hers gently. As he did so all of his senses were driven wild with lust, he had to keep himself in check, he wanted to prove a point. Noah looked down and took her hand in his gently. He stroked his thumb against her palm and felt the softness of her skin against his. He pulled her closer and reached his free hand gently up her arm, he felt her stiffen at his touch but she soon began relaxing again.

Noah trailed his fingers along her skin till he reached the long threads of hair she had strategically left loose. Taking the silky strands between his fingers he curled it gently before releasing it and watching it bounce softly.

He reached up and ran his thumb along her cheek and down the side of her face. Her skin ignited in a blaze of glorious lust at his touch and he revelled in the affect he had on her. His thumb reached her chin and he urged her to look up at him. As soon as their gaze met Noah reached down and pressed his lips against hers softly. The pair stood unmoving for a few seconds.

For Noah it felt like infinity, for Indie it felt strange. She still was not used to being kissed but the thought that someone wanted to kiss her sent a flutter of butterflies soaring through her chest. If Noah wasn’t holding her she was sure she would float away, wrapped in a cloud of euphoria.

To her surprise she felt Noah lick her lips before taking her bottom lip in his mouth. He sucked and nibbled gently before releasing her and stepping back with a triumphantly cocky smile.

Indie sucked in deep breaths as she stood there with her eyes closed. Noah had a plan and it involved getting her addicted to his kisses. So far it seemed to be working.

He watched her, studied her face and looked for a reaction. He was rather disappointed by the reaction he got.

Indie smiled broadly as she popped her eyes open. She saw Noah standing before her with an expectant look on her face and she couldn’t help but giggle, “it’s going to take more than that to make me want to take my clothes off for you Noah,” she couldn’t help but smile wickedly. While Indie had never slept with anyone she was an experienced flirt. She had flirted plenty before.

Noah stood, mouth semi agape as he looked down at her bewildered, “what more do you want? I brought you a building.” He responded with a chuckle. She sure was different to any other girl he had met before.

He watched as she shook her head, “you can’t buy me with material things Noah,” she confirmed quickly. “You have to stimulate my mind before you can stimulate my body.” Turning from him Indie continued on her way to the door.

“You will be the death of me,” Noah groaned as he forced his wants and needs back down into the tiny little box he’d been keeping them in. She was doing all kinds of crazy things to him and he suspected that she didn’t even know it.

Reaching for the door, Indie turned the handle and pulled it open gently.

“Indie!” Shrieked a familiar voice.

Jumping on the spot Indie was soon joined by Noah who rubbed against her gently, “good lord Darla! I don’t think they heard you in the kitchens. Want to scream that again?!” Noah responded with a smile as Darla rolled her eyes, crossed her arms and tapped her feet against the floor.

“I will scream down the walls of your castle if you keep going Noah,” Darla bit back with as much sass as she could muster. “Anyway I’m not here to see you. I’m here for Indie. Me and the girls have all arrived and nothing has been done! Where is Grace?!” She begged impatiently. “I would like to have a word with her, she hasn’t prepared nearly enough of anything for the ceremony. It is the most-” Darlas thoughts were interrupted when she saw the grim look on Noah’s face. “Oh no!” She cried cluelessly. “It’s been cancelled hasn’t it?” She asked jumping to conclusions.

“That’s enough Darla,” Noah responded quickly as he stilled the fiery, short woman in her tracks. “Mother, unfortunately......” Noah trailed off again as he thought of the best way to break the news.

“Grace died the other night in her sleep Darla. Be kind to Noah, he’s been doing the best he can with the time he has.” Indie jumped in and surprised herself with her words. She hadn’t ever really liked Grace but she didn’t like the implication that nothing had been done and she really didn’t like the tone of voice Darla took. Despite the fact that Noah had known Darla for so long did not excuse her or give her a reason to be so rude.

A gasp rang through the silent hallway outside the office, “Oh Noah I am so sorry!” Darla exclaimed as her cheeks filled with colour at her embarrassment. “I didn’t mean to sound so awful.” She tried and failed to apologise as Noah shook his head and waved his hand.

“You weren’t to know,” he stopped her from stammering through an apology quickly as he stepped into the corridor. “Indie can help you. Show her the ropes of planning. Make sure you have everything. The ceremony is tomorrow evening and I know this is short notice Darla but get Naira and the others to help you too.”

Indie felt more than a little bad for having shared the tragic news as Noah kissed her cheek gently before excusing himself. When he had disappeared from view Indie turned to Darla, “I think he’s mad at me,” she confided in her short friend as Darla took her by the hand and began running off towards the outdoor area that would play host to the gathering.

“He’s not mad at you,” Darla grinned as the pair emerged out onto the patio. “If he was mad at you he would have thrown a massive hissy fit.” Darla spoke from experience. They had a seen Noah’s epic tantrums in the last and the more Darla thought about it the more it made her cringe.

Indie spied Naira, the triplets and Willow. They a stood around one of the many tables that would be used for entertaining. “Oh Indie look at you!” Naira welcomed her with open arms. “Noah isn’t with you?” She asked quickly as she looked over Indies shoulder.

“Oh Naira I have bad news.” Darla frowned. “Grace is dead and we have less than twenty four hours left to sort this place out.” She took a deep breath and waited for an answer.

The girls that had just been told of Grace’s death all gasped, “Oh my. That puts us in a bit of a pickle doesn’t it?” Sorrow soon hung in the air all around them as Indie noticed the change in attitude.

“Well!” Indie perked up suddenly. “Why don’t we get through this mating ceremony.” She sighed heavily, “then we can all focus on giving Grace a great farewell.”

The girls that were present all nodded as they set about getting as much ready as they possibly could. “That is a super idea Indie!” Willow responded eagerly.

Before long the girls were delivered many boxes of decorations, tanks of helium, flower arrangements. They were soon joined by Poppy and her parents and Indies parents and siblings. Chase ran around dragging streamers everywhere while Hunter volunteered to do all the heavy lifting. They had accomplished much in the hours they had been working but the arrival of one person ruined it all for Indie.

As the sun set over the horizon and cast brilliant shadows across the castle walls a voice sounded from the main entry that made Indies blood run cold and made Hunter cringe and want to hide.

Madeline had arrived.