Nobody's Son, Nobody's Daughter

Four

The moonlight coming from the window at the end of the corridor illuminated his face just enough that Y/N saw what she believed to be tears glistening on his cheeks. Althea was sitting outside the King's chamber silently crying. Y/N tried to piece together the cause for such a scene. She figured the moans coming from the King's chamber had something to do with them. She could hear a few occasional grunts coming from a deep voice and many higher pitched moans. The King was enjoying some time with one of his mistresses apparently while Althea was outside crying.

Y/N had seen enough and quietly turned around and left the wing still in search of her own chamber.

______

Althea had listened all night. He recognized Edmund's noises, clearly he wasn't very passionate about this. He sounded rather .. upset. It didn't happen often that Edmund called one of the eager ladies up to his room but each time he did Althea felt like he had been punched in the stomach.
He felt bad for a number of reasons.
First of all he felt that Edmund was doing this just to blow off some steam. From the sounds they were making it was clear that Edmund was being quite rough. Althea knew he only acted like this on days when he was angry. Who could blame him? He did just lose his entire family and the threat of his own death was still dangling over his head.

Secondly though, Althea felt pained no matter what kind of sex Edmund was having. On the rare occasion that Edmund was actually enjoying himself he sounded much different than this time. He sounded soft, breathy moans leaving his flushed lips and strong hands gripping the sheets. Althea knew he would make him feel like this every time, better even, if only he had the chance to. He knew he would love his king so good if only one would let him. He was right for Edmund, he was good for him, he would be good to him.

But instead Edmund was in there, separated from Althea, with an unknown woman, pounding her small body into his mattress until she would either scramble away from overstimulation or he would finally release himself.

Althea knew this wasn't what Edmund truly desired. While he made the women squirm and yell out his name he would always retreat to his bath chamber once they were finished and take himself in hand to reach the end.

On those nights Althea wouldn't touch himself. Despite the temptation of pleasure alongside his beloved, Althea's broken heart spoiled it for him. The pain of being reminded that Althea wasn't what Edmund wanted spoiled it. Instead he spent those nights wishing he had breasts, a smaller waist and an entrance in between his legs instead of a penis. Maybe then Edmund would finally see him for what he wanted to be, his lover. He was so caught up in his own misery that he missed the woman's resemblance to Y/N and perhaps so had Edmund himself.

—-

The next morning Y/N was awoken by a maid. She was a sweet young girl, full of energy and all smiles. Y/N figured she had been sent here by her parents who probably live in the countryside. The girl looked strong like she had helped out on a farm or doing labour in the woods. Most notably though she had the accent that the people from the countryside had. "Good Morning Ma'am" she opened the curtains to let in the sunlight. "I hope you had a good night here at our lovely castle"
Y/N nodded politely "I did, thank you".
"I'll bring in something for you to eat shortly and a new gown."
"Oh no don't trouble yourself I'm perfectly fine wearing the gown from yesterday. I'm not a noble, I don't require a change of clothes so frequently."
"But Ma'am the King ordered us to treat you like we would any fine guest, a fresh set of clothing is part of that."
Y/N nodded once again "I understand, I won't get in the way of your customs then." The girl disappeared in the hallway but left the door slightly ajar.
Y/N caught a glimpse of Althea passing by her door. He looked inside of it and accidentally locked eyes with Y/N for a moment. Not very long, a second at best, but long enough for her to notice how puffy his eyes were.