Honesty IS the best policy...

"Maureen... there's something you should probably know."

She looks over at you, lying next to you now, as you had rolled off her so you could both catch your breath. "Why do men always wait until afterward to say that?" she asks, a bit playfully, but also with a hint of scorn in her voice.

"It's nothing bad, I promise. It's just that... well, you should know who I truly am."

"Let me guess - you have a wife and seven children waiting for you, and you need me to stay quiet about all this," she says, rolling her eyes. "You needn't worry, Xavier, I'm not one to spill others' secrets. Just don't even tell me, I don't want to know."

"I am not married, and I have no children," you say to her. "Everything I've told you about myself is true. But there is something rather important that I haven't told you."

"That you're a Lord in commoner's garb? I guessed that already. You're good enough to fool those who have no dealings with rich folk, but I can hear the noble manners in your speech."

"Hm... I didn't realize. I guess the royal treatment rubs off on one after a while."

"Oh, you play the commoner fairly well, but -" she stops mid-sentence. "Did you say, 'royal'?"

You shrug and smile.

Maureen stares at you, wrestling momentarily with a thought that seems too absurd to be true... then her eyes go wide as she realizes that it actually might be true... and then she bolts upright, her hand held over her mouth, not daring to believe that it really is true!

You sit up alongside her. "King Xavier, first of that name," you say, gesturing at your own chest. "And, I am at your service, my lady."

"Bull-shite," she whispers.

"That was more or less my reaction when they told me about it," you say with another shrug. "I assure you, though, it's quite true. I am... the King."

She stares at you for another long moment... and then, quite suddenly, she bursts out in mad peals of laughter. "Bwa ha ha HA!! Oh, y'had me going there, Xavier, or whatever your name really is. Who put you up to this? Was it Bull, that scoundrel? You can tell me, I'll not be too upset with him, it was a clever joke on me I'll admit!"

"Er, Maureen, I'm not joking."

"Really, enough is enough!"

You reach over and pull the cloak off your sword, along with the cloth that covered its hilt and scabbard. The blue sapphire in its hilt, as large as a robin's egg, gleams softly in the lantern light.

Maureen continues chuckling as she looks at the sword, then back at you, then at the sword again... and the laughter quiets in her throat. "Blimey, you are the King," she says quietly.

"I do hope you're not upset."

"Oh, I think I'm just about runnin' the gauntlet of feelings right now, but 'upset' isn't really one of them," she says.

"I swear, I lied to you about nothing," you say to her, placing a hand upon her shoulder. "Certainly, the fact that I'm the King is kind of a big thing to leave out, but nothing I actually DID say was untrue."

"But... why?" she whispers.

"Is it so hard to believe that sometimes, I miss being who I was before the crown?" you ask her. "To be able to simply walk about during a festival and enjoy myself, without having everyone bow and kneel as I pass? To roll around in a dusty wrestling pit, facing down another man in a fair contest and knowing that he's not going to just let me win? To know that a beautiful, charming, and sensuous woman finds me appealing, without having to wonder whether it's the King and not the man who draws her eye? Of course, being the King has its advantages, I won't pretend otherwise... but there are times when I wish I could be Xavier the blacksmith, for just one more day."

"I suppose I can see that," Maureen says, daring to smile a bit.

"Can you also see that I'm still the same man who enjoyed your ale, savored your kiss, and -"

"Fucked my cunny?" she finishes for you, blushing slightly.

"That too, yes."

She giggles, and lets herself fall back onto the soft linens. "Bloody hell... I'm in town all of three days, and I end up shagging the King!" she laughs. "Wait half a moment... oh Lord have mercy, you're not going to ask for my hand in marriage, are you? That's all anyone's talking about, how the King threw this whole festival just to find himself a Queen!"

"Er, Maureen, please don't take this the wrong way, but... that wasn't really my intention."

"And why on Earth not?" Maureen asks, suddenly indignant. "You think I'm not up for it?"

"It's not that, it's -" you stop, having no idea what to say next.

Maureen's cross glare lasts only another moment before she laughs again. "You should see the look on your face!" she says. "Not to worry, Sire... I would never want to be a Queen, and Lord help your kingdom if you insisted on it! It's more than enough of a feather in my cap knowing that I had a King suckin' on my nips - not that I'll be tellin' no one, for who on Earth would believe it? But have no fears, it was Xavier the man who I made love to this day, not Xavier the King - and that's how I would have wanted it, given the choice."

She leans over to kiss you, which of course you gladly return.

"Of course," she says, when she pulls away, "that's not to say that I might not be takin' you up on your other offer! Did you truly mean it when you said the King would grant me a piece of land, that I might sow my wheat and barley here in this valley?"

"I did," you say to her, "and it was my intention to see you about it later, as the King. You'd be most welcome here, Maureen. However, I should tell you that in all probablility, I will have a Queen by the time you return with your seeds and belongings; and as I intend to be faithful to the woman I wed, we could not expect to spend any further time together as we just have."

"That is a terrible shame," she says with a smile. "But, you'll be leaving me with a happy memory, and that'll have to be enough. Go on now, King Xavier... I'm sure you have places to be today."

"A kiss good-bye first?"

"I don't see why not!"

She closes her eyes and purses her lips... and you dip down to kiss her breast instead, right on the wide, softly pink nipple. She twitches slightly with surprise, then giggles... and when you come back up to kiss her lips, she smiles all the way through it.