Cora's heart was beating like she's just raced the whole way from her grandparents' house to the castle as Leo guided her into the Queen's chambers, just the two of them alone.
He sat down on her new bed with his back turned to her, and Cora clenched her jaw.
"Alone, at last," her husband declared, taking off his shoes.
She stood in front of him silently, staring as Leonard's hands moved to his jewellery, putting them aside and on her night-stand.
Cora simply stood quickly in her place, watching him, and couldn't help the question that left her lips at it.
"What do you want from me?"
Leonard didn't even look at her, stopping and sitting straight for a moment.
"I'm a warrior," he said simply. "You're a politician."
"And?" she insisted.
Sure, Cora knew a lot about politics – she had studied it her whole life. But that was it?
Leonard sighed and looked over his shoulder at her, looking tired, as if he'd been answering those questions for longer than she knew, and suddenly Cora wondered how many people had questioned her new husband's choice for marrying her, out of all possible suitors.
"Cora, you're beautiful," he affirmed. "You're smart and charismatic. I'm nothing of it. And we have a spark between us, we both know it."
Her cheeks warmed up. Of course she desired him. Who wouldn't?
"Don't you want a proper wife from me?" you asked. "Someone to give you heirs and care for them?"
He shrugged, standing on his feet and doing something with his shirt before removing it.
"I want children, but I have Margaret if it doesn't happen. I want a friend, someone I can trust not to slaughter me in my sleep," he sighed, big shoulders dropping. "I trust you with that."
He stood and turned around, and her breath got caught in her throat.
She always knew Leonard was big and strong, but seeing it in front of her was a completely different experience.
He still had his briefs on, but his chest was naked and his strong muscles were very exposed to her eyes under the candlelight.
"Oh," she mumbled.
Leonard looked down at himself and then at her.
"Well?"
She swallowed down, searching for the ties that kept her together, to no avail, and her husband sent her a confused look.
"I..." she stumbled with her words. "My dress. I can't… Can't open it."
Leonard stopped and simply nodded, walking to her and indicating that Cora should turn around.
"I used to help my mother when I was younger," he told her, calm voice sending shivers all over her skin while his fingers untied her dress on the back.
"Really?"
Her husband hummed positively.
"You can trust my father to fix anything on our ship," he chuckled. "Even the smallest details. He can knot anything correctly, and on and on. But he can't tie a dress or a corset to save his own life."
She chuckled and sucked in a breath when Leonard pushed her dress forward, uncovering her shoulders and not even letting her get used to the fact he had officially started to undress her, moving on quickly to until her skirts that gave her dress volume, one by one, before Cora was just in her corset and chemise.
"Excuse me, my lady," he whispered, big arms coming around her and untying the ribbon around her waist.
"Of course," she mumbled.
Leonard's fingers eased the ribbons on her waist like he'd done it several times before, and when her corset was finally loose, he lowered his lips to her ear.
"It's your turn, lady wife."
Cora's fingers were trembling when she undid the clasps at her front, and she sucked in a breath when Leonard took the piece away, walking the table on the corner of the room and leaving the golden stitched corset on the closest padded chair. Everything was so different from her old room in the castle, it had been a bit overwhelming on the first days.
"My lady grandmother thought you'd like it," she told him. "She made the golden pattern herself."
Her husband moved his eyes to the piece momentarily and nodded a bit.
"It is beautiful, indeed," he noticed. "Thank her for it."
Cora confirmed.
"Of course."
She rubbed her hands on the delicate fabric of her chemise, hesitating before walking to the bed, read to lay on it, but Leonard interrupted her.
"Let me undo your hair," he offered gently. "You don't want to sleep in your braids."
Cora's heart was beating hard and loud in her chest when she sat in front of him, and Leonard's long fingers unpinned her hair delicately, setting the pins aside aside and working from the very end of each braid to the top, leaving her hair in short waves and before running his own fingers over it.
"May I do the same, Lord husband?" she asked in a whisper before he said anything.
She could see his Adam's apple bobbing just as she turned to look at him, and Leonard confirmed with a simple nod, turning around and exposing the end of the double braids decorated by a pair of golden strings.
He was too tall, however, and she had to stand up, silently untying the bottom of his of dark King braids before following the process up his hair. Her grandmother had taught you how to do them just yesterday, and she'd spent hours doing and undoing them on Rosamund's hair before feeling confident enough about her learning. She had her own ladies to do her hair, but as his wife, it was her duty to braid Leonard's hair every morning and undo them every night.
"Thank you," he whispered to her when Cora was done.
She was about to lay on the bed when he wrapped a hand on her wrist, raising his eyebrow at her, looking puzzled.
"Your chemise, my lady," he requested.
Cora's eyes widened.
"My chemise?"
She had to take it off? And be completely naked?
"Aren't you taking it off?" he questioned.
She didn't know she was supposed to be naked in front of her husband!
"Can you turn around?" she whispered. "Please, your majesty?"
Leonard looked surprised but complied, standing up and turning to the opposite wall, and she quickly moved to the side of the bed, taking off her chemise in a rush and lying down, covering her chest with her hair and pulling the sheets up to cover herself up to her neck.
Maybe he just didn't want to dirty up her chemise and would just pull her sheets up?
Maybe he would kiss her like he did the day he proposed to her? Coraline had loved it so much, dear goodness. It made her legs weak and her heart to pound more just from thinking of it happening.
"Can I turn around now, my lady?" he asked, and she swallowed down before answering.
"Yes, my lord."
Leonard turned slowly, and his shoulders dropped when he realised she'd already positioned herself on the bed, waiting for him there.
"Cora…" Leo spoke slowly. "Do you know how this is done?"
Her cheeks burned in embarrassment.
"Yes, my lord," she muttered.
She knew enough about it. When her lady grandmother had offered to explain it to her, Cora had told Anne that the cooking lady had told her what she needed to know.
"Would you mind explaining it, then?"
Cora swallowed down, grabbing the sheets, blushing from head to toe.
"You…" she cleared her throat. "You get inside me, my lord. And you spill inside me."
Her husband raised his eyebrows.
"That's it?" he asked.
Her cheeks went up in flames, and she closed her eyes.
"You could also… do that thing?" she whispered, growing damp between her thighs.
Leonard raised his eyebrows.
"Thing?" he asked. "What thing, my lady?"
Cora squirmed, completely red-faced and discomposed.
"Nothing," she denied quickly. "Nothing."
She shouldn't have said anything. It was foolish of her to do it.
"No," Leonard shook his head, putting a hand on her side, on the bed. "I want to hear it. What thing, Cora?"
Cora swallowed down and clenched her fingers on the sheets.
"Your kiss," she whispered. "The… the one you gave me the other day. When we were alone."
Leonard tilted his head.
"The kiss on your pussy, lady wife?" he put emphasis on the word, clearly mocking her.
She almost pulled the sheets up to her face, completely ashamed of herself.
"Oh, sweetheart," he reached out, brushing a finger over her exposed arm. "Of course, I'll love to do it for you!"
She sucked in a breath, shivering at the thought.
"Thank you, lord husband."
He wasn't done.
"But you will have to do me a small favour," her husband pointed out. "Can you?"
Cora nodded. Anything. She would do anything.
His finger hovered over the sheets, and he cooked up at her face.
"You'll have to take those sheets off."