Chapter Text
Jerin’s first thought when he awoke was: Not again. Much as he loved servicing his beloved wives, Odelia had worn him out, and Lylia certainly wouldn’t spare him, either.
Then he opened his eyes and saw Trini. Trini. Strange. He hadn’t dared hope he would see her tonight. Or any night, at that.
Even better, she had brought a tray of food.
“You spoil me rotten.” He smiled. “Thank you.”
“Not at all.” Trini sat down on the edge of the bed. “You’ll need it. Lylia intends to pay you a visit, too.”
“Far be it from me to complain about that.” Jerin sat up. “But I do appreciate your consideration.” He recalled the day before, when Trini had rescued him from the younger princesses. Strange, considering that she seemed to be the one of the royal sisters who liked him least. What a lucky boy he was! He would endeavour to prove himself deserving of Trini’s kindness.
“You’re welcome.”
There was a long silence after that, during which Jerin was painfully aware of the noise he made by breaking the fresh bread, and chewing it.
“Try the fruit, too”, Trini suggested after awhile. “I can attest that it’s not poisonous. The plant is fascinating, though – if you want to, I can show you the greenhouse ...” She drifted off there, as if she wasn’t sure that what she said was worth saying.
“I would love that.” The fruit was tasty and sweet. “You are very kind. I noticed that you don’t like me as much as your sisters do ...”
“I have my reasons”, she replied gloomily, before adding “You seem nice.”
“Seem? Just seem? In that case I have to express my heartfelt gratitude for your consenting to wed me.” Of course, he would have been quite content with brides who seemed nice – the Brindles certainly didn’t - but things were different for women.
“I had heard Kij Porter made an offer for you”, Trini replied as if that settled it.
“And your sisters would have hated you if you had vetoed the marriage?”
“I would have hated myself if I had allowed the Porters to get their claws into a possibly innocent young man.”
“Oh. That is very ... very gallant of you.” He felt himself blush. So Trini had consented to the marriage in order to save him. Now, he thought he could connect the dots. Keifer must have been a horrible man, not even putting on a nice appearance. And she thought Kij was the same. Maybe that was true? After all, Kij had embarassed him terribly, by talking about ...
“Don’t mention it”, Trini replied curtly.
He felt an urge to kiss her, but thought better of it. She didn’t seem the type who appreciated pertness in boys. Not the way Eldest Whistler did.
How would grandfather have handled such a situation? He surely would have known what to say. Yes, prince Alannon would have known what to say to a gallant princess who didn’t want his gratitude. But Jerin was at a loss.
“You don’t owe me anything, you know?” Trini said. Apparently she had noticed his embarassment. “If you think you have to service me just because of that, you read too many novels.”
“We are married, though”, he pointed out. “Or will be, soon. I would not dream of withholding services.”
“I know.” She laid her hand on his. “Or at least I hope that – that you wouldn’t do it the way Keifer did. To manipulate us. It wouldn’t work with me, anyway, I can tell you that. But if you don’t feel like it ... there is no shame ... I admit I didn’t want to marry you, but I will treat you decently.”
“I cannot imagine that I could ever not feel like servicing you”, he admitted blushingly. She had the same delicate features as her sisters, and together with her gallantry and kindness, that was an irresistible combination.
She stared at him. “Really? You are serious?”
“Why wouldn’t I? You are a very handsome woman.” He felt his face heat. A slight blush became a bridegroom, but Jerin felt he must look like a tomato by now. Good thing that the only light came from the small candle Trini had brought. Was it proper to talk like this even to one of his brides? Sure, he wasn’t shy with Ren, but then, Ren always started it.
“It’s just that I ... I’m not very womanly, I guess. Keifer ...” she swallowed. “He made fun of me for being more fond of art and herbology than of shooting and swashbuckling. And when he ... ” She didn’t finish her sentence.
“You are very womanly”, Jerin reassured her. “You are just like the chivalric knights in the novels – rescuing young men in distress and all that. It doesn’t get more womanly, surely?”
Trini chuckled, but he could hear the tears in her throat. “Thank you. I guess you don’t just seem nice.” She moved a little bit closer to him.
“Keifer only seemed nice?”, Jerin asked cautiously. He was dying to know what Keifer had done – her now deceased husband must have done something horrible to Trini, that much was clear. But it wouldn’d do to force the topic.
“He didn’t even seem nice. Not to me. I knew he was a bad apple from the start. But you see, I was too young to have a say, they didn’t listen to me. I thought he was just vapid and had a temper, but ... anyhow, he was pretty, and that decided it.”
“What do you think of me?”, Jerin couldn’t resist to ask.
“You are much more beautiful than Keifer ...”
That made Jerin blush again.
“You are also at least able to fake gentleness and patience with the young ones ... and you are very intelligent and well-spoken. I know we don’t marry men for their brains, but I want to be able to talk with my husband.”
Jerin grinned. Take that, Corelle! Trini did like his dic-tion, after all.
“You mentioned novels. Do you read a lot?”
“When I have the time.” He was looking forward to having more time for that. And more novels, hopefully.
They talked about the novels they had read, and found out that Trini had a somewhat more intellectual taste in novels than the Whistler sisters – the plots she described were less straightforward and involved more thoughts and feelings than actions. He could see why a stupid man like Keifer might think her unwomanly. Jerin, on the other hand, found himself very interested in the kind of books Trini liked.
“I would love to read that one”, he admitted when she had described a romance she liked – which was high praise, because Trini generally hated romance novels with a passion.
“Oh, you can borrow it, of course. You know that.” Suddenly he felt her warmth against his side. “I said I’m going to treat you decently.”
“You do spoil me rotten.”
“I would have to spoil you a lot to make you as spoiled as Keifer was from the start.” She put her arm around him. “And you are not rotten. I hope.”
“Just a figure of speech”, he murmured, resting his head on her shoulder. “I will never become a rotten apple.”
“Mhm.” Trini fell silent, apparently deep in thought. Then, with sudden resolve on her face, she gently pushed him back into the softness of his bed, and mounted him. Jerin realized that she was wearing a nightgown, under which she was naked.
She wasn’t nearly as wet as Ren and Odelia had been, and the silent resolve on her face didn’t give way to pleasure.
“You don’t like it?”, she pulled back and looked at him, seeming worried.
“Just exhausted”, he lied. In fact, he had been unable to enjoy it. There had been something off about it, something that hadn’t been there with Ren or Odelia.
“Sorry.” She caressed his face. “I’m just as bad as my sisters, am I?” She lay down on top of him, her head on his chest. “Let’s just sleep.”
"Not bad", he weakly protested. "Just passionate. Sleeping sounds nice, though."
He must have fallen asleep some time after that, for the next thing that happened was that he awoke to Lylias voice. “It’s my turn now!”
“Be gentle with him.” Trini got up and took the tray of food she had brought. “He is tired.”
“That didn’t stop you”, Lylia pointed out. “And he can sleep late in the morning.”
“You need not worry about me”, Jerin told Trini. “The food helped a lot.”
When she had left, he cleaned himself while Lylia watched impatiently. She was determined to not be left out, he noticed, amused. Now, after getting some food and rest with Trini, he felt quite up to the task.
Only when he awoke in the morning, he remembered how awkward the sex with Trini had been. With Lylia it had been much like with Ren and Odelia – she had been a bit nervous, but also very eager, and clearly enjoyed herself. Trini, though ... oh, she was kind and gentle and quite passionate about doing the right things – a woman gotta do what a woman gotta do, his sisters would have said – but there was something off about her. He needed to find out. It was like in a novel, his beloved wife was cursed and he had to break the curse.
First, he would remove every last trace of Keifer – the rooms needed redecoration, anyway.