Kryptonite
Summary: Jackson thinks back to their last few months in Cordonia.
Word Count: 3620
Pairings: Constantine x Eleanor, Eleanor x Jackson, Jackson x Bianca
Warnings: Mentions of s*x, Mentions of adultery, Mentions of cheating, Betrayal, Mentions of divorce, Mentions of unplanned pregnancy, Mentions of panic attacks
A/N: Thanks to @sirbeepsalot every time I reference a flower I now check the symbolism. This is the site I’ve used if you want research the flowers mentioned :https://www.almanac.com/content/flower-meanings-language-flowers
Song Choice: They Don’t Have to Know by Tri Starr
Part 16 of WP. To catch up, read here.
Tag List: @fromthedeskofpaisleybleakmore @kingliam2019 @texaskitten30 @glaimtruelovealways @bobasheebaby @bascmve01 @burnsoslow @the-everlasting-dream @ao719 @sirbeepsalot @janezillow @i-bloody-love-drake-walker @kimmiedoo5 @choices97 @marshmallowsaremyfavorite @lodberg @edgiestwinter @marshmallowsandfire @hopefulmoonobject @iaminlovewithtrr @cordonianroyalty @rafasgirl23415
Panted breaths come from within the study, both Eleanor and Jackson stilling clinging to each other. They had originally planned to wait longer before sneaking around in the palace, limiting their interactions for at least a month, but both caved within two weeks of returning. Most of those two weeks were spent apart while Jackson was away from the palace, but it proved hard for the two to stay apart. The pull is practically magnetic between them; it’s clearly obvious by the clothing littered from the closed door to the desk.
There’s a faint salty taste as Jackson kisses her neck, the scent of arousal surrounds them as they both slowly come down from their highs. A cold chill runs down her spine and he pulls her closer into his bare chest.
“I missed you.” She whispers into his ear, running her fingers through his hair. It’s gotten a little longer and she’s loves it.
“I missed you too, El.” His hot breath lingered on her skin as he mumbles the words in the curve of her neck. With a final kiss, the two pull apart and begin gathering their clothes from the floor.
“I could stay here all night,” she says as she finds herself in his arms again. Pulling on his shirt, she drags him back into her for a kiss.
“I agree, but I think we’d both be missed.” He chuckles as he kisses her back.
She lets out a sigh before giving him a small smile. They both look at each other, silently agreeing it was time to part ways. She squeezes his hand one last time before he slips out of the study.
As she stands there waiting, the reality of it all comes crashing down on her. That no matter how long you played pretend, eventually you have to go back to reality.
* * Before the king had gone to Portavira, he contacted several contractors to possibly work on Eleanor’s garden idea. It was originally an act of love, but now it was just another palace project to him. Just another way to leave a mark of his reign on the palace.
A few weeks after her return from Valtoria, Eleanor is finally working with the contractors to get the plans started. She welcomes the work load, anything to keep her mind off of her current situation.
“I think the hedge maze would look nice,” she spins around and then points, “over there.”
“There you are, dear.” Constantine comes up behind her, kissing her on the temple before wrapping his arm around her waist. “How are things going?”
“They are going fine.” A few of the workers notice her change in attitude and how she tries to slip out of his grip. It doesn’t go unnoticed by Constantine but he doesn’t speak on it.
“Which types of flowers are you thinking of adding?” He asks, walking over to see which design she picked.
“Yellow roses to the east, facing our suite and gardenias to the west. I haven’t figured out the rest.”
“Any particular reason for the type or location?” He raises an eyebrow.
“Blame it on my mood, I guess.” She shrugs before directing her attention back to one of the workers. No one in the palace has been safe from Eleanor’s sharp tongue; at first everyone chalked it up to being normal monarch stress, but lately she is entirely out of character. Usually if and when she ever snapped at anyone, she’d quickly apologize, but now she would publicly snap and then just walk away without so much as a second thought.
Constantine stands closest to Timothy and Bastien, the latter has been assigned to watch over the contractors in case of any accidents as Eleanor continues to rattle away demands.
”I prefer the Cherry Laurel for the hedging detail. Is that an option that we have?” She asks the man in charge of writing down the plants needed to be ordered.
“Yes, your majesty.” He quickly nods his head towards her.
She catches a quick glimpse of a shaggy brunette-haired guard walking into the courtyard. A quick blush covers her cheeks as she clears her throat to prevent a smile from spreading across her lips. The obviousness is caught by only the senior staff, who also try to discretely look at the king. His face is stoic and the only motion he makes is when Timothy leans down and whispers something; causing the king to just nod.
Jackson quickly scans around the courtyard, biting the inside of his cheek when he sees the king; the one person that he didn’t expect to see. He knows that he’s treading on thin ice, especially considering that he’s nowhere near his stationed spot for the day, but he wants to see her. She’s the only thing that has been on his mind as of late and he struggles to show restraint when it comes to staying away from her.
While rumors and gossip spun around between the servants and guards, it wasn’t reported to higher up as somewhat of an unspoken rule. So typically, Jackson didn’t have to have a reason for wandering around the palace until he found Eleanor since no one too important was around. However, right now he needs to find a reason, but he can’t.
“Walker, fancy seeing you here.” Timothy hits the back of Jackson’s shoulder. He hadn’t seen much of his friend lately, but that was mostly due to assignments. Timothy has recently been in charge of training a few new guards to take over positions within the king’s guards. But he isn’t convinced that’s why he and his friend have been running in different circles.
“Ah, yeah,” Jackson nervously rubs the back of his neck. “Just looking to get some fresh air.”
Timothy scrunches his brows, “But this is in the opposite direction from where you’re stationed today?”
“A bit of exercise never hurt anyone.” He’s getting annoyed with Timothy real fast.
“You sure it wasn’t just to see the queen?” He nudges Jackson’s arm with his elbow.
“You really need to get a girlfriend.”
Timothy rolls his eyes as he walks back towards the palace. A quick look around shows that during his talk, the king had walked back over to Eleanor, who is looking in his direction.
“Officer Walker, afternoon.” She says, waving him over.
“Your highnesses,” he bows in front of Eleanor before turning to Constantine and bowing to him as well.
“Officer Walker.” Constantine says with a straight face, masking his irritation. He’s not oblivious at how one of his guardsmen is looking at his wife and what really pisses him off is at how he doesn’t seem to try and hide it. Constantine isn’t so out of touch that he didn’t know men’s eyes wander and he knows his wife is beautiful, but the lack of decorum is what eats at Constantine.
“Say, do you have any flower recommendations?” Eleanor looks over at Jackson, not seeming to care about whose eyes are watching.
“Me?” He looks around, making awkward eye contact with Constantine.
“The queen does seem to value your opinion. Surely you have some ideas for her flower garden.” For the first time Constantine shows his hand by giving Jackson a once over with a slightly disgusted look.
“What about Honeysuckle? The kids would enjoy it,” Jackson just shrugs. He really wasn’t sure if that was an appropriate choice, but he loved eating Honeysuckle growing up and felt the children would enjoy it as well.
“That’s a wonderful idea!” Eleanor smiles, turning to make sure the man wrote the suggestion down. Jackson couldn’t help but feel a small blush creep across his cheeks as she looks at him with her bright smile.
One of the newer guards walks up and whispers something to Constantine who then address his wife, “If you’ll excuse me.”
“Of course.” She smiles at him, but it doesn’t reach her eyes like the one towards Jackson does.
Constantine walks back towards the palace before stopping right next to Timothy, who has been standing near the entrance, “I take it everything is in place, Timothy?”
“Yes, your highness.”
“Then I trust you know what to do.” Constantine takes one last look at the courtyard before heading to his office.
* * At first, the Walker-Rys affair is contained to their usual meet-ups on Fridays in the west-winged study of the palace; allowing their guilt to stay at bay. But as the weeks slip pass them, their courage grows and soon they both find themselves wanting variety. Eleanor begins to monitor Constantine’s schedules, aligning his meetings with times she can slip Jackson into her suite. There’s been several days where Jackson volunteers to pick up overnight guard shifts, allowing him the opportunity to sleep in the guards’ suite. That arrangement allows Eleanor to sneak over in the middle of the night without worry of being caught.
With Constantine away on business, Eleanor finds herself alone in the courtyard. The project is taking a bit longer than she originally thought it would, apparently being a reigning monarch can’t get you everything you want when you want it. She’s sitting on the same bench Constantine had sat on when he confessed he wanted to start fresh. Part of her felt guilty for what she was doing, she knew it was wrong. Not only morally, but also ethically. Yet and still, here she is, waiting for Jackson.
The sound of a small twig snapping brought her from her thoughts and she smiles. Jackson steps closer to her, holding something behind his back.
“What do you have?” She quickly gives him a kiss, trying to peak behind him, but he swiftly turns.
“You are awful when it comes to surprises.” He smiles, kissing her again.
It’s late, so she’s already taken her hair down, make-up off and is wearing a pair of jeans with a sweatshirt. This was the Eleanor that Jackson prefers, her just being her; not dolled up and on show.
“I am not.”
Rolling his eyes, he hands her the red tulips from behind his back. Instantly her face lights up and she throws her arms around him. He stumbles backwards a few steps before he’s able to regain his balance.
“I take it that you like them.”
“I love them.” She holds the flowers close to her face, “And I love you.”
“I love you too.”
It’s not the first time they’ve exchanged those three words, in fact it was after the first time that Jackson realized Eleanor is his soulmate. After that revelation, it became clearer to him why the affair was so easy for him. He knows that it’s wrong and that Bianca deserves better, but if he divorced her it could cause suspicious. Suspicious was the last thing that the palace needed and as selfish as it was, he didn’t want to risk losing what he and Eleanor had.
They find themselves in each other’s arms; a rush of adrenaline and arousal overtakes them both, caution thrown to the wind. They’re desperately tearing the others’ clothes away and pawing at bare skin. He gently lowers her to the ground; the cool evening grass sends goosebumps across her skin.
It’s not long before they are completely lost in the moment, lost in each other; forgetting all about their surroundings. It’s not until a flash appears that they both freeze, Jackson quickly pulling the queen into his chest to shield her.
“What was that?”
“Shh.” He places a finger on her lip before rolling her off of him. He sits up slightly, trying to look around when he sees another guard. He throws his shirt back on and sits up just enough, his lower half hidden behind some foliage.
“Everything okay?”
The man with the light turns, it’s Michael, “Walker? What the hell are you doing?”
“I just needed some air.” He discreetly pulls Eleanor’s sweatshirt to her.
“Did you hear anything? A few maids reported some kind of noise disturbance around here.”
Eleanor covers her mouth so she doesn’t laugh and Jackson just shakes his head.
“No, must’ve been some animal.”
“Alright, well I’ll head out.” Michael nods before turning and leaving. When he’s a safe distance away, Eleanor bursts out into a fit of laughter.
Quickly they finish dressing, speed walking hand in hand back to the palace.
“I can’t believe we almost got caught!” Eleanor says between laughs.
Jackson shakes his head once again, “You’re gonna be the death of me.”
* * Bianca lets out a deep sigh as she tightly grips her coffee mug; the heat radiating from the mug reddens hers palms as the morning sun warms her skin. Her mind is full of doubts and second thoughts regarding her husband. While the ball seems like just a distant memory, what she was told by a Duke is fresh in her head. Jackson had told her that he wasn’t sleeping with her, that it was just his job, but his words have lost their comfort.
At first, it was easy for her to believe him because in all their years together he had never given her reason to distrust him. His fluctuating attitude wasn’t helping put her to ease. For a while after the ball, he walked around al doom and gloom causing her to walk on eggshells around him. He acted as if something terrible happened, but nothing had changed on their end. Then when he decided to take a vacation he acted like a totally different man; he was an attentive husband and father.
But ever since her Texas trip, she can’t help but feel something was up. Maybe it was the gossip she heard about how the queen and king were sleeping in separate chambers or how Jackson was the only guard that went with the queen to Valtoria. What really didn’t help was Tonya’s projection of her situation on Bianca’s. Yes, the Walker marriage wasn’t ideal or originally an union of love, but it worked and that was mattered. But Tonya didn’t agree, saying that since Cash was Jackson’s friend there was a chance Jackson would do the same as Cash.
Bianca knows that she should just confront Jackson about her thoughts and fears, but she has seen him maybe a handful of times since he came back from Valtoria. First, he was sent to Applewood for a few weeks which she couldn’t fault him for but since then, he seems to never come home. Saying that it’s easier to just stay in the guard’s suite due to late night patrols which would’ve made sense, but Constantine had given Bastien and Michael the overnight shifts after Savannah was born to allow him to be home more. And the longer she tries to think about it, the more she tries to make sense of it, the more jumbled her thoughts become and the worse her headache gets.
She clicks the pen in her hand repeatedly; a divorce is an option, but the fine details make it more complicated. She wouldn’t want to stay at the cabin or even in Cordonia, but it isn’t just her feelings and wants that are to be considered. She has Drake and Savannah to think about, but remembering how happy they were running through Texan fields made her think moving just might be a good idea.
Over in the palace, a certain king is also clicking the top of a pen as he debates how to handle a very similar situation. He too has picked up on not only Eleanor’s but also Jackson’s attitude and behavior. At first, Constantine wanted to believe that maybe he was just being paranoid. That maybe he wanted to believe something was up so he had a reason to keep his heart closed off. Then another guardsman came to him with suspicion and everything became clear to him.
Unlike Bianca, Constantine couldn’t just file for divorce; there’s certain things that the royal family couldn’t just indulge in, divorce being one of them. They have been together too long for an annulment. Plus, if word of the queen’s less than discrete behaviors got out, Liam’s legitimacy could be called into question and he refuses to allow his wife’s choices to tarnish his son’s reputation. With all that said, he also wasn’t so sure she’d act as Liana did and leave her son, which would leave the throne unstable and Constantine in the same predicament as before.
Opening the third drawer on the right side of his desk he pulls out a thick manila envelope. He has a pretty good idea of what’s inside there or more so what’s on those photographs. He isn’t sure if the thickness and weight is from diligence or there was that much to report. He’s had it for weeks now, part of him hoping that he’d never have to open it; hoping that things could go back to before when they were both happy.
* * “Oh, do we have any of those sour lemon candies? The ones shaped like lemons?” Eleanor asks one of the servants placed the royal family’s dinner in front of them.
“If not, I will get some immediately.”
“Thank you.” She smiles sweetly as the servant bows.
Constantine snickers at the other end of the table, taking a sip of his wine. The boys and Olivia seem unfazed, going about their dinner as if the room is silent.
“What?” Eleanor cuts her eyes at her husband.
“It’s just the only time you ever wanted sour food or candy was when you were pregnant.” He stops, the weight on the word sitting on both of them, “Wait, are you?”
It feels like she sits there for hours, trying to do the math but failing. Time has nearly stopped completely, trying to see if there’s any way she could be. If there was a chance that it was either an heir or…or the product of adultery.
Constantine picks up on her hesitation, but remains stoic. With Liam, there wasn’t this kind of hesitation, she instantly knew the answer, but here she just sat; almost horrified. Had their intimate affairs been within the window needed? He had asked her once before to explain how she kept track, but when she said to counted certain days and excluded other, he became lost.
Eleanor sits there, “I...” Could I be?
“Are you okay, Momma?” Liam asks, picking up on her unease.
“Of course, sweet boy.” She scrunches up her nose, making a funny face at her son, “I’ll be back in just a moment. If you’ll excuse me.”
The king watches as his wife all but runs out of the dining room. Before when the prospect of an heir was mentioned, he was all but full of joy. The idea of more children was never what he planned, but he warmed up to the idea. Eleanor warmed him up to the idea, but now, he has a sinking feeling there won’t be much joy this time around.
There’s a wave of sickness that washes over her as she rushes down the halls. Her head starts to spin and ache as she feels sick. She wasn’t sure if it was sudden morning sickness or if the queasiness came from her fear.
Quickly, she ducks into her suite; rushing into her bathroom. When her and Constantine became intimate, long before her trip to Valtoria, she had her servants to buy a couple pregnancy tests. Her hands tremble as she rips open the pink foil, the plastic test in her hand feels heavier than she remembers.
* * Jackson steps out of the guards’ suite and quickly sees the queen pacing just a few feet away from the door. He’s unsure why, the watch on his wrist tells him that she should be at dinner.
“El?” His voice is barely above a whisper, but she hears him.
“Jacks—” She can’t finish before she’s in tears; her eyes raw and red. She rushes over to him, throwing her arms around him as he rubs his hand across her back.
“What’s wrong?” He tries pulling her back so he can look at her, but she clings to him. Her tears soaking the fabric that covers his shoulder. All of her actions are out of character for the queen, but he knows something is seriously wrong. She has never clung on to him like this, in such an intimate way in a very public setting.
Eleanor tries to speak but all that comes out are half choked out sounds. She’s practically shaking like a leaf, he’s never seen her this shaken up or scared before and he is panicking. Jackson knows that they aren’t safe there, there’s nothing stopping anyone from walking in on their embrace. Carefully he walks backwards and pulls her around the corner, secluding them from prying eyes and concealing them from potential scandal.
“El, I need you to talk to me. You’re scaring me.” He walks closest to one of the couches, pulling her off of him and helping her sit down. She’s finally leveling out her breathing when she looks up at him, tears pooling heavily in her eyes.
“Two…two lines…” Her breathing picks back up and she’s a mess all over again. Wringing her hands together as she tries to catch her breath.
“Two lines? Eleanor, you aren’t making sense.”
With shaking hands, she pulls the tests out of her pocket and hands them to him; she had taken four of them. He looks at them, unsure of how to act and he feels himself unable to breathe. The unsureness of what this meant left him with a mixture of fear and unease.
**A while ago I wrote some character profiles, you can read them here.
