Chapter Three #3
“Yes, you did make a mistake,” I said, ignoring the apology because it didn’t feel sincere anyway. “A big one. And now I’ll have to have a word with the prince about finding you in my room, going through my belongings.”
“No! Please don’t say anything to Larz. Please! He had no idea I was coming here. You have to believe me.”
His face was filled with panic, as I stared down at him.
Larz? I’d been speaking of Prince Vannos when I mentioned having a word.
Up until that moment, I thought he could be a part of this household.
Perhaps a servant who was also used as a love slave.
It wouldn’t have been unusual in a wealthy Tygerian home, though, come to think of it, I had heard that Moravians had no real traditions of love slaves and a different and perhaps stricter sense of what was right and wrong than we sometimes did on Tygeria.
But this boy was worried about Prince Larz finding out he’d been prowling through my things.
Why was that? Who exactly was this boy anyway? And what was he to Prince Larz?
“Is Larz your lover?”
“What? No, of course not,” he replied, looking outraged. “Don’t be disgusting. Let me go!”
“Why is it disgusting, chibby? He’s a handsome prince. A little one like you should be thrilled to have him in your bed.”
He narrowed his eyes. “I’m not a whatever it is you’re calling me.”
“If you don’t know what I’m saying, how do you know you’re not?”
“Because, that’s why! How dare you? I’m not a prostitute. Or a love slave, damn it! I’m not any kind of slave at all.”
“Because?” I said, smirking at him. “That’s your answer? How old are you anyway?”
“None of your damn business! I refuse to answer any of your stupid questions. Get off me, I tell you!”
He made a quick convulsive move to get away and this time I allowed it. Whoever he was, I didn’t think he was any kind of real threat, though I’d speak to Prince Mikos about it in the morning, just to make sure.
I stood facing him. “Did you come to offer yourself to me and my men too? You do, in fact, sell yourself, don’t you, no matter what you say? You’re a pretty little thing,” I said, running a finger down his cheek. He slapped it away. “What’s your name?”
I could practically feel him thinking about trying to run, tensing to make the attempt to get out into the hall.
“Go on, then. Maybe you should run along and find someone else to play with,” I told him. “I’m working, and I don’t like little boys and their silly games.”
He bent to snatch up his coat, and I might have stood aside and let him go at that point, if it hadn’t been for what he did next.
He turned quickly and pulled open the door, his face tight with anger.
The light from the hallway was now falling on that face, and I could see him even more clearly.
He was uncommonly beautiful. When I’d watched him earlier on the view screens on Prince Mikos’s ship, he’d been wearing the long, red Alliance coat.
I wondered what his connection was to the Alliance.
His body was beautiful, too, and I could see now that he was no boy, but a man fully grown.
Was he going now to Prince Larz’s room or was he on the prowl for more business tonight? The idea made me unreasonably angry, and on a whim, I grabbed him by a couple of his long braids and pulled. Pulled him back inside and closer to me.
“Ow!” he cried out, grabbing for his scalp. Again, tears trembled there on those ridiculously long eyelashes, ready to fall down his pink cheeks.
“Oh, for the gods’ sake, don’t be such a child. I didn’t hurt you.”
“Yes, you did! And you did it deliberately too!”
“Well, of course it was deliberate. Did you think I accidentally pulled your hair?”
“What I think is that it was a mean, lowdown thing to do!”
I made a rude, amused, scoffing noise in my throat, and he glared at me, his full, soft-looking lips pushing out into a childish pout.
He was naked now under that coat, so what came next was probably inevitable.
I told myself that anyway. He gasped in surprise as I yanked the coat from his arms and threw it to the side, leaving him wearing nothing other than the leather halter he still had on.
His surprisingly long, very erect and leaking cock bounced around in front of me, just begging for my attention.
I couldn’t resist bending down to take it in my hand again and found myself staring directly into his dark and very expressive eyes.
I waited for him to pull away or make a protest, but he didn’t say a word—just widened those fiery eyes of his.
His knees buckled and he began to sag to the floor in front of me, moaning.
It was a simple matter of following him down and pushing him back onto his back, laying him out for my approval and convenience. And I gave him my full approval.
“One chance, chibby. Do you want this? Tell me quickly. Do you want me to leave you alone or do you want to stay so I can kiss you and make love to you?”
“I-I…” His back arched as I ran my hand up and down his length. “Oh...” he moaned again, as I leaned in closer to his face and dropped a kiss on those pillowy lips.
“Do you want to go or stay? Tell me quickly.”
“I want to s-stay,” he sighed, not hesitating at all. He shoved up toward me, offering himself to me—an offer I found I didn’t want to refuse. It had been a long while since anyone had appealed so strongly to me.
“Well, what are you waiting for then?” he asked softly, leaning up and fluttering those eyelashes, flirting shamelessly as he sought another kiss.
His pupils were blown and he had a pink flush on his pretty face, biting his lips to keep from moaning again.
Those long, thick eyelashes fluttered shut and he shuddered and strained closer to me.
Had it been so long since he’d had someone to kiss him?
Did Prince Larz not kiss, like some other Tygerian men did?
He made a low growl as my teeth grazed over his soft lips, and I parted those lips with my tongue.
I meant to stop at the kiss, and I was already gentling my moves and preparing to pull away as he chased my lips.
Then he moaned and squirmed beneath me, thrusting up at me as he tried to get closer. There was no way I could resist him.
****
Taran
The handsome Tygerian general moaned and pushed a hand between us, fastening on my cock, which was rock hard.
I felt my face flame again. Why was I so excited by this man’s touch, or any man’s touch for that matter?
I’d had sexual encounters before, of course—usually with the other soldiers in my barracks, but never with a man like this one.
I never even had that much sex at all, to be honest.
Well, there was that drunken night a few weeks ago that I’d convinced myself was just a huge mistake and due to way too much visu punch.
It had been mixed with some Laltanan mesqil, a potent liquor, which had proved to be a coma-inducing recipe for disaster for more than one soldier I knew.
I’d never had an encounter as intense as this one though, and one where I found myself so completely caught off-guard as this.
Even worse, I wasn’t absolutely sure I hated it, no matter what I kept telling myself.
I’d never meant for any of this to happen.
Or at least, I hadn’t planned it ahead of time.
But when I’d seen the Tygerian soldiers arrive earlier, I’d listened in the stairwell as they spoke to Prince Vannos and King Stefan.
I had found myself curious about this big, incredibly handsome general, in particular, who was so much like pictures I’d seen of King Davos.
Not to mention Prince Mikos with his gruff, take-no-prisoners manner and his tall, muscular body.
I wondered why the soldiers were here and why they hadn’t waited to come tomorrow when the others were scheduled to be there.
Or were they here to perpetrate some kind of treachery?
Treachery they could then blame on us? Should I try to go and wake up Larz and Janos to let them know what was happening?
I thought I should, but what would I possibly say?
I had no proof of anything, and I didn’t want to leave Laltana for good.
Though it looked as if we would, if this meeting didn’t work out.
When I heard the general say he was going to check the room where the conference was supposed to take place, I thought it was too good a chance to pass up.
It wouldn’t hurt to take a quick look inside his room and maybe his luggage for a peek at his orders.
Orders which had to come from Prince Mikos himself.
Earlier that afternoon, one of the sons of Prince Vannos had shown me how easy it was to get in any of the upstairs rooms. It was Prince Bryos, who was really good looking, like his two fathers.
He was about as tall as I was, with dark hair, like King Stefan’s, and amber colored eyes like so many of the Tygerians had.
It was a striking combination, and I wondered at the time if he were looking around again for a husband like everyone said he was after his first engagement had fallen through.
Not that I’d be interested—I was too young to get married, and Bryos, as the eldest son, would be a king one day. That wasn’t anything I wanted. But he was nice to look at.
He had seen me struggling with my key—I’d never even seen one of them before—and he had taken it from me and put the end of the ancient, heavy iron piece inside the lock and pressed it to the side, like a small tool.
“See, these things are so old you can use to the key to literally pry the lock away from the door frame and get into almost any door in the palace.”
He laughed when I told him it was amazing and told me he could teach me many things if I came to his room later on.
Feeling embarrassed, I told him I’d think have to think about it. He was my cousin after all, even though we weren’t blood relations.