Chapter Seven #3
“I’d put my money on there not being anything in there.
I meant it in the sense of asking, period.
Not you demanding.” Robin released one of his horns, reached for Zyr’s hand instead.
He slid his long fingers over those solid, pronounced knuckles, circled the man’s wrist and held tight.
“Any asking is asking right. I should have been more clear.”
Zyr looked down at their hands, his solidity beneath Robin’s, slender over broad.
“Any, Raven-Robin?” Zyr asked, slowly lifting his gaze from their hands to focus on Robin’s face, the roughness returning to his voice. “I think that would be an interesting test.”
“Sarcasm fucks me up,” Robin admitted, soft edges going keen to meet the returning grate from Zyr.
“I hear something I want to hear said in a way that sounds like it’s unwanted, and I get in my head.
In a bad way. But otherwise, yeah. Any. And with that in mind, if you’re here, do you want a vote or stop for now?
No wrong answer. Asking because I want to know. ‘I don’t know’ is also good.”
“Here and attending, handsome raven. I would give my vote, if you’ll allow it.”
Robin liked the way he talked. Here and attending.
It was natural from him, instead of the put-on, eager formality he’d heard during scenes before.
Fae spoke weird, their sentences not exactly stilted, but noticeable.
Even Declan, more modern than most, was still the kind of person to use ‘licentious’ the same way Robin used ‘sexy.’
And there Zyr was, with Robin, and attending. A question disguised as a statement, and if they had known each other better than they did, if Robin’d taken his time to be smart and lay things out properly, Robin might take the phrasing as a test itself.
But they hadn’t, and he hadn’t. So he didn’t.
Robin waited to answer, took his time with Zyr’s hand.
Warm and humming with that low key electricity, he slid his thumb over the rapid pulse at the man’s wrist, just to feel it pick up under his touch.
Perfect, even as Robin moved his hand carefully to the arm of the chair.
The deep gouges in the wood were hard to miss, earning Zyr a wrist squeeze in approval before he was released.
Only when Robin had both hands curled properly at the base of those silver horns again, his eyes keen and greedy on the lightning storm in Zyr’s, did he speak.
“I am genuinely eager to hear your vote, beithir,” he said, low, his thumbs properly in place at horn and skin, where they should be. “Allowed and welcome.”
Zyr’s tail squeezed, just a brief flex around Robin’s calf. The only contact the man was allowed, and if that wasn’t sexy as hell, the way he toed lines and took what he could without taking too much, Robin didn’t know what was.
“I’ll give you my reasoning, so you can consider it when you decide what to grant and deny.” Unsteady and eager, hunger running through his voice like a livewire.
“I like explanations.”
“The first, I could endure, I think. A challenge, and I like challenges. An opportunity to prove I’ll take nothing you’ve not granted me, which I like even more. The second is another matter.”
Robin listened raptly, smile small and sharp. He watched the shift of Zyr’s expression, the flick of his tongue over the temptation of those gorgeous lips. Explanations. Reasons. “I’m listening. I like listening to your explanations.”
Zyr’s eyes fluttered briefly, almost shut before he focused back on Robin. Robin tucked that away for later, to pick apart until he understood what button he’d pushed.
“Vulnerability is under sadness on your wheel, Raven-Robin. But I think I would set it under fear. Vulnerable, leading to exposed and, hmm, helpless, perhaps. Odd, that the idea that unsettles me is the one that most intrigues me. Regardless, that’s my vote.
” Zyr swallowed, only a brief pause between his vote and, “Will you permit me that, ruthless bird?”
Do not climb on his lap. There is no third option. Robin didn’t do third options unless they were there at the start.
It was only, there was Zyr, still and gorgeous with the effort of it, rambling as he dissected his own thoughts. His maze of a mind, and his willingness to let Robin in. That, and the way he asked. Properly. The way Robin had told him he wanted.
Robin slid his hands back, leaning up, over Zyr that little bit more. Further, until he held the back curl, where the horns started to taper off into a point, then put his weight on them to drag Zyr’s head back. Inch by inch.
Robin liked to do things inch by inch.
“That’s not odd. I’ve been told there’s a rush in being vulnerable and trusting the other person not to damage that trust with misuse, all while knowing they could.”
His knee pressed against Zyr’s again, firm, leverage on the horns to push that knee against the other side of the chair.
Held apart, and open. Not spread, technically, not with his other leg staying where it was, and Robin not willing to give up his vantage point to make it happen, but far enough, and all for Robin.
“Yes, Raven-Robin.”
“I like how you asked. How you laid your thoughts out. Fucking beautiful, Zyr. Perfectly done. I’m going to give you one more rule. I trust you’re still attending.”
“Tell me?” Zyr asked, that want again. And if this ended up being a one time thing, some momentary exception, Robin would cry. Figuratively. In private. “I’m attending.”
“That rush you feel, that trust, if it gets to be too much, move your tail above my knee. Like grabbing my arm, if you start to wander. If you understand, repeat that back to me. What you’re to do if this,” weight and pressure and throat bared and head forced back and thighs apart, “stops being good.”
“If it gets to be too much, I move my tail to above your knee,” he echoed, as Robin had told him to do. Unsteady breaths and sparking eyes. “I understand.”