Chapter 16 #2
Here, on Helion, it kept surfacing at the wrong times. Or maybe the right ones. Around Daven, it felt closer to his skin, less like a trap and more like something waiting. Something he might actually learn to guide.
It made every touch hit harder. Made him want to sink deeper under the sheets and roll his hips, chasing it instead of fighting it.
“There.” Daven replaced his fingers with the blunt head of his cock and slid inside all the way until he bottomed out. “Feel good, baby? Feel full?”
“Yeah,” Ryneth gasped.
“Good.” Daven yawned against Ryneth’s nape, then slid an arm around his waist and placed it above Ryneth’s erection. “Sweet dreams, aethera.”
“What?” Ryneth’s eyes popped open. “You’re not… are you?”
“Am I what, baby? Going to let you sleep?”
“You aren’t, right? Your cock is…”
“In your ass? Hmm, it is. It’s in heaven. You feel so good. But we both had a long night, so now we sleep.”
“But—ouch!” Ryneth yelped when Daven slapped his dick. The sting only made him throb harder.
“I said, sleep now.”
This man was fucking unbelievable. Every time he appeared nice, he proved he wasn’t.
“Asshole,” Ryneth muttered. There were many other things he wanted to say, but his eyes started to droop and he was so warm. So full.
Safe.
Daven shifted behind him, keeping him stretched and held exactly where he wanted him, and that was somehow worse. Or better.
Yeah… he could drift off like this. Just for a little while.
Ryneth woke with Daven’s arm locked around his waist.
He was still inside him.
For a moment he lay motionless, staring at the planet display on the ceiling. He wondered if Daven was awake behind him. If he’d been tormenting him in his sleep somehow, feeding whatever filthy dreams had left Ryneth hard and aching by morning.
Behind him, Daven’s breath was steady. Ryneth tested the silence by moving his hips a fraction, then gasped when Daven made a satisfied purr into the pillow.
“Asshole,” Ryneth whispered.
“Hmm, I am.” Daven’s hand tightened around him. He withdrew with a wet, slow slide that made Ryneth’s breath hitch. Then his palm came down hard, a sharp slap against Ryneth’s ass that echoed in the quiet room. “Now, go and grab a shower, aethera. Leave the door open. I want to watch you wash.”
Ryneth’s stomach flipped. He hated that his body reacted before his pride did. He pushed himself upright, wincing at the sudden emptiness.
Daven watched his face as if he had felt it too.
“Fuck you,” Ryneth muttered, turning his head toward the bathroom. “I’m not letting you watch.”
“Yes, you are, aethera,” Daven smirked. “Now hush. We’re expected at Moargan’s house for breakfast.”
Swinging his legs over the bed, Ryneth walked toward the bathroom in silence, his head as high as possible. If he could, he would have fought harder, but missing breakfast at the Imperial’s mansion was a suicide mission.
Behind him, Daven gave a low whistle. “Look at that ass. No wonder I woke up hard.”
Ryneth’s face went hot. He turned, glaring back through the crack of the hall. “You’re disgusting.”
Daven only grinned, the bastard. “And you’re still standing there showing it off.”
“You’re insufferable,” Ryneth snapped, yanking at the handle. “Leave me alone for five fucking minutes.”
Daven smirked, looking far too pleased with himself as the bathroom door refused to budge.
Something invisible held it open, like a hand braced on the other side.
Ryneth stared at it in disbelief, then his static lashed out of him in a white, jagged pulse that cracked across the doorway like a whip.
The burst startled him almost as much as the door had.
Back on Düren, it would have taken real fear to drag that out of him.
Here, around Daven, it came quicker, more easily, like something inside him had started waking up.
The air answered instantly, a hard pressure striking him in the chest and stealing the breath from his lungs. He stumbled back a step, barefoot on the warm stone, then glared at the door and reached for the handle again.
His static flared brighter this time, turning frantic as a hiss of white light stuttered over his skin and made the glass in the hallway tremble. But the air swallowed it as if it were nothing.
From the bed, Daven laughed again. “You’re adorable,” he called. “Keep going. I like watching you try.”
Ryneth’s hands curled into fists. “Let me close the door.”
“No.”
The refusal came without hesitation, and something about that made Ryneth’s stomach flip with a mix of heat and fury.
“You can’t just—” Ryneth started.
“I can,” Daven said. “And you’re going to stop pretending you don’t like it.”
Ryneth’s throat tightened as he grabbed the handle again, yanking once more out of pure stubbornness, but the door still refused to move.
“Go on, aethera. You have two choices.”
Ryneth glared at the door like it had personally betrayed him. “What?”
“Either you shower with the door open, or I come in there and wash you myself.”
Ryneth froze, glaring toward the bedroom. “That’s not a choice.”
Daven gave a lazy hum. “It is. You just don’t like that I’m the one giving it to you.”
Ryneth swallowed hard. It wasn’t the threat of being seen naked that made his pulse jump.
Daven had already seen every inch of him.
It was the order itself. The way Daven kept deciding what happened next, and some weak, traitorous part of him kept wanting to give in.
That was the part that made him furious.
With an angry shove, he pushed into the bathroom.
The air released the door at once, as if it had only been waiting for him to stop fighting.
Jaw tight, Ryneth crossed the space, warm stone and rising steam wrapping around him while the faint scent of Daven still clung to his skin like a mark.
He turned his head just enough for his voice to carry back into the bedroom.
“If you stare, I’m going to blind you.”
Daven laughed, the sound sliding over Ryneth’s nerves like a touch. “Come on, baby. I’ve seen you before.”
Ryneth’s jaw clenched as he reached for the water controls with unsteady fingers. “You’re impossible.”
“And you’re mine,” Daven replied, like it was the simplest fact in the world. “Stop acting shy now. I want to look at you.”
Ryneth’s hand paused over the controls. That was the part that hit differently. Not the watching. Not the open door. The way Daven said mine, like it was already decided. Like Ryneth standing there and obeying him was the most natural thing in the world.
Heat rushed through him anyway, humiliating and impossible to hide, and he hated that some weak part of him still wanted to give Daven exactly what he was asking for.
He turned the water on, and the first blast from the jets hit his shoulders and spine hard enough to drag a helpless sound out of him. The water was almost too hot. Almost.
Leaning forward, Ryneth braced his palms against the stone wall, and let it pour over him. Let it beat the ache out of his muscles. Let it loosen the tightness that had lived in him since the cages, since the transport, since Düren.
Düren meant cold water every morning, even in winter, even when his fingers went numb around the tap and his teeth chattered hard enough to make his jaw ache.
Showers had never been about comfort there.
They had been about getting clean fast, getting dressed fast, and getting out before the heat bill climbed high enough to frighten Mara.
Here, the warmth didn’t run out. The jets were built for bodies like Daven’s, for long nights, for bruises, for recovery.
Ryneth tipped his head back and let the water strike his throat, hating how good it felt.
He reached for the soap on the ledge, fumbling slightly with his wet fingers before he got it open and poured a thick line into his palm. The scent rose at once, rich enough to make him feel like it still didn’t belong on him.
He dragged it over his chest, his shoulders, his arms. Over the dips of his ribs where his body still felt too thin. Over his stomach, where the warmth made him feel like he was melting from the inside out.
For a few seconds, he let himself enjoy it. Slick warmth, roaring water, heated stone under his feet.
It should have made him furious. Instead, it made his skin prickle.
Ryneth rinsed slowly. Thoroughly. Like he was trying to wash off the car, the arena lights, Lysa’s face, and the whole fucking night.
Like he could scrub away the way his body still remembered Daven’s hands.
He reached for the bottle again, poured more soap, and worked it through his hair, fingers scratching his scalp until the tension eased a fraction.
Daven entered the room, naked, carrying two coffees. He set the mugs on the vanity and looked at Ryneth through the spray.
“Drink after,” he said, his voice low. “Right now, I want you against the wall, and I want you quiet while I take care of you.”
Then he stepped into the shower and dropped to his knees in front of him like it was the most natural thing in the world.
Ryneth’s stomach flipped. Of course he fucking did.
He tried to shove Daven’s shoulder back, his palm slipping on the wet skin. “Light—what are you doing?”
Daven didn’t answer. He just looked up through his thick eyelashes, amber eyes flashing with malice. Then he smiled and bared his teeth, the light catching the flash of his jeweled incisors. “That’s right. I’m looking forward to playing with my treat.”
Ryneth swallowed, his throat working. “Daven, I—”
Daven’s tongue slid over his bottom lip, eyes dragging to Ryneth’s heated groin. “Already hard,” he murmured. “And you’re still pretending you don’t want me on my knees.”
Ryneth’s face burned.
Daven wrapped his hand around Ryneth’s cock, his rings pressing into the base while his thumb circled beneath.
Ryneth’s head hit the wall. “Don’t—Daven.” His words died into a low moan when Daven’s thumb pressed harder, his hips jerking forward on instinct as his static flickered and died.