Chapter 22 #3
“Want me to make you forget your worries for a bit?” Daven’s mouth nibbled at the corner of his lips. Then at his chin. Licking his way down, he bit down on his Adam’s apple, making Ryneth flinch and giggle at the same time.
“We’ll send off the flower to your brother, and we’ll keep you safe.”
There was the sharp sound of a bottle being uncapped. Daven slid lower between Ryneth’s thighs beneath the water, one hand braced on the tub as the other reached for him. “Relax for me now, aethera. Let me prepare you.”
He slid one finger inside. Then two. He stretched him slowly with firm pressure.
Ryneth groaned and arched his back.
“You’re so tight. I love how you clench around me before I even give you what you want.”
“Good Light…fuck—” Ryneth’s knees shook when Daven hooked his fingers, finding his prostate.
Then, gripping Ryneth’s hips, he shifted them both and hauled him up until Ryneth was straddling his lap.
Daven grabbed Ryneth’s chin and forced him to look up. “Tell me who you belong to.”
“You. I belong to you.”
“Say it like you mean it,” Daven snarled. He bit Ryneth’s shoulder. “Say it while you feel me opening you.”
“I am yours,” Ryneth rasped. He shoved his fingers into Daven’s hair. “You fucking asshole.”
“That’s right,” Daven chuckled. Then he kissed him, the kiss nothing more than a clash of teeth and tongue.
Ryneth’s static unleashed when Daven squeezed his ass, spreading him wide.
Ryneth pushed him back against the stone edge of the tub. He dug his nails into that smooth, tanned skin. He needed to scratch. To hurt. To see the blood. To mark Daven in the most primal way.
He was losing his damn mind.
The only thing that mattered was Daven. Those ember eyes watching his every movement. His hand wrapped around Ryneth’s cock, making him whine pitifully. And that cock…
“Fuck me already,” Ryneth begged.
“Yeah? Want me to fuck you? Make you forget?”
“Yes.”
Daven smiled. “That’s a good boy, begging me.”
But there was no mockery this time. Just the steady pressure as Daven pressed the tip inside and pushed in slowly.
Ryneth gasped.
“There,” Daven hissed and bottomed out. He watched Ryneth’s eyes roll back. “You feel that? That is the only fact that matters. You’re full of me. You’re stretched around me. You’re exactly where you belong.”
Ryneth’s hands slapped against the marble. He bucked his hips, trying to draw Daven deeper. “More. Give me more.”
“You’re so greedy,” Daven praised, rolling his hips once, deep enough to make Ryneth shudder. “I love how you beg for me. How your body betrays your pride the second I touch you.”
Ryneth let Daven capture his mouth. Let him devour him. He was tired of fighting. Tired of thinking. His static sizzled inside the bathroom. Daven chuckled as he licked the seam of Ryneth’s lips until they parted.
He sucked on Ryneth’s tongue and pulled the air from his lungs. Ryneth’s hands moved to Daven’s nape and pulled him closer.
Ryneth felt the itch of Daven’s incisors against his pulse.
The pressure in Daven’s gums was a hunger Ryneth tasted through the bond.
Daven pressed his face into Ryneth’s neck.
He grazed the skin with the points of his teeth, then bit down just enough to make Ryneth gasp.
His hips bucked in the water, pressing himself against Daven’s chest, clinging to the weight of him.
It closed around him, pushing the rest of the world away.
“Look at me,” Daven growled.
Ryneth opened his eyes. Daven reached out and grabbed Ryneth’s hand. He pressed their palms together, laced their fingers, and pushed their joined hands against the stone of the tub.
Daven’s grip on Ryneth’s hand tightened. He leaned in. His lips brushed Ryneth’s ear.
“If Concordant thinks they can touch you,” Daven said, his breath hot, “I’ll burn their world. I’ll peel the skin from their bones before I let them lay a finger on what is mine. I’ll fuck you until there’s no room left for their fear.”
“I want to burn with you,” Ryneth sobbed. He bit Daven’s shoulder. He ground his teeth into the muscle. “Don’t stop. Never stop.”
Daven made a rough sound low in his throat and held him tighter.
That was all Ryneth could feel after that. Heat. Water. Daven’s mouth at his neck. The certainty of his hands. The bond pulling tighter with every breath, every movement, until the fear had nowhere left to live.
“Daven,” Ryneth sobbed, pressing their joined hands harder against the stone. “You. Only you.”
“That’s right,” Daven rasped against his skin.
Ryneth came apart first with Daven wrapped around him, his body locking as the bond flared hot and bright between them. Daven followed with a broken sound, burying his face in Ryneth’s neck and holding him there like he meant to keep him.
For a moment, neither of them moved.
Tenderly, Daven pulled back. He wiped a stray drop of water from Ryneth’s cheek, murmuring, “Come on, baby. Let’s get out of the bath and into bed.”
He grabbed a towel and pulled Ryneth to his feet, helping him out of the tub, then began drying him.
“I can dry myself,” Ryneth sniffed.
“I know you can.” He didn’t stop, just continued those soothing circles over Ryneth’s skin.
Ryneth’s knees buckled. His head swam. He caught at Daven’s wrist before he could stop himself, fingers tightening for one stupid second before he let go again.
Daven looked at him but said nothing. He just moved closer. “You see? I can take care of you.”
Ryneth smiled up at Daven, unable to speak. The day had hollowed him out, and Daven was the only thing keeping him upright.
Concordant’s arrival, so close.
The flower Daven wanted to send his sick little brother.
“Here, baby. Let me take you to bed.” Daven’s arm kept him upright, and Ryneth leaned into him more than he meant to, letting himself be dragged to the bed.
Good Light, those silk sheets felt smooth.
Ryneth would never get used to them. Or to the way Daven kept catching him before he could fall apart.
Leaning back against the headboard, he watched as Daven reached for a small silver case on the nightstand and pulled out two red cinder cigarettes.
Lighting them both, he handed one to Ryneth.
“To make you feel better.”
Ryneth took a drag. The cigarette tasted of spice and heat. As the embers glowed, Ryneth felt the last of the tension ease from his body. For a moment, the fear felt farther away.
They watched the stars through the glass.
Daven exhaled a plume of red smoke. He looked at the horizon. “Are you feeling better?”
“Yeah. Thank you.” Daven turned to smile at Ryneth, and Ryneth couldn’t help but smile back.
It hit him strangely then, not how beautiful Daven was, but how dangerous he looked everywhere else and how careful he had been with him tonight. The contrast made something low in Ryneth’s chest pull tight.
Ryneth watched as Daven let out more smoke. “Sometimes I wonder who I am,” he rasped.
“What do you mean?” Ryneth asked.
Daven shrugged. “I don’t know. Don’t mind me. I’m just tired.”
“No, don’t talk over it. What do you mean?”
Daven blew out more smoke. “Sometimes I wonder what I love. I’ve never really given it much thought.”
“Neither have I,” Ryneth admitted. “We never had much time to think that through. But you—”
Have.
He didn’t say the word.
He didn’t have to, because Daven chuckled. “You think I’m a lazy prince who can do whatever the fuck he wants? You’re right, I guess. But that doesn’t make it easy. But earlier, when I found your drawing, I just kind of decided.”
Ryneth frowned. “Decided what?”
“That I’m going to find out what I love. With you.”
“With me?” The words caught oddly in Ryneth’s chest.
Daven nodded. “With you.”
Ryneth looked at him for a second too long. “Okay.”
Daven’s mouth curved like he knew exactly what that look meant. He took Ryneth’s hand again, turned it over, and pressed his thumb over the faint mark in his palm. “Deal.”