Chapter 11
Exhaustion overtook him, and somehow Nuri managed to fall asleep despite it all. When he woke the next day, consciousness returned slowly, so it took him longer than it should have to process that he wasn’t in bed alone.
Startled by Silver’s presence, he bolted upward, going still when the Emperor lifted his gaze from his tablet and quirked a brow at him.
Silver was dressed in his pajamas, brown silk with gold trim, but he was sitting with his back against the headboard, and had clearly been reading work documents while Nuri had slept. Now, he set the device off to the side and stood, stretching his arms above his head.
The second Nuri’s gaze homed in on the exposed sway of skin when Silver’s shirt lifted, he forced his gaze away.
“Come.” Silver held out a palm, waiting even when Nuri frowned.
“What?”
“It’s time to get ready for the day.”
That didn’t help answer his question any.
“You haven’t showered since the accident,” Silver finally explained. “You’ll bathe, then dress for breakfast.”
“I can do all of that on my own.”
“No.”
Nuri stared at him, but when Silver didn’t back down, squeezed his eyes shut and lowered his head. “Majesty, please. I’ll apologize for what I said in the heat of the moment last night, okay? So, please, can we just—”
Silver didn’t give him the chance to finish, swooping down to lift Nuri in much the same way as he had at the front door. Hoisting him over his shoulder, he turned toward the bathroom and walked into it, leaving it open even as he lowered Nuri back to his feet.
“Undress.” The Emperor crossed his arms and propped himself against the wall, blocking the exit.
Nuri didn’t move.
“Narek.”
“We haven’t rolled yet. The game hasn’t started,” Nuri said.
“We’ve never needed a game for you to have to obey me,” he stated. “That’s no different now. We’ll play for your right to quit your job as my secretary, nothing more, nothing less. That and this are not the same situation. Strip, pet, or would you rather I do it for you?”
The thought of Silver’s hands on him caused a shiver to race down his spine, and before long, Nuri found himself doing as he was told.
“You’re acting like this is the first time I’ve seen you naked,” Silver chided, though why he was so displeased was anyone’s guess.
His bathroom was every bit as luxurious as his bedroom, with white marble containing streaks of gold and golden fixtures to match.
There was a shower stall and a bathtub, as well as a His and Hers sink, even though as far as Nuri knew, the Emperor had never brought one of his lovers here before.
The mansion was a sort of safe space for Silver.
Not just anyone was allowed an invitation to walk through the doors.
The security around it, given his position, was also tight enough it would take an invisible person to be able to sneak in.
Now that he was thinking about it, it truly hit Nuri how stupid his plan to run away last night had been.
Even if he’d somehow made it out the front door without Silver noticing him, the guards at the gate would never have let him through if they’d been given the order to keep him inside.
After the fuss Silver had thrown? Nuri was certain that was a detail he wouldn’t have forgotten.
He hadn’t stood a chance.
For a moment, he struggled over why the Emperor’s words sounded so familiar, then a vague recollection of Silver having said something similar yesterday returned to him.
At the mention of what they’d done, Nuri’s hands hesitated on the ties to the pajama bottoms. He’d removed the top, though it’d been a struggle, self-consciousness sneaking up on him.
“This is different,” he mumbled, not really sure why he bothered. It would only end up causing him more discomfort and he knew it.
Sure enough, Silver latched onto that statement. “How so?”
Nuri really didn’t want to say, but seeing no way around it, sighed in mild exasperation. “When we saw each other naked before it was in a completely non-sexual light.” At least, it had been for Silver.
“You think I’ve never jerked off thinking about you?”
Nuri startled, freezing like a deer caught in headlights with the pants halfway down his thighs. Even the ridiculous position couldn’t snap him out of it though.
“Just as I suspected,” Silver tapped his temple, “You’ve always been too caught up in your own head, Narek.”
“Me?” he shot back incredulously. The Emperor was the one who was constantly so distracted and in his own world that he didn’t notice the people around him. Half the time Nuri stood there waiting in his office for upwards of ten or so minutes even.
“Forget it. Your brother is waiting for us in the dining room. Let’s pick up the pace.” Silver made his way over to the shower stall, carelessly stripping as he did.
“You can’t actually expect me to shower with you?” Why he bothered to ask was beyond him, but the words shot out anyway.
“You’ll be lucky if I let you out of my sight ever again after the trouble you’ve caused.”
“This is a lot of effort just to prevent me from quitting,” he said suddenly, watching as Silver tensed with his hand on the shower knob.
A beat passed before he twisted, turning the spray on and then tested the water. He took his time, standing in the glass shower stall, his palm collecting droplets of the spray. When he finally turned around and met Nuri’s gaze, his eyes had darkened to a deep shade of gray.
“Shower sex certainly has its drawbacks,” he stated as he exited the stall and approached Nuri, “but I’d hardly call it effort.”
“That’s not what I meant.” He couldn’t help but glance over Silver’s large form toward the water, gulping.
“What? You didn’t honestly think I ordered you in here just to bathe, did you?
” One of his arms snaked around Nuri’s waist, pulling him in until their chests met.
“The innocent act is cute and all, but now that I’ve seen how you are in the throes of passion, I’m admittedly finding it harder to buy into. ”
“I don’t know what you’re implying.” Nuri planted a palm against Silver’s shoulder and tried to push him away, but the other man didn’t budge.
“Will you answer the question I asked you last night?” Silver ignored his attempts to separate them. “Who else have you slept with?”
“That’s still none of your business.”
“I disagree.”
“Disagree all you like,” he gave up trying to free himself and opted to glare up at the Emperor instead, “it doesn’t change anything.”
Silver hummed. “That’s true. The past is the past, in any case.”
“So then drop it.”
“I’m still curious about something, I’m afraid.” Silver grabbed onto the short hairs at the base of Nuri’s skull, forcing his head back with a little tug. “Who was better? Me or them?”
“Considering I was too under the influence at the time to recall much of anything,” Nuri stated, “I’m afraid I can’t adequately answer that question.”
“Is that so?”
“It’s as I said last night,” he repeated. “I know what happened between us, but the details…I can’t remember.”
The corner of Silver’s mouth turned up at that and when Nuri frowned it burst into a full-blown grin.
“Can you hear yourself, Narek? The disappointment is impossible to miss. Don’t be too upset though.
It was the first time between us, true, but it won’t be the last. I’ll make sure to make this next time memorable.
It’s unfortunate for you that it’s day time.
Surely moonlight would make this easier for you to accept. ”
This situation was all kinds of fucked up, and Nuri was confused by everything going on.
Silver had never acted this way with him before, had never been this open. Sex between two people could alter the dynamics between them, sure, but this felt fundamentally different, and that left Nuri unsure where it was safe to take his next step.
What if the ground was about to fall out from under him?
“If you’re messing with me right now, majesty,” Nuri forced himself to say tersely, once more putting his pride aside, “I don’t appreciate it.”
“Isn’t it you,” Silver inquired, “who’s messing with me? You started all of this with your tantrum the other day. You’re the one who set this in motion.”
“Let go. I’m serious, majesty, release me this instant.”
Silver’s eyes narrowed and then he lifted him. He carried him into the shower stall, clicking the glass door shut behind them before placing him down.
Nuri slapped him.
The sound cracked within the stall, sharp and deafening. Despite the shower spray, the world seemed to come to a grinding halt.
His mouth popped open the second he processed what he’d done and he retreated a step, bumping up against the damp wall sooner than he would have liked. “I didn’t…”
There’d been plenty of occasions over the past ten years where Nuri had wanted to slap the Emperor, but he never would have guessed there’d come a day when he’d actually act on that urge.
To say it was suicidal would be putting it lightly.
He’d be lucky if Silver didn’t bash his face into the tile or drown him.
“Why so afraid?” Silver asked, and that was when Nuri realized he was shaking. He took a single step closer, eyes narrowing when that had Nuri bracing himself. “Do you think I’m going to hit you back?”
“Forgive me, majesty, I lost my temper and—”
“I’m convinced now more than ever that you sustained a mild head injury in the accident.” His arms came up, caging Nuri in, but he didn’t touch him. “If I’m going to punish you, Nuri, I have better ways of doing it than turning to violence.”
A million different hidden meanings flicked through Nuri’s head, each one more horrifying than the last. The Emperor could make someone disappear with the snap of his fingers. He could have them tortured and tossed into a cell where they’d rot and be forgotten. He could—
“Do you really think so low of me,” Silver’s voice was barely above a whisper, the thread of hurt in his tone catching Nuri’s attention, “you believe I would actually ever physically harm you?”