Tyche #2
“Would you want to sleep in here with me? Or do you have to go to your rooms?” Tyche winced as the words came out.
So stupid. They’d slept apart the entire time they were on the Isle of Stone and on the ship for travel.
He’d gotten accustomed to not having Shey close when he was sleeping, but right then, he was feeling so relaxed and happy.
Wouldn’t it just be better if they slept together in the same bed where he could hear Shey’s steady breathing and soft snores?
He wanted to slip a hand across the bed and feel his warm skin under the blankets next to him.
“I can, but I have two conditions.”
Tyche shifted and got his arms under him enough to lift to meet Shey’s gaze. “What’s that?”
“One, we go clean off before we get glued together.”
Tyche lifted his face so that he was looking down his nose at Shey. “I think I can allow that,” he agreed as regally as he could manage while being naked and covered in cum.
“Second, you allow me to call the kitchen and have a meal sent up for you.” The playfulness drained from Shey’s face, and he watched him with eyes full of sadness. “I heard you turned away all food today. You didn’t even touch the coffee.”
Tyche gasped. “You have people spying on me?”
“You’re in my palace. Those people have the job of taking care of you when I cannot. It doesn’t matter to me if you’re the God of Luck or Chaos, you need to eat.”
Tyche bit the inside of his cheek. Actually, he didn’t need to eat to remain alive. It was just that he enjoyed eating. Except for that nasty prison food. That he hated. But Shey was trying to take care of him, and Tyche was more than happy to let him.
“Will you eat something with me?”
Shey pressed a kiss to the tip of his nose. “I will.”
With some reluctance, Tyche peeled himself off Shey and shuffled into the bathroom, where they cleaned off.
After putting on some clothes, Shey made a quick call to some servants somewhere in the palace to have some food brought up to Tyche’s chambers along with a little pot of coffee.
Shey said he was allowing a tiny cup because Tyche needed to get some sleep.
While they waited for the food to be delivered, they curled up together in the bed, and Shey told him about his many meetings and getting to see his sister—who apparently wanted to meet Tyche. He was less enthusiastic because he was worried about disappointing Shey’s family.
The food arrived, and Shey dragged Tyche over to the table where it looked like a banquet had been set up. He should have known. Shey was a prince. Royals rarely did things small. But Tyche wasn’t going to complain, because everything was delicious.
“Can I ask you a question and have you answer me honestly?” Shey began and Tyche froze, his bite of prime rib halfway to his mouth. “If you don’t feel comfortable being honest, tell me you can’t say.”
Tyche lowered his fork and sat up straighter. “I can try.”
“Could you have escaped from that prison in Damardor at any time?”
Wow. Didn’t start with anything easy, did he?
Tyche stared wide-eyed at his plate for several seconds without seeing the food. “That’s…complicated.”
“Sorry,” Shey murmured. “I guess I’ve been replaying in my mind what happened with Kaes and that fight in the woods after we escaped the prison. After seeing you stand up to the God of Storms, I wonder if you were holding back in the forest. Did you even need me to escape?”
Tyche’s hand shot out, and he gripped Shey’s wrist. He peered into his blue eyes. “I needed you. Never doubt that. You kept me alive in there. You might not believe this, but you saved lives by simply being there.”
“We killed almost everyone in that place.”
“Almost everyone. Not everyone.” Tyche released his wrist and pulled his hand away, but Shey caught it and held on to him.
A soft sigh slipped from Tyche, and his shoulders slumped.
“When I let myself get captured by those people, I was investigating if someone was trying to make another Zyros. Gods and goddesses were disappearing, and there were whispers about someone hunting magic. I thought I could slip in, figure out what was happening, and slip out with the information. From there, I would get that information in front of the right people to deal with it. But the longer I was there, the more complicated it became. Escaping meant exposing my magic. It would be impossible to hide. My life would return to running and hiding, as it had been with Zyros. I knew my best option was to wait for someone, or even several people, to arrive who had a good chance of escaping.”
“Then you could hide within the group and use your magic here and there to aid their escape while not drawing attention to yourself.”
Tyche nodded. “Yes. So, honestly, I could have escaped on my own, but there would have been no way for me to cover my tracks.”
Shey smiled. “You needed me to draw their attention and make a mess.”
“And you are very good at making messes.”
They finished the meal with easy conversation and a bit of teasing.
As they fell into bed again, Tyche was so very content.
His stomach was full of food, and he had Shey’s warm body pressed to his back.
All things in the world were fleeting, but for this moment, wrapped in darkness while listening to Shey’s steady breathing, this was the only place he wanted to be.
Shey’s arms were his home for as long as the prince wanted to hold him.