Chapter 14
Aeldryc
“I’m just saying, if you think about it logically, the whole system is flawed.
” Pip walked backward ahead of me. The chain between us swung loosely, catching light from the sconces.
His crop-top waistcoat—a garment I still did not understand but had stopped protesting—rode up as he gestured, showing a flash of golden stomach that I wanted to put teeth marks on so people knew it was mine.
“You have all these soldiers, right? And they train every day. And they’re super hot, obviously.
But they’re also super bored, because there hasn’t been a war in, what, two decades? ”
“Three.”
“Three decades! That’s a lot of pent-up energy, Aeldryc. A lot of... tension.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “You know what would help with that?”
“I suspect you’re going to tell me whether I like it or not.”
“A rewards program.”
I turned down the corridor toward my rooms. I had reports to review.
“Like, say a soldier does something impressive. Saves a kitten. Wins a tournament. Looks particularly good while sweaty.” Pip spun on his heel, walking forward now, falling into step beside me. “And as a reward, you could let them... enjoy me.”
“Enjoy you how?”
He winked. “Fuck me, obviously.”
“You are describing prostitution.”
“I’m describing team-building!” He pressed a hand to his chest, mock outraged. “With a sexual component.”
“Pippin.”
“Imagine. My body, yours to give. It’s the ultimate control, making me fuck others at your whim. And you do love control.”
I did love control, but I knew he was manipulating me because he was horny and bored. “You truly wish to be used by a group of men as a complicated reward system?”
“I mean, I’m open to other scenarios. Say you have a gambling debt. And some bad men offer to drop the debt if they can spend all night fucking me.”
“I do not have a gambling debt.”
“I mean, you never know…”
“I do know. I don’t gamble, therefore no debt.”
“Oh, come on. These are fun fantasy scenarios, play along!”
“Pippin, why are you telling me these fantasies?”
“You asked me!”
“No. I told you I have a free afternoon tomorrow and asked you how you wanted to spend it. I had been envisioning a picnic.”
He blinked. “Maybe this translation bracelet has glitched, because I’m pretty sure you asked me how I wanted to be fucked next.” There was a sparkle in his eyes. I swatted his ass.
“You want to take multiple men at once. Is this part of your twink nature?”
“You could say that.”
“Perhaps your magic is more dangerous than anyone thinks.”
Pip laughed. “I don’t have magic!”
I shot him a hard stare. “You must have some manner of enchantment magic.”
He burst out laughing. “Enchantment magic? Me?”
“Then explain the effect you have. Men lose their discipline. Commanders lose their composure. It is a subtle, dangerous power.”
“Maybe you just are, Al. Because I’m amazing and you like my sparkling personality. Ever consider that?”
I was still considering that as the corridor opened into a wider hall. A group of five palace guards was approaching, probably coming off a shift change. They were relaxed, talking among themselves, boots ringing on the stone floor.
Until they saw Pip.
Their conversation died, but they kept walking, perhaps trying to appear normal. But their eyes were fixed on my companion.
Every last one of them looked fascinated… and hungry.
They passed us. Gave proper nods of respect to me, eyes flicking back to Pip as if magnetized. One of them, tall and silver-haired, turned his head to watch Pip walk away, and didn’t stop watching until the soldier beside him elbowed his ribs.
Perhaps because Pip had been describing a ridiculous scheme to get stuffed full of cock, my response was not what I would have anticipated. I didn’t feel jealousy. There was no possessive snarl at the sight of others wanting what belonged to me.
Instead my iron stirred, restless and wanting, coiling tight in my chest before the thought had even finished forming.
An image bloomed in my mind that echoed Pip’s little daydream.
My beautiful boy, suspended in mid-air, bound and ready to be fucked.
I could see his arms stretched above him, my iron coiled around him, forcing him to pose, naked and on display.
His body would arch in the supple way it did when he was tempting me, and he wouldn’t struggle. He would beg for them, while men circled him and touched him, using him like a sheath for their cocks. They’d give him the fucking he so thoroughly deserved.
And he was right, it would be the ultimate rush of control. I’d determine who could touch him and where and for how long. Every hand on his skin there because I permitted it. Every cock he took would be a gift I had arranged. I would decide whether or not he deserved to be filled with their cum.
I wanted to own every part of him, to orchestrate a pleasure so absolute it would overwrite everything but his need for me.
My iron magic flared. The sconces along the wall hummed faintly. “Did that turn you on?” Pip whispered. “The guards looking at my ass. That turned you on.”
I stopped walking.
Pip stopped with me, stepped closer, and tilted his chin up to study me. Beneath the playfulness, he was trembling.
“What are you thinking about?” he asked.
“Spoiling you.”
His eyes widened. “Oh?”
I leaned in close, lowering my voice. “Do you want that? To be bound, forced to take the cocks of those guards? They looked like they wanted to fuck you, and I’m tempted to offer them that opportunity.”
Pip shivered. I could feel the vibration of it through the chain, through the collar. His cheeks turned pink and his chin dipped. “I was just teasing.”
I wrapped a hand around his throat, tilting his chin back up with my thumb, reading the desire in his eyes. “Were you teasing to rile me up? Or because you desperately want me to do these things to you?”
“Why not both?”
I straightened and raised my voice.
“Guards.”
The five soldiers had made it to the end of the corridor but they stopped as one and turned. When they saw who had spoken, the casual confidence of off-duty soldiers collapsed into the rigid alertness of men addressed by a superior.
“Sir,” the tallest one said, bowing. “Is there something you need?”
“You looked at what is mine.”
“Commander,” the lieutenant said, and his voice was steady, which told me he had some backbone. “I meant no disrespect. He is gorgeous.”
Pip made a small, pleased sound beside me.
All eyes were on me as I turned and opened the closest door. It was a sitting room. One of the dozens scattered throughout the palace wing—a fireplace, heavy chairs, a low table, tall windows letting in the afternoon light. A wrought-iron candelabra hung from the ceiling on a thick chain, unlit.
I looked back at the five guards.
“I require volunteers,” I said, my voice cutting through the hall’s silence. “For a personal matter. Those who wish to serve your commander in this, remain. The rest of you are dismissed.”
None of them moved. “A personal matter, sir?” the lieutenant asked.
“My boy would like to be thoroughly fucked. I intend to grant his wish. Tomorrow at this time. Perhaps you could help me find some men to help me?”
“Seriously?” Pip’s eyes widened.
I nodded to the guards, turned and walked down the corridor. Pip jogged to catch up to me.
“You’re really going to do it? My safe word is ketchup.”
“Why do you keep mentioning this ketchup?”
“I’ll say it if something hurts, or if I need it to stop. Okay?”
“Ketchup?”
He grinned. “It’s meant to be a word that will catch your attention. I give you permission to do anything you like with my body, I turn over complete erotic control, unless I say the word.”
“And what if your mouth is stuffed with cock?”
“Ooh, I didn’t know that was a possibility.” He clapped his hands with excitement. “Well, we’ll certainly need something for me to do then, won’t we? I will tap three times on something metal. You’ll feel that, right?”
“Yes.” He was just going to go with this. Because my Pip was bold, playful, and always up for an adventure. That was his magic, after all, wasn’t it? “You are certain?”
“Mm, yes. Being at your mercy, under your control, made to do all sorts of filthy things. That’s the fantasy. I am your little pet, at your mercy, and you are the controlling dominant warrior, using me however you please.”
I snorted. “Why is it that you think I have the power here, when it is you who is bewitching me into tying you down and having you fucked until you beg for it to stop?”
Pip just laughed and looped his arm through mine. “Tomorrow is going to be fun!”
“Tomorrow is an eternity away,” I growled, the thought of waiting making my cock ache. “First, you will tend to what this conversation has done to me right now.”
“Oh! I thought you had reports to file?” His eyes sparkled with mischief as I dragged him into the nearest store room.
“Reports can wait.”