Chapter Twenty-Eight #2
“Finnvid.” Theos tried to keep his voice level, and not growl or laugh. “You said it once. You can say it again. Say, ‘I want to use my hand and maybe my mouth, but I don’t want to fuck.’”
Finnvid blushed, then he pulled himself up straight and prim. “Well, I don’t need to say it, since you’ve clearly demonstrated that you understand my wishes.”
“Yes, sir. I understand.”
“And do you agree to abide by them?” Finnvid was still acting haughty, but Theos could see the tentativeness trying to creep in.
So he smiled, and leaned, and reached out, and grabbed hold of Finnvid’s ankle again, tugging on him.
“For now,” he said, and then he crawled forward and pushed Finnvid down so he was lying on his back, Theos hovering above him.
“And if I decide I don’t like your rules anymore, then I’ll just stop playing.
You understand?” Surely Finnvid did, after all their time together, after all the restraint Theos had already shown.
But if it was as obvious to Finnvid as it was to Theos, they wouldn’t be having this conversation.
So he added, “I won’t change the rules, not if you don’t want me to.
I’ll just stop. And if I do, that’s not your problem. ”
Finnvid still didn’t seem completely happy, but he smiled, and laced his hands behind Theos’s neck and pulled their mouths together. And after that, Theos stopped really worrying about whatever the problem had been; he had more important things to pay attention to.
***
Finnvid stretched, and Theos’s sleepy mumbled complaint made him smile.
They’d spent the last two days horizontal almost all of the time, tangled around each other, intimate and comfortable.
Theos hadn’t stopped “playing,” and Finnvid hadn’t needed to face the truth: it might just be a game for Theos, but for Finnvid it was much, much more.
They’d decided that this would be their last night in the den.
Theos wasn’t sure he could manage a full day of walking yet, but even a half day would be something, and would help him start to get strong again.
The day before he’d done some scouting and come back looking confident.
He’d seen no tracks on the main trail, suggesting that the Elkati troops had given up and gone home.
“They might still be around,” he’d mused as Finnvid helped him out of his snow-covered clothes.
“They might have raced along the trail, hoping to catch up to us before we crossed into Windthorn territory. They know I was hurt, so they’d be hoping I couldn’t move fast. By now they’ll have hit the border and maybe have turned around and be coming back.
” He’d glanced at Finnvid. “They’re your people . . . does that sound right?”
Finnvid had nodded thoughtfully. “Probably. And them knowing you’re wounded might not matter too much.
They know you’re Sacrati, and the way people talk about that?
They make it sound as though you can fly.
If the mountains were in your way, you’d just lift the mountains up and shove them to the side. ”
Theos had been quiet for a moment, then said, “They might think differently, now that they’ve killed some of us.”
He’d worn the same expression he had every time he spoke of the attack, and as always, Finnvid had been torn between compassion, his own sorrow, and his sense of guilt.
He hadn’t known the attack was going to happen, but he should have.
He’d invited the Torians to the castle, and that had been a mistake that had cost brave men their lives.
Now, lying next to Theos, feeling the warmth of his body, Finnvid let himself admit to another emotion. Relief. He’d made a horrible mistake, and men had died, but Theos was still alive. A selfish reaction, yet honest all the same. If Theos had died, Finnvid never would have come alive himself.
“Maybe we could just move farther into the forest,” he suggested, not sure if Theos would listen to him or not. “You’re still not at full strength; if we get into trouble and have to run or fight, you won’t be as strong as you could be.”
“We’d better stay out of trouble, then.” Theos pulled Finnvid closer to him, then rolled and shifted until Finnvid was flat on his back, Theos on his side and snuggled in close, one leg thrown over Finnvid’s so their cocks lined up.
It seemed to be one of Theos’s favorite postures, and Finnvid had no complaints about it either.
“I need to go home,” he said softly, his lips tickling Finnvid’s jawline as he spoke.
“We’ll be careful, but I can’t stay here.
I can’t keep lying around, enjoying myself with you, when my valley may be at war with itself. ”
Finnvid gave a nod, and ended it with his head tilted back, leaving more space for Theos’s explorations.
Finnvid had shaved when he’d been in Elkat, but now his stubble was long enough to be softening, long enough for Theos to get a grip on it with his teeth when he wanted to.
Sharp tugs followed by the warmth of Theos’s tongue, little nips immediately kissed better .
. . Finnvid wanted to stay balanced like this, wanted to surrender all independence and give his body to Theos in perpetuity.
If he could, he’d volunteer to be Theos’s bedwarmer again, to be cared for and owned and protected. But that wasn’t their future.
Theos was kissing his way down Finnvid’s body, now, pushing bedclothes out of the way, leaving a trail of warmed skin to be cooled by exposure.
Finnvid had lost track of how many orgasms he’d been given in the last few days, but his body apparently wasn’t exhausted yet, responding to Theos’s ministrations as enthusiastically as ever.
He let himself lie back and surrendered to the sensations, Theos’s warm lips wrapping around him, his soft tongue flickering and teasing, his strong hands massaging and coaxing.
Finnvid felt like his entire body was liquefying.
Well, everything but his cock. Really, it was like all the strength and solidity of his entire being was channeled into one part of his body, the part sliding in and out of Theos’s hot mouth.
He found enough energy to prop himself up on his elbows so he could watch.
It wasn’t the sensations that were important, not really.
Anyone could perform these acts. Maybe not as well, but well enough.
The parts Finnvid needed to remember, the images he wanted to have filed away to comfort him in his lonely future, were about Theos.
The rough man being gentle, the enemy being a friend.
The beautiful, powerful creature abandoning its fierceness and giving pleasure instead of pain.
This was what Finnvid would remember. They’d go back to Windthorn and do what they had to do, and Theos would have hundreds of other men to choose from, not to mention the trips to the city. Finnvid would be forgotten. But he would not forget.