Sacrati

Chapter Thirty-Two #5

Finnvid was quiet for long enough that Theos started to doubt his approach to this conversation. Finally, the tight fingers in Theos’s hair relaxed. Instead of going back to his original task, he skimmed up Finnvid’s body and looked him in the eye.

“I didn’t fuck him. I have no plans to fuck him.” But he needed to say a little more than that. “I’ve been invited to the city, next week. Thea’s already got a daughter with me, and she’d like to try for another child. It’s been approved by the temple—it would be rude for me to refuse.”

“I don’t care about the women,” Finnvid said.

“You want to be a father. You only spend one night with them. I can accept that. But . . . other men . . . I know that’s the Torian way.

I know it doesn’t mean anything to you. It’s just for fun; I understand.

I’ve seen it, far too many times. I know you like it. I just—”

“Finnvid,” Theos said in exasperation. “It’s sex.

Of course I like it. You like it too, now that you’re past all your silliness.

” He brushed the fine blond hair back from Finnvid’s forehead and softened his tone.

“I’ve had sex with lots of people. But I don’t—I don’t talk to them, not like I talk to you.

I certainly don’t listen to them. I don’t think about their ideas, and wonder if I could find ways to combine their ideas with mine.

I don’t . . .” Theos stopped. What were the words that would make this better?

He’d say them, as long as he could mean them. “What do you want to hear?”

Finnvid’s smile was too sad for Theos to look at for long. “I’m not actually sure,” he said, and he ran his hands over the bracelet around his wrist.

Theos reached for his own wrist, and tugged off the first band that came under his fingers.

He glanced down at it and nodded. “This came from my father before he died. I was still young, but he was a great warrior, and I wanted to be just like him.” He stretched down and wrapped the metal band onto Finnvid’s arm, bending the almost-closed circle tighter to make it secure on Finnvid’s thinner body.

He looked at it there for a moment, then reached back to his own arm.

Another random selection, and he untwisted the clasp of the braided strands.

“From Anaya, when she bore my first child. Damios . . . you’ve met him.

It’s her hair, blended with mine.” He found a spot for it on Finnvid’s other wrist, then reached for another.

“Stop,” Finnvid said, catching Theos’s hands. “Your wrists will be naked! What sort of Torian will you be then?” He was laughing, but his eyes were wet.

Theos leaned closer to him. “What sort of Torian do you want me to be?”

“I want you to be mine. That’s all. My Torian.”

“I am.”

“But you’re not just mine.”

Theos sighed. “You want an Elkati relationship? Even though I don’t think they make sense in Elkat, where everyone expects couples to behave like that? You think we’d do well to behave that way here?” He frowned. “You want me to change to be exactly who you want me to be?”

Finnvid didn’t answer.

Theos nodded slowly. “Give me a bracelet back.”

“What?” Finnvid looked startled, almost afraid, and each of his hands closed protectively around the opposite wrist.

“Pick one. Tell me why it’s important to you, and give it to me.”

Finnvid hesitated, but he finally undid the hair bracelet and tentatively refastened it on Theos’s wrist. “You got this from a woman named Anaya when she gave birth to Damios. I liked having it because it made me feel like part of your family. I know that family isn’t the same here as it is in Elkat, but it’s still something, and I liked having the connection to it. ”

Theos gave himself a moment to absorb the words, then reached down and undid a new bracelet from his wrist. It was made of metal beads, tarnished by sweat and weather and wear.

“Andros gave this to me when I became Sacrati. Three months later I found its match and gave it to him when he joined the brotherhood.” He fastened it around Finnvid’s wrist. “Andros is my friend. My good friend. But the way I feel about you is . . . It’s different.

It’s . . .” He tried, but he didn’t have the words.

“It’s more, I think. I want to fight beside Andros, but I want to fight in front of you, to keep you safe. ”

Finnvid was relaxing now, and Theos eased up onto the narrow mattress, stretching out alongside Finnvid’s body. Neither of them was hard anymore, but it wouldn’t take long to remedy that situation. Sex was easy; it was everything else that seemed to take a lot of work.

Finnvid rolled onto his side and snuggled back, and for a moment it seemed like he was planning to just go to sleep. Theos thought about sitting up and pulling the blankets over them, but then Finnvid squirmed a little more, working his ass into Theos’s groin.

Theos kissed the side of Finnvid’s neck and savored the way Finnvid leaned his head to provide more room for Theos’s attentions. “I’ll buy you a bracelet of your own,” he whispered. “One for . . . for us.”

“I’ll buy you one too,” Finnvid murmured. “They could match.” Then he slumped a little. “But . . . that’s an Elkati tradition. I shouldn’t trick you into wearing it when you don’t really know what it means.”

“What tradition? Elkati exchange bracelets?” Theos had seen no evidence of that, but it was almost as intriguing as the story about the hunting falcons.

“Not bracelets. Rings.”

“Rings? For your fingers? But rings are so small! And how many could you fit onto your hands without making it hard to grip things?” Theos tugged Finnvid’s hand up for inspection. Surely he would have noticed . . . “You don’t wear rings.”

“No. Not like Torians do. We don’t gift them as often. But when a couple marries, they exchange matching rings.”

Back to that. Theos sighed, and Finnvid twisted around so they could see each others’ faces. “I can just buy you a different bracelet. Right? It would be okay if I just gave you one, not a matching one.”

“You should hang onto your money. I’ll buy bracelets.” Theos took a deep breath and a moment to be sure he really meant it, then said, “Matching ones, if that’s what you want.”

Finnvid rolled right over and kissed Theos while doing some very interesting things with his lower body.

Then he ruined it all by saying, “I want you to want it. If you’re just doing it to make me happy, you shouldn’t.

” Another strong, deep kiss, and he added, “You already do more than enough to make me happy. I’m happy.

I love you, and I like living with you, and I’m already breaking so many Elkati rules with just that .

. . it probably does make sense for me to let go of a few more. ”

This seemed a bit too good to be true. They kissed more, familiar and warm and safe, and when Theos cautiously slid his hand down past their hard cocks and reached behind, Finnvid lifted his legs and wrapped them around Theos’s hips.

“I feel like I may be stepping into a trap,” Theos murmured, but he stretched for the pot of oil by the side of the bed anyway.

“I love you,” Finnvid replied. “And I love it when you’re inside me. No traps.”

“That’s just what someone laying a trap would say.” Theos made little circles with his oiled finger, nipping the tip just inside and then pulling it out for more circles. More teasing, for both of them.

“Fuck me,” Finnvid ordered, and Theos just raised his eyebrows and kept doing what he was doing.

Finnvid groaned in frustration. “I could go find someone else right now,” he threatened. “Someone more obedient, who’d fuck me when I told him to.”

“You could find lots of men who’d be more than willing,” Theos promised.

“I’d rather you didn’t do it right now, but if you wanted to, you could.

” That was a distracting thought. What would it be like if Finnvid was making those breathy sounds for someone else, if his beautiful cock was wrapped in someone else’s fist?

“Or if I was with another man, maybe I’d do the fucking,” Finnvid said thoughtfully. “I don’t really want to fuck you, but someone else? Maybe I’d like that.”

“You might,” Theos mused. How would he feel about that? Better than having someone else touching Finnvid’s ass, at least. But both options made his stomach tighten in an unpleasant way.

Finnvid ran his fingers absentmindedly over Theos’s shoulders. “Maybe I’d like being with him better than I like being with you,” he mused.

Theos frowned, then saw Finnvid suppressing a smug smile. Theos let his face break into a wide grin. “Impossible,” he declared. “Such a man doesn’t exist. You could never do better than me.”

Finnvid managed to hold off for a moment, but then he wrapped his arms around Theos’s neck and kissed him. “I never could,” he agreed. “And you could never do better than me.”

“Never,” Theos promised. And he meant it.

He slid another finger inside Finnvid, who arched his back and rocked against him. “No more talking,” he gasped. “Just fucking. Please. Theos . . .”

No, Theos couldn’t imagine Finnvid begging like that, not if the plea included any other man’s name. “I love you,” he whispered.

“So fuck me!”

“What happened to my blushing Elkati virgin?” Theos shifted so his cock slid almost into place, but he just teased around the opening.

Finnvid shuddered and writhed, and Theos wanted to watch him forever.

This was Finnvid, and Finnvid was his. His.

Every groan that came from Finnvid’s lips was a song for Theos’s pleasure, every shiver of his body a dance Theos could share.

He kissed Finnvid’s neck, his cheek, his ear, whatever his mouth could reach without taking their bodies apart. “I love you,” Theos whispered again.

“Prove it,” Finnvid groaned, canting his hips in an attempt to draw Theos in.

Theos ran his free hand down Finnvid’s belly, ghosted it just above his straining cock, and then returned it to his ribs. “I could slay a dragon for you. Or rescue you from rock trolls. Fight a star god.”

“Or you could skip right to the victory fucking.”

Theos let his cock slip just inside, just enough to make Finnvid’s breath catch and his hips roll, and then he pulled out again and went back to teasing.

He was so hard he ached right up to his belly; the brief touch of pressure around the head of his cock had been enough to make his balls throb, yet he stayed strong.

“Slave,” Finnvid barked. “I order you to fuck me.”

“I don’t think I’m—” Theos started, but Finnvid made his move then, twisting with his hips, driving with his shoulders .

. . he didn’t have enough weight to actually flip Theos, but there was courage in the attempt, and he should be rewarded for that.

Also, Theos loved him. And, of course, Theos was about ready for some victory fucking too.

So he let himself be rolled over, squirmed away from the edge of the narrow bed, and watched with warm eyes as Finnvid straddled him, looked down as if to be sure there was no objection, and then slid down, slowly, steadily, stretching himself around Theos’s cock.

Theos gasped and arched his back as his hands found Finnvid’s hips and held on.

The heat, the slick, tight slide—it was all perfect.

All familiar. What Theos still hadn’t gotten used to, what he wasn’t sure he ever would be used to, was Finnvid.

Theos forced his eyes to stay open so he could appreciate the view.

The beautiful pale body, smooth and unscarred; the fine-boned face, tense with concentration and growing pleasure; and then, when Finnvid opened his eyes and his gaze found Theos’s?

The warmth, the challenge, and most importantly, the love.

“I love you,” Theos said. His self-control was leaving him, but he wanted to say these words before he lost himself entirely. “You’re the only one I want. No one else should touch you, or even look at you. You’re mine. Always mine.”

“Yours,” Finnvid moaned. He reached down then, and his fingers found Theos’s hair and pulled.

Theos moved as directed, let himself be rearranged until he was sitting up, still buried deep, with Finnvid’s cock hard and wet between their bellies.

“And you’re mine,” Finnvid whispered, and his kiss was hard and strong.

They didn’t last much longer. Finnvid gasped and writhed and then came with a shout, and Theos let himself go too. A few more deep thrusts into a body that spasmed around him, and he found his own climax, emptying himself into Finnvid’s warmth.

They collapsed together and lay there, still joined, while they caught their breath.

When Theos finally shifted away, Finnvid turned so they were both lying on their sides, facing each other. A gentle kiss, and then Theos whispered, “I’ll buy us bracelets. Matching ones. Or rings if that’s important. Whatever you want.”

Finnvid’s smile was almost shy. “You don’t have to.”

“I want to.”

“Bracelets, then. They’ll mean that we don’t fuck anyone else? No other men, at least?” Theos nodded. It didn’t feel like much of a sacrifice. And Finnvid said, “Good. We can wear them until the next festival.”

“What?” Theos drew his head back so he could see Finnvid’s expression more clearly. “Only until the festival?”

Finnvid nodded. “And then we’ll decide if we want to keep wearing them. We could take them off, or we could keep them but decide they mean something different.”

“Why would we do that?” Theos asked suspiciously. “I thought Elkati mated forever?”

“We’re not Elkati.” Finnvid kissed Theos, then said, “I’ll probably want to keep wearing your bracelet after the spring festival.

I’ll probably want it to mean the same thing.

But . . .” His smile was pure mischief and joy and affection.

Pure Finnvid. “You’ll have to earn that. You’ll have to ask nicely.”

Theos snorted. “We’ll see about that.”

“Yes. We will.” Finnvid snuggled down a little, his head resting on Theos’s biceps. “We’ll see a lot of things. Together.”

“Together,” Theos agreed, and they drifted off to sleep, wrapped in each others’ arms.