Chapter 15
THEOBALD
“Emmett,” I whisper and kiss the back of his neck.
He hums a little but doesn’t wake. I’m curled behind him in bed with my arms around him.
He hasn’t stirred all night, finding peace after the last couple of busy weeks.
I call his name and pepper kisses across his shoulders, but all he does is purr.
It’s a much softer noise than what he was making last night when I fucked him hard, trying to make up for his absence.
At any other time I’d indulge in trying to see what adorable noises I can elicit from him, but right now what I have to tell him is important.
Something I should’ve told him before he left.
I call his name again, getting no response, so I shuffle back, letting my soft cock slip out of him.
I grit my teeth at the loss of the warm pressure round my dick, but I know it will get his attention.
“Hey,” he whines. “I was enjoying that.”
“As was I, but I want to talk to you.”
“That sounds serious.” He turns over to face me, his sleepy face crumpled in a cute frown. I raise myself up on one elbow.
“I don’t know what today will bring. I hope that by tonight we can be in the new place.
But whatever happens I want you to know that I think you’re an incredible person, Emmett.
I’m so pleased you came back, and hearing you want to be with me has filled my heart.
You’ve made an old man happy, and I love you. ”
He reaches up and traces his fingers over my face, lightly touching my brow, eyes, cheeks, and lips.
“I don’t think of you as old. To me you’re solid and safe. You give me a sense of security that I haven’t known since I was a child. It’s something I was yearning for but didn’t know it until I found you. I love you too, and I can’t imagine being anywhere else but by your side.”
“Even if being by my side is sharing a pallet in a room with others until we have a place of our own?”
“Of course.” He smiles at me, full of assurance and confidence that it’s what he’s chosen. I swallow around the lump in my throat and lean down to kiss him.
“So, no privacy?” he asks as I pull away again.
“Not for a while, no.”
“Hmm, what time is it?”
“Almost dawn,” I reply, trying to gauge it as best I can from the light at the window.
“I need to ride out and meet my uncle, but I think we should make the most of the small amount of privacy we still have.”
He sits up, and pushing me back down onto the bed, straddles my hips.
He teases my semi-aroused cock into hardness with his hand.
With him warming my cock all night he’s fully stretched, so with a minimum of salve, he lines himself up and slides down onto me.
I marvel at his athleticism as he rides up and down, rising and slamming himself down onto me.
I don’t even care about the loud deep moan I make every time he bottoms out as it seems to spur him on to rise higher and sink lower.
“You’re so good,” I tell him, and I see him preen at my praise.
“You’re a good boy who’s going to make me come, riding my cock like it was made for you.
” I keep up the praise around the moans and he goes even faster, his cock bouncing freely.
I want to touch him, so I reach out and engulf his dick with my fingers, allowing him to thrust into my hand as he rides me.
“I’m going to come,” I gasp, and he rocks his hips harder. “Good boy, going to make me come.”
I grab his hips and hold him in place as I thrust up into him, filling him completely with my release.
Then I pull him off me, wincing slightly at how sensitive I am.
I drag him forward and direct his cock into my mouth, sucking and licking at his dick and allowing him to grind into my face.
He cries out as his orgasm hits, and I swallow everything.
He goes limp in my hands and I shuffle him backwards until he can lie down on top of me, his damp brow on my chest, his panting breath tickling my hair.
“I feel boneless. I don’t think I can move for a week.” He sighs contentedly.
“My precious little dove,” I murmur and smooth the hair on his head while he practically purrs. I’ll allow him a few minutes before waking him again.
In all my life, I’ve only knelt for God, so having to be on my knees before the man who has come to take away my house and that of my brethren feels unnatural.
But here I am in the vestments I reserve for Mass, taking my place by the side of my brothers.
As Emmett described, this is purely ceremonial, and I’ve spent thirty years learning humility, so I can bear it.
I can’t bring it upon myself to blame the man in front of me, standing at the front of my church.
We are all caught up in the king’s scheme to gain money and power, and that he will profit from it while I and my brothers are cast out seems like a fate we can’t avoid.
If it wasn’t him, it would be someone else.
I glance up at him. He doesn’t seem an overtly unkind man.
The only grievance I can level against him personally is his treatment of Emmett, but that is to my advantage, so I can’t even dislike him too much for that.
The official closure only lasts half an hour, and once it’s over, the bells of Larchdown Abbey are stilled for the last time.
As I walk with him, back to what are no longer my quarters but where he’ll reside to oversee the stripping of the abbey, I see Francis and Sean along with Tomas and a few others walking towards the gate on their way to leave.
They’re empty-handed. As monks we have no possessions, even the clothes we wear are assigned to us.
Thankfully we’re not being required to strip out of them.
In truth, the few items we considered that we’d need for settling in the new village have already been sent on ahead, well before the bailiffs arrived.
Nothing of value, no asset that appears in the records, just a few tools and pieces of furniture.
Lord de Selcey soon makes himself at home, having brought his own servants. I’m grateful for that. Abel stated that under no circumstances would he serve him and cleared out soon after breakfast. He too is joining us in the new settlement, enjoying a retirement which is well deserved.
Eventually there’s nothing left but for me to leave as well, except I want to wait for Emmett.
His uncle has kept him by his side all day, and I’m full of anxiety that Emmett’s confidence that he’ll be able to join me is misplaced.
He gives me the signal we agreed and I withdraw.
I walk through the gatehouse one last time and turn towards the new village.
The plan is that I’ll wait at the old oak tree, a halfway marker and a good mile from the abbey.
A lifetime of prayer and piety have taught me patience, but I don’t think I’ve ever had it tested as much as waiting for Emmett now.
In the end I do what I know and pray. I don’t need a grand church to reach God; I can find him just as easily in the majestic oak tree before me.
Eventually I hear the beat of hooves behind me, and I rise from my position to see Emmett riding towards me.
“I know if I prayed, you’d appear,” I say, as he reins his horse in before me.
“Do you still believe in that?” he says, sliding out of his saddle.
“It hasn’t failed me so far,” I reply and he laughs.
“Did you have any trouble getting away?” I ask, concerned that he might have been followed.
“No, my uncle has what he wants. I’m no longer of any interest to him.”
“You are to me.” I grin and open my arms. He steps forward for a hug and a quick kiss before we start walking along the lane side by side while Emmett leads his horse.
We reach a rise that looks down onto the new settlement, and Emmett stops to take it all in.
I follow his gaze and see the bustle of a new community, full of hope for the future.
“You know it should have a name, this new village,” he announces, and I can’t disagree.
“Well, what do you suggest?”
He puts his head to one aide as if considering for a minute and then a broad smile lights up his face.
“As we stole the stone from the abbey, we should call it Stonehaven. Our own private joke about its origins.”
“I think that’s perfect, and I’m sure the others will too.” I hold out my hand and he slips his own into mine. “C’mon, they’re waiting for us.”
Together we walk towards our new home, our new future.