Chapter 13
GAVIN
I admit Kyler is clever in the ideas department. The attendants have found him suitable clothing after what I did the night before. He goes without footwear, apparently hating it anyway, so why torture him? Instead of walking to the dining hall, I carry him.
As we enter, Kyler wraps his legs around my waist and his arms around my neck. He leans in, pressing kisses to my throat, a writhing, lustful creature.
Everyone seated turns to watch us. Kyler adds moans and rubs against me, and I have to stifle back a laugh at the reactions of some of the occupants.
Most of the nobility eat in their chambers, but a couple of years ago, Leander asked me and Ambrose to start dining in the hall for the morning meal.
It’s a show that we aren’t above anyone else and lessens the burden on the servants.
Three fewer rooms to fill with food means more time for other tasks or even a break.
I’m happy to oblige; I’d rather eat among others than alone any day.
We’ve gotten lucky. Princess Ailey is there with several of her ladies-in-waiting. I don’t know why she’s in the dining hall instead of her chambers for breakfast, but I’m glad. She gets a front-row seat to what Kyler has in mind.
Ailey sits with Leander and Ambrose at the banquet table on a platform that rises higher than the rest of the diners. That’s where I head.
Kyler’s heartbeat pounds against me. I can’t tell if it’s from the strenuous activity or fear, so I clutch him close. I’m not the only one aroused. He seeks friction with every thrust of his hips, clinging to my back. Sweat drenches us both, though it could just be the late summer heat baking us.
“Slow down, my strumpet,” I whisper. “You can’t come in my arms. At least not yet.”
That brings a joyous laugh from Kyler. His cheeks flush. “I may have gotten a little overzealous,” he whispers back, nibbling at my neck but stopping his bucking.
I adjust my grip and walk the few steps up the platform, bowing to my brothers before proceeding to my empty seat, right next to Princess Ailey. I keep Kyler in my arms, which means he straddles me in the seat, rocking against my hardness before I can still his wily hips.
“Ailey.” I swipe Kyler’s hair from his eyes.
It’s been brushed and braided, but a few tendrils escape the ribbon.
The pair make eyes at each other, and I can’t help but notice the way she examines Kyler as if trying to remember him from some place.
Her lips bend into a wide smile, showing through her eyes.
“You have a lover. How delightful.” She claps her petite hands.
Not the reaction I’m going for. Kyler stiffens in my lap.
“Oh, Gavy. We’re progressive in Avondra. I’d never begrudge you a lover.”
This is not going as planned. If she’s okay with me having a lover—
“I’m not his lover.” Kyler presses himself closer to me, cupping my cheek. “I’m his pair-bond.” The little minx presses his lips to mine and tongues my mouth open. I can’t resist the kiss if I want to.
Once he breaks the kiss, he leans back and unties the top of his shirt, revealing the fake mark I placed on his shoulder.
Ailey’s eyes go wide. “How?” Her lips tremble.
“You made a promise, Gavin. You were to be mine. Avondra’s.
We need you.” She throws her napkin on the table and rises.
“Fix this,” she directs at Leander. As she stomps down the platform, all her ladies follow, leaving their floral perfume in their wake.
“That was easier than I thought,” Kyler whispers so quietly that I’m sure no one else hears.
“I wouldn’t be so sure.” Ailey is known to be stubborn. “This isn’t over.”
“Brother,” Ambrose drawls as he walks over to take Ailey’s now vacant seat. “I thought you weren’t going to make a big show of things until after your adventure.” His eyes roam over Kyler, and I want to growl.
“I don’t remember agreeing to that.”
“Fine. How about you share with the court how you found this lovely specimen?”
Heat radiates from Kyler, and I lean back to see he’s blushing again. With his kiss-swollen lips, he’s delectable.
Kyler squirms in my lap to face Ambrose, but the words that come are directed at me. “Do you want to tell our story, or should I?”
This should be good. “Go ahead, love.” I rub Kyler’s back as he moves to sit on the arm of my chair.
With a nod, he starts his tale. “I work with my uncle on The Golden Goose. It’s a merchant ship.”
Everyone that can hear him leans closer for the story, Leander included.
“After particularly good negotiations with the lord of Cavena for silks, my uncle wanted to celebrate. So we made port at Uvena island.”
A wave of laughs goes up. Uvena island is a known pirate hangout.
Kyler raises his hands. “We went for the wine.”
More laughs. He continues, “I had made a bet with a rather large dragon shifter named Petren. Lovely man. I bet I could out-drink him.”
The hall roars. Of course, no one believes such a lithe man could out-drink a dragon shifter.
“Come. Come, have a little faith.” He shakes his head and turns to me. “They don’t believe I could do it.”
“I didn’t either, if you would recall.”
Kyler sighs. “I do. Well, as I’m sure you all realize, I lost.” His shoulders slump as he leans forward. “Guess what the loser had to do?”
“Suck his cock?” Someone shouts.
Kyler scrunches his nose. “No. No. This was a silly, innocent bet.”
A few more shout out answers, but Kyler only shakes his head. “I had to dance with scarves on a table.”
I hold my breath, wondering if this story is true. If at some point he had danced for someone, with or without scarves.
“That’s a better reward than what I’d have come up with.” Leander smiles and lifts his wine goblet to his lips.
Kyler nods. “I enjoy dancing. Rather, I excel at it, to be honest, so I didn’t mind. I hopped up on the table, took the scarves, and started swaying my hips.” He turns to me. “Should I show them?”
The room booms in agreement.
“We don’t have any scarves for you,” Ambrose says. “Pity.”
Kyler climbs onto the table, careful not to step in dishes or goblets. Turning to face me again, he crooks a finger, beckoning me closer, then presses a kiss to me when I oblige. Skies, those sweet lips draw me in.
“Dance for me, Kyler.”
“You were supposed to stop me,” he whispers.
“I want to see it for myself.” I wink and wave him on.
Kyler pulls away with a groan. “Now I’m sure you’re wondering what this all has to do with meeting our beloved prince.
” Standing tall, facing his audience, he holds his arms at shoulder level and cocks out a hip.
“But who, I ask, can resist the sway of a body?” With a rolling action, he cocks the other hip.
His hands are soft as he continues to the beat of music only he hears, his feet following a pattern I take moments to memorize. Kyler is so graceful.
“Oh. But I was incredibly drunk, so I’m sure I looked more like…” Kyler changes his steps to a chaotic, arm-flailing dance that I imagine an octopus would perform. The hall erupts in laughter.
“That’s more like what I remember,” I say.
Kyler is close to the edge of the table now, giving me heart palpitations. I don’t want to see him hurt.
“Since I was so drunk, I wasn’t as balanced as I am now and…” He throws a hand to his forehead, spins, and drops from the table. I’m right there to catch him. “Gavin saved me from breaking anything. After that, I’m sure you all can fill in the blanks.”
“Yes, I stayed with you all night to make sure no one harassed you while you sobered up.”
“A perfect gentleman.”
I sit him on the edge of the table and kiss him deeply, grinding into him, forgetting the audience until Leander clears his throat.
“Clearly.” Ambrose clamps a hand on my shoulder before returning to his seat.
Kyler’s eyes are wide, his chest moving quickly with his breath. I’ve gotten carried away. Servants come in from a side door, and I push away from the table, then offer my hand to Kyler. He takes it, and we go back to my seat, where he sits on my lap again.
Servants set two bowls and spoons in front of us, then hurry back through the door. Kyler glares at the spoon, but I’ve decided how to fix the pesky problem of his table manners.
He nuzzles up to me. “Was the story too much?” When he pulls away, there’s a glint of mischief in his eyes.
“I rather enjoyed it.” I fill a spoon. “But I want to know the real story sometime.”
Kyler swallows. “The real story doesn’t have such a happy ending.”
“You don’t have to share it.” I offer him the spoon, and he takes it greedily, lapping at it when I draw it away. That pink tongue darts across his lips to lick away stray bits. I can’t help another kiss.
When we break away, he presses his cheek to my jaw. “I didn’t make the bet.” He speaks so quietly that I can barely breathe if I want to hear. “Vex had. Against three dragon shifters. Then when he failed to drink them under the table, they demanded he follow through with sucking their cocks.”
“Did he?”
Kyler huffs out a breath. “I think you know the answer to that.”
I can only nod. Of course, Vex didn’t suck cock. He’d made Kyler do it. “I’m sorry.”
Kyler gives me a sad smile. “Don’t be. It doesn’t seem real, anyway.
I’d been drugged out of my mind at the time.
Didn’t care what happened to me. I sucked those cocks like my life depended on it.
Vex still beat me afterward, though. I twisted my ankle after falling off the table.
I don’t think he’d ever tried dancing while strung up on…
I don’t even know what he gave me. It was an experiment to see how I’d react. ”
The words stun me into silence. What can I say to that revelation? It makes me want to murder Captain Vex slowly and painfully. What else has the man done to Kyler?
Before I can speak again, Kyler kisses me over and over. “Don’t think about it. I try not to.”
“How do you take that story and turn it into a fairytale?” I tip his chin to make him look at me. “Happy ending with a prince, even.”
“I happen to have a prince at my disposal right now.”
“Kyler.” I offer him another spoonful.
Keeping his eyes on the wall behind us, Kyler swallows the food down. He won’t talk anymore. I shouldn’t have asked for the real story. “Are all your stories like this?”
He won’t look at me.
No wonder he agreed so easily to my ridiculous schemes. It gets him away from the captain.
“You never have to go back. I’ll find a place for you here when we’re done.”
Kyler’s bitter laugh startles me. “You don’t understand. I can’t.”
“You don’t have to stay where you’re abused. You—”
“I’m stuck. There’s no way out. Not… yet.” He sighs and presses his face into my chest.
Kyler rejects the next bite I offer.
“You can’t go hungry.” I offer again, and he takes it.
Then he pushes away and stands. “I don’t need much food. I’ll be in your bedchambers.” Without another word, he turns and leaves.
My heart threatens to break for a man I hardly know.