Chapter 16 #3
I woke at the first movement, a footstep just outside my door. When the door opened, I already had a knife ready, the blade pressing into the interloper’s skin. Tallu grinned at me, his teeth white in the pale moonlight coming in from the window.
“You were not expecting me,” he said.
“Should I have been?” I pulled the blade back, spinning it so that the flat pressed against my wrist when Tallu stepped fully into the room, two Dogs behind him.
Neither were Sagam or Asahi, and I hoped that meant that the two of them were getting rest. I stepped back, and Tallu reached out quickly, catching hold of my wrist.
“I waited for you,” he said.
“I was tired.” I felt the heat of embarrassment that I’d fallen asleep before I could sneak into his bed.
As though he could hear my thoughts, Tallu raised a hand to my cheek, not pulling, not even giving the slightest pressure. Just lingering with his fingertips brushing my skin.
I yielded to him. He did not need to put pressure on me, he did not need to ask—my body wanted his.
If I had been thinking straight before I went to bed, I would have known that Tallu didn’t care what the servants thought, what anyone thought.
He was the only person I might find sanctuary with in the Imperium.
We were two men against an empire; our position was dire, our outcome uncertain, and all we had was each other.
Pushing onto the balls of my feet, I let our lips touch, let that single motion tell him everything I was feeling now: the relief that he was here, the gratitude that I had him with me.
He wrapped his arm around me, the flat of his palm pressing into the small of my back as he drew me against him. For a moment, we enjoyed each other’s skin. I relished knowing that I was not alone, no matter what my training said.
I could never be alone as long as he was with me.
“We should sleep,” he said against my lips.
And even though I agreed, I still wanted more. He drew me to the bed, pulling the covers over both of us with his body pressed firmly against my back, the long lines of his muscles a weight that would keep me in place, keep my mind from spinning in circles. I slipped my knife back under my pillow.
Once we were settled, he let his palm stay flat against my stomach, his nose brushing my neck, lips so close that I was tense with anticipation.
We didn’t speak about our day, about anything we had seen. Not with the two Dogs in the room.
Instead, I found myself too tense for sleep. My body was frustrated, hungry with yearning for him. If I thought I had the stamina for it, I would have frozen time just to have a moment of release with him.
“Soon,” Tallu murmured into my ear. I nearly groaned.
But his warm presence sent me back to sleep, even if my dreams were uneven and cut by a desperate yearning. I woke near dawn, but the room had the unnatural stillness of frozen time.
When I pushed back the curtains, Na? sat on her pillow. Her head was turned toward the window, and her eyes were closed, enjoying the light from sunrise on her face.
“Your mind is broken,” she said.
For a moment, I thought she was speaking of whatever Kacha had done to me. Then she continued, her tone annoyed.
“Every time you look at each other, it is like you cannot touch, cannot speak, even though I watch you do both. I don’t understand it, but the two of you need to fix whatever the tension is between you.
I can give you a couple of hours, but more would be too much for me.
” Na? stood, shaking herself and walking out the door, between the frozen Dogs.
Behind me, Tallu stirred, and I was reluctant to wake him from what looked like a peaceful slumber—the first in a very long time. But I couldn’t waste the gift she had given us, not when my whole body was tense with anticipation.
I pushed Tallu’s shoulder, and he woke immediately, rolling flat on his back.
I didn’t wait, laying myself down on top of him, pressing my lips to his, enjoying the pliant yield of his sleepy acquiescence.
We had time—not much, but enough—so I kissed him, letting my lips say everything I didn’t have time to put into words.
All my worry and anxiety disappeared at the feel of him underneath me. He lifted one of his hands, spreading it wide against my lower back, using his fingertips to work up under my nightclothes until he found skin.
I shivered, hiccupping a moan, and he grinned against my lips.
“Oh?” he teased, his breath warm as he moved down to my neck. I was the one pressing him to the bed, but it felt as though he was the one in charge. “I told you I wanted to wait. I cannot let them have this piece of you.”
“They’re frozen. Na? is giving us a few hours to ourselves.” I sat back, grinding my ass against his hardening cock. “Tallu—”
I wasn’t sure what I was going to say. Na? wasn’t wrong.
Ever since we had begun this journey, Tallu and I had been trapped playing the roles the Dogs and Kennelmaster expected of us.
Even now in the Lakeshore Palace, we played at emperor and consort.
We hadn’t been able to speak freely about the true purpose of any of our plans.
I had only been able to tell him about Asahi a few hours ago, the first time someone couldn’t have been listening to us, and I had no idea if he had similar observations and thoughts to share with me.
I had never thought I would yearn to be locked in a room with the emperor I had to kill, but the memory of our hours together in Tallu’s quarters at the Mountainside Palace left me with a hole in my heart that ached. I needed him.
I missed the sex, the physical contact. But I needed him. I needed the man who made me feel not so alone, the man who understood what we were doing and why we were doing it.
Tallu didn’t wait. Holding my hips, he rolled us, landing heavily on my pelvis but using his hands to keep himself hovering above me, not quite collapsing onto my chest. His mouth lowered to my neck, pressing kisses along the sensitive flesh.
“Do you know how long I’ve been yearning for this?” he asked, each word sending sparks across my skin. “In the bath—”
He thrust his hips forward, his cock so hard that I could feel it straining against his undergarments.
I moaned, whimpering as he thrust again and again, grinding against me, the friction of cloth on my cock not quite enough.
My ass ached from riding a horse all day, but I wanted him to give me more of that pain, that ache of completeness.
I reached up, desperately pawing at his clothing, my fingers fisting in the soft fabric.
He chuckled, sitting up just far enough to yank his shirt off. I tried to follow, but he pinned me with one hand. Then, he lowered his mouth, nibbling and sucking my nipples through my shirt. I cried out, whining and writhing underneath him.
The fabric was soaking wet when he pulled back, his breath hot, and through the moisture, I could feel his words on my hard nipple.
“Do you know what you do to me? Dressed like a merchant, so much of your skin on display? I had to sit in the cart and watch you day after day, knowing that I could never touch you.”
“You can touch me now,” I said. “Tallu, touch me. Take me.”
He grinned wickedly, returning his attention to my nipple, stroking the flat of his tongue over it. I couldn’t bear how desperately hard I was, how even the slightest touch of his hand would take me over the edge.
His hips kept me pressed down, and I knew he wasn’t going to let me come, not yet, not when we had two hours to enjoy ourselves.
Gently, he tugged at the hem of my shirt, and I lifted my shoulders just enough to let him pull it over my chest. As the soft fabric dragged over my hard nipples, it felt like torture, like the most magnificent form of it.
I shut my eyes, so I wouldn’t see the worshipful expression on his face. It shocked me when he reached down my pants, fisting my hard cock.
I saw white, my entire back arching, nearly shoving him off me as I came, pulsing and hot over his tight fingers. He continued to work me through the aftershocks until the merest touch of his hand became painful. I grabbed hold of his wrist and opened my eyes to see him grinning down at me.
He pulled his hand free from my pants and then began licking his fingers clean. I shuddered again, sure my body had found some more to give. I jerked uncontrollably, two weeks of yearning distilled down to one moment of pleasure.
“You haven’t—” My tongue couldn’t quite finish, my brain still five steps behind as I struggled to come up with a coherent sentence.
“You don’t think we’re done, do you?” Tallu’s deep voice sent a ripple of anticipation up my spine.
He pulled back, just far enough to pull my pants down, taking my undergarments with them.
When he freed my legs, he bent his head, suckling on my soft cock, licking at the come that hadn’t gotten on his hand.
I moaned, sparks of pleasure interrupting my vision. Scrunching my eyes, I laced my fingers in his hair, fisting his soft curls. I could feel his grin, and he pulled off my still-soft cock.
Then there was a rustle, and he pulled something out of his robe. I blinked open my eyes, frowning when I saw a silver tin. He dipped in one finger and sat back on his heels before gently lifting one of my legs to his shoulder.
“I thought we weren’t—you said you didn’t want them to hear.” I felt both my eyebrows go up, whatever thoughts I had scattering in the face of his absolute focus.
“I was going to order them out. We were not going to be sleeping,” he said. “Their services would not be necessary until I had worn you out. Only you fell asleep so quickly.”
All I managed was a hysterical whimper in response.
Frowning in concentration, he circled his forefinger around my entrance, pressing just the tip of his finger inside before pulling back. I gasped, my hips jerking forward.