CHAPTER 25
C HAPTER 25
S ETH SHOULDN’T be turned on doing this. He was doing this to help, not to indulge in his own pleasures, so he was careful not to let his erection brush Raider.
Gods, they’d fucked all afternoon yesterday and even once during the night. Raider had told him that his out-of-control sex drive was the result of the healing, his body having been restored to intense, hungry life. Even so, Seth should be worn out by now.
But with Raider lying face down on the bed, with both of them naked and Seth on his knees, straddling Raider’s hips? His dick was so hard it was making him lightheaded. But he stayed focused on his task, kneading the knotted muscles of Raider’s back.
He had started before Raider was fully awake, not giving him a chance to withdraw like he still often did in the mornings. Half asleep, Raider had let Seth rotate and stretch his left shoulder. He’d let Seth roll him onto his front and start working on his back.
Seth had started out fine. Controlled. No more aroused than usual in the mornings. Able to ignore it. But as Raider’s muscles had loosened, as his body had grown supple under Seth’s hands, as he’d started to make light grunts of pleasure, Seth had started to struggle. He loved Raider’s body. It was so beautifully athletic. Such a perfect balance of strength and litheness.
But it wasn’t just his structure that Seth loved. It was his bronze skin and wavy dark hair. It was the way he moved, even trapped under Seth as he was now. It was the sounds he made. It was the memory of every moment of sexual pleasure they had shared.
Raider was so intensely sexual. Seth had never seen himself that way, but he was learning that he was. At least, he was with Raider. Hard. Always hard. Always wanting.
When Raider let out a soft moan, Seth’s cock twitched. Precum pulsed from his slit, threading down. Seth bit back the sound that tried to escape him, but he couldn’t quite control his breathing. Then Raider reached behind himself to grab Seth’s hand. He pulled Seth’s hand away from his back and, lifting his ass, guided Seth’s hand down to own erection.
“I need it too,” Raider said, clearly aware of Seth’s arousal. “Stop fighting it.”
Seth moaned at the pleasure of stroking that fine cock. He rubbed his thumb over Raider’s flared, leaking tip. When Raider pressed up against him, Seth rolled his hips, letting his aching cock glide along the cleft of Raider’s ass.
“Don’t move,” Raider said as he reached for the oil beside the bed.
Seth released Raider’s cock to take the oil from him. He poured some into his palm then put the bottle aside. He slicked his cock.
“That sound ,” Raider groaned.
“You like that, huh?”
“Gods, yes.”
Seth lifted him to his knees. Lining his dick up with Raider’s hole, Seth pressed into him. As Seth watched his stiff cock disappear inside Raider ass, he said, “I should fuck you all the time so you’re always ready for me like this.”
“You should definitely fuck me all the time. I love when your cock’s in me.” Raider’s hands fisted the sheets. “You’re not even all the way in, are you?”
“No, baby, you’ve got three more inches to take.”
Raider started panting as Seth kept pressing in. “Gods, you’re big.”
“I know. Are you okay?” Maybe Seth should’ve prepped him after all.
“I love it.”
Seth took a deep breath as he bottomed out in Raider, his pelvis flush against Raider’s ass. He slid his hand around Raider’s hip, murmuring with pleasure when his hand found the hard, heated length of him.
“Fuck, that feels good,” Raider mumbled into the mattress as Seth started to stroke him. Keeping a firm grip on Raider’s cock, Seth drew his hips back then slid deep again. Pleasure spilled through Seth’s body.
“My body was made for this,” Seth murmured as he slow-fucked Raider, keeping hold of his cock. “Every time I’m inside you, I know it absolutely.”
When Raider moaned, Seth knew he was beyond words. Raider always gave himself over to the sensations. But Seth loved talking to him like this.
“That’s it, baby, just let me take care of you. Gods, you’re hard. So damn swollen. I need to see you.”
Raider cried out in protest when Seth pulled out of him, but he let Seth roll him onto his back. Raider spread his legs and let Seth lift him. When Seth slid into him again, Raider groaned in relief.
“Stroke yourself,” Seth ordered as he started to fuck him. “Let me see how you touch yourself.”
Raider’s eyes closed. His cock twitched against his muscled abdomen, leaking precum. Raider reached down to grip his own cock. Seth groaned, rocking into Raider as he watched him start to stroke himself.
Raider worked himself harder and harder as Seth picked up the pace. He had Raider severely bent and was spreading his legs hard to fuck him deep. Raider’s cheeks were flushed, his eyes heavy-lidded.
Raider reached lower to grip his balls. He was rough with himself, tugging and working his sac. It was such a turn-on that Seth forgot this was supposed to be a slow-fuck and started railing him.
Raider’s moans intensified and his hand started working harder, returning to his flushed and glistening shaft. His cockhead plumped with every stroke, pulsing out precum. Seth was grunting, his body tight and electric with pleasure. His balls were heavy and aching for release.
Raider’s eyes, which had been locked on the joining of their bodies, lifted to Seth’s face. His lips parted as though to warn Seth, but Seth was well aware of how close he was.
“Come,” Seth gritted out as he held back his release to pound against Raider’s prostate. “Let me see you—ah, fuck, baby, fuck!”
Seth’s hips snapped forward, his cock kicking out a hard release at the sight of Raider’s cock pulsing out creamy strands. They shot onto his chest and throat, even his jaw as he came with a strangled cry. His body had seized tight, his ass clenching on Seth’s cock as it pumped hot seed deep inside him.
They strained through the last of it until they were both spent. Seth wanted to stay inside Raider, but more than that he wanted to hold him. So he pulled out and crawled up Raider’s body. He licked the cum from Raider’s jaw, instinctively cleaning him, then he pulled Raider into his arms. Gods, Seth would never get enough of holding him.
They lay there for a long while, then Raider said, “Seth?”
“Yeah, baby.”
“I want to talk to Tarjan.”
Seth stiffened. He didn’t mean to, but he couldn’t help it.
“I have questions,” Raider said.
Seth forced himself to take a breath, to think. “Yeah. I understand. Of course you do. Of course we should talk to him.”
“I want to talk to him … alone.”
When Seth started to pull back, Raider’s hold on him tightened. “It’s not to keep secrets. It’s just … I think it’ll be easier for me.”
Seth didn’t like that at all. And yet … “I can’t exactly tell you not to do that.”
Raider chuckled. “You want to tell me not to.”
Seth grunted. “You know me too well. Let me get a cloth. We need to clean up.”
Sighing, Raider let him go. Seth climbed out of the bed and went to the table that held a wash basin. He dipped a soft cloth into it. Nearby, a little green and yellow bird alighted on one of the seed-sprinkled platforms. It pecked at the offered food then flitted back out through one of the peaked windows.
As Seth returned to the bed, kneeling between Raider’s legs, Raider said, “There’s actually a lot I don’t know about you.”
Seth lifted one of Raider’s legs to gently sponge away Seth’s release. Gods, he loved caring for Raider like this. “What do you want to know?”
Raider’s eyes had closed in contentment, but they opened at the question. “Tell me about your mentor. Marcus.”
Seth swept the cloth across Raider’s belly and chest, clearing away the traces of cum. “He’s … kind. Like you are. He’s coolheaded—”
“Unlike me.”
“You are a little hotheaded,” Seth said, his lips tugging as he cleaned Raider’s throat. “So am I. That gets us into trouble when we’re both hotheaded at the same time.”
“True,” Raider chuckled, “but we manage.”
“Yeah, we do.”
“Give me that cloth. There’s some on you.”
Seth looked down his front and spotted the mess. He started to swipe at it, but Raider sat up and took the cloth from him. He pecked Seth’s lips and said, “I like to take care of you too, you know.”
Seth’s heart warmed as Raider cleaned his chest and belly. “So Marcus is a Curator?” Raider asked as he leaned over to set the cloth on the floor.
“Yes, though he mostly teaches now. Prospective Curators, that is. He teaches history and politics, but he’s a really, really good bowman, so he teaches that too.”
“You don’t carry a bow,” Raider observed, settling into a cross-legged position. “Did he not teach you?”
“Oh, he tried. It’s not my thing. I prefer the chakram. And the sword.”
“Were you bad at it?” Raider teased.
“Yes.”
Raider chuckled with obvious delight.
“You like that, huh?”
“I do, actually. It’s annoying that you’re so good at everything else. You kicked my ass that first time we fought in Shalaa. When I challenged you in the stable?”
“You ask that as though I won’t remember it for the rest of my life. And you won that fight.”
“By cheating.”
“Oh, now you admit what you did was cheating.”
Seth had had Raider on the ground. But when he’d brought his sword down to end the fight, Raider’s quicksilver shoulder guard had made its first appearance. It had surprised the shit out of Seth, and Raider had taken quick advantage of that and kicked Seth’s legs out from under him, turning the tables.
“I was trying to make a point,” Raider argued.
“You made your point. Which was that I needed you. And you were right. I wouldn’t have survived the Kesh without you.”
“You don’t think so?”
“No way in Hasa’s hell.”
“So back to Marcus.”
“You’re very curious about him.”
“He’s important to you.”
“He is. He saved my life, in more ways than one.”
Raider’s expression sobered, and his fingers settled on Seth’s knee.
Seth had told Raider about his mother’s death, when she and Seth had been chased into an alley by several men. How they had killed her in front of Seth. How Marcus had intervened and killed those men. But he hadn’t told Raider about all the years after.
Seth drew a deep breath. “Without Marcus, I don’t know what would’ve become of me. If he’d just brought me to Arcanum, dropped me there, and washed his hands of me? I wouldn’t have lasted there. Even with Marcus’s intervention, some didn’t want me to.”
Raider frowned. “Why? What happened?”
Memories rushed through Seth’s mind, but he didn’t linger on any specific one. But he did try to tell Raider the truth. “I was … really angry. Sometimes out of control. I got in a lot of fights. Marcus helped me learn to calm down.”
After a moment, Raider said quietly, “Your breathing exercises.”
Seth winced. “You noticed that?”
“Only because I watch you so closely.”
“Hm. Well, those, yes, but I’m also talking about other things. Putting things in context. Thinking instead of reacting. I’m not saying I’m great at it, but I’m better than I would’ve been without him. I was lucky to have him. I am lucky. He’s like my father.”
“You … didn’t have one?”
“Not really. My mother was the concubine of a powerful man. He was technically my father but not in any way that mattered. It was his men who killed my mother. Because she had angered him.”
Raider’s expression darkened abruptly. His fingers clenched on Seth’s knee. “Fuck, Seth. That’s awful. I fucking hate that that happened to you. Fuck .”
“It’s okay.”
“Bullshit! It’s not fucking okay!”
“I mean … I’m okay.”
Raider shook his head. “I don’t see how you can be. That’s terrible.”
“I’m mostly okay,” Seth amended then added lightly, “I still have a temper.”
Raider scowled. “Don’t make this funny.”
“Why not? You always do. And I do have a temper—which you very much enjoy sparking.” Seth kept his tone light, hoping Raider would relent and relax. They had enough to deal with without waking up Seth’s ghosts.
Raider was silent for a moment, clearly struggling with the tone Seth wanted to set. But he gave in and said, “Well, you are gorgeous when you’re angry.”
“You’re the only one who thinks that, but I’ll take it.”
“I’m the only one who says it maybe. You do realize you how attractive you are, right?”
“To you perhaps, but that’s all I need.”
“You can’t be that blind.”
Seth shrugged. “Most people avoid me.”
Raider shook his head, looking exasperated. “Baby, that’s because you’re intimidating.”
Shit, Seth loved when Raider called him that. He tried not to let on exactly how much that made him melt as he replied, “I’m not intimidating to you, apparently.”
“No, because I like all that green fire in your eyes. But I like this too. Talking to you like this. It feels good.”
Seth leaned forward to press a kiss to Raider’s forehead. “It feels good to me too.”
***
While Raider spoke with Tarjan, Seth went exploring. He didn’t like how quickly Tarjan had appeared after he and Raider had left their room, and he didn’t like the sight of Raider walking away with that male, but he didn’t have a right to say no.
If Raider didn’t want him involved in the conversation, that was fine. (It didn’t feel fine, but what the hell could he do about it?)
Seth would use the time to investigate. He didn’t feel as easy here as Raider did. Some of that came from his worry over Raider liking it a little too much. But most of it had to do with the theory he’d developed while poring over books, scrolls, and maps in the imperial library.
It was that theory that had set his course from Kastari across the al-Hatan. Maybe he should have plotted a different route, but he’d been afraid that doing so would make his intentions too obvious.
Besides, he hadn’t been able to resist the mystery of Ulam. Of course, he hadn’t expected it to matter. He hadn’t expected to actually reach it.
But he was pretty damn sure that was exactly what had happened.
He could see it in the blend of cultivation and wildness, the way that Jannat was refined but also, somehow, ruined.
Raider probably didn’t see it, but Seth had spent so much of his life exploring ancient ruins that he couldn’t miss the parallels. The fragmented buildings. The columns that stood in places, supporting nothing. The plinths empty of their statues.
It was all so beautiful that is looked deliberate. But there was destruction here, lingering in the broken stones.
And all these carvings.
On the stone path that Seth was following, he crouched to examine the symbols etched into the base of a rounded portico. He traced a faint shape with his finger. A raven. A symbol of Kasha, goddess of the arcane mysteries.
The djinn, from everything Seth had read, had no love for the arcane—and therefore no reason to inscribe their buildings with images of Kasha.
The hair rose on the back of Seth’s neck. He looked into the shaded recesses of the portico. There was a smudge of bluish smoke. It vanished as he stared at it.
How many djinn were there, drifting invisibly through Jannat? How many were hiding in the shapes of birds and snakes and cats?
Seth moved on to inspect other faded symbols in the broken columns and sections of balustrade. He found sequences of arcane symbols and ancient writing that he couldn’t read.
Jannat, he was sure, was Ulam. That was how the city had been lost, hidden by the djinn. That was why no one had ever found it, even if they had reached it. Over the centuries, a few humans had been allowed into the garden-city, hence the stories of it, but they had not realized where they were—because the truth was hidden in plain sight.
So what had happened here? Why did the djinn live here in this lost human city?
And what had happened to the humans?