5
*~*~*
A brief windstorm slowed their progress, so unfortunately they didn't arrive until well after dinner.
Ender was sore, exhausted, and had sand in places sand was never meant to be.
All he wanted was a thorough rinse, a long soak in the hottest water he could find, and to sleep for at least fourteen hours.
Unfortunately, he was so sick to his stomach with anxiety and dread that he doubted he'd be able to do anything except stand around staring blankly at a wall as abject terror ate him from the inside out.
He stumbled as they reached the top of the steps to the grand pavilion, but even as he was resigned to breaking his nose, he was swept up into familiar strong, warm arms.
"You can't—"
"Shush," Berkant said gently, a thread of amusement in his voice.
Instead of going through the main entrance, he cut to the far end and touched one of the many ornamental flowers carved into the wall.
A section of the wall swung slightly outward, and moments later they were in a dark tunnel that smelled of dust and dirt.
"There are secret passages?"
"Of course.
What fun would a lavish palace be without them?" Berkant replied with a soft laugh.
The sound of a match filled the space, along with the scent of sulfur, and the resulting tiny flame swiftly became a glowing lantern.
Berkant offered a hand that Ender immediately took, a tiny part of his tension easing in the reassuring comfort of Berkant's gentle strength.
It all came roaring back though as they exited the secret passages…into a room that was so beautifully appointed, spacious and luxurious and smelling of fresh flowers from the garden, that it could only belong to one person.
Who appeared a moment later.
"Berkant! Ender! " Shafiq all but ran across the room to them and pulled Ender into a tight embrace, putting Ender's head right in the hollow of his throat.
Shafiq smelled utterly decadent, of amber and roses and something smoky.
"You're safe, thank the gods.
I've been so worried." He drew back, hands heavy and reassuring on Ender's shoulders. "Are you all right? I'm so sorry this happened to you."
"I— I'm fine." As long as he didn't think too much about how he'd killed someone.
About poor Raia being dragged away with his blood trailing behind him.
Maybe he wasn't so fine after all.
Seeming to realize that, Shafiq pulled Ender back into his embrace, gentle words falling over Ender as he clung tightly, shaking and crying.
He barely noticed when he was moved, laid down on the world's softest bed, exhaustion dragging him down immediately.
When he woke, he felt sore, grimy, and utterly confused.
Oh, gods.
He'd cried all over Shafiq.
Pushing away the soft blankets covering him, cringing at the dirt and sand he'd left all over them, he climbed out and pushed to his feet.
This was not his room.
This was most definitely Shafiq's chambers.
If the spacious, beautifully appointed bedroom wasn't enough to give that away, the luxurious gardens he could see from here, the fountains and pools keeping the chambers cool, definitely were.
"You're awake!"
Ender looked up sharply, confusion turning into low-level panic as he stared at Nadir and everything that had happened before his kidnapping, the conversation with Berkant after their reunion, crashed down on him. "You—"
"It's all right!" Nadir rushed in, grasping his arms and pulling him close.
"Ender, please, you don't have to run."
Laughing-crying, Ender just kept trying to break free.
"Yes, I do.
I shouldn't—" He froze as Nadir cupped his face with one hand. "Nadir…"
"Breathe, little star."
That was an endearment Ender had heard many times, but never addressed to him.
"I thought I was a meerkat."
Nadir laughed as he looped their arms together and led Ender through an archway to a beautiful bathing chamber.
"Oh, you are, never doubt it.
Come on, I'm sure you'd like to scrub away all that dust.
Gods knows after I got home after my kidnapping—"
"I'm concerned that seems a continuing theme around here."
"Not as concerned as Shafiq and the poor royal guards suffering his wrath.
I had quite the, um, adventure that I hope to never repeat," Nadir said, mouth twisting.
"Come on, let's get you scrubbed and in the bath, and I'll tell you all about it."
"I cannot wait to be clean." He didn't even want to think about the filthy bedding he'd left behind.
When they reached the washing area, he immediately set to scrubbing, until his skin practically squeaked and his hair was smooth and free of tangles.
Satisfied with that, he slid into the blissfully hot water, only barely biting back a moan.
"This is divine." The water even smelled nice, instead simply of the usual minerals that gave Tavamara's famous bathwaters their unique scent.
Sitting there with his eyes closed just soaking up the heat, he could almost ignore all the tumult still roiling his stomach, the fact that he could reach out and touch his twin brother, that he was in the king's chambers…and so many other things that were way past too much for a humble scholar born to—well, raised by—carpenters who had no business even being in the royal place.
Soft splashing drew his attention, and he dragged his eyes open, resigned to the conversation he needed to have with the brother he did not have remotely brotherly feelings for.
"Got you a dressing robe for whenever you're finished," Nadir said.
"It's one of mine, actually.
Though it might fit."
Ender laughed despite himself, and heaved out of the tub, even though he could have lingered there forever.
This wasn't, however, a discussion he wanted to have naked.
He took the robe and slipped it on while Nadir looked politely away, then followed him to where tea and food had been arranged.
When he'd had some of the food and drink, Ender tentatively asked, "Why were you kidnapped?"
"Same reason as you: to hurt Shafiq, to interfere with his effort to stop people trading in children," Nadir replied, and related the story of his parents who were not his parents, the scandal of their trafficking, and his own kidnapping.
"As you have seen firsthand, being a concubine is not entirely the soft, cushy life that everyone imagines.
We will always be at risk of kidnapping, assassination, and more—and you and I will always be the target of whispers and rumors, as to the outside world we are twin brothers."
He could not be implying what it seemed.
Then again, Ender was here, alone with a concubine, in Shafiq's private quarters.
"I—I don't know why anyone isn't horrified by me.
By what I feel.
Especially you," he added, looking down at his hands.
Gentle fingers touched his chin, nudged his face up, and as Ender did so, soft lips pressed against his in a sweet, barely there kiss that burned through him like fire.
"Nadir…" he said as Nadir drew back only barely.
"Why should I see you as a brother when we are strangers, hmm? We were not raised as siblings, why should we act like something we never were and have no reason to be?"
Ender's heart pounded in his ears. "Nadir."
"Kiss me again, and let us be lovers rather than brothers."
How was he supposed to say no to such a pretty request that gave him everything he wanted? Ender obeyed, closing the distance between them to kiss him with far more heat, gentle at first as they learned each other but with increasing fervor, until Nadir had him half-bent over the low table and they were both panting.
Nadir smiled.
"I think this will work nicely.
Especially once Shafiq and Berkant join us, hmm?" He laughed and withdrew, letting Ender sit up.
"Which reminds me, there is a question in want of asking, even if the answer is obvious?"
Ender licked his lips.
"Entirely obvious."
Laughing, Nadir pushed to his feet and strode off, vanishing behind a large tapestry that clearly was not simply covering a bit of wall.
A moment later, the tapestry again moved—to reveal Shafiq.
Ender scrambled to sit up and bow properly, nose not quite touching the floor.
"You don't bow to me, Ender, not here," Shafiq said.
"Not ever, save as it pleases you to do so." Shafiq knelt in front of him as Ender sat up.
"To judge from the smile on Nadir's face, dare I hope you are willing to be mine? Despite the life as an architect you were working so hard at? The peaceful life you could have? The dangers inherent in this one?
"Does it not bother you, Nadir and me? That we don't…see each other as brothers, even though that's what we are?"
Shafiq shook his head and drew Ender close.
"No.
Life is complicated, and too often short.
Your relationship, whatever it may be, hurts no one, and therefore is nobody else's business.
People lied to and deceived you both, preventing you growing up together as you should have. No one has any right to judge how you choose to live your lives together going forward. Anyone who dares to do so will answer to me."
"Then yes, my king, I would very much like to remain here, with you, for as long as you will have me."
"Forever, Ender.
I will have you forever."
Shafiq kissed him, hard and claiming, one hand threading through his hair to grip tightly and angle him just so.
Ender whimpered softly and clung to the front of his fancy tunic before slowly, shyly, shifting his grip to those lovely shoulders he'd secretly admired more than once.
"I'm glad you're alright, and safe here with us," Shafiq whispered.
"I promise I'll make everything worth it."
"You already have," Ender replied.
He started to say more, but his thoughts scattered at the sound of footsteps, and he looked up into the smiling faces of Nadir and Berkant.
Berkant held out a hand, and after a moment of hesitation, Ender placed his own in it, huffing in surprise when he was reeled up and in, strong arms wrapping around his waist before Berkant bent to kiss him, softly but ardently.
Like being warmed slowly by a crackling fire.
Ender curled his hands around Berkant's ridiculously muscled arms.
Nadir pressed up against him from behind, pressing wet, open-mouthed kisses to his neck and shoulders, fingers slipping inside his robe to trail along his skin, sending delicate shivers running through him.
He moaned as Berkant deepened the kiss, threading a hand through his hair and kneading at his scalp.
His hands were so big .
All of Berkant was ridiculously big, and even with all the kissing and touching, Ender found it hard to believe he could explore all of that exactly as he'd wanted from the moment he'd seen Berkant.
Eventually they drew apart, panting into their shared air.
"Not bad, Jackal."
"Not bad yourself, meerkat."
Ender laughed.
"Why am I a meerkat?"
"A type of mongoose, tenacious and smart, capable of surviving in rough environments where most would fail, cooperative and social," Shafiq said, brushing his fingers along Ender's cheek before turning his head to take a kiss of his own, leaving Ender whimpering, aching, when he drew away.
"Shall we move this to our bed?"
He was going to be in the king's bed.
As a concubine.
Of the king.
With his two other concubines.
Ender was nearly dizzy from it all, but dwelling on those realizations wasn't really possible as he was stripped and spread out on the softest blankets he'd ever felt.
Nadir crawled over him, straddling his hips and bracing himself on his arms as he leaned down to kiss Ender, hungry and eager, their cocks sliding together.
"You're so pretty," Nadir said breathlessly.
"I look like you," Ender said with a laugh.
"It's different," Nadir insisted before kissing him again, feasting on his mouth before working down his body in slow, teasing fashion.
Ender all but howled as Nadir's mouth wrapped around his cock, digging his fingers into his wickedly soft hair.
On either side of them, Shafiq and Berkant watched like it would cost them dearly to look away.
Just as he was on the verge of coming, Nadir pulled off.
"You bastard," Ender moaned, but before he could protest further, he was being pushed and pulled to his knees, and groaned loud and long as Shafiq pressed up behind him.
Teeth dragged along the nape of his neck, provoking a noise Ender hadn't known he could make.
Behind Nadir was Berkant, doing just as devastatingly wicked things to him, leaving them pressing against each other, cocks rubbing, leaving trails on their sweat-slick skin.
Ender resumed kissing Nadir, clinging to him for dear life as they both were worked open.
Shafiq's fingers were hot and huge, stretching him with deft expertise, the scent of roses from the bedroom oil surrounding them.
Ender held even tighter, nails biting into Nadir's skin, Nadir's fingers almost bruising where they clung to his sides.
The fingers slid away, and then Shafiq's cock was pushing inside him.
Ender wrapped his arms around Nadir's neck, panting heavily in his ear, Nadir's hot breath against his shoulder as they were fucked in time, pushed against each other as Berkant and Shafiq took their pleasure.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck," Ender gasped out.
"I can't— fuck—" Nadir said right alongside him.
"Come for me, beauties," Shafiq said before biting at Ender's throat, and that was all it took.
Ender came with a cry, only just noticing as Nadir did the same, their release mingling on their skin.
Moments later Shafiq thrust deep into him one last time and came, groaning in his ear, fingers almost painfully tight on his hips.
Berkant followed immediately after, face buried in Nadir's throat.
Ender blinked as he slowly calmed down, cool air washing over his heated skin.
"Not to be hopelessly cliché, but all I want to do now is sleep."
Shafiq chuckled as he gently pulled out, kissing his shoulder affectionately.
"Sleep all you like."
Berkant withdrew briefly, returning with warm, damp rags he used to clean them all, before urging Nadir and Ender into the middle of the bed.
"Keep him company, little mongoose.
I'll attend dinner with Shafiq, and we'll be back later.
Show off his pretty matched set tomorrow during public court.
That will cause a tizzy, hmm?"
"I think you're having too much fun with the idea," Shafiq said with a chuckle, their voices moving slowly away.
Ender wanted to say thank you, or goodnight, or something, but he was warm, and his body felt too heavy, and speaking seemed too difficult to manage.
So he settled for curling around Nadir, breathing in his warm, sweet scent, and falling gently into slumber.