Chapter Ten #2
Molun picked up his book again, managing to prop it on Trill’s leg. Trill held half the book, and Molun turned the pages. Trill stared at it out of curiosity but no comprehension.
“What’s it about?” he whispered after a while.
Like speaking quietly would interrupt Molun less.
But he didn’t seem to mind. “Elemental magic. With a lot more words than are really necessary. The Princess said that only pompous windbags write in the Old Tongue, and I must say that the more books I read, the more I’m forced to agree with her.
There are a few that are fine, of course, and you sort of get used to the prose after a while, but it’s actually really doing us a disservice, because the longer it takes to say one thing, the longer it takes to read, and we don’t have time for that right now. ”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Trill said. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
Molun gave him a half hug with the arm that was free.
“Keep me company so that I don’t fall asleep while I’m supposed to be reading this.”
“Can you read it to me?” Trill asked.
Hesitating for a moment, Molun said, “It might take me some work to translate it.”
“No, no,” Trill protested. “In the Old Tongue. I know I won’t understand it. But I’d like to hear it.” He was silent for a moment. “When I was quite little, my mother used to read to me at night. It was a nice memory. I thought—It’s silly, sorry.”
Molun hugged him again. “There’s nothing silly about that. And since you don’t know any of the Old Tongue, you won’t be able to tell me that my accent is terrible.”
Trill laughed, and then he closed his eyes, leaning more comfortably against Molun’s warm, strong chest as he listened to his voice. The steady rhythm was very soothing.
He didn’t realize he’d fallen asleep until he woke up; Arvus was back in the room with a large tray of food for them. Apparently, it was lunchtime. Fortunately, Arvus didn’t seem at all perturbed to find that Trill had fallen asleep on top of Molun.
Trill climbed carefully off the man, making sure to push a little extra energy into him. He might be quite slender compared to Molun and Arvus, but he’d just been sitting on Molun for who knew how long.
Arvus pulled Molun carefully to his feet and then held him there, arms around his waist, making sure he stayed steadily upright.
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
“Good,” Molun said cheerfully. “If one has to read boring texts in the Old Tongue, the experience is much improved with someone in your lap.”
“Oh, should we suggest that to Cormal?” Arvus asked.
Molun laughed, although there was a trace of something in it that Trill didn’t like to hear. Was that bitterness? Anger? It was something harsher than the amusement that Trill had started to grow used to.
“Somehow, I don’t think he’d go for that,” Molun said.
“Inviting the Prince was a good idea,” Arvus pointed out.
“Who said that was his idea?” Molun asked.
“Not kicking the Prince out, then?”
Molun huffed a breath, and then he sighed, leaning harder against Arvus. “Yes, that was all right, I guess. I just—”
“—want to drown him in the moat?” Arvus suggested with wry amusement.
“Preferably,” Molun grumbled, but he sounded pouty now, and while it wasn’t good, it wasn’t that same harshness from before.
But Trill was beginning to seriously doubt that meeting his uncle was going to be the event he’d secretly hoped for.
Still, though, wouldn’t it actually be better to know?
It didn’t seem fair to have an opinion on the man if he hadn’t met him.
But… it sounded like maybe he was a lot like Trill’s grandfather after all.
He’d tried not to have expectations, but it seemed that hope had blossomed anyway. Part of him had wanted real family and had dreamed of finding it here—even if it was dangerous, even if Yannoma had told him that he was being silly, and even if he was surrounded by Mage Warriors.
He was being foolish, but he couldn’t seem to help himself.
His stomach rumbled, and both Molun and Arvus turned to look at him.
“Sorry,” he said, grinning at them.
“No, no, we’re sorry,” Molun said. “Here we are bringing you food and then not letting you eat it. Let’s sit down.”
They were soon settled at the table, Molun and Arvus making sure to include Trill in the discussion as they ate.
“What do you think of the city?” Molun wanted to know.
At a loss, Trill said, “It’s… very large.”
This made them both laugh.
Trill tried to be more clear. “There are lots of people, and there’s something to be said for that, but I’m used to… not so many as this. I’m used to more space. More nature. I do love people… but this is a little overwhelming.”
“Maybe we can show you a few of our favorite places,” Arvus suggested.
Trill brightened. “Oh, I’d like that very much.”
That sounded like they’d like to see him again!
They finished their meal, and now it was Molun who needed to go off to verify some of the training and oversee the others with the books.
“Why is everyone reading?” Trill asked.
Arvus said, “There’s a problem that we’re hoping to find a solution for, but you don’t need to worry about it. Would you like to take a bath?”
Trill blinked at him. “Is this your way of saying that I smell?”
Arvus smiled at him. “Very pleasantly, from what I recall. I just thought you might enjoy one, that’s all. We have a private bathtub, as you’ve seen.”
They had only cleaned up in a basic way this morning, but Trill had noticed the bathtub. He’d not been fully clean since he arrived in the city.
“That would be very nice, thank you.”
“Take as long as you want,” Arvus told him. “I have some reading to do as well. Yell if you have any questions or need anything.”
Trill took Arvus at his word and spent much of the afternoon in the bathtub, cleaning himself thoroughly, washing his hair, scrubbing at everything, and making sure he was altogether clean.
It wasn’t the same when you only scrubbed with a cloth, although Trill was still grateful for the cloths, of course.
The luxury of being able to take as long as he wanted and have all the hot water was something he wouldn’t take for granted.
He ducked under the water, holding his breath as long as he could, just to feel the water all around him, and then he popped out again.
He drained the dirty water and ran hot one more time.
He leaned back, clean now, and just enjoyed the heat of the water trickling into his skin, almost a little bit like the energy did, that buzz under his skin where it filled him up or drained out of him.
Imagine if you could keep desire bottled up in a tap like this and just turn it on when you wanted some.
But really, as useful as that could be on occasion, Trill preferred getting it the, er, old-fashioned way.
He wouldn’t want to give sex up simply for the convenience of being able to be fed with the mere twist of a handle.
(Then he laughed at himself. He supposed you could consider some kinds of sex a form of… handle twisting.)
He wondered if it would be easy to see Molun and Arvus again.
Would he have to keep coming back to the pub to see if he still caught their eye above anyone else?
Might they instead agree that he could come back here at some point?
He loved the sex, but even more importantly, he needed to keep healing Molun’s leg.
He reminded himself again that he needed to be careful.
But… he wasn’t sure he could just walk away when it still pained the other man this much.
Could he convince them that he was indispensable for a little while?
Would they consider having a third for a few weeks?
That would give him the opportunity to heal Molun more…
If they didn’t want to do that, could Trill actually walk away without doing more?
Or did he do more and then make a run for it?
He was pretty sure he knew what Yannoma would have to say about that, but at least he was thinking about running, right?
He wasn’t proposing that he just heal Molun and then stick around to see everything go wrong.
No, Trill understood that it wouldn’t be pretty.
He just… he didn’t think he could leave Molun like this.
He climbed out of the bath and toweled himself dry. He realized that his clothes were nowhere to be found and wrapped himself in the towel before padding out to the sitting room.
“I think I had clothes when I went into the bath.”
Arvus looked up at him, a small smile on his face. “Yes, you did. I popped my head in to check on you, and you were still relaxing peacefully. I realized your clothes looked as though they could use a clean, so I sent them along with our laundry. I hope that’s all right.”
Trill couldn’t leave when he didn’t have clothes, so yes, he was all right with that.
“That’s fine,” he said. He raised an eyebrow. “Am I meant to be naked until then?”
Arvus’s smile deepened. “How would you like to surprise Molun when he gets back?”
Trill grinned. “Yes, please.”
“Then why don’t you get yourself ready and go lie down in bed.”
Trill went to do as he was told, noticing that Arvus didn’t follow him into the bedroom. So Trill could get ready, but nothing was going to happen and Arvus wasn’t going to enjoy it until Molun was back. Trill liked that very much, and he liked it still more when Molun did return.
Molun crawled on top of Trill and slid inside of him, and then, while he was buried deep inside Trill, Trill got to listen to Arvus stretch Molun open and then kneel between the two of them and press inside Molun.
Molun made very pretty noises when he was being fucked, and Trill loved to listen to them.
He liked how Arvus’s movements into Molun drove Molun forward into Trill just a bit, a total tease, and Molun didn’t have to strain his leg.
Trill liked their creativity. He was sure that he could come up with a few more options, as well.
Arvus came first this time, then Molun, and then Trill let himself come, spurting onto the bed beneath him, glorying in the sense of repletion that permeated the room, even if he wasn’t allowed to taste it.
It was so good. They always took care of one another.
Arvus was an expert at after-care, making sure that they were both clean and comfortable and that no one was hurt.
Then it was time for dinner, but Trill’s clothes still weren’t back.
“We could have naked dinner,” Molun suggested hopefully.
“We could,” Arvus agreed with amusement, “but it might be a little bit cool.”
Molun pouted, but then his face lit up. “Oh, Trill can borrow my robe!”
An eyebrow rose on Arvus’s face, but he smiled and nodded. Arvus produced the robe, which was clearly a luxury item, and Trill sincerely doubted it was meant to keep anybody warm. But it was a beautiful blue color, and Trill reached out and touched it with careful fingers.
“Oh, how nice,” he said. “I don’t remember touching anything as nice as this, not even in the houses of pleasure.”
Two gazes snapped to his, and they spoke almost in unison, “Houses of pleasure?”
Trill took a little step back. “Yes. Sometimes I work in a house of pleasure. Is that a problem?”
He’d run into people who felt that way, though mostly he’d figured out how to steer clear of them. (He’d occasionally run into those who felt that way at houses of pleasure, which he thought was the height of hypocrisy, but people had proved to him over and over again that they weren’t logical.)
The two of them approached again, expressions calm.
“Of course it’s not a problem,” Molun said, wrapping around him from the front, while Arvus did the same from the back, “as long as it’s not a problem for you.”
“I like sex,” Trill told them. “Sometimes I let people pay me for it. Sometimes I have it for free. It depends if… I need money.” He’d almost said “we.” Careful, Trill reminded himself. He was supposed to be careful. “I can go.”
“We’d rather you put on the robe and stay for dinner,” Molun said simply. His expression turned hopeful. “You can have me for dessert if you’d like.”
Well. That was a hard offer to refuse, wasn’t it?
And if your response to learning that someone sometimes worked in a house of pleasure was to offer yourself to them, then…
maybe you really were all right with it?
Some people seemed to think it was an unacceptable job, though Trill still didn’t understand why.
Didn’t most jobs work on the theory of selling a commodity?
Warriors and Mage Warriors used their bodies, too, after all, just in a different way.
“That sounds very nice,” Trill agreed. “I’m sure you’d make a very pleasing dessert.”
Molun looked happy, eyes bright, and he held up the robe by the back so that Trill could put it on.
He shivered as it slid over his skin, so silky and soft, and then Arvus helped him belt it, which seemed to involve more fondling than was strictly necessary, leaving Trill grinning and a little bit breathless.
Molun and Arvus dressed in sleep trousers but stayed shirtless, which was pretty much the opposite of Trill, who realized that the robe must be very short indeed on Molun.
He ran his hands down the satin.
“This is very nice. I think everyone should have one.”
They grinned at him.
Dinner was very pleasant, with lots of laughing and no difficult topics—and then it was time to eat dessert, which Trill saw was an apple pie. Trill eyed the treat and then Molun.
“How do you feel about apples in bed?”
“Perhaps in front of the fire?” Molun suggested.
Arvus helped him get down to the floor, and Trill realized that perhaps the bed would have been better after all, but Molun looked comfortable once he was stretched out flat.
Then Trill used his spoon and his fingers to place bites of pie in strategic places all over Molun, covering his nipples, his abs, and his belly button.
He let sauce dribble onto Molun’s groin and nestled a piece right next to balls.
Molun squirmed, which just made Trill take his time.
This seemed to amuse Arvus, who sat back and watched.
Finally, when Molun was in danger of knocking all the pieces off and had got himself quite worked up just with light touches, Trill leaned in and ate the first piece off of one nipple, making sure to lick and suck as he did so.
Molun whimpered, and Trill leaned back to actually chew the piece of pie. He looked at Arvus.
“Your turn.”