Chapter Seventeen #2
“ Fuck ,” Cador growled, tightening his fingers in Jem’s hair. “You were born for this.”
Jem moaned around his shaft, straining, every muscle tensed, seeking Cador’s release and his own, their fates intertwined. The tug of his hair seemed connected to his bollocks. As he sucked with all his might, the cottage filled with wet sounds of pleasure.
Cador throbbed in his mouth, gripping Jem’s head as he came with a mighty groan. Jem swallowed and sputtered. Cador pulled free and finished himself off, splattering Jem’s mouth and face.
“Born for this,” he repeated, chest heaving, the leather vest hanging open. Using his thumb, Cador swiped at his seed and fed it to Jem. Jem licked, eager for every drop, salty and wonderfully male.
Jem was about to explode, his bollocks almost painfully tight. Before he could reach down to finish himself and find sweet relief, Cador dropped to his knees, toppling Jem back onto the furs. He opened Jem’s legs and pressed his knees wide.
Cador took him to the root, sucking fiercely. It was mere seconds before Jem emptied down his throat, Cador swallowing, his wide hands hot on Jem’s inner thighs. Jem cried out until he was whimpering, his body going slack.
Panting, Cador released him with a slow, wet slurp. He lowered Jem’s knees but kept them spread, fitting between them and pressing him heavily into the furs with pleasing weight, his leather clothing providing ripples of friction.
Kissing lazily before the smoldering fire, their seed mingled on their tongues, Jem thought he might never want to leave Ergh after all.
*
“Austol!” Jem called as he burst into the stable on Rusk’s outskirts.
It had been days of play with Cador, and Jem could still hardly believe it was real.
Could barely stop grinning. Although he didn’t know Austol well, he was eager to confide in him.
He yearned for Santo, but his sibling was across the sea.
Austol had seemed kind and patient, and Jem hoped he didn’t impose upon him too much.
“Prince Jowan! Greetings.” With a wave and smile, Jory appeared, wild ginger hair tucked behind his ears.
Ugh .
Jem struggled to keep the grimace from his face. His distaste for Jory was unfair—the man had been nothing but friendly. Austol was right that it was jealousy, and now that Jem and Cador were lovers, there was no need for it.
What if Cador likes him better? He said Jory used his mouth expertly—how do I compare? Will Cador tire of me and go back to Jory? He’s bigger and stronger and they’re a better match. What if—
Physically shaking his head, Jem silenced the nagging voice of worry. Well, he muffled it, at least. “Er, hello.”
“Have you come to continue your stories? The children have clamored for more. Some of their parents too. They’ve missed you.”
“Oh!” It hadn’t actually occurred to him that he might be missed. “I’ll be happy to read for them later. I mean, not read , but talk for them. Tell them stories.” He was pleased and flustered all at once. He glanced about. “Is Austol here?”
Jory’s smile sagged. “Not today. Did you need something?”
“Is he unwell?”
Jory’s freckled cheeks creased in an attempted smile. “Nothing to worry about.” His gaze skittered to the wide, open doors of the stable. Jem thought of Austol’s cottage nearby. He hadn’t heard any tortured cries, but…
“Is it his sister?”
Now Jory was decidedly uncomfortable even as he denied it. “No, no. Nothing for you to worry about, as I said.”
Jem nodded, although he was uneasy, remembering her cries of agony. “Do their parents live in that cottage too?”
“No. They died some years ago. A fishing accident.”
“Oh. I’m very sorry.” Heat flushed his cheeks. He was being unforgivably nosy. “Is Nessa here? I was hoping to ride her.”
Jory’s smile brightened his freckled face. “She’s in the pasture. She could use some exercise.” He grabbed her bridle and reins and Jem followed. “How is Cador?”
Jem stiffened. “Fine.” Why was Jory asking?
“I’ve barely seen him. You’re getting on well?”
“I suppose.” Jem watched Jory from the corner of his eye. The man loped along easily. Perhaps he was genuinely curious or merely being polite. If he was jealous of Jem, he hid it well.
“He’s a good man. I hope he’ll be a good husband, but then I never thought I’d see him with the brand.”
Jem cautiously asked, “Why not?” Was this some game?
Jory whistled to Nessa across the yellowed, muddy grass, but she remained chewing lazily. He rolled his eyes at her. “When he was in his cups, he always insisted he’d never wed. That he’d never love someone enough.”
“Maybe he just didn’t love you enough.” The words escaped before Jem could clamp his jaw shut.
Jory’s ginger brows met as he turned to Jem. After a moment, he erupted into laughter. “Me? I should hope not. We wouldn’t fit as husbands. No, no.” He laughed anew. “He’s far too grumpy. You’ve nothing to fear from me, Prince Jowan.”
“Fear?” Jem sputtered. “I don’t—of course not—I only—” His boot squelched in fresh dung and he grimaced.
Jory still smiled, but his gaze was shrewd. “Cador and I have fucked over the years, but nothing more. Only friendship between us. In fact, I’ve never seen him turned inside out for anyone. Until you.”
Jem forgot about the shit under his feet. “Me?” he repeated, heart skipping. Inside out?
“I admit I would never have predicted it. But I know my friend. He doesn’t make himself sick with worry often. I thought he’d wring poor Austol’s neck with his bare hands. He huffed and puffed and shouted because he feared for you. Because he wants you all to himself.”
Heat flooded Jem’s face all the way to his ears, images of the ways Cador had taken him cartwheeling through his mind. He dropped his head, but of course Jory was—regrettably—no fool.
“Ahhhh! The two of you have made good use of your time hidden away in the forest. Such a cock on him! He’s an excellent fuck. I’m sure you are too.”
Squirming, Jem scoffed. How was he having this conversation? Out loud ? They were so open on Ergh!
“You are small, yes, but there is iron in your spine. I see it. Cador wouldn’t want you if there wasn’t.” He whistled again. “Come here, you damn lazy beast!” He trotted out to Nessa.
As Jem waited, he chewed over Jory’s words, grinning to himself one moment and fretting the next.
Iron in his spine? He’d never thought of himself that way, and he doubted others had.
Did Cador? The way Jem had submitted to him—begged for his cock and worshiped it at his feet, given his body to be fucked and controlled—surely there could be no iron will in that?
Yet… Hadn’t Jem felt powerful and wanted?
Hadn’t confidence flowed through him even as he’d lapped Cador’s seed from the floor?
Confidence in his own desire. The power in choosing to finally surrender his body.
The strength in choosing to trust. Perhaps his iron was constructed of slim twists like the aviary’s bars, but it was just as unbreakable.
He rode Nessa around the muddy pasture, Jory having disappeared back into the stable. Jem was content for Nessa to amble, nudging her into a trot from time to time, relishing the twinge in his arse. His mind wandered, gnawing on Jory’s words. Thoughts of Cador made him giddy.
When he realized Nessa had wandered near Austol’s cottage behind the stable, Jem couldn’t resist. He looped her reins over a worn post on the short fence and peered at the cottage.
A thin trail of smoke curled into the bleak sky, and all was quiet.
He was around the back, where there was a curious structure.
Was it a work of art? Indeed it seemed to be a small statue that rose as tall as Jem. Instead of carved from stone, it was molded from some kind of clay. Taking a step closer, Jem squinted at the four heads. It was Hwytha’s telltale bulging cheeks that revealed it was a crude tribute to the gods.
He hadn’t realized Austol was so religious, but Jem remembered vaguely that Cador had said there’d been a revival of faith on Ergh. He took another step nearer to get a better look at the curl of fire atop Tan’s head. Wood snapped under his boot.
Looking down, Jem realized the same twisted twigs and branches that surrounded the tribute in the village carpeted the ground here too.
A chill shivered down his spine, although he wasn’t sure why.
The gnarled wood reminded him of clawed hands grasping.
He scurried back out of reach, then tried to laugh off his childishness.
Uneasy, he circled around to the front of the cottage where chickens clucked in their pen. He’d just pop in for a minute and ensure Austol was all right and fetch him anything he might need.
Surely Austol would be keen to hear that he’d been correct—it had been wonderfully easy to make Cador jealous. Yes, and he’d get Austol’s opinion on what Jory had said.
Still, Jem found himself creeping toward the battered timber door.
The air was heavy and still save for the odd cluck from the chickens.
A single window was curtained. Instinct warned him to leave, but he ignored it.
His imagination was getting the best of him—he’d read too many books of adventure and intrigue.
Perhaps Austol was napping. Why shouldn’t he enjoy a day off? His sister was likely out playing with her friends, racing around Rusk and causing mischief as children did. As they should! Jem would knock and say hello.
Yet before he could, a thud sounded, the anguished cry on its heels not a little girl’s. Austol! Jem shoved open the door, Austol’s name dying on his lips as he squinted into the too-dark cottage. By the light of embers in the fire, he could see only shadows.
Then the girl screamed.
Jem couldn’t say if her cry was borne of pain or fright or both. He stood on the threshold, blinking down at the child on the floor, Austol behind trying to heave her up. He could barely make out Austol’s face, but the anger in his voice was unmistakable.
“Get out!”