Florian
His eyes fell to the coast, tasting the air for the scent of the open waters. The imagination of briny sea spray on his face set him at ease, even though he considered that it had no right to. He knew better than most how quickly the winds could turn.
The messenger extended his leg to him readily.
“Thank you,” he said absently as he unrolled Keira’s message.
He was reading the lines hastily, nearly to the end when Thaddeus cawed impatiently, pecking at his arm in search of a reward.
Florian swatted the bird away. “Quiet!” he hissed. “You’ll wake the house. I don’t have any food!”
Thaddeus let out an especially loud squawk before soaring off the balcony to scavenge something unsavory to feast on, no doubt.
“What is that cursed bird doing back here?” Knox’s voice sounded grumpily behind him.
Florian turned to find him leaning against the doorframe.
In the moonlight, Knox’s eyes shone silver, almost metallic, an utterly bewitching effect.
His brown hair was still mussed from sleep, falling wildly over one half of his face.
Florian traced the ink patterned up his arms as they curved artfully around the lean, corded muscle all the way to his shoulders.
As he ran out of room on his arms, the tattoos were beginning to spread across his body as well.
His eyes lingered on Knox’s chest, on the inked harpy just below his collarbone.
Florian could almost feel the mirroring mark on his own skin.
“I’m sorry. I tried to let you sleep.”
Knox shook his head, stepping out into the night. His eyes flicked up to the moon, but looked away quickly, turning his back to it as if it were an unwelcome, though unavoidable voyeur. He crossed his arms.
Florian stepped toward him, rubbing his hands up Knox’s tense shoulders. The night was cool after all, and his skin was already developing a layer of chill.
“Why don’t we go back to bed?”
Knox said nothing, though Florian could still sense his resistance.
He took another step forward, closing whatever distance remained between them.
This close, he could never help but marvel at the stark lines of Knox’s features.
His cheekbones were lethally sharp, his jaw cut straight coming to a point at his dimpled chin.
It was as if his sculptor intended to harshly define each aspect of his face.
The final effect was deadly as it was irresistible.
“There are other things we can do if you’re not tired.” Florian allowed his breath to tease Knox’s lips suggestively.
His silver eyes honed on Florian’s mouth, the intent in them clear and unshakable.
He welcomed Knox’s kiss, harsh and deep.
He was a creature of great feeling, and great pain.
What was so guarded in him, in his words, his manners, was stripped away in moments such as this.
As always, Florian embraced it all, absorbed his darkness into himself, sending back only tenderness and desire.
Knox broke away, shoulders heaving. Suddenly his attention snapped to the skies. It took Florian a moment longer to see what his eyes were already tracking. Thaddeus was circling low in the air over the rooftops below.
“Does this mean Keira is back?” Back, not home. Knox never called Grimlocke home like the rest of the Blades did, even though he and his sister, Lilith, had lived here long before any of them.
Florian shook his head, determined to recapture his focus. His hand slid down Knox’s bare chest, warm in defiance of the winter night, until he reached the line of his pants and the obvious mark of his arousal straining against them.
Knox’s gaze fixed on him with singular regard, eyes lidded with desire as Florian stroked his hand up his length once more.
“You won’t believe where she is.”