Chapter 19
CHAPTER 19
L eofric paced in the small cavern, pausing occasionally to toss a log on the fire. He could not settle to anything, but he kept telling himself he was being foolish. Auro had passed a similar trial, and returned unharmed. Drained, perhaps, but unharmed.
Cosmo would be fine. He would come bounding up the passageway soon enough to continue what was plainly his true divine purpose: driving Leofric mad.
Leofric honed and polished his sword, oiled the leather of its hilt. Then he saw to his shield, his armor, his dagger. Sorted through their provisions. Shook the fur blankets out, just beyond the entrance to the cavern. Added another log to the fire, though the blaze already threatened to stifle.
With nothing left to do, Leofric sat heavily on the stone bed beside the fire and tried to put a finger on what had him so anxious. When Auro had undertaken his quest, he had been certain it was something he must do alone. It had felt right—Auro was the youngest brother, and timid, prone to hiding from his problems and letting other solve them—it seemed fitting for him to undergo something like this alone.
Cosmo was different.
He certainly wasn’t timid, and rather than hide from his problems, he was just as likely to charge in headlong and create more of them. Cosmo had seemed convinced that, like Auro, he needed to do this alone. He’d asked Leofric to remain behind. It had been phrased as a request, but Leofric understood it for what it was. An order. Before they’d left, His Highness had impressed upon him the importance of helping Cosmo succeed in his quest. Cosmo had told him what he needed, which was for Leofric to wait.
So, he waited, seething with worry.
After watching the fire for another hour or so, Leofric stood and stuffed his sword into the scabbard at his hip. This was ridiculous. Nowhere in any of the ancient books Alexios and Auro combed through had it said any foolishness about each brother going through this alone. Leofric couldn’t just stand there idly while someone he…while Cosmo suffered, or struggled, and Leofric was well within his power to help them. He might not be a god, but he was a man. And men helped one another.
He lifted a torch from the floor and lit it in the fire, thinking how the crackling flames reminded him so much of Cosmo’s hair, and started toward the back of the cavern. This was Kryos’s place, he knew. And though the man himself still slumbered back in the temple of Papia, Leofric could feel his influence. The second he stepped beyond the rosy ring of his and Cosmo’s hearth fire, the temperature dropped. It kept dropping with every step he took down the narrow, winding passageway until he could see his breath misting before him, and feel the chill leeching up through the leather soles of his sandals.
In winter, Leofric wore sealskin wrappings beneath the straps of his sandals and greaves to protect his legs and feet from cold whilst on the march. Unfortunately, he had not thought to bring them on a journey in the dead of summer, and soon enough his toes were numb and aching.
This was no natural chill. This was a cold that said, “Go away, mortal. You are not welcome here.”
Leofric ignored it and carried on, chamber after chamber, until he found himself sloshing through a puddle of icy water that led to the top of a stair, carved right into the stone. He lowered his torch a bit, forcing himself to stare only through the very edge of its halo, in hopes of avoiding fire blindness. It worked a bit, allowing him to see dimly through the gloom, and hold the fire closer to his body besides.
He wondered how far beneath the mountain he was, uncomfortable with all that stone pressing in so close, almost like he could feel the weight of it on his chest. His homeland of Sokol was a vast expanse of gently rolling dunes, open sky, and just the occasional copse of scraggly trees, so different from this dark and claustrophobic press. He found himself thinking desperately of the sun, trying to call the image to his mind’s eye, but it kept transforming into a laughing freckled face with wild eyes. Unnerved, Leofric pressed on.
Eventually, he felt the ground beneath his feet leveling out, the slope lessening with every step. The heavy darkness played tricks upon his eyes, and with a jolt, Leofric realized he wasn’t in a tunnel any longer, but an enormous cavern, so large he would have thought the mountain could not contain it. Directly opposite was a massive tree, white bark almost silver, casting a soft glow on the stone around him. Snow and ice collected against its trunk and on the floor before him, as if blown there by some storm. The glittering surface reflected the light, which seemed to come from the tree itself. It fell upon a single, slumped figure on the floor, wrapped in crimson.
Leofric nearly dropped his torch, but by some miracle tightened his fingers around the wood before it could slip from grasp. He jogged forward, his breath puffing around his face in steaming clouds.
Skidding on the slightly frozen ground, Leofric went to his knees before Cosmo, who was huddled on the cavern floor, entirely covered in the cloak he’d borrowed from Leofric. It was stiff with frost, and beneath it, Cosmo trembled violently.
He reached beneath the folds. “Cosmo?” he asked gently.
No answer.
Leofric slipped an arm around Cosmo’s back, pulling him into a seated position. The skin beneath Cosmo’s freckles was pale as death, and he was cold. That scared Leofric more than he could say. “Cosmo?” He said again, cupping his cheek, trying to impart some warmth from his own hands.
One of Cosmo’s hands moved sluggishly to cover Leofric’s own. “I told you not to come down here,” he said thickly.
“Yeah, well,” said Leofric gruffly. “That was stupid.”
Cosmo blinked his eyes open, and they were unfocused, dim. He leaned into Leofric’s touch, like he couldn’t resist, but still he mumbled, “It’s too dangerous.”
Leofric looked around the cavern, and he had to admit he didn’t feel as though he was in danger of anything but freezing his balls off if they stayed down here any longer than they had to. “Come on,” he said, trying for gentleness. “Up you get.”
But Cosmo shook him off, feeble and angry, and lurched to his feet on his own. Leofric followed, clenching his fists to keep them from grabbing for Cosmo, who stood like a man with one foot in the grave, swaying and weakened. Cosmo summoned some of his usual fire and shot Leofric a glare, which Leofric found encouraging, so he backed off a step and lowered his hands to his sides.
Unfortunately, Cosmo made it about two steps before he stumbled on numb, cold— bare? —feet. Leofric bit his tongue hard enough to taste blood, but when Cosmo’s knee connected with the icy cavern floor and he released a startled, choked off gasp of pain, Leofric couldn’t help the way he lurched forward.
“ I’m fine, ” Cosmo ground out. He tightened his pilfered cloak around his shoulders, sending a shower of ice crystals down around him as he got clumsily to his feet.
Leofric bit back a retort, and said nothing.
Cosmo made it another couple yards before he stumbled again, and it seemed like any fight remaining bled out of him, strength sapped out by the cold.
Leofric waited, though it cost him to do so.
The look Cosmo shot him was wretched, but Leofric could see he was at last giving in. “Can you help me?” He spat, like the words were poisonous, like saying them hurt more than falling, like maybe he would rather die down here in the cold, alone, than have to admit he needed a hand.
Silently, steadily, as he might approach a skittish horse, Leofric approached and bent down to slide an arm around Cosmo’s tiny waist and haul him to his feet. Cosmo leaned into Leofric’s side, and like that they took cautious steps across the cavern, retracing the path that Leofric had just made through the snow until the gentle sloping tunnel took them out of the bowels of the mountain. The air around them warmed with every step, and more importantly, Cosmo warmed with every step.
Leofric should have expected he’d bounce back swiftly, but seeing Cosmo weakened like that had shaken him to his core. By the time they reached the rear of the cavern, Cosmo had regained his feet enough to shy away from Leofric’s touch. Leofric wanted to tell him that it was alright, that leaning on someone wasn’t a mark of weakness, that everyone needed a hand from time to time, but for some reason he couldn’t part with the words. Cosmo refused to look in Leofric’s direction, to even spare him a glance.
Cosmo had been staring at him for weeks, studying him any chance he got. Leofric could hardly lift a finger without Cosmo’s hazel eyes burning into his skin, and he hadn’t realized how much he’d come to expect and crave it. Leofric knew he was being punished. Punished for thinking Cosmo needed help—punished for being right. Punished for seeing Cosmo like that, vulnerable and weak and cold and afraid. Something built in his gullet as he stared at Cosmo’s profile, resolute and angry, like he was pretending Leofric wasn’t there at all.
By the time they reached their camp, Leofric was furious. “You’re welcome,” he snapped peevishly, turning his back on Cosmo to check the state of their fire. It burned just as brightly as when he left it, and after his trek through the frozen bowels of the mountain he was grateful he’d built it up so high.
Cosmo approached the fire, holding his trembling hands toward the flames. “I didn’t ask you to come,” said Cosmo at last.
Leofric gaped at him, incredulous. “ What? ”
When Cosmo turned to face him, his eyes were full of hurt, full of loathing. “I didn’t need your help finding the mountain, and I didn’t need your help down below.”
“Better I let you freeze?”
“I was fine, ” Cosmo insisted. Then, he took a few steps closer to the fire. “ Fuck , I can’t get warm,” he muttered, almost to himself.
“You—you?—”
“What?” Cosmo challenged. The fire at his back set his hair aglow, and it seemed he was regaining himself a bit, which would have filled Leofric with relief if he wasn’t so furious. Why did Cosmo have to make everything, everything, so bloody difficult? And why couldn’t Leofric help but care?
Cosmo pulled something out from within the folds of his cloak. It was a slim crystal bottle with a faceted stopper, the light within so bright it appeared almost blue. “I got the grace, didn’t I? That’s all anyone needed of me.”
Leofric was so incensed he felt ill. “You’re fucking impossible, ” he bit out at last.
Cosmo raised his brows. “ I’m impossible? All you had to do was wait here. All you do is follow orders, and you couldn’t do that. Why?”
Leofric’s eyes widened. “I don’t take orders from you .”
“No,” Cosmo agreed. “Everyone else, certainly. Never me.”
Before Leofric could formulate a retort, Cosmo shucked off his clothes and stepped directly into the fire, sighing as the tongues of flames licked around his ankles. It seemed that Cosmo himself fueled the fire—either his body or perhaps his grace causing the embers to glow sun-bright at his feet and the flames swirled up and over his thighs, his hips, as high as his shoulders. When Cosmo lifted his gaze to Leofric’s again, it seemed his very eyes were aflame.
Leofric made himself take a step forward, a step closer, threat of burns be damned. It was like arguing with the sun itself. He took a deep, steadying breath, forced himself to turn his face into the blistering heat, to meet Cosmo’s fiery fury. “I couldn’t .”
“Couldn’t what?”
“Stay.” He said, and pulling a tooth from own mouth would have hurt less. He inhaled. “Away . ” Say it, he fumed at himself. Say it, you bloody coward. “From you.”
Cosmo blinked in surprise. “What?”
“Anything could have been happening to you, down there,” he said. Leofric forced himself to step closer, sweat rolling down his forehead from the heat of the fire, or perhaps it came directly from Cosmo.
“You were worried about me?”
“Of course, I was.” Leofric’s voice was raw and broken, but the words came out. And that was what counted. Or so he hoped.
Cosmo’s face softened, and the blistering heat ebbed to pleasant warmth. “Oh,” he said.
“Yes,” said Leofric, his tone still clipped. The urge to reach for Cosmo, to pull him into his arms, to crush him hard against his body and feel his warmth return was so strong that Leofric had to cross his arms to keep them still. “Are you certain you’re alright?”
“I will be.” Cosmo sat right in the hearth, like the fabled salamanders that Leofric had always hoped to find in fires as a boy. He drew his legs up under himself, smiling serenely as he released a sigh that sent sparks swirling all around him. Leofric shielded his face from the heat, watching transfixed as Cosmo sat in the center of the fire, tension visibly falling from his shoulders like the rippling heat mirages on the sands of Leofric’s desert home.
He seemed alright, content in his own peculiar world, so Leofric tore his eyes away and set about securing their camp for sleep. Leofric secured Kryos’s grace as well, tucked it carefully into a leather pouch and wrapped in a spare tunic. He sat on the edge of the stone bed, staring into the fire at Cosmo, who now seemed quite far away. His hair swirled around his ears, mingling with the flames in such a way that it appeared one with the fire. The embers glowed against his freckled skin, but none of this phased Cosmo, who sat naked and cross-legged in the very center of the hearth. His eyes were wide open, but they stared at something only he could see, and Leofric understood it would be quite a while before he returned from wherever he was. The sight of him in the fire was stirring, frightening, terrible, yet beautiful. It left Leofric feeling as though his chest cracked open, leaving his heart naked and exposed. It was good to feel he had some privacy to put himself back together, even though physically, Cosmo was a scant few yards away.
Leofric was thoroughly exhausted after the trek through the bowels of the mountain, so he stripped down too and slid beneath the fur blankets, rolling over so he could watch Cosmo in the flames until his eyes grew too heavy.
He woke sluggishly from a deep sleep, sometime later, to someone squirming into the blankets beside him, someone with warm skin and bony knees and no qualms about shoving Leofric’s body this way and that in order to get more comfortable. Leofric gave answering grunt, flopping over onto his side. He draped his arm around Cosmo’s waist, tugging him close and hoping to squash him into lying still.
It didn’t work.
Leofric had almost drifted back to sleep anyway when Cosmo made a small, whimpery sound and nuzzled his nose up just under Leofric’s ear. Alert at once, he sat up. “What is it? Are you hurt? What’s wrong?”
Cosmo lay on his back, one arm draped dramatically over his eyes. “I am still cold.”
Concerned, Leofric cupped his cheek, touched his forehead, rested his palm against the column of Cosmo’s throat. “Your skin feels warm to me,” he said.
Cosmo leaned up on his elbows, tilting his head to peer up at Leofric through his orange fringe. “I don’t think it’s that sort of cold.”
Leofric frowned, uncertain. “What do you mean?”
The look on Cosmo’s face now was vulnerable, raw and afraid once again. Things Leofric knew he hated being above all others. Leofric rushing in to help him back from the frozen cave was bad enough—this open neediness was more than someone like Cosmo could bear. He could see the doors already sliding shut behind Cosmo’s eyes. If he fumbled things now Leofric was certain he would lose Cosmo.
Rationally, he didn’t understand why that would be so terrible, but the primal, animal part of his brain knew that it would be. Leofric surged forward, cupped Cosmo’s face in his hands, and brought their lips together. He swallowed Cosmo’s startled huff, nipped at his plump bottom lip before tracing the bow of it with his tongue.
There was power in being desired.
It was a power Cosmo wielded comfortably, a power he plainly felt wrong footed without. The moan he released was almost…grateful, because Leofric now allowed him to reclaim that power. Cosmo melted into the kiss, allowing Leofric to lay him back on the heap of fur blankets. All the tension left him, soothed away by the knowledge that Leofric understood what he needed.
Despite that, Leofric knew there was no call to be gentle. He scraped his teeth down the slender column of Cosmo’s throat, biting and nipping at the clusters of freckles that he’d spent so long examining. The ones he hated. The ones he loved. He sucked marks of his own into the hollow below the apple of Cosmo’s throat, adding the shadowy purple bruises to the patterns on his skin. Claiming them as his own.
Cosmo tangled his fingers in Leofric’s hair, clawing at the leather tie he used to hold it back in its braid. He wasn’t being gentle, either, and Leofric winced at the tingling points of pain on his scalp. When the tie at last came loose, Cosmo pushed against him for the first time until they both sat opposite one another. With trembling hands, Cosmo combed his fingers through Leofric’s hair, working the braid loose until all of it tumbled down around his head and shoulders. He pushed it over to the side, tracing the pad of his pinky over the vines of Leofric’s tattoos, teasing the shell of his ear. Smiling.
Leofric startled.
This…was a new smile.
By this point, Leofric had seen so many of Cosmo’s smiles, both false and true. He didn’t know how one person could have so many smiles. Leofric barely even had one. And here was yet another of Cosmo’s, soft and shy and sweet, unsure, yet eager.
Innocent. Leofric had to wonder how many people had been privileged enough to catch a glimpse of this particular smile. It frightened him, so he leaned in to obscure it with harsh, claiming kisses. Cosmo’s fingers still tangled in his hair, clutching tight and tugging hard on Leofric’s scalp, hard enough to make him hiss.
Leofric guided Cosmo back against the blankets, where he reclined with his head pillowed on one arm, crooked at the elbow. He cocked his head, the teasing grin on his lips now a more familiar one. Leofric followed Cosmo down, blanketing his smaller body with his own, burying his face in his throat to inhale the scent of sparks and smoke and ocean air and starlight that clung to Cosmo beneath the perfumed oils he liked so well.
Leofric mapped Cosmo’s slim torso with kisses, impatient as he dipped his tongue into Cosmo’s navel. Cosmo squirmed, and his gasp was half a laugh.
“Ticklish?”
Cosmo gave the side of his head a playful swat. “Perhaps.”
Leofric smiled against the skin of his waist. It was so narrow that Leofric could almost wrap his hands around it. He grabbed it now, holding Cosmo in place as he traced the grooves of his hips with kisses. The men Leofric had tumbled before had always been like him—big, strong. Hard. Scarred. Dirty from the march. He and Cosmo had been on the road for weeks and yet somehow, he was clean as a princess, his skin so soft, so pale beneath the freckles it almost glowed in the firelight. He was small boned, delicate, with soft hands and softer lips.
So different from anyone he had ever known, let alone anyone he’d had the privilege to bed. Leofric shoved Cosmo’s thighs apart, settling between them on the stone bed. He’d seen Cosmo naked enough times now that it shouldn’t have been such a novel, arresting sight and yet, it took his breath away all the same to see Cosmo laid out before him, the pattern of freckles on his skin completely unobscured by fabric, or even the jewelry he’d once worn like armor. The hair around his cock was a deep, wiry crimson, with hints of copper and bronze that caught the light like beaten metal. His cockhead was flushed dark red, too, jutting out from the nest of flaming curls like a firebrand.
Cosmo sucked in a sharp breath, and Leofric knew his silence would not last. Soon, as he always did, Cosmo would speak. Before he could open his mouth and ruin the moment, Leofric opened his own and swallowed Cosmo’s cock to the root. Cosmo yelped, his hands tightening even further in Leofric’s hair. He liked the feel of it, quite a lot, the sting delicious and the tingles that followed even lovelier to savor. Cosmo gripped his hair with the right and confidence of ownership, and Leofric did not mind one bit.
He worked fast, as he had always done. Couplings in the army were swift and efficient. The release of stress and tensions on the march, performed with little privacy and even less intimacy. Some of his partners would have preferred a woman, Leofric did not doubt, but sometimes upon the eve of battle any warm and willing body would serve. There were plenty of soldiers, like Leofric, who preferred the taste and touch of men, but never had he had an opportunity to linger in pleasure.
He could linger now, he supposed, but he was far too eager, and he ground his own cock against the blankets below them both in an attempt to chase any sort of relief. Leofric hollowed his cheeks, swirling his tongue around the head of Cosmo’s cock, teasing his glans and sampling precum that beaded freely at its slit. Cosmo bucked into his mouth, gasps and moans and little pleas falling from his parted lips. Leofric held him in place, one arm snaking under his hips to grip his waist and hold him still.
Cosmo released a strangled cry when Leofric took his cock deep into the back of his throat, working the head with the practiced muscles of his throat. Between that, and his fingers moving to press and tease the sensitive spot behind Cosmo’s balls, it was not long before Leofric felt Cosmo stiffen and jerk between his lips, pulsing as he emptied himself down Leofric’s throat. He swallowed every last drop of divine seed, and cleaned Cosmo’s crown with his tongue, savoring the taste of Cosmo’s pleasure until not a single trace remained.
He nuzzled and kissed his way back up Cosmo’s trunk, resting on his side with his head upon one hand. Cosmo turned toward him, his eyes wide, panting and trembling as he rode the eddies of his receding climax. Leofric nipped the shell of Cosmo’s ear, making him shiver. “Told you I knew what I was doing.”
Cosmo laughed, still gasping for breath.
When his breathing slowed at last, Cosmo wilted back against the bed, a fine sheen of dewy sweat breaking over his freckled skin. His chest heaved, and when it seemed at last that he’d regained some sense, he said, “That was…”
“Yes?” Leofric prompted, allowing himself a self-satisfied smirk.
Cosmo cut him a look. He rolled onto his side, too, mirroring Leofric’s position. “Altogether far, far too brief.”
Leofric reached out to tuck a sweat-dampened strand of fiery hair behind Cosmo’s ear. “Disagree. You seemed to enjoy yourself.”
Cosmo reached down between them, running his fingers lightly over Leofric’s own hardness. “And you,” said Cosmo. He frowned, his brows knitting together in thought. “But I wonder, have you ever…taken your time with anyone?”
Leofric wasn’t sure how to answer, but Cosmo was not done speaking anyway.
He walked his fingers up Leofric’s thigh, skating them over his waist, letting them dance across the skin of his ribs. “Has anyone ever…taken their time with you?”
Cosmo knew the answer before the question had left his lips. The look on Leofric’s face told all. He was a thorough, experienced, and confident lover—Cosmo’s thighs still trembled with the evidence of that—but had he ever probed beneath the surface level pleasures of fucking? Had anyone ever made his entire body quiver, aching with want, blind with need, until he begged for release?
Had Leofric ever…made love?
Alarmed, Cosmo stuffed that question away, into the deep recesses of his mind. When he returned, he caught Leofric gazing at him thoughtfully, his brown eyes piercing the warm air between them. “Where did you go, just now?” He asked Cosmo.
“Nowhere,” said Cosmo, unnerved at being so seen. He lowered his voice to a seductive purr—intentional, but not disingenuous. He cupped the sharp jut of Leofric’s jaw, brushing a thumb lightly over his bottom lip. With a tug, he had Leofric leaning in for another kiss. Cosmo welcomed Leofric’s tongue, first tentative and curious and then aggressive. He pulled back, letting his breath skitter across Leofric’s hungry, parted lips. “ Slow down, ” Cosmo murmured against Leofric’s jaw, hard and sharp as iron beneath the tanned, stubbly skin. He nudged Leofric’s shoulder, encouraging him onto his back. He could tell immediately that it was not a natural position for Leofric, to show his belly. The muscles of his abdomen tensed beneath Cosmo’s hands. Cosmo paid it no mind, except to rub small, soothing circles on the rigid muscles with his thumb. He brought their lips together once more, forcing himself to keep the same slow, meandering pace. It helped that he’d only just quaked, but even so…taking his time proved a challenge. Leofric had a generous, sweet tasting mouth, strong hands that gripped tight to Cosmo’s shoulders, and a truly impressive manhood that he could not ignore, shoved as it was against Cosmo’s inner thigh.
Each movement of Leofric’s was a question, and each time Cosmo answered not yet. He could feel the coal of desire rekindling in his groin already, low and gentle, just beginning to grow warm.
Leofric resisted at first, trying to move things along, to race toward his finish as he was plainly accustomed to doing, but Cosmo rebuffed each advance, gentle, but firm. Not yet. He didn’t want to let the dance progress until Leofric understood how it was going to go. It took a long time, a lot of soft strokes and gentle kisses, but eventually Cosmo felt the exact moment this tightly wound, rigid, brittle, kill-joy of a man surrendered to him. He savored the victory; it was a gift. A sacred gift. For once in his life, Cosmo savored it in silence, knowing that to prod the beast now would have Leofric’s defenses back up. And how could he do that, after working so hard to pull them down?
Cosmo tucked the desire to gloat neatly away for later, and for now he just enjoyed the way Leofric had melted soft and pliant beneath him, like his long hard limbs had filled with liquid lead, like every muscle in his body had released its fight.
Boneless. Submissive.
When Cosmo finally wrapped his hand around Leofric’s shaft, he whined. He whined and Cosmo could not hold in the laugh it startled out of him, breathless, and giddy. Immediately, he cringed, afraid Leofric would be angry, afraid Leofric would pull away. But Leofric never ceased to surprise. He met Cosmo’s eye, let out a huff, and turned his head to the side. Turned up his throat. Another surrender.
Another gift.
Cosmo stroked Leofric between them, hoping to draw out more of those needy little noises, but after he let that first one escape, Leofric seemed determined to keep any more of them to himself. It was alright, though. One was enough.
The smile against Leofric’s bared throat was involuntary, and earned Cosmo another grumpy huff from somewhere above him. Instead of replying, he cupped Leofric’s cheek, leaning down to whisper in his ear. “ Shhh… ” he soothed, sucking his earlobe between his lips and biting down on it, coupling the soft reassurance with the sharp bite. Pleasure, sauced with pain, the way Cosmo learned Leofric liked it.
Leofric arched into his hand, his hips popping as he chased the pressure and friction offered by Cosmo’s fist. Cosmo had no doubt Leofric would happily come just like this, and thanked Cosmo after.
But that was only because he did not know any better.
There was coming, and there was coming, Cosmo had always thought. It was plain to him that Leofric was well practiced at hurrying the pursuit of pleasure, chasing release as swiftly and efficiently as possible. Cosmo slowed his hand on every upstroke, loosening his grip each time until his finger pads barely whispered over the heated skin, stretched so tight around Leofric’s shaft that the head of his cock was angry and shiny, flushed a red so deep it was near purple. Cosmo eyed it hungrily, eager to feel the same instrument thrusting home deep inside him. He stilled his hand entirely, and he could feel the frustrated grunt against his lips that Leofric tried—and failed—to stifle. He swiped his thumb once over the velvety soft head, catching a pearl of precum on his fingertip. With his other hand, he braced against Leofric’s hip bone, Cosmo sat up, straddling the hard thighs beneath him, his own knees canted wide. Cosmo’s soft cock twitched against his thigh, and a warm, tingling sensation surged across his skin. He tilted his head, watching Leofric watching him. Their eyes locked, and Cosmo raised his thumb to his mouth, sucking the salty bead of dew from the end of it. Leofric’s mouth dropped open, a burnished crimson flush traveling up the trim muscles of his abdomen and the soft thatch of brown curls on his chest, past his neck and to his sharp, high cheeks. Cosmo lingered on the taste knowing one day, and one day soon, he’d drink this man dry.
He dragged his thumb from his mouth, letting the tip of his tongue dart out to tease, before he stroked his hand down his own chest, agonizingly slow as he carelessly perused the flesh of his own body. His spit slick fingers lingered on a nipple, tugging it until it peaked and ached, then switching to the other. Leofric groaned, watching like it caused him physical pain to do so. His hands flew to Cosmo’s hips, squeezing tight, his fingers pushing deep into the skin of Cosmo’s waist. Please, let it bruise, Cosmo thought. If Leofric woke in the morning having come to his senses, he wanted a reminder of this night to remain.
Cosmo lunged sideways off the bed, expecting Leofric to keep him from falling. He did, but not without a startled cry as Cosmo pitched over the edge of the stone cot. Leofric clung tight to his waist. “What are you doing?”
Cosmo ignored the question, shoving his hand down inside his pack, fishing around in the bottom for a bottle of massage oil. He always carried several with him. Leofric sat up, nearly sending Cosmo toppling to the floor, and Cosmo swung his arm, clutching Leofric’s shoulder as he continued his search. Frustrated, he seized the bag and upended it, sending his belongings bouncing and skittering across the stone floor.
“For fuck’s—what are you?—”
“Aha!” said Cosmo, triumphant, fingers clutched tight around the pot of oil. He twisted and turned, swinging back into place astride Leofric’s thighs.
Leofric sat up, sliding his hands around Cosmo’s back, clutching tight in attempt to keep him still. He peeked over Cosmo’s shoulder, looking at the clothes and other sundry items now spread across the floor. “Are you just going to leave all— hmmf! ”
Cosmo cut off Leofric’s lecture with a kiss and drenched his fingers with oil. With his fingers well slicked, Cosmo disentangled himself, and with one parting bite to Leofric’s lower lip, he spun, a new torment in mind. Leofric was taut as a bowstring, and Cosmo planned to find at what point he would lose control. This game of lusty torture was an excellent one, and Leofric’s limited patience was surely nearing its end, and Cosmo could not wait to see what would happen when Leofric snapped.
He spun to face the foot of the bed, such that it was, arching his back to ensure his ass pointed right at Leofric. Cosmo was very comfortable on display. He’d never been shy about his body, from the innocence of childhood to his decidedly less innocent adulthood, he’d had no qualms about flesh. Now though, he found himself a bit nervous. Leofric had never had the chance to enjoy sex like this. Neither have you, said a snide voice in Cosmo’s head. He shoved it down.
Suddenly, he felt the urge to look upon Leofric’s face, like if he could not see Leofric’s eyes adoring him, he’d fracture. He peeked over his shoulder, and there they were, fixated upon Cosmo with awe that bordered upon worship.
Confidence restored, Cosmo grinned and reached back to caress his own ass cheek, tracing gentle circles on his skin, teasing Leofric beneath him with a visual feast. Leofric’s soft, choked, “ Fuck,” was all he needed to hear. His other hand snaked down his front, between his legs, on a quest of its own. The angle was not ideal for access, to be sure—but it was ideal for putting on a show, for leaving the brittle soldier beneath him entirely spellbound.
Cosmo found his own hole with an oily fingertip, caressing himself, touching himself. He circled it, tapped the puckered skin, shivering with anticipation. His cock had begun to recover, plumping sluggishly where it hung between his thighs. Up tall on his knees, Cosmo rocked against his own wrist, sliding his finger past the delicate furl of skin. He must be driving Leofric mad, absolutely wild. Cosmo grinned as he touched himself, rocking back and forth, wondering how long it would be before Leofric lost his mind, before he begged, before he surrendered entirely to— oh.
A long, low moan began deep in Cosmo’s throat before his brain could even comprehend what had inspired it. Something had joined his fingers. Something wet and hungry and dexterous, lapping the sensitive skin around Cosmo’s hole, teasing its tip inside beside Cosmo’s fingers, like it needed to taste.
Well.
Leofric smiled, and Cosmo could feel his indulgent chuckle, the vibration of it against his rim and the moist, panting heat of Leofric’s breath. Chasing it, Cosmo circled his hips, arching his back, eager, thoughts of victory and control long forgotten. Leofric shifted his weight, slipped his hands from Cosmo’s hips down to his thighs. His fingers were like stone, pushing harshly into Cosmo’s legs, keeping them still. Leofric devoured his meal, feasting like a starving man, and Cosmo slipped his fingers out of the way, leaning forward until the muscles of his stomach shook and ached. He used both his hands to keep himself open for Leofric’s tongue, an offering of his own.
So much for victory, Cosmo thought, deciding that perhaps he was the sacrifice, and Leofric the hungry, irascible, insatiable god. Leofric had been quick to take the lesson about lingering, about slowing down, taking one’s time. Or perhaps it was time that had slowed, stopped entirely. Perhaps Leofric was a master torturer. None of that mattered, actually, to Cosmo. There was only the stubble burning between his legs and the flexing, teasing, lapping of Leofric’s tongue, questing to taste every part of him.
Leofric eased back, pulling Cosmo with him, hunkering down on the wadded-up furs that served as a pillow. He needn’t have bothered pulling; Cosmo would have followed that mouth anywhere. As Cosmo settled fully over Leofric’s face, he wondered if anyone had ever suffocated like this before, breathing their last breath with their face buried in a lover’s ass. What a way to go, Cosmo thought with a lazy grin, rocking his hips in tight little waves, grinding against Leofric’s tongue.
Leofric mumbled something against his hole, which both tickled and sent little shocks up his spine. Then he touched Cosmo’s leg, a few urgent swats, and Cosmo sat up, lifting off Leofric’s face. He twisted to peer down at him. “Yes?”
Leofric did not answer right away. Instead, he put his palms on Cosmo’s ass and shoved. Cosmo lurched froward, disoriented, throwing his hands out before him to break his fall. He needn’t have worried though, Leofric moved cat quick, maneuvering a thickly muscled arm around his waist, the opposite hand pressed lightly against his throat. Plastered together now, on their knees, back to front, Leofric bit savagely at the place where Cosmo’s neck met his shoulder. “I need to fuck you,” he rasped. “ Now. ”
Cosmo shivered, not because it sounded like Leofric had seized control—but because it was plain he had lost it. His words were not a threat, or a command. They were a plea. The desperate plea of a desperate man. Cosmo’s grin widened and he melted backward into Leofric’s arms, tilting his head back up against his chest.
He could feel Leofric’s cock like an iron bar, jabbing into the small of his back. Leofric rubbed against him eagerly, like a needy, feral animal, who could not help himself. Cosmo reached his hand back and up, caressed the face he’d come to love so well—the furrowed brow, the hawkish nose. The jaw that could crack ice. The plump, dusky lips that nearly always twisted in a frown. Leofric’s hand snaked down to wrap around Cosmo’s shaft, finding it hard and eager.
“Already?” Leofric asked, surprised.
Cosmo only laughed. “I am a god,” he said. “I recover quickly.”
“That sounds like a challenge,” Leofric murmured against the valley between Cosmo’s shoulder blades. He tightened the hand around Cosmo’s throat, and once again, the motion was less a threat and more the frenetic twitch of someone about to snap. Leofric stroked Cosmo slowly, a question. He pressed needy, open-mouthed kisses up the back of Cosmo’s neck, sweeping the hair from the nape and kissing up again to his ear. “ Please, ” he whispered.
Cosmo moaned, rocking his hips to fuck into Leofric’s fist. “ Yes,” he answered on a sigh. Leofric’s hand vanished from his cock, and he could feel it fumbling between them as he lined himself up with Cosmo’s hole. Cosmo could feel the way his cockhead slipped and slid around his entrance, slick with oil and dripping with spit, and he stilled. “But, I need something from you, first.”
Leofric stilled, though his hands still thrummed with tension. “ Bastard, ” he hissed. “Anything.”
Cosmo swiveled around, and cupped the side of Leofric’s face. “Are you certain?”
Leofric slumped forward, his forehead resting against Cosmo’s shoulder. “Yes. Anything.”
“Say something nice about me,” said Cosmo sweetly.
Leofric growled, and lunged forward like he really was a wild animal, pinning Cosmo beneath him on his back. Cosmo writhed in his grip, staring up at his captor. Leofric’s pupils had blown wide, his hair a tangled curtain of chocolate silk around his face. It was long enough that the ends of tickled Cosmo’s cheeks. Cosmo blinked up at him, suddenly afraid. What if Leofric had nothing to say?
“I can feel that,” Leofric said, his voice intent and fierce. Cosmo realized his grace had hummed to the surface, heating his blood and sparking along his skin. Leofric lowered his lips to Cosmo’s throat, sucking hard. “Do it. I don’t care.”
“Wh-what?”
“Burn me,” said Leofric. “I won’t let go. I still want you.”
Cosmo could feel the blood in his veins heating, literal warmth flooding from deep inside him and out onto his skin.
“I still need you,” Leofric said.
Cosmo opened his mouth to say, “ and I you, ” but all that came out was a broken, needy whine.
“Bastard. Bastard. Bas—tard.” Leofric grunted against Cosmo’s throat, each word ending on a kiss, or a bite.
Cosmo arched against him, hitching one knee up over Leofric’s hip. He tangled his fingers in Leofric’s hair, pulling harshly on his scalp until Leofric hissed, and surrendered to Cosmo’s pulling. “I believe I’m still waiting to hear something nice,” said Cosmo, summoning his most cocksure grin, though Leofric’s needy words had shaken him, and deeply.
Leofric cursed again, a look of fury searing across his face, pulling his lips into a snarl. He blinked at Cosmo for several long moments in which Cosmo had time to fear perhaps he had pushed him too far at last, when all the fight bled out of Leofric at once. He sighed. “You, Cosmo…” he said, biting off each word like it cost him a great deal, “Are beautiful.”
Cosmo startled. Of all the things Leofric could have said, he had not expected that. Color bled into Leofric’s cheeks—not the heated flush of the sexually frustrated or the ruddy glow of those overlong in the sun, but a true, honest blush. Leofric blushed, and looked away—or tried, but Cosmo caught his chin. “Truly?”
“Fucking truly, you absolute menace,” Leofric growled, and shoved his cock into Cosmo in one sharp, brutal thrust.
Cosmo arched his back and howled, his fingers hopelessly tangled in Leofric’s hair as the sharp burn of pleasure-pain ripped through him. And then Leofric was moving, slinging his hips hard and fast as Cosmo clung to him, answering him thrust for thrust. He squeezed, clenching every muscle he possessed as if he could trap Leofric there, keep him there— there—there— just there, forever, and Leofric cursed and cried out, panting as he fucked Cosmo with deep, storming fury, that long hard dick of his impaling Cosmo over and over and over. “Beautiful,” Leofric repeated. “And brave. And kind. ”
Cosmo clawed at Leofric’s back, desperate to keep him as close as he could, afraid of letting him go, even for the span of one fevered heartbeat. The lean, muscular thighs Cosmo had spent so long admiring flexed and tensed as Leofric took Cosmo harder than anyone had ever dared take him before. “More,” Cosmo begged.
“You are a wonderful cook, you’re clever. Your freckles are bloody enchanting.” The words were nice, and Leofric’s thrusts were anything but, the contrast between the two strangely titillating. It was a wonder he could catch his breath to utter the endearments, to keep his breath at all, really. Cosmo felt as though every thrust punched the air from his lungs. All at once, Leofric stilled. He stared deep into Cosmo’s eyes, looking like a man possessed. “You make me smile,” he whispered, like a secret. “I try to hide it, but you do.”
Cosmo blinked, utterly arrested, but it seemed the time for tenderness was done. Leofric started moving again. If Cosmo stood mortal, surely this savagery would rip him in two, and the tightness down between Cosmo’s legs had him choking back sobs as Leofric pounded him into the hard, unyielding stone beneath their blankets. Near blind with ecstasy, Cosmo hurtled toward his peak for the second time, and he felt it, the split second where they crested as one, Leofric’s deep voice breaking as he came, and with the fitful pulse of Leofric’s cock deep within him, Cosmo heard him whisper hoarsely, “Beautiful. ”
This shattered Cosmo, who quaked on a startled, shuddering gasp, spurts of cum splashing across Leofric’s taut abdomen. They clutched tightly to one another, rocking against each other like boats on a stormy tide. Eventually, they slowed, and Leofric slumped on top of him, breath coming in gasps, his trembling weight a welcome touchstone. Just when Cosmo thought he’d regained some of his sense, Leofric nipped sharply at his ear, and he shivered, spent cock giving a feeble phantom twitch. Then, Leofric was gone.
Confused, Cosmo rolled onto his side, watching Leofric stomp around the cave, grumbling as he searched the ground for something amid the things Cosmo had tossed carelessly from their bags. Neither spoke. Cosmo watched, smiling lazily, enjoying the way the firelight glowed against Leofric’s sweaty skin, his softening cock glistening wetly between his legs. Finally, he’d stowed their errant belongings and found a scrap of cloth, with which he returned to bed.
After they’d cleaned up, Leofric slid back into the furs behind Cosmo, pulling him close, tucking him safely against his chest. Cosmo had never felt so terrified, yet so protected and cherished, all at once. For once in his life, he was speechless.
It took him quite some time to get drowsy, and just when Cosmo had almost drifted to sleep, a small gust of breath stirred the hair on the back of his neck. Leofric spoke to him, so quietly Cosmo thought maybe he was hoping to go unheard.
“I like the way you fit, here.”
Cosmo smiled. Tucked with his back to Leofric’s chest, he could hide how soft and pleased it made him feel. He wriggled his ass a bit, pressing it against Leofric’s spent groin. “I’ll bet you do.”
“Fucking menace, ” Leofric snapped, yanking his arm back from where it had wrapped around Cosmo’s waist. He rolled away, facing the wall of the cavern.
Immediately, Cosmo followed. He pressed up behind Leofric. “But, I’m your menace.” Cosmo hesitated, and he hated the quaver in his own voice when he added, “…right?”
Leofric didn’t answer right away, but he drew Cosmo’s knuckles to his lips, pressing a kiss to each. Then, he said, “And don’t you fucking forget it.”
Cosmo smiled, wriggled in closer, and gave Leofric’s fingers a squeeze.