Chapter 40
Zane
Hand in hand, Zane and Talon watched their family leave until they were only specks against the horizon.
Zane hadn’t expected to be so emotional about separating, but it hadn’t been until that morning that he realized exactly what these people had become to him—family.
They’d walked through the nine hells together, and come out on the other side battered and bruised, but stronger for it.
Talon squeezed his hand. “Come on, let’s go for a walk in the gardens.”
That sounded lovely, but… “We should be studying instead.”
“It’s okay to take some time for yourself,” Tal said kindly. Any other protests Zane had evaporated when Talon put an arm around his shoulders and steered him towards the gardens.
Unlike in Athusa, the plant life here consisted mostly of muted green succulents and twisty trees that barely seemed alive.
But there were splashes of color to be found as they wandered through—orange poppies, yellow marigolds, and pink oleander.
An agave with wicked looking spines towered over them, a single stalk in the center of the plant spearing towards the cloudless sky.
The earthy aroma of hot sand mingled with sweet honeysuckle.
They walked until they found a wooden bench and sat, Talon’s arm still around his shoulders and Zane rested his head against him.
Before him lay a grand tapestry of desert beauty, but he found he could focus on little else other than the heartbeat sounding beneath his ear, and his own turbulent thoughts.
Talon seemed to improve day by day, and for that, Zane was truly grateful. But it meant that he was worrying less about someone else’s mental well-being, and all of his own personal experiences rushed in to fill the empty spaces.
He’d been taken prisoner by his own father, tortured to the brink of death, and forced to face his father in battle.
Then to watch Talon murdered in front of him, and those few harrowing minutes that he held his lover’s dead body, considering ending his own life because this one had been so fraught with heartache.
Not to mention, he’d never properly dealt with the deaths of his mother, and his previous lover, Jax.
“What are you thinking about?” Talon murmured.
Zane shook his head. He didn’t need to burden Talon with any of his problems. A firm finger underneath his chin tilted his head back until Zane was staring into warm blue eyes. That same blue that screamed home.
“Let me take care of you, my heart. You kept me afloat for so long. Let me return the favor.”
Taking a shuddering breath, Zane closed his eyes. Talon was the only one he’d ever felt comfortable exposing his entire true self to. But that didn’t mean it was easy. Especially after a lifetime of hiding who he was and what he was feeling.
“I’ve been through a lot,” he began, then found he couldn’t stop, the words flowing out of him.
At some point, he started crying. Silent, hot tears streamed down his face as he forced himself to get everything out.
Talon sat with him, saying nothing, simply holding him close and wiping away the moisture on his face.
“You’ve gone through more than anyone should have to deal with in a lifetime, let alone before they’re thirty,” Talon finally said when Zane fell quiet.
“You’ve been through worse,” Zane whispered. What were his problems compared to Talon actually dying?
Tal cradled Zane’s face in his warm hands, callused fingers swiping away errant tears.
“One person’s problems don’t invalidate someone else’s. Just because you see something as ‘worse’ doesn’t mean your problems mean nothing. Your worries matter, Zane.” His hands trembled slightly. “You matter. So much. Not only to me, but to so many around you.”
Zane’s sinuses burned with more unshed tears, but before they had a chance to fall, Talon was kissing him.
He gripped Tal’s tunic and tugged him closer until Zane was practically sitting in his lap.
The rough scratch of stubble against his cheek drove Zane close to insanity.
He needed more. So much more. He broke apart and leaned his brow against Talon’s.
“Room,” Zane said, breathless. “Now.”
Standing without a word, Talon grabbed Zane’s hand and together they ran back to their room. Broad smiles covered both of their faces and as they passed the palace staff, many of them shot questioning glances at the crazed couple flying through the halls.
But they finally, finally made it back to their guest suite, and once the door was closed, Zane’s back was shoved against it, Talon’s lips hot on his again.
Tal crowded him against the door, shoving a leg between his thighs that Zane shamelessly ground down on.
His hands were everywhere, wanting to touch every single part of this man but not knowing where to start.
A light caress over the skin of his midriff had Zane breaking apart, chest heaving, to rip his tunic off, then Talon’s.
It wasn’t his first time seeing Tal’s bare torso, but Zane soaked in the sight, anyway.
Straining muscles sat underneath pale skin, covered with a spattering of freckles.
Zane ran his hands down his chest, quickly replacing them with his lips and tongue.
Talon gripped his hair tight, holding Zane to his chest.
He let his hands drift lower, toying with Tal’s waistband.
The large bulge of his arousal was evident, and Zane finally allowed himself to touch, cupping Talon right where he had always desired.
A muttered curse had Zane smirking as he dropped to his knees.
Looking up at this wonderful man, his smile refused to disappear.
His fingers deftly undid Talon’s trousers and yanked them down, exposing his magnificent cock.
Zane gazed deep into Talon’s blue eyes, a heat and hunger there that he’d never seen before. He dragged his tongue up Talon’s shaft slowly before sucking the tip into his mouth. Tal’s hips thrust forward, and his hand tightened in Zane’s hair.
“Fuck, Zane,” he hissed.
His own cock twitched at the words, his trousers becoming uncomfortably tight.
Zane worked Tal methodically, using his hand to squeeze at the base while his tongue swirled around the tip.
Talon’s breathing became choppier, and his hand spasmed in Zane’s hair.
Zane moaned in anticipation, then groaned as Talon pulled him away.
“I will not come in your mouth the first time,” Talon said, his voice low and full of want. “Come here.”
He hauled Zane up and then was kissing him again, nipping at his lower lip, their tongues dancing together.
Tal’s hand speared into his pants and wrapped around Zane’s aching cock.
Stilling at the sensation, Zane could only gaze with wonder at the man he loved as his fist began to stroke up and down.
Talon walked him backwards until his knees hit the bed.
“Take those off,” he murmured in Zane’s ear, biting the lobe gently. Then he turned and walked towards the bathing room. Zane hated that he was leaving but loved the sight of his bare ass too much to complain.
“Where are you going?” Zane tore his trousers down and kicked them away, waiting impatiently for his lover to return.
“Getting lubrication,” came the shouted reply from the other room.
“Why do you have lube?”
Talon finally emerged with the bottle in his hand and a smug grin on his face. “Had a feeling we might need it.”
Zane’s heart rate doubled, then tripled as Talon inspected his body from head to toe with an appreciative glance. When his eyes finally returned to Zane’s face, they had darkened noticeably.
“On your hands and knees, Your Majesty,” Tal practically growled.
Zane found he didn’t mind the title in this context.
Not one bit. He did as he was told, crawling onto the bed and resting on all fours.
His entire body was bared to Talon, and he was shocked to find he wasn’t self-conscious.
The scars on his back weren’t even a concern as he followed Tal’s command, even though he’d kept them hidden from any other lovers over the past ten years.
“Look at you,” Talon murmured. “So beautiful.” And, in that moment, Zane truly felt the weight of those words, and he believed them for the first time in his life.
He gasped as cool lubricant was applied to his entrance with a gentle touch.
A small trickle of worry entered him now; it had been a while since he’d done this.
But Talon knew what he was doing, inserting a single finger first to acclimate him.
Zane moaned when he added another one. Turning his head, he could see Talon touching himself, applying the lube on his throbbing cock, and suddenly the fingers weren’t enough.
“Please, Talon, I need you.”
The sensation of fullness disappeared and was instantly replaced by the tip of Talon’s cock exerting a gentle pressure, but he wasn’t going any further.
“Are you sure, Zane?” asked Tal, his words clipped. “Because once I do this, you’ll never be rid of me.”
Zane again turned to look Talon in the eye. “Good. I want you with me always.”
There was a spark in those beautiful blue eyes, then Tal was pushing himself inside of Zane with an excruciating slowness.
Zane buried his face in the blankets and groaned.
Talon moaned behind him and when he was buried to the hilt, he bent forward, placing kisses along Zane’s back, covering all of those scars with his love.
Then he was moving, and Zane lost all sense of time and direction. He didn’t think he’d ever been this deliciously filled before. Nobody had ever made him so euphoric. He clenched the sheets and held on.
Talon wrapped his hand around Zane’s cock again, and he forgot how to breathe. The sensations were too much, too fast. The amount of love that filled his entire being for the man currently behind him giving him pleasure threatened to explode outward.
“Come with me, Zane.” Talon’s voice was strained.
The pleasure built and built in the base of his spine, and when Tal pressed deep inside him, Zane cried out, his release coating the bed and Talon’s hand.
His soul followed after, calling out his name, then collapsing on top of him.
They lay like that for a while—Zane relishing the weight holding him in place—until Tal eventually withdrew from Zane’s body. He missed the fullness immediately.
Talon stood and went again to the bathing room, but Zane found his bones had turned to liquid and he was unable to move from his current position, still breathing hard.
Returning with a wet towel, Talon cleaned them both and stripped the sheets away from underneath Zane.
Then he crawled back into the bed and gathered Zane into his warm, strong arms, placing a kiss to the top of his head.
“I love you,” Talon murmured.
“I love you, my soul.” Zane’s eyes fluttered shut, the steady beat of Talon’s heart a balm under his ear.
Tal said he’d never be rid of him, and Zane was silently grateful for those words.
He’d never loved anyone more, and while that was terrifying, having this man next to him was completely worth the risk of heartbreak.
Living in fear wasn’t living, it was surviving, and Zane vowed that now he would truly make an effort to live.
For the first time in as long as he could remember, he was actually looking forward to the future.