31. Shey Thrudesh-Vo
THIRTY-ONE
SHEY THRUDESH-VO
Shey sat on the bed he shared with Tyche, his back resting against the headboard and his hands folded on his stomach.
He was trying not to think. Desperately trying not to come up with alternatives to their plan to kill Chancellor Rati Feng.
Mostly just trying not to think about how Tyche was heading into so much danger without him.
Logically, he understood. He got it. He really did.
This was the best plan for what they had to work with. It was an opening they couldn’t pass up. There was no telling when Feng would be outside of Aswa again. Attempting to attack him in the heart of New Rosanthe was stupid.
It had to be here and now.
And Tyche had to be the one to do it.
But he shouldn’t be alone. Jules was a nice guy, and while he apparently had some fight training, Shey was reluctant to believe it would be enough for what they faced. Compound that with the fact that Tyche had no fight training whatsoever, and the situation looked dire.
The door opened to the bedroom, and Tyche strode in with damp hair and a rosiness to his cheeks after his shower.
A woodsy scent wafted into the room ahead of him from either his soap or shampoo.
The god was wearing a pair of baggy shorts and an even baggier T-shirt that was Caspagir blue and had the emblem from the University of Sirelis emblazoned on the upper left side of the chest.
Shey’s eyebrows snapped together, and he sat up. “Where did you get that shirt?”
Tyche flashed a cheeky grin. “Stole it from you before we left Sirelis.” Tyche pinched the front of the shirt and lifted it to his nose, where he took in a noisy breath.
His eyes fell shut as if he were savoring the aroma, then opened to stare at Shey.
“Mmm…smells like you.” He dropped the shirt so Shey could see his wide grin.
“Actually, it smells like the royal laundry detergent, but I started associating that smell with you during our time in the palace.”
A soft laugh escaped Shey, and he could feel his smile fading far too quickly, as if he couldn’t keep the corners of his mouth pinned up where they belonged.
Tyche frowned as well. “Don’t look at me like that.” He shut the door behind him and crossed the room, the floor creaking under his bare feet. The mattress bounced as he climbed into the too-small bed, but instead of sitting next to Shey, he sat cross-legged at the foot of the bed, facing Shey.
“I can’t help it. Tomorrow is going to be incredibly dangerous.
People are going to die, and I’m terrified that you’re going to be one of them.
” Shey licked his lips and his hands balled into fists at his sides.
“You can’t tell me it’s not possible. Gods die.
Zyros was killed. I fucking watched Yesuntei die.
We don’t even have a clue if Cirina is still alive after Kaes made her disappear.
I don’t want you to join them. We just found each other.
” He swallowed hard, his voice cracking, “Ty, I—”
“Oh, no you fucking don’t! Don’t you dare!
” Tyche lurched to his knees and crawled across the mattress awkwardly as the thing sank under him with every movement.
He pressed his hands against Shey’s chest and straddled his waist. Shey almost expected Ty to smack him.
“I refuse to let you give me some bullshit, last-minute, I-think-you’re-gonna-die confession.
Hell, no. I haven’t lived my extremely long life to have a taste of real feelings only to have you toss off some slapdash romance because you’re scared. ”
“This isn’t slapdash—”
“Don’t care,” he snapped. “If you’re about to say what I think you’re going to say, you can wait for when you can say it without the fear.
I want romance, flowers, candles, wine, and violins.
Fuck, at the very least, I want to hear it when you’re bursting with joy and can’t hold it in any longer.
Those words shouldn’t be riddled with terror, said in a moment of desperation. At least not for the first time.”
Tyche dropped, his butt resting on Shey’s thighs, a frown marring his adorable face.
He was right. Tyche had lived a very long existence alone, and this was something that should be treasured.
It should be looked back on with overwhelming joy.
But Shey also didn’t want to think about him going through his entire life never hearing those words.
He gazed into that face, memorizing the tiny sprinkling of freckles across his straight, slender nose.
His dark green eyes glittered and shone like rare emeralds lit by dancing firelight.
A cloud of messy, long red hair framed his face.
How was he not the God of Mischief? The only thing missing was the wicked curse of his full lips.
Right now, they were downturned with worry and frustration.
“I think you forget who the fuck I am.”
Shey huffed a near-silent laugh. “I was thinking it’s strange that you’re not the God of Mischief.”
“Goddess, actually. And she was a real pain in the ass. Met her a couple of times,” Tyche said in an off-hand manner.
He stopped and gave his head a shake before frowning at Shey for distracting him.
“I’ve stood up to gods, Shey. I went head-to-head with Kaes, a major god, and survived.
Yes, I wasn’t alone, but I certainly gave him pause.
I stood up to a mad dragon. There have been other gods from my past that I’ve locked horns with and survived.
Do you honestly think I can’t handle some humans? ”
“But the prison…in Milway…” Shey knew all these things Tyche was telling him, but he couldn’t escape the knowledge that he’d met Ty in that damn prison, and he’d needed Shey to escape. This time, Shey wouldn’t be there to protect him.
Tyche squeezed his eyes shut and drew in a deep breath.
“I’ve already admitted that I could have escaped if I had wanted, but it would have meant revealing my magic.
Showing them who I really am.” Tyche opened his eyes and stared at Shey.
“Waiting and using you meant that my magic could remain hidden. Otherwise, they would never have stopped chasing me.”
“And now?”
“Fuck them. I don’t give a damn who knows about my powers. I’ll kill everyone in that building if I must. Anything to get back to you.”
Shey’s heart squeezed, and he struggled to swallow past the sudden tightness in his throat. This. He needed this. He needed to know that Tyche would use every trick he had, every ounce of power to return to Shey’s side.
Tyche curled his fingers in Shey’s shirt, bunching it in his fists.
“Can you fathom what I feel for you? I can’t.
This is all so new for me, and I don’t want it to end.
The thoughts and urges that flash through my brain for you are intoxicating.
I want to shout for joy. I want to slaughter every person who looks at you with desire in their eyes.
Tired of New Rosanthe’s threats? Let me destroy them all. Let me burn the world for you.”
Shey wrapped his hand around the nape of Tyche’s neck and pulled him in, slamming their mouths together in a brutal, possessive kiss. A low moan rumbled up Tyche’s throat, and he stretched out on top of him, giving all of himself to the kiss.
Tyche didn’t want him to say the words balanced on his tongue? Fine. He’d make this god feel all the emotions fighting to escape. He thrust into Tyche’s mouth, tasting him, soaking in every sensation. Every little noise Tyche made drove him closer to the edge of his control.
He slipped his hands under Tyche’s borrowed shirt and worked his fingers into the loose waistband of his shorts. He wanted him naked. They needed to be skin to skin.
Yet, before he could remove a single garment, Tyche broke off the kiss and pushed upright. He panted heavily, his pupils blown wide as he stared at Shey. “No.”
“What?” Shey gasped. Had he lost his mind? He could feel Tyche’s hard cock pressing into his hip, and he found himself in the same state. Tyche didn’t want sex? That didn’t make sense.
“No sex. We can’t. I don’t trust you.”
“What?” Okay, so that made even less sense.
Tyche clenched his teeth and growled. “Fuck. Why is it so hard to make words…go?”
Shey bit back the laughter that bubbled up in his throat and sneaked a hand between them, caressing his lover’s dick through his shorts. “Because you’re not getting enough blood to your brain to make words go.”
Throwing his head back, Tyche let out the most erotic moan as he thrust into Shey’s palm. “Not helping.” Shey started to draw his hand away, but Tyche let out a whine. “I didn’t say stop.”
“Ty, you’re giving me mixed signals. You said no sex, but told me not to stop. You’re gonna have to make some words go.” Shey didn’t return his hand to Tyche’s dick because he really did need to know what he wanted.
“No sex. I mean the full-blown, you’re deep in my ass, making me forget my name sex—I’ve never done that before, and my first time won’t be some last good-bye sex with you.
I’d rather it be ‘Good job on killing the bad guy, let’s fuck’ or even ‘Hey, I got coffee. Wanna fuck?’ But now you’ve got me like this.
” Tyche motioned to the steel pipe that was pushing at the front of his shorts so that there was now a gap in the waistband.
“I’m pretty sure I’m gonna die if I don’t come, and you’re going to feel terrible. ”
Shey smirked. He could work with this. He didn’t want his memory of being with Tyche for the first time to be here and now. Not like this. But there were plenty of other things they could do. “Go get the lube out of my bag. Small interior pocket with a zipper.”
With a grin, Tyche was off the bed and across the room in a flash, giving Shey a chance to pull off his shirt and shove his pants off. When Tyche returned to the bed with the bottle, his mouth fell open to see Shey completely naked in the bed, his back still pressed to the pillows and headboard.