6. A New Love #3
Aria tilted his head, eyes round, hair loose around his face. “Truly? It’s a favorite of mine.”
No, not truly. But Noble couldn’t say that. He was acting odd, even by his own standards. He needed to get a grip. He fished for an excuse and said, “It’s a children’s story.”
Aria’s smile settled the unusual lump inside Noble’s throat. Perhaps he was getting sick. “Gurd was my childhood crush.”
“That would explain it.” Noble paused. “And that would explain Ellor. Gurd’s got red hair, does he not?”
Aria’s face slowly filled with color. He spun on his heel and walked away. “Go bathe, Noble Yves. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Noble sighed, and watched him go, and listened to his footsteps all the way back down the stairs.
She was pretty and soft beneath his hands.
The picture of perfection against the silver satin sheets that made up her lush bed.
Noble let the sounds of her moaning and the feeling of her orgasm lead him closer to his own.
He sucked in a gasp of air as he closed his eyes, and her hands dug into the planes of his back, spurring him on. Closer. But he just—
He needed more. He pumped on—faster, faster. He broke into a sweat, and her hands slipped to his ribs.
She trembled. “I’m going to—again—” she whispered, sounding awed. “Go on. Don’t stop.”
Noble kept his pace until she came again, then tried a different position, with her on her side, and he began with slow, punctuated thrusts.
He chased it, the relief—the balm to all the hurt.
This was the part he wanted. He wanted to come.
He breathed heavily as he kept on, and on.
But he kept thinking of Virginia, of how she’d been beneath him like this, and had she ever really wanted him here?
Noble grit his teeth, wincing as his knee grew tight from where he pressed his weight down.
They’d soaked the bed through by the time he tried a third position—her on her hands and knees, him standing at the end of her bed. Her little hands scrambled for purchase, and found her pillow. Silently, and shaking again, she held it beneath her, knuckles gone stark white.
“Gods, I’m going to come again,” she choked out. “Please.” The pulse of her release gripped Noble’s cock, vice-like and wet.
Noble’s breath evened out as he watched her hands. He draped himself across her, and gazed at the pale skin of each finger, and his mind didn’t fill with visions of Virginia, then.
He thought instead of milk glass skin and blond hair and narrow shoulders and pink lips.
“Is it alright if I finish?” he whispered.
She nodded, incapable of speech. The silence, except for his heavy breaths and the slap of their meeting bodies, made it simple for Noble’s mind to wander to another place: to his own home, to the couch he’d sat in while Aria unlaced his boots, and knelt at his feet.
He’d sat, drunk and beautiful, and looked almost like he wanted to be there.
Aria’s skin was cold and pale that night. Except for his lips. They were red from wine, and warm-looking, and he’d probably done it many times: prayed at the feet of someone he loved, put his mouth against the shape of his cock, and brought him to the end.
Noble finished with that thought and at least muffled the sound of his name against her skin.
The next morning, tucked into his bed at home, Noble no longer had the need to fake a sickness. He coughed, moaned as his body ached, and whispered thanks to Morgan as he brought soup and medication and plenty of juice to drink.
ARIA
“No, I’m telling you. I called this one passing toad a frog, and Benj spent the rest of the night laughing, and saying, ‘Heh, frog. You thought it was a frog. It was a toad,’ over and over again.
You cannot outdo me on this, Noble. My date will go down in history as one of the worst to have ever come to pass. ”
Noble rocked back in his bar stool, his curls parted down the middle, half tucked behind his ear. He considered it for a moment and said, “Well, that is a pretty embarrassing mistake to make. Frogs and toads are nothing alike.”
Aria raked a hand through his hair as he recalled the way he’d felt trapped.
He couldn’t just leave Benj outright—that’d be rude.
But, by Elys, he would have given anything to have never gone on this date to begin with.
“Oh, you don’t have to tell me that now.
He went on to talk frog facts for hours.
Hours, Noble. I could write a dissertation with all I learned. ”
“See, at least you learned something. I gained utterly nothing from this lady, except that headcold.”
“Please. You were sick for one single day.” Aria had performed Soothe for him last night, to help him sleep, and it did the trick: Noble woke up fresh and well.
“Not just that,” Noble said, pouting. “I had the sense that she’d had a crush on Prince Regent all her life. She brought him up again and again throughout the night.”
The bartender swept by with two fresh glasses of wine and a bowl of fresh-baked nuts.
This particular bar was highbrow enough that it’d continue to aid in Noble’s perception, but it had a comfortable enough atmosphere that Aria didn’t feel particularly out of place.
Even if most people—including their server—believed him to be an adame, and not Noble’s friend.
Aria gave the bartender a smile in thanks and faced Noble again.
“Prince Regent is attractive.” He was fourth in line to the throne, if Aria remembered right—the younger brother to Princess Regalia.
Regent was known for the time he’d joined a mercenary troupe, risking his life, and helped negotiate peace with a neighboring kingdom.
All without his father, King Agolde, knowing a thing.
Until it was finished, of course. He was a hero, probably.
Aria eyed Noble for a moment and said, “You were jealous.”
Noble scoffed in a manner that seemed far too exaggerated to be sincere. “Please.” He picked up his wine glass, and Aria stopped him with one outstretched finger. He Blessed the drink, as an adame would, with a small sparkling magic spell.
Aria chuckled. “There, there. Don’t worry, Noble. You can probably bed the next one.” He sipped his own wine—
“Oh, we went to bed. That’s how I got sick.”
Aria nearly snorted the wine up his nose as he gasped. He put down the glass before he hurt himself and said, “You didn’t.”
Noble tilted back his own wine, drank the whole thing in one go, and placed it upon the bar top to be replaced. He exhaled and said, “Indeed we did.”
Aria said, “The date couldn’t have been that bad, then. Are you going to see her again?”
Noble looked genuinely baffled at the question. “What? No.”
“Why not? You already had sex.”
Noble snorted. “So?”
“You liked her enough to go to bed. Isn’t that enough? I can’t believe you wouldn’t even consider seeing her again. Was it…” Aria fished for the right words, and sighed. It’s not as if Noble needed delicate handling. “Difficult?”
Noble flagged down the bartender to get another glass of wine, and popped a cashew into his mouth, and finally said, between gritted teeth, “It was different. I kept thinking of—” Noble snapped his mouth shut, and still had yet to look at Aria again.
After a moment, he said, “It was different, that’s all. ”
Aria tried to read between the furrowed lines of Noble’s brow. It was Virginia, he was sure. “Not terrible. You could give this lady another chance.”
Noble shook his head and pointed at Aria’s heart. “You only think that because you’re considering far more than her compatibility with me in bed. You clearly weigh other things more in a relationship. Sex is important to me. It has to be good.”
Aria huffed in reply. “You're wrong. Sex is important. I consider it highly in my partnerships. Which is why I don’t go to bed with many people, Noble.” He said the last part with his own finger outstretched, aimed at Noble’s heart.
Noble scoffed. “Come on. You're telling me it was good with your duke? I know better.”
Aria flushed, embarrassed. This had come up twice now, and he didn’t want Noble to have the wrong idea about his relationship with Ellor. “I don't want to admit this.”
Noble's face fell. “Sumas be. What is it?”
“Sex with Ellor was sometimes so good that it kept me attached to him for longer than it should have. I knew, years before we split up the final time, that we weren't good together. One of my biggest grievances was that we didn’t do it often enough. I wanted him to—” Aria snapped his mouth closed, and his face went iron-hot.
“Sorry. I know you don't want those kinds of details.” He busied himself by eating a few nuts, and hoped they would soak up a bit of the wine.
Noble grabbed the legs of Aria's bar chair and dragged his seat closer, the metal screeching unpleasantly against the marble floor.
He then looked Aria squarely in the face, eyes flashing with deep sincerity.
“If I ever tell you I don't want those details, you must swear to kill me dead. By blade or magic, but you must. Because I will have been replaced by an imposter.”
Aria laughed, hiding behind a hand. “Fine, then. You don't need those kinds of details, Noble Yves.”
“Right. Right. Details like…” Noble waved a hand to encourage Aria on.
Oh, fine. Aria rolled his eyes and couldn't help but grin. “It's nothing wild. Ellor was stronger than me and sometimes he’d do something that I could not. Once, he lifted this pail of water that I couldn’t even drag across the washroom. He picked it up by the handle, like it weighed nothing, and dumped it for me into the bath.” The way he’d done it casually—it’d been hot.
“And when he caught me staring, he picked me up, and put me in the water, and climbed in after that, fully clothed. And… I demonstrated my thanks.”