Chapter 35
Chapter Thirty-Five
I t had taken Leander a long time to settle enough to fall sleep and, even then, it was fitful. He woke easily, eyes blinking open as he heard the rustle of the canvas fabric of his tent door lift to reveal Jarryn kneeling just outside.
“Couldn’t sleep?” he asked the prince softly as he rubbed his eyes.
“No. It’s cold tonight, and you gave me much to think on. We have had our trials, you and me, Leo. And we haven’t always gotten along.”
“And whose fault is that?” Leander quipped, shuffling over and patting the floor of the tent as an invitation for Jarryn to join him.
Jarryn smiled ruefully as he clambered into the tent and settled in to lie next to his slave. “I didn’t make it easy on you, did I?”
Leander shook his head. He rested the weight of his torso on one arm as he used the other to cover Jarryn with the conveniently large blanket.
Jarryn accepted the blanket gratefully and shifted to lie on his back.
The arm closest to Leander knocked against his head in a silent command for Leander to slide in closer and allow Jarryn to wrap his arm around him.
Once the pair were comfortable, Jarryn started to run his fingers through Leo’s hair.
Leander, initially startled by the unexpected and tender touch, soon settled into it and decided that he liked the experience very much.
After a long period of silence, Jarryn finally spoke again. “What’s it like being a god, Leo? I know I’ve asked you before, but now we know each other better… maybe you’d be more willing to share…”
“It’s… difficult to explain to the uninitiated.
It’s different for all of us but I guess the best way to describe it is like Aesthesia.
Just… infinitely multiply what you experience from those around you to include the whole continent.
Every lie, big or small, it’s like they filter through my mind, nourishing my soul, and powering my heart.
I am a slave to them, they give me meaning, and they corrode my psyche. ”
Jarryn’s fingers stopped and Leander couldn’t help the mewl of dissidence the discontinued movement caused. “You experienced that all the time? From all over the world? How are you still sane, little lion?”
“I… guess my mind is built for it?”
“Mhmm. And what is your opinion of us, if you know our deepest, darkest secrets so well?”
Leander blinked at Jarryn’s question. He wanted to tell him that he didn’t understand. But he did. “People are terrible and rude and greedy and corrupt. You can’t trust them.”
“Oh? But they’re also compassionate and charitable and kindhearted and just,” Jarryn responded as his fingers started once again their earlier movements of carding through Leander’s dark brown locks, which were longer than they had ever been after weeks of neglecting his appearance in favour of merely surviving.
Shifting so that he could rest his head more easily on Jarryn’s chest without straining his neck, Leander responded sullenly. “Not very often.”
“Sometimes… it is worth giving people the chance. Take a risk. They may surprise you.”
“Maybe. Speaking of risk, do you ever wonder what comes next for us?” Leander asked, his gaze fixed on the canvas above.
Jarryn shifted, looking thoughtful. “I do. I imagine a life where we explore every corner of this realm together, facing whatever challenges come our way. Maybe find a place to call our own, like under the shade of these ancient trees, where we can build a home and make memories.”
Leander smiled, captivated by the vision Jarryn painted. “I like the sound of that. A quiet life, surrounded by nature, and with you by my side.”
Leaning in, Jarryn pressed a gentle kiss to Leander’s forehead. “Whatever happens, as long as we’re together, it’ll be an adventure.”
The campfire’s warm glow painted shadows on the tent walls as Leander and Jarryn lay there.
Shadows danced on the canvas wall of the tent as Leander watched, utterly at peace…
yet craving something other than calm right now.
Jarryn’s fingers traced the outline of Leander’s jaw, his touch sending shivers down the demigod’s spine.
Leander lifted himself up and met Jarryn’s gaze, and in that silent exchange, they both sensed an unspoken desire.
The air between them felt alive with expectation as their lips met in a lingering kiss, a fusion of passion and longing.
Leander’s hands found their way to Jarryn’s waist, pulling him closer, making it clear what he wanted from the prince.
His heartbeat had already started to speed up in anticipation for what was about to happen.
While the fire of lust burned through his blood, while he wanted Jarryn very much, he would only accept whatever Jarryn offered. Lips lingering on the other’s, he waited.
“Take them off, Leo,” Jarryn whispered as his fingers tugged gently at the ties of the demigod’s breeches.
Oh, good.
But Leander protested in an undertone, something about the tent entrance being open and anyone could see what they were up to.
He knew from Jarryn’s titter of laughter that the prince didn’t give a shit about anything other than chasing orgasm with abandon, including whether or not his retainers saw him with Leander.
“Let it be known, a side effect of growing up as a filthy rich prince is that I take issue with having to ask for things twice,” Jarryn murmured, a hint of playful threat in his tone as his tongue explored Leander’s chest.
Leander pulled at Jarryn’s hair, a silent command for the prince to pull down the fucking tent door cover, gods damn it.
Jarryn hissed in shock more than pain. When his eyes opened, they flashed with desire and the promise of pain. “Oh, Leander, you are going to pay for that.”
Leander had no idea what expression he had on his face exactly, but when Jarryn saw it, he capitulated with a huff of annoyance. The prince paused to pull the canvas across the entryway of the tent to give them privacy before returning to his ministrations.
“What am I going to do with you?” Jarryn murmured, annoyed that he had had to stop for those brief seconds.
“I can draw you a map.”
Jarryn paused, then laughed.
It didn’t require much thought. His brain could take over but then he would be left thinking, meandering though yet another awkward conversation about feelings , and he would be left wondering what could have been.
Instead, he shut off all racing thoughts and leant forward again, claiming Jarryn’s lips once more.
The remainder of their clothes were shed with reckless speed.
“Like what you see?” Leander breathed out as his back arched when Jarryn found that sweet spot.
“Every flaw you perceive on your body is just another way I can remember exactly what you look like. Magnificent, Leander.”
“Sure…” said Leander, unable to say more because he was suddenly dealing with the abrupt rushing of blood to somewhere significantly less conversationally useful than his brain .
They explored the sensation of each other’s bodies while they warmed each other on this cold spring evening together, growing bolder with each movement.
Both of their hands seemed to come unshackled from inhibition and roamed freely.
Order and planning were forgotten. Leander found himself having done things without any realisation that he’d even started them.
The young demigod was… inexperienced to an extent.
A hedonist, yes, but his time had been spent mostly with women.
Time spent in the company of other men, truth be told, was limited, having some time ago decided that he wanted Jarryn, not one of Jasmine’s well-paid and utterly incomparable male whores.
The kissing part was easy, though. He knew what he was doing there, and Jarryn seemed more than a little willing.
Alive to one another’s lips and hands like they had never been before, Leander and Jarryn sought out spots on each other where the reactions were simply the most delectable, the most sublime.
His kisses started out feather light, gentle and cautionary, before his lips parted and his invited Jarryn to do the same, his tongue venturing forwards, looking for its counterpart to dance with.
Leander allowed himself to be carried away by the moment. All his worries, desires, needs… everything. It all fell away until there was nothing left but Jarryn and him, lying in a tent in the woods. Nothing else seemed to matter in that moment.
When he pulled away, Jarryn heaved a great breath of air, his eyes alight with lustful desire. He spoke, in a husky growl. “I knew that tongue could be put to better uses than talking.”
Jarryn gripped Leander’s buttocks and squeezed, not hard enough to hurt, but firmly. With the pressure of his hands resting there, their hips met and the clear evidence of their mutual arousal was indisputable.
And from Leander’s lips, Jarryn drew a deep, elongated moan, such were the meticulous ministrations that even Talia was unschooled enough to consider.
Jarryn’s lips moved away from Leo’s to travel across his cheek and down his neck, the kisses interspersed with soft bites, all causing Leander to squirm as he felt the tickle of Jarryn’s growing beard, which hadn’t been shaved since before his auction.
Hands drifted from Leander’s buttocks to under his thighs, where Jarryn shifted Leander’s legs apart and repositioned himself to lie astride the demigod.
“You seem to know what you’re doing…” Leander murmured as he shifted his weight to make himself more comfortable underneath Jarryn and let his head fall back with a deep sigh as he enjoyed Jarryn’s lips on any part of his body that he could reach.
His own hands settled on Jarryn’s arms, his fingers tracing patterns on the bare skin.