Love Lessons
Aquilan was spread out before him like a feast. Declan didn’t know where to start.
Every single inch of the Sun King was an indulgence.
His heavenly face. The sweep of dark lashes against sun-kissed skin.
The plush lips slightly parted and swollen as if already ravaged by kisses.
The strong jaw that begged to be nibbled.
The cut glass cheekbones that needed to be mapped with his tongue.
Then that throat. Completely exposed as the Sun King arched back beneath him. His Adam's apple climbing then falling to the hollow. That hollow. A receptacle for kisses.
The sweep of shoulders. Broad and strong and covered with acres of silky skin that smelled of sunshine, but a sunshine that didn’t hurt. Instead, there was the scent of flowers. Growing things. Life. His tunic had already slipped off those rounded shoulders as if it wished to puddle on the floor.
And then that chest. Nipples the color of ripening fruit. They were half-exposed and beaded into hard nubs that made his mouth water. Aquilan shifted again and the belt came undone as if it, too, was escaping to the floor. The two sides of Aquilan’s wrap-around tunic fell open.
A stomach rippling with muscle whose hills and valleys enticed him to trace them with his lips.
To bury his face against the silky, hardness.
To kiss the top of the golden treasure trail of hair that just barely peeked out from his leggings.
Could he follow that down to Aquilan’s cock? Would he be so bold?
Aquilan spread his arms wide, making a bed angel, which was sort of like a snow angel, but sexier. He oohed and ahhed over the comfort of the bed and the perfection of the bedding his father had provided.
Of course, his father would have created the perfect bed.
Of course, he would.
Aquilan slipped completely out of his tunic as if sluicing water from his skin.
He shook his long blond hair and it fanned out on the white bedding like a shimmering halo.
He was angelic. Get rid of the pointed ears and Aquilan would have been the idealized angel stepping out of a niche.
That benevolent smile on those kissable lips notwithstanding.
A herald of a kind god. A sensual god perhaps.
Aquilan’s tall boots were next to be shed.
The Sun King kicked them off and they landed somewhere nearby.
He pointed his toes before scrunching them rather adorably.
Declan wondered if he was ticklish. He guessed Aquilan was.
He smiled at the thought of running a finger up the soles of his bare feet.
The Sun King was also an acrobat. Because Aquilan had undressed–except for his leggings–with Declan perched on top of him.
Declan felt rather like a cat who had to lift one paw then the other as the person they were seated on adjusted themselves in order not to be dislodged.
Not that Aquilan wanted to dislodge him.
From the way the Sun King’s cheeks flushed with color and his blue eyes twinkled up at him, it was clear that Aquilan was quite content with him on top.
Would Aquilan allow him to top in all ways?
That was Declan’s nature.
To claim.
To possess.
To conquer.
He could submit as well. In truth, Aquilan was the one completely in charge of all of this. No matter who gave and who received, the Sun King was his everything. He was ruled by Aquilan.
He adjusted his hands so that he was resting on his forearms, which were planted on either side of Aquilan’s head, avoiding pulling his long, glorious hair, of course.
The Sun King gazed up at him through hooded eyes.
His pupils were large not just from the dark but from desire.
The scent of musk in the air also confirmed the desire.
Ah, you are aware of his scent! That is good. You’ll be able to judge how much he is aroused–
Father?! Declan’s mind-voice sounded strangled. What was his father doing in his head now?
Yes, yes, I’m right here, Rahven! Ready to guide you through your first sexual experience! His father sounded rapturous.
Declan frowned. Was that because he was excited for Declan or…
Are you having sex with Cynda and–and–
Hank? Not quite yet. We’re on our way to Cynda’s digs, his father chuckled earthily. Digs. I like that. Sounds as if it is underground. It’s not, but still.
Declan closed his eyes and he was seeing through his father’s instead.
Vex was walking between Cynda and Hank. His arms were thrown over their shoulders.
The humans were giggling excitedly. Everyone had clearly indulged in plenty of alcohol and was also drunk with the success of the concert.
Vex kissed Cynda’s forehead before claiming Hank’s mouth.
Declan’s closed eyes shot open. He could feel his father’s arousal, not to mention smell the heated response from the other two.
The mixed scents surrounded Vex like a virtual symphony that he could parse and savor.
Ugh, Father! I do not wish to see this! Experience this! Declan cried as he attempted to scamper back from awareness of his father’s surroundings.
What? Why? You’ll learn things from me that would take you millennia to even think of let alone perfect! His father protested, sounding honestly perplexed.
I’d like to learn on my own, Declan responded mulishly.
Really! How did his father not understand that this was not something fathers and sons did?
Yet… maybe they did do this in the Kindreth empire.
Not having had parents–or believing he didn’t–he didn’t know what was normal between parents and children.
He hadn’t dared ask any of his fellow students because they would have mocked him for it.
But he hadn’t overheard anything like this.
Yet, then again, his was the royal family.
And that might be different than the students he had gone to the Venomthorn with.
He should ask Rhalyf or Haera. They’d know.
But still, he was the only son of Vex–and likely to be the only one ever–so why couldn’t he and his father create their own rules?
Oh, Rahven, I assure you that virginal inexperience is really not sexy. I don’t care what any stories tell you, his father sighed.
How many virgins have you–wait! Don’t tell me! I don’t want to know!
There was a time when people thought to earn my favor by sending me their virginal offspring as if that was a boon for me or something, Vex sighed again as if completely bored by an unending train of alluring, nubile virgins dressed in gauzy clothes with simpering smiles on their faces.
Actually, Declan could understand why that would bore him.
They weren’t there for Vex. They were there to gain his father’s favor.
That would be a bore. And it was amazingly coarse.
Not every prince or princess, lord or lady, could possibly be to his father’s taste.
And Declan shuddered at the thought of that many strangers’ bodies pressed against his own.
He couldn’t have borne it. Though he knew his father was quite different on that count.
And you… you accepted all of them? Declan asked carefully.
Oh yes, but it was amazing how many of them weren’t virginal! Vex tittered. Of course, that just made it much better for me, but it made their parents liars and the gifts allegedly worthless so…
So? Declan guessed that sending the Night King a “worthless” gift was a very bad idea.
Well, the great Night King does not accept sub-optimal gifts… without consequences, that is, Vex said dryly.
Please tell me that you didn’t kill them. Declan grimaced.
He imagined that those young people had no choice but to agree to be tribute, because likely telling their parents they weren’t virginal would have dire consequences for some of them anyways. He didn’t ask how Vex knew about their lack of virginal status. Magic. It had to be magic.
Only occasionally. But not as a matter of course! I assure you it was all very fact-based, his father said, which did not assure him at all.
I just can’t even–
Then there were the people who actually sacrificed their children to me. The sex was far better, Vex admitted.
Sacrifice? Declan’s mind-voice rose up.
Not at my bequest! I mean what am I going to do with a dead corpse? His father sounded vaguely annoyed about it. That might be something Finley could use, but I need the blood when it’s still pumping and–
Father, Declan cut in, maybe we could discuss this another time? A more appropriate time?
But I’m sharing! We’re sharing!
Yes, but… there’s a time and a place regarding that kind of sharing–
You want us to be open and honest with one another and here we are doing just that, Vex enthused. He swatted Cynda’s butt as they neared what appeared to be an ancient Airstream that had been turned into a permanent home. And we’ll share so much more soon.
No, no, I don’t want that, Declan protested. You have sex with–with those two and I will make love–
Love?! Ooooh, my Rahven is a romantic! Vex chuckled.
Declan stilled. You know it could never be anything else for me, right? I mean we’ve talked about this before, but it’s not just a matter of semantics. Not for me. I… I’m just not built that way.
This was him being open and honest. He likely should tell Aquilan this. But his feelings were his own. If Aquilan didn’t return them or feel the exact same way that was all right. This was how it was for him. He couldn’t help it. He wouldn’t change it.
A silence. Yes, Rahven. I do. Did his father sound sympathetic? And that… worries me.
Why? It’s love so–
You know why.
Again, the thought that he was a bartender and Aquilan was a king flashed before his mind’s eye.
Just like when Vulre would call him jadir, he could easily imagine the equivalent of that on people’s lips as they saw him and Aquilan together.
There had been the faintest taste of it when they’d said goodbye to Rohannan and his boys.