Chapter Thirteen #2
As Tor kissed his way down Pel’s sternum, the pale skin untouched by the sun, he became suddenly aware that he was approaching Pel’s stomach. He paused awkwardly and pulled back a little.
“Uh, not to ruin the mood, but would it be all right if I said hello to the baby?” Tor asked uncertainly.
He still wasn’t completely sure how Pel felt about this, and he didn’t want to mess up.
Thankfully, Pel smiled faintly. “Go ahead.”
Tor leaned in to press a kiss to Pel’s stomach.
There were no visible changes in his body as far as Tor could see, but the knowledge that there was a baby in there was enough to change Tor’s perception.
Pel was growing their baby. Tor really wished they’d had the chance to talk about this and actually make a decision, but he couldn’t bring himself to regret anything.
When he thought of Hena and Par and Cala, the idea of having his own child to love seemed weirdly possible.
Of course, someone had recently tried to kill Cala, which obviously meant that Tor had to grind them into dust so that the world was a safe place for his niece and every child everywhere, including this one who hadn’t been born yet, but whom Tor was going to protect with everything in him.
“Baby, I can’t wait until you get here,” Tor told them.
“But please, take your time to safely grow first,” Pel pointed out with a sardonic expression for Tor.
“And listen to your father,” Tor continued smoothly, as if that’s what he’d been intending to say all along.
“He’s going to be the one full of sensible advice who probably prevents you from getting too many broken bones as a child.
But if you need an adventure, then you should come to me, and we’ll fix everything we break before your father ever finds out. ”
Pel shook his head, but the exasperation on his face was also softened by fondness, and his hands came up to delve into Tor’s hair.
Tor pressed another kiss to the soft skin of Pel’s abdomen, and then he flashed a grin up at the man, because he was more than half hard, and Tor had sort of distracted them.
“Anything you’d like me to do while I’m down here?”
Pel smiled at him. “You might as well make yourself useful.”
Tor’s smile deepened right before he ducked down a little lower and swallowed the man whole. It was tempting to tease him, but truthfully, it had been weeks since they’d last had sex. Never mind that Tor had been unconscious for most of it; that was still unacceptable.
Once Tor had taken the edge off with an orgasm or three, they could see about slow and leisurely.
But right now, he had a mission. He sucked harder, and Pel clutched at his hair more forcefully, his hips stuttering forward, the little pinpricks of sensation adding to the pleasure that was roaring through Tor.
He grabbed Pel’s ass and encouraged him to bury himself down Tor’s throat.
No one else got to see Pel like this, no one else got to watch him come apart with a soft cry as Tor greedily swallowed his come. Tor released him as he softened, and Pel’s head flopped back against the blankets.
He gasped out, “Please keep in mind that I’ve been desperate for you for days.”
“Just the way I like you,” Tor said cheekily.
“So come and fuck me,” he ordered.
They got Pel arranged on his hands and knees, and Tor stretched him open carefully with the oil that he was so glad they still had with them.
It had gone all the way to Alossa, and apparently, even in their rush to flee, Pel or one of the others had packed it up.
Obviously, it now needed to be a policy that they had oil with them wherever they went, just in case the mood struck.
Tor was achingly hard, but he teased Pel with his fingers until he was arching back against Tor and cursing at him.
Tor wasn’t sure if this could be attributed to pregnant behavior—over the years, he’d heard variously that it made people very horny, that it turned them off sex all together, or that it made no difference—or if it was just due to the fact that they’d been inadvertently separated thanks to Tor’s magical coma.
He supposed it didn’t matter. He loved Pel squirming desperately on his fingers, and he wanted to bring him pleasure even more than he wanted to get himself off—though he wouldn’t complain at all if they achieved this together.
“Would you get on with it, you tease!” Pel snapped, and then threatened, “Do you want me to take care of myself?”
Tor definitely didn’t want that, so he batted Pel’s hand away and slowly pushed inside, immense satisfaction filling him as he slid home.
Tears prickled at the corners of his eyes.
He wasn’t sure if it was the knowledge that they were bonded, that they were going to have a baby, or that it had been so long after Tor had messed up so badly, but this felt like a culmination, like the pinnacle of everything Tor had ever wanted to achieve.
His eyes fluttered closed for a moment as he drew in several deep breaths and tried to get himself under control.
He was here with Pel, bringing him pleasure, both of them alive and well, and that was the best feeling.
He leaned down to press a kiss to Pel’s smooth back.
And then Pel pushed back, hard, sending a bolt of pleasure through Tor, and ordered, “Move!”
Tor had wanted to take his time, but he’d drastically overestimated his own endurance.
Pel was hot and tight around him, plus actively demanding, and Tor could do nothing except bury himself in the man over and over.
He did manage to angle his thrusts to find Pel’s sweet spot, hitting it repeatedly as Tor drove them both higher and higher until he was spilling with a cry, and Pel was spurting into the blankets beneath them.
As lassitude washed through him, Tor narrowly managed not to collapse on Pel.
The baby was no doubt well protected, but squashing them would surely not be doing them any favors.
Instead, he pulled carefully out, cleaned the other man up—supplies in Baless really would be welcome—and then gathered Pel into his arms. He waved out most of the lights so that there was only one dimly lighting the tent.
Pel settled against him with a satisfied-sounding sigh. “This is so much better than when you’re unconscious.”
“I certainly hope so,” Tor said, very much on his dignity, and Pel elbowed him in the ribs.
“You know what I mean.”
Tor did. He’d missed this closeness. He hadn’t been conscious during the magical coma, but he was now aware of how much time had passed, of the connection they’d been missing.
This was so much better.
“I’m sorry about all of this,” Tor murmured into Pel’s hair. “I know I didn’t plan it, but this is definitely not how I thought everything was going to go. I seem to have turned your world into complete and utter chaos.”
He’d come close to destroying it with his careless disregard, and Tor wasn’t sure he’d ever forgive himself for that.
Pel shifted around so that he could push himself up on an elbow and actually look at Tor. He looked almost painfully earnest.
“You brought me to life. You made me feel things that weren’t just anger and bitterness.”
Tor argued, “You love your people.”
His face softened. “Yes, but I was doing it from safely behind a wall, where no one could get at me. I was too scared to even let Bav and Lara close again. You helped me fix that.” He huffed a breath.
“Sure, it’s not always been ideal, but it’s definitely been worth it.
We found one another, and I couldn’t be happier. ”
Tor sealed his mouth over Pel’s, kissing him with all the gratitude and love that he possessed. He wasn’t altogether certain that he deserved such a declaration, but he appreciated it all the same.
When he pulled back, he asked, “So things are all right with you and your brother?”
Pel had called him Bav, which was an excellent sign.
Sighing, Pel admitted, “It still stings a bit that they excluded me, but I see now that it actually wasn’t about me.
They didn’t think about how it would seem to me, and I didn’t behave very well.
We could all have tried harder.” He shook his head, looking a bit bemused.
“It turns out that Lara and Marwila are in love.”
Tor blinked, processed this, and then let out a sharp bark of laughter. “Bavil was sacrificing himself to the cause, was he? And Larexa has kept herself single with her determination to marry someone ‘appropriate’ to her magic?”
Pel nodded. “At this point, I’m not sure if they alienated me or I alienated them first. They’d already started acting that way before I got back, convinced it was the best option to keep father at bay.
I was hurt, and the idea of Bav hurting Marwila hit too close to home.
Then they wouldn’t risk telling me, and then, apparently, we all let it go on and on and on, which it did for years. ”
He still sounded hurt, which Tor couldn’t blame him for. He knew what it was like, after all, to feel like a sibling didn’t trust you anymore. Even if there were reasons for it, it still smarted.
But everyone could made foolish decisions that had repercussions they could never have predicted.
Tor reached out to caress Pel’s hair. “I’m sorry you couldn’t get everything resolved sooner.”