by Luke, Monica
Enek back on his feet with one simple bounce, he graciously extended his hand to help Osgorad up, then once his feet, in a haze and slightly woozy, he steadied himself and rubbed his chest.
Still dazed, slowly he began to walk, but as he did he turned and looked at Enek, who returned the look with a smile, then kept walking.
“Well,” he said, as the men again began to disperse and pair, “I am done for this day, and shall join my commander.”
As he walked away, his tunic still on the ground, Ovfren quickly picked it up and gave it to him.
“Your tunic,” he said, fighting not to stare at his muscled chest.
“I thank you, Ovfren,” he said pleasantly, before he took it and playfully winked at him.
**
Once back inside, as the children freely ran and played, when they ran pass Belon, he whisked Beladera up, and gave a quick kiss to her forehead, then put her down so she could continue to run with them.
“I gathered all of you would be learning,” he said to the children, “Instead of playing about.”
“Father cannot find which books he wants us to learn from,” Ihon answered, “And sent us to play until he could.”
“And how long has that been?”
“All day.”
“Is that so,” Belon’s irked comment, as he turned to go out to the church to chastise Aderac, because it probably insulted the priests.
Once there, when he got inside, after his eyes scanned the large open room he saw two priests talking.
“I am looking for King Aderac.”
“The king left long ago, but the servants have come many times for books.”
Belon turned, wondering where he could now be, then as he thought; he pursed his lips, when it came to him and went to their chamber.
Casually, walking inside, once his feet passed the foyer, he stopped amazed.
“Aderac!” he called his name loudly. His eyes wide glancing all around the chamber, “What have you done?”
“Well,” Aderac answered, as he walked back and forth from one book to the other thumbing through them before tossing them aside, “I cannot find any fitting books for the children.”
“Our chamber is filled with books from head to foot,” Belon said, as he walked farther inside, stepping over books as he did, “Such that my side of the bed has so many on it, I cannot lie down.”
Aderac stepped over the books he had tossed aside, as he made his way to Belon.
“But…” he pleaded his case, “I must go through them Belon to choose which the priests should teach them from.”
“Aderac,” Belon said, as he put his arms around him, “You will do no such thing. You will have the servants take these books back to the church, and now.”
“But, Belon.” He pouted.
“Aderac.” Belon playfully frowned, “…at once.”
“But, honey.” Again, Aderac pouted this time sticking his lower lip far out, as he made a sad face hoping to weaken him.
“I have no place to lay my head. My side is covered with books,” Belon said jokingly, as he pulled him even closer and kissed his forehead; then teased, “I reason, if I must, I could always sleep in my old chamber for a time.”
Aderac‘s pouting face went blank, before displaying a shocked expression.
“Sleep away from me,” he protested at once, “Dare you even utter such words?”
Belon chuckled knowing Aderac would not have him sleep apart from him, nor would he ever want to or truly offer.
“Where shall I sleep?” he continued his playful tease.
“My side of the bed has no books,” Aderac answered when he realized he was teasing with him.
“So I see. So I see,” Belon said aloud playfully.
“Yes.” Aderac laughed, knowing the same. Belon would never really want to sleep apart from him. “I will sleep on top of you until I find enough fitting books.”
Belon burst into laughter. “Then so be it. We shall share our bed with mounds of books.”
**
As the day came to an end and all settled into their sound sleep, restless and unable to sleep, Enek lay in bed staring at the ceiling.
His mind filled with thoughts of Ovfren, he wondered at such an hour if he could be thinking of him as well.
“Such a fool I am becoming.” He grumbled aloud to himself, as he thought, “Such a fool.”
Slowly, his chamber door creaked open, and surprised he grabbed his sword and jumped out of bed.
“I reasoned you would be within this one…” the woman, who had approached him in the men’s hall said, “It is Belon’s old chamber.”
Enek said nothing, as she walked inside, slowing closing the door before she let her dress fall to her feet.
“Just nights before.” She now walked to the bed. “You wanted to know how hot it was between my thighs.”
Enek inhaled hard. Her breasts large, and her luscious body tempting, he pulled her to him to find out, but while they kissed someone knocked on his chamber door.
“Enek,” Ovfren whispered.
“Ssshhh,” Enek shushed her to make sure she remained silent; then stepped outside to speak to him in the hallway.
Closing the door completely, he stood waiting, while Ovfren looked down at his feet diffidently, then back up into his face, breathing heavy, but fighting to control it.
“Yes.”
“I found this on the ground after you walked away. It fell off your tunic,” Ovfren lied. He actually took it off before he gave it back to him, “I am done with my watch, and wanted to return it before I went to my cottage.”
Enek lifted his hand and took the pin brooch his mother gave him long ago that he wore just below his string ties.
“My mother gave it to me. It is for my cloak, but when it is warm, I wear it on my tunic,” he offered, revealing a part of his life as his hand inadvertently touched Ovfren’s hand to take it.
“My mother and father died when I was just a young boy,” Ovfren revealed responding in kind, as he stood close to him, neither releasing part of the pin.
“I am sorry.”
Finally, Ovfren released his half of the pin, and turned to leave, but when he did, Enek quickly grabbed his hand and pulled him back to face him.
“Dare this now be a show of will with us? “ Enek whispered his question, as he held it tighter, “That I shall willingly endure until ...”
“Until what?”
“What is to be with us is or is not?”
“So torn I am within,” Ovfren confessed, as he looked at Enek’s lips begging to feel them again with his eyes.
Again, he turned to leave, and again Enek pulled him back to face him.
“Ovfren,” he whispered, this time when he did, “I shall reveal. I am torn more.”
As their confessions silenced them, they looked at each other for what seemed an endless time. Both fixed on the other’s face marveling within of how handsome the man looked in front of them.
“Would a kiss from you be wrong?”
“It would,” Ovfren answered, as he leaned into his lips to give him one.
After their kiss, Ovfren’s heart thumped rapidly as their words again sent ambivalent feelings all through him, and now that he knew he was just as torn, feelings of happiness, as well as want.
“I must go,” his words through a smile, “So I will not be late.”
Both nodded, but kept their fingers locked a while longer; then when Ovfren moved away, their arms stretched until neither could hold on any longer.
Once he watched him walk away, making certain he was down the hall, he went back into the chamber, and after he closed the door, when he turned he noticed she was now waiting for him in the bed.
Inhaling, as he again strengthened his will. He picked her dress off the floor, and took it to her.
“You must go now,” he said, certain at any moment he’d change his mind, “So yet another not swim with me in the murky water I have now willingly dived into.”<
br />
“What does the mean?” she asked, as he looked at him oddly.
“It means you must go.”
Chapter 55
Wary of possible sudden sieges, King Baric ordered double watches farther out in the glens, which meant Ovfren had to watch more often than before along with the less seasoned guilds.
Nevertheless, because of his now budding secret, his extra watches didn’t bother him in the least, in fact, he looked forward to them.
After he returned Enek’s pin to him at the chamber door, unable to resist seeing him, every night that Ovfren watched, in the early morning dawn on his way back to his cottage, he secretly detoured through WorglenHall to see him briefly.
“Dare these nights last so long, as I wait for you,” he anxiously said, now eagerly expecting him, as Ovfren quietly entered his chamber.
“It is agony for me as well, knowing my mouth shall be to yours when done with my watch, yet having to wait,” Ovfren confessed, as he rushed inside.
Once in front of him, Enek pulled Ovfren closer.
“No words,” he said, knowing he could only stay a short while.
Heavily, both breathed into the other’s mouth. Their bodies pressed together by the strength of the other’s strong hold.
“Umm.” Enek hummed while he kissed him. Surprised he could feel such strong want for a man, or at least this one, “Umm, such a strange, but strong feeling this is that now flows all throughout me for you.”
“Yes,” his wanting reply, “It is, yet with me it is twofold and has been from the first I saw you in the men’s hall.”
Their kissing so passionate the friction from their faces caused the sides of their mouths to redden, suddenly Enek stopped; then moved his head back to look into Ovfren’s mesmerizing grey eyes.
“It is so strong now, so strong.” Enek’s words of want, “I want more than your lips Ovfren; I want to feel and pleasure all of you.”
Ovfren looked down wanting him just as badly, but still couldn’t betray Ogorec by doing more.
“Please,” he whispered, not wanting to end the mood of their passionate kissing, “No more words of such, let us be as we are.”
“As we are,” he repeated, and looked at him oddly, “And what are we?”
“Enek.” Ovfren sighed, “I...”
“What are we?” he demanded to know, because now the remark peeved him.
“We are two filled with great want for each other?”
Bothered that his feelings were becoming stronger than Ovfren’s, Enek let go of him, then stepped away and turned his back as he thought.
“Two filled with want,” he repeated his words when he did, “And is that all?”
“These words we have spoken before,” Ovfren reminded him, “And you let me come to you again without giving you my heart.”
His reminding words annoying him more, Enek’s head spun back to him.
“True, I have given to weakness with you,” he admitted, “With nothing given back to me.”
“What does that mean?”
Right away, Enek took Ovfren’s hand and rubbed it on his still hard shaft.
“Kissing and touching yes.” Enek breathed out heavily as he did, “And nothing more. I am a man, and I need release, as well as to know...”
Curiously, Ovfren looked at him, wondering why he suddenly stopped before completely his sentence.
“…to know what Enek?”
Enek paused and looked at him, longing to reveal what was budding inside him for Ovfren was possibly love, but knowing it was senseless to mention it, was why he held his tongue.
“That your want is growing stronger as well,” he said instead.
“For a good time now we have done what we only do,” his baffled reply, “I reasoned it pleased you.”
“It does Ovfren, yet,” Enek’s voice slightly pleaded, “Should I torture myself and not reveal to you that I want more from you; much more.”
Again, torment filling him, Ovfren sighed loud and deep, before he pulled his hand away.
“I cannot.”
“Again we are at this peak. Let me finish your words for you. You will not betray him, of course,” Enek mocked, “Yet all within you are thoughts and want for me.”
“Yet, you know I cannot do more.”
Enek shook his head baffled by Ovfren’s still naivety.
“Do you know how foolish you sound?” He half laughed, “You cannot do more, but you steal to me before you go to him to kiss on me passionately while your hands grab and caress me.”
Becoming angry himself because now twice Enek mocked him, Ovfren fired back his own insult.
“Kissing and touching fall far short of what you want,” he fired back, “And what you will not have.”
“Why not?”
“Enek.” He stiffened, exhaling as he called out his name, hoping he could hear the exasperation of yet again their unwelcome topic of conversation.
“Why?” Enek asked in kind, his exasperation over the topic mutually felt, “Why are you being selfish?”
Finally frustrated, Ovfren blurted his answer, but the words in his head sounded far less harsh that what actually spewed from his mouth.
“For the reason!” he blurted, “I do not love you. I love Ogorec! My want for you is only lust not love, and not even enough lust to do more. I will not tear down what I have built high with him for only lust. So many times I have spoken this, and still it has yet to reach you.”
The hinged muscles in Enek’s jaws gave way letting his mouth spring wide open dismayed. He knew Ovfren didn’t love him, and in truth he at times questioned his own growing affection for him, but he used the words to insult and hurt him, and he succeeded.
After he recovered from Ovfren’s remark, his jaws clamped shut and his nostrils flared, as anger now filled him. This time Ovfren’s spear hurdling words reached him well, and sank deep wounding him badly.
“Get out!”
“Enek.” Ovfren calmed at once, regretting every word immediately, as his shoulders slumped, “I did not mean my words to sound so cruel.”
“Get out now!”
After Ovfren blurted his hurtful declaration, he looked at Enek’s anger face and immediately longed to take every word back, but when he noticed Enek’s jaws tightening even more, while still breathing heavily through his nose, he knew any apologetic words were useless.
“I beg you,” Ovfren, however, did at least try, “The words did not come from my mouth as they should have.”
Enek walked to the chamber door, and opened it for Ovfren, another way to ask him to get out without again having to say the words.
Again realizing no words would help him right then reluctantly, Ovfren finally relented and turned to walk towards the door, but when he got right in front of Enek, he tried to kiss him.
“Ovfren,” Enek’s voice exact, as he turned is head away from him when he tried to.
“Yes,” he quickly said, hoping he was about to ask him to stay.
“Never come to me again.”
Unsure what to say, Ovfren looked at him, and at the door that slowly closed behind him, and as if a sword had been thrust into him, he left feeling just as wounded.
**
“It is here,” Laad said to Loth when they saw the messenger riding up to the gates while they talked as always on the wall in the morning, “King Gegorad, I shall gather has sent his reply.”
Both hurried down the wall to the messenger, who when he saw Laad gave it to him, but instead of opening it in the courtyard, Laad decided to leave it sealed and take it to King Baric.
As he walked into court with it, when Baric looked at him from his throne, then at what he held in his hand, he stood at once, addressed his quorum, and walked to his private council chamber.
“You did not open it?” He noticed, when he took it; then sat at his table.
“I felt it was not my place,” Laad’s reply, as he sat across from him.
Baric inhaled; then held the letter
in his hand and looked at Laad, Loth, and Ogorec.
“You are right, and the matter is not for only us,” he said, not wanting to exclude King Aderac, “It is for him to know the answer alongside us.”
Ogorec nodded; then turned to go to one of the inner king’s guards.
“Go to King Aderac,” he ordered, “And get word to him, King Gegorad has sent his answer.”
**
Belon’s head resting comfortably in Aderac’s lap, both had awakened early, but feeling lazy decided to lie around within the chamber until the children woke.
“What shall be our day?” Aderac asked, as he read from one of books with one hand, while stroking Belon’s hair with his other.
He had skimmed through all the books and found a good number for the priests to teach the children from, and even found a few that interested him about Worrlgen and Worrlgen’s history, that he kept in his chamber to read instead of returning.
“Well,” Belon said, as he thought and looked over at them, “You shall read the letters from Ivodgald sent to you by Gueden. They are all still sealed. You have ignored them long enough.”
Knowing he tossed them aside while he diligently read what seems an endless count of books; Aderac looked over at the mound of sealed scrolls on the table.
“I know that I should,” he commented knowing he had neglected his noble duties, “So pleasant it has been to not toil with such worries, but I know I should get back to the matter of being a king.”
Belon lifted his head, and looked up at him.
“When you speak in such a way, it stirs me,” he lustfully said, “The matter of being a king, and my king.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes,” Belon answered, as he raised his body, “I have the love of a king, and his body as well, belongs only to me.”
“And what will you do with the king’s body?”
Belon took the book out of Aderac’s hand and tossed it aside.
“You shall soon know,” he answered, as he leaned Aderac back down onto the bed, and bit on his bottom lip.
“Just before we closed our eyes to sleep,” Aderac teased, always ready for more from him, after Belon bit his lip and now kissed and nibbled on his neck, slowly moving lower, “You were deep inside me, and now I gather about to be again.”
