by Joey W. Hill
Strength was not the only weapon a warrior had. Uthe shot a hand up to grab hold of Keldwyn’s nape, determined he’d just slam his mouth onto the Fae’s and be done with it. As fast as he was, Keldwyn was faster. He twisted away and manacled Uthe’s hand in his own, shoving it to the ground next to him. Heat shimmered under Uthe’s knuckles and he jerked, but the grasses were already wrapping around his wrist, forearms and biceps, holding his arm to the ground. Keldwyn forced his other arm down on the other side for the same treatment. They were the same meadow grasses Catriona had twined into Keldwyn’s hair, but Keldwyn’s magic reinforced their strength, held him fast. The edges cut into his arms, a sharp kiss of pain. Keldwyn’s eyes were like heated coal as he bent to kiss Uthe again.
Uthe tried to snap at him. It had worked before, the threat of taking Kel’s blood without his consent. Glancing up at the tree shading them, Keldwyn lifted one hand. A branch quivered, then snapped, dropping neatly into his hand. He forced it into Uthe’s mouth like a bit, binding it around his head with more of those enchanted grasses. His expression unchanged, implacable, he bent to resume his torment of Uthe’s mouth. With the stick gag in the way, everything was even more sensitive as he traced Uthe’s stretched lips, nibbling on them with short, concise presses of his teeth, darting his tongue in above and below the stick, adding to the wood flavor with the heat of his mouth. He might look unperturbed by Uthe’s resistance, but his exceptionally large, throbbing cock pushed against Uthe’s suggested it was fueling his desire, as much as Keldwyn’s mastery was provoking his.
Mastery. A word summoned by his lust, not logic. Lust was lust. Yes, it could spiral to a level where the mind ceased to function, but only if he allowed it, if he dropped his formidable discipline and self-control. He’d never been out of control with a lover. Nothing could override his discipline, the demands of his brain. Yet he was getting closer than he had in…ever. From nothing more than having the Fae stretched out on him for a slow, leisurely kissing where the Fae seemed to have nothing better to do.
“This is not your brain sickness,” the Fae muttered, lifting his head and pinning Uthe with an expression that said he might be the one in control, but he was far from detached. “You will not escape the truth of what this is by lying to yourself.”
He’d been about to summon that as his next internal defense, and it wasn’t an illogical one. It could in fact be a symptom of the Ennui, his breakdown of self-discipline. But he didn’t want it to be. God help him.
“Is it your pride that keeps you from begging for one simple kiss?” The Fae’s eyes were obsidian fire.
Uthe shook his head. It was just too much. He was about to erupt like a volcano from a surfeit of pressure, and he didn’t mean the seed boiling in his balls. The pressure came from the need for an emotional release, a storm roused by this devastating assault on his mouth. Vampires were masters at tormenting their servants sexually, bringing them to the brink of screaming orgasms, but they didn’t usually use such intimate tactics as this unless…unless they had greater feelings for their servant than had heretofore been sanctioned in the vampire world. They did this kind of thing if they loved their servant, if they wanted to possess and cherish them, above and beyond all other relationships.
Keldwyn returned to his assault. Back to his throat, up to the jaw, and playing with his mouth around the gag again. Now Uthe regretted trying to bite him, because he would have liked to feel more of the press of his lips than this teasing play gave him. Keldwyn was a fascinating mix. Unquestionably male, but the long hair, the sensitive lips and sculpted cheekbones offered some of the erotic effects of the female form. He needed to stop. He was getting lost…
“You are not lost, Lord Uthe. I have you right here, and I am not letting you go. Now ask, damn you.”
He’d only said it in a garbled way, through the gag, but the Fae had heard it. Just as he heard what Uthe said now. “Please. Kiss me.”
Part demand and plea, but thank God, it was close enough. Keldwyn released the gag. It undid Uthe, how gently he dislodged it from behind Uthe’s fangs before he returned to the violence of his passion, sealing his mouth over Uthe’s lips, his tongue stabbing deep and thick into Uthe’s mouth. Uthe yanked against the bindings holding his arms. But Keldwyn wouldn’t give him that freedom, which only made the reward of his full kiss more potent.
He took his time, just as he’d warned. He captured Uthe’s tongue, sucked on it, flicked it the way he’d tease his dick if he had his mouth on it. Then he bit Uthe’s tongue, held it prisoner as he stroked Uthe’s face and throat, squeezing the latter to stimulate that vampire erogenous zone. Once he released his tongue, it was so they could once again mate and part, an ongoing dance inside one another’s mouths. Keldwyn had left his knee pressed into Uthe’s crotch, an intentional discomfort that kept Uthe immobilized from the waist down, though Keldwyn’s cock was firmly against his hip and upper thigh, a tantalizing promise. Keldwyn’s mouth was his only avenue to bliss. But that pinioning knee, the pain of it combined with the torment of Kel’s mouth, as well as the effect of being helpless like this to the other male’s lust, was driving things to an unexpected summit.
Uthe realized he’d been moaning, a deep throated response to the Fae’s demands. Keldwyn had been answering with savage whispers, sensual chuckles and rumbles of encouragement. When the Fae at last drew back, Uthe stared up at him with glassy eyes, mouth wet, chest heaving and loins drawn tight with an erection that had Keldwyn’s full attention as he flipped up the front panel of the tunic and studied it, straining against the fabric of the leggings. His gaze slid upward, slow as a sword sliding along flesh and opening everything vital inside. He studied the tautness of Uthe’s abdomen, every rigid muscle. Keldwyn loosened the laces of Uthe’s tunic in the front, spreading it open so he could trace his chest with his fingertips.
“You are trembling, my lord.” Keldwyn’s voice was soft as a heated breeze. “You fight the restraint, but it allows you the freedom of your desires. I am tempted to keep you this way always. You are breathtaking. I want to fuck you into oblivion and yet, there is something about staying this way, on the edge of such anticipation…it is an enchantment whose power can only build and build until we would both gladly die of it, would we not?”
He didn’t seem to expect an answer, but something cracked inside Uthe. He gasped as if he’d been stabbed. Keldwyn’s eyes darkened, and then Uthe made a noise of pain as he bent, pressed his lip to Uthe’s pectoral, over his heart.
Shifting next to Uthe, Keldwyn slid his arms under Uthe’s back and thighs. The restraining grasses loosened and he turned Uthe over, a swift but controlled movement to ensure Uthe wasn’t tumbled on his face, a contrast to when Kel had been rough and demanding in other ways. As soon as Uthe was lowered face down to the earth, the meadow grass reclaimed its hold on his arms.
Keldwyn straddled his back, putting his hands on Uthe’s head to ensure his forehead was pressed into the soft earth, his chin tilted down to keep his mouth and nose free of it. Then he folded Uthe’s tunic up until it was underneath his armpits, exposing his back, and unlaced the sides of the leggings so he could jerk them down to Uthe’s thighs. To do that, he slid his hand under Uthe’s abdomen to bring him briefly off the ground. But then he pushed him down again so his cock pressed into the grass, the blades an edgy, cool friction along his flesh.
Uthe didn’t speak. Something was laboring inside his chest, his lower belly and clogging his throat. Keldwyn had effectively blindfolded him, forcing his face into the grass this way. His senses were still sharp enough that he smelled the fragrant lubricant. Keldwyn had implied magic was not to be squandered on the things a Fae could do himself, and Uthe recognized an unexpected benefit to that prudence. If Kel lubricated his cock at the blink of a thought, it might be more convenient, but the anticipation he built doing it this way was a different kind of magic. Uthe felt his small movements on top of him as the Fae worked the oil over his cock. Uthe imagined what it looked like, th
e long fingers curled over the glistening shaft, rubbing the flared head.
Just like with his kiss, Keldwyn was determined to tease Uthe into full madness. He worked the head of his cock into Uthe’s rectum, rotating just inside the gate to stimulate before he pulled out slow. Then he did it again. The incredible friction was too brief to take Uthe to full climax, but it was something almost more intense. He’d done things to reduce Mariela to mindless gibberish, but pride and emotional abstinence had kept him from contemplating such a state for himself. Keldwyn was proving him wrong.
When Keldwyn finally let himself sink to the hilt, Uthe groaned, a near shout. Desire was a knife cutting open his insides, the blood in his stiff cock jamming him against the unyielding ground. The Fae made a grim sound of fierce pleasure.
“This is where I belong,” the Fae said, his chest against Uthe’s back as he bent, bit his ear. He was still fully clothed, except for what had been necessary to remove to fuck Uthe, another tease. “Your ass has needed filling for some time, my lord.”
He withdrew again and went back to that shallow in-and-out movement, using the ridged corona to inflict mind-shattering sensation. Uthe’s hips were rising, trying to take more, trying to give his aching cock relief.
“Ask for permission to come.”
“No.” Uthe strangled it out. “Not part of the deal.”
“It is if you interpret it literally.”
“Liberally, you mean… Oh, fuck…”
This time Keldwyn shoved in for full penetration, his testicles slapping against Uthe’s scrotum, an admonishment and provocation. Uthe nearly bellowed a protest as Keldwyn pulled all the way out. He pressed a knee into the ground against one of Uthe’s calves, so it was unmistakable what he was doing next. He leisurely began to masturbate, even humming a fucking tune as he did it, though he couldn’t conceal the strain in the syllables. Uthe hadn’t cursed this much in decades. He’d be doing penance for days. Fuck it, he would just press into the earth, hump the damn dirt and…
Uthe snarled as those twisted grasses twined around his dick, inflicting a series of sharp little cuts. More grasses did the same around his balls, cinching him tight.
“Cheating bastard,” he said.
“Not cheating. Your climax belongs to me, and you will ask me for it. You understand the role between Master and subjugated, Lord Uthe, and you are bound to me.” Keldwyn was suddenly fully against his back, cock pressed against Uthe’s ass, his voice uttering a sexual threat up against his ear. “You asked for my binding, Varick. Asked for it. Deep inside, you knew that would result in me being even more demanding, crueler. Give me what I want, and I will give you something better than ecstasy.”
When he wasn’t keeping close company with vampires, Uthe had been able to observe celibacy for inordinately long stretches. Given a vampire’s nature, it had been difficult beyond description, but he’d maintained. This was agony. Sheer, heated, blue balls agony, especially as Keldwyn resumed that rhythmic rock against his legs that said he was jacking off again. He wasn’t even allowing Uthe to watch. By the Holy Relics, a blade of grass had an edge like paper, and he’d never been so cognizant of that as he was now.
Keldwyn released with a quiet groan, his hand gripping the back of Uthe’s thigh. His heated seed splashed on Uthe’s ass, his naked back. It should have been demeaning, humiliating, but that wasn’t what Uthe felt. He was in pain, aroused to the point of ferocity, and the things hurting inside and through him were so agonizing the only answer was release. Meditation and prayer were beyond him right now.
“Please.” He closed his eyes, pressed his face into the earth. “My lord, I would ask your permission to come.”
The bindings around his cock released. A relieved breath shuddered out of him. Keldwyn’s hands curved over his buttocks and parted them. “Whenever you so desire, my lord.” The weight of his hands increased as he bent over Uthe, and then his mouth pressed against the crinkled ring of Uthe’s anus. Keldwyn put his clever tongue to work there before Uthe could think of a way to stop him. Another first for him, and oh…Mother of God, bless her and forgive his blasphemy, there was nothing he could do now except get swept away.
He came violently, hips jerking. Keldwyn’s jaw worked against his buttocks, the slippery tease of his tongue deep in Uthe’s channel, his hands bruising in their grip on his ass. Though Uthe was sure it was no more than the usual amount of time, it seemed he came and came, especially with Keldwyn’s unrelenting tongue spurring him on.
When Keldwyn finally stopped, Uthe was spent and trembling like a baby, his hands in fists inside the grass net. Keldwyn stretched out beside him, his clothes adjusted as if he hadn’t just fucked him to the point of begging. However, his expression was taut and glittering, the look of a male temporarily satisfied, only getting started with everything he wanted from his lover.
“Why are you doing this?” Uthe’s voice was hoarse. “Is this simply pleasure, my lord? You haven’t had a suitable playmate for awhile?”
“Is it easier if you can define it?” Keldwyn’s tone was light, but Uthe caught the edge. They’d gone down this road before, and the Fae’s tolerance of it had been short then. Uthe didn’t feel up for a battle of wits. He asked a different question instead.
“What’s better than ecstasy?”
“Peace.”
The bindings on Uthe’s arms loosened, freeing him, and the Fae lay back, stretching out and closing his eyes, as if giving Uthe privacy to pull himself together. Instead, Uthe rolled to his side and looked down at him. Keldwyn’s eyes opened, mere slits. “You need something, my lord?”
“I would like…” Uthe realized a half smile was curving his lips, and he felt unaccountably shy. Seeing it, Kel’s eyes opened fully and he pushed up to his elbows, curiosity on his face.
“What would you like?”
“I’d like to touch your ears. May I?”
He’d brushed them incidentally a couple times while enjoying Keldwyn’s hair, but never a full exploration of the pointed tips. Keldwyn looked surprised, bemused but not displeased. “You may.”
Sometimes the curves of his ears were pierced with tight rings. Sometimes they had intricate tattoos on the folds inside. Today they were free of any embellishments, so as Uthe’s fingers slipped over them, it was just Keldwyn. They felt much like his own ears, merely a different shaping of the cartilage, but it seemed intimate to touch the most significant physical difference between their appearances. He wondered if that was why Keldwyn liked to play his tongue over Uthe’s fangs so often. Uthe stroked the points of the ears lightly, the curve of the shell beneath and was intrigued when Kel’s lids slid back down to half-mast. “It feels good when I do that?”
“It does. We do it often to soothe our children, but it has a similar effect on adults. Though if you ever offer to play with my ears when I’m in a temper, I will skewer you with a rusty blade.”
Uthe smiled. When Kel shifted, Uthe knew the Fae Lord had reached his limit for the familiarity, but when he stopped doing it, Keldwyn didn’t shift away. Instead he helped Uthe to his feet, and grunted at him to lift his arms so he could strip the unlaced tunic off him. Kel rested a brief hand on his chest. “We’ll wash up in the stream,” he said. “Take off the rest.”
Since Keldwyn started to strip, Uthe complied, pushing the half removed leggings off with the boots. When he swayed, Kel’s hand was on his hip, steadying him. The Fae’s expression indicated it was a courtesy, but he didn’t take the heat of his palm away as Uthe straightened.
“They say vampires are sometimes faster than Fae,” Keldwyn noted. “But I have not found that to be true. You’ve never beaten me back to the estate during your morning sun ritual.”
“I’ve never been racing against you.”
“True enough. Let us race to the stream. We have both just climaxed, so that’s an even handicap.”
Given it didn’t seem to have rocked Kel’s world to its physical foundations, Uthe wouldn’t agree, but he wouldn’t
argue that. He still hadn’t had blood, so that was an acceptable reason for his knees to be shaky. He could level the playing field another way, though. In a flash, he’d knocked Keldwyn off his feet with a feint and side slam, and bolted for the pond.
He beat him by a stride. They splashed into the water, and Uthe was pleased to see the Fae Lord grinning. “A vampire must cheat to win.”
“Leveling the playing field is not cheating. It’s keeping your opponent honest. If such a thing is possible when talking about a Fae.”
“Fanged barbarian.”
“Pretentious fop.”
Keldwyn’s slim brows lifted nearly to his hairline. “An insult more appropriate to earlier time periods.”
“I learn from all eras, my lord.” The stream was waist deep in the middle, so Uthe could comfortably stand in it. Looking down, he saw brightly colored fish and a snakelike thing swimming around his feet. Like the insects, the fish were populated with similarly shaped Fae, who looked like tiny mermaids with whiskers and double-lidded eyes that studied him with interest.
Dropping to one knee in the shallow water, he spread his hands out so the tiny fish and Fae merfolk swam around them, investigating before drifting onward. He was of no consequence, just an obstacle. Feeling Keldwyn’s gaze on him, he closed his eyes, thinking of all the things the Fae had opened up in him. All this time, he’d learned to contain his feelings with prayer and meditation. He’d learned the value of silence, and of knowing what to say, precisely as it should be said. All in the service of God.
But there were times when the need to communicate, to speak something aloud in the presence of one who could accept it, witness it, acknowledge the sheer weight it held on his soul and perhaps understand it, was needed. It was a type of spiritual nourishment too. He had struck at Keldwyn with words because he knew how to use them as weapons, but Uthe knew they should never be used as a shield to keep him from facing truth. He’d done that when he rejected Della as a blood source. Keldwyn had not pursued it, giving him space. Being a friend. As odd as it was to finally say that in his mind, it was the truth, too. The Fae Lord was a friend, a good one.
