Divided

by Rae Brooks

  Kilik smiled a bit of a lopsided smile, and then stepped back with grace and poise that Calis knew he’d never be able to step away with. “Do you swim here?” the blue-eyed lynx asked. The heat of the moon, which Calis had forgotten in light of his own feelings, was warm enough to merit the question.

  “I have before,” he confessed. “Though, normally if I want to swim—there is a place just beyond the hills we saw at the exit of Telandus.”

  Kilik thought about this for a moment, and even though the words didn’t seem to require much, the way his eyes glowed with immersion was positively captivating. How could someone make thinking look so intriguing? “I want to now,” Kilik ventured sheepishly.

  Calis laughed. He was not about to deny the very person he’d brought out here whatever he wanted. “Then, do so, love.”

  Gingerly, Kilik lifted the soft linen shirt over his head, and Calis wished he’d looked away just a moment before the shirt was entirely removed. Calis wasn’t sure that he’d ever seen the boy without a blanket or shirt covering his upper body. The definition of it was astounding. Kilik was very little, and that left very little room for muscle, but the bits he did have were so refined in shape that Calis had to clamp his mouth shut to stifle his gasp.

  The olive tone of Kilik’s skin was uniform throughout his entire upper body—which wouldn’t have been true for most of Telandus. The majority of the citizens in Telandus developed shades of darker skin above their clothes, while their covered areas remained pale. Kilik’s entire body was naturally tanned, though, and it showed in the radiance of the lights. Then, though, a very light area of purple caught Calis’s eye. “Your back is still bruised?” he said warily.

  Kilik sighed and then turned to face Calis with a look of skepticism. “You already gave your brother a death trap amulet for me—how about you let me enjoy this without acting like my long lost mother? The bruise is a new one.”

  Calis grumbled quietly at the implication, but he said little else. After all, Kilik did enough where a small bruise on his back was likely. The odds that it was the same one were slight, after all. And why would Kilik lie about it?

  Because if possible, he would take every ounce of pain in the universe and take it all upon himself—without so much as a complaint.

  Calis would worry about that when they returned to Telandus—if they returned to Telandus and he didn’t decide that he would steal Kilik away from that wretched city forever.

  Without wasting another moment, Kilik removed his boots and leapt into the water. As he did everything else, the dive was impeccably graceful. He resurfaced a few moments later with an amused grin. “The water looks like its glowing,” he said. It did, Calis realized, the entire pond seemed to be glowing around Kilik.

  Removing his belt, Calis placed his sword on the ground. There was a very attractive, very shirtless, male in the pond before him—and he wasn’t about to stand outside it like a fool. He removed his own blue shirt and boots without much effort and touched the water briefly. “I really hadn’t thought of swimming when I brought you out here,” Calis said idly.

  “What had you thought?” Kilik challenged. His blue eyes looked like a child’s, and Calis realized that his worries seemed to have left him for a little while.

  Not wanting to go into what he’d considered them doing, Calis leapt into the water without an answer. The water was just cool enough to be pleasant, while not leaving him with the sensation of freezing. Rather than returning to the surface immediately, he grabbed Kilik’s leg and pulled the boy beneath the water. As Kilik’s body was submerged, Calis ran his hand up the front of Kilik’s chest.

  The skin felt as tight and smooth as it appeared, and Calis could feel his body throbbing with want. All of his body felt like the base of a drum that was being played deeply and rapidly. The two of them pulled above the water, and Kilik let out a gasp. “Why did you do that?” he hissed. Though, as his eyes were still playful, Calis got the impression that the question was not meant to be answered.

  As Calis pretended to think of his answer very seriously, Kilik gritted his teeth and then moved his hands to Calis’s shoulder and shoved down as hard as he could. His strength was surprising, and impressive, and Calis felt his head sink below the water. Instead of fighting to get back to the top, he grabbed Kilik’s small waist and brought the boy to his chest in a sort of grappling hug.

  Immediately, their roles were reversed, and Kilik was fighting frantically to free himself from Calis’s grip. Calis held the young man for a little while longer, though, and then he dug his head into the crevice of Kilik’s neck and blew just enough air out through his lips to create bubbles about the area.

  This increased Kilik’s efforts, and he managed to scramble away and resurface above the water. The look on his face when Calis pulled himself above water could be described in no way other than pouting. “You are not going to get the upper hand, Kilik,” Calis assured cheerfully.

  To Calis’s dismay, rather than coming towards him again, Kilik moved backwards and put enough force behind a wave of water to slam into Calis’s face. The blond frowned with annoyance as he shook the water out of his eyes. Kilik was smiling again, and Calis could not manage to feel rightly annoyed when he stared into the likes of that smile.

  The time after this elapsed itself into the two of them taking cheap shots at one another, trying desperately to submerge the other in a way that meant submission. As neither of them seemed willing to admit any sort of defeat, the battle dragged on. Calis was scarcely aware of the passing time, as every moment that went by seemed to improve his mood. He could have remained there, fighting with Kilik in the water, for eternity.

  At last, though, Kilik surfaced looking more than a little exhausted. He panted heavily, working to keep his body above the water. Exhaustion had set into Calis’s body as well, so he took the moment to recuperate. For a few moments, they remained in silence, slowly regaining their breath—and Calis wondered if Kilik intended to attack him again. At this point, he wouldn’t have put anything past the vigilante.

  He didn’t wait, though, instead he moved forward so that part of his body was touching Kilik’s, and their faces were no more than a breath apart. In fact, Calis could feel Kilik’s heavy panting on his lips, and his head spun. “I thought you were composed, Kilik. But it would appear that you have a bit of a child in you.”

  “And you don’t, Prince Charming?” Kilik shot back. To be fair, Calis had been just as involved in the water battle as Kilik had, and he had enjoyed every moment of it. A smile broke across his face at the allegation.

  Not needing to answer that, Calis very slowly brought his fingers up one of Kilik’s arms, then his neck, which was slippery with water, until his hand was on Kilik’s cheek again. The soaked skin and damp hair seemed to make Kilik even more desirable. “You are worried that I’ll figure something out and start hating you, and yet, the more I find out about you—the more I find myself desperate to be with you,” Calis said gently.

  Kilik’s brow furrowed for a moment, though the words obviously distracted him enough from his thoughts. “Always dramatic,” Kilik finally muttered.

  Unable to control his longing any further, Calis tilted is head forward to grab Kilik’s damp lips in a kiss. The slippery sensation made Calis grin against the feel of the unwaveringly smooth lips. His tongue moved to the top of Kilik’s mouth, sweeping the entirety of it before Calis pulled back with a laugh. “You’re laughing after kissing me,” Kilik mused, “I am insulted, your highness.”

  “Oh, I’m sure you are,” Calis said woefully. The glow of the water reflected so radiantly off Kilik’s body that Calis wasn’t sure just how much longer his willpower could hold back his pulsing hunger.

  He leaned forward again, not wanting to be bothered to do so, but Kilik pulled back with an impish grin and submerged himself underwater. Bloody tease. Calis smirked as he dove under himself, as he wasn’t going to be denied.

  Catching Kilik by the arms, Calis whirle
d him underneath the water and pulled the small form to him. Their bodies pressed into one another, and every curve of Kilik’s body seemed to fit into Calis’s. The feeling was bizarre, and then, without bothering to go up for air, Calis pushed his lips to Kilik’s.

  There was certainly no lack of romantic atmosphere, but Calis did prefer the feel of Kilik’s lips without the constant fluctuation of the water. Still, the new environment provided a different means of feeling Kilik. Calis’s fingers ran up the crevice of the boy’s back like a ravenous serpent. One of Kilik’s hands came to rest against Calis’s shoulder, and somehow their bodies ended up in a twisted tangle of limbs.

  Without air flow between either of them, Calis had to break the kiss sooner than he wanted. He brought Kilik up for air diligently, though, and they both gasped for it as if they had been moments from death. “I’m getting out,” Calis said with a flourish. “If I keep this up, then I’m sure to drown myself.”

  A small, effervescent laughter escaped Kilik’s throat, and he nodded his head in agreement. Calis pulled himself out of the water first, feeling a slight chill as the water dripped from his skin. He glanced briefly to his shirt, but he was certain that he’d need to be drier to put that back on.

  When he turned his head to look at Kilik, who was standing, looking just a little chilled himself, out of the water—he noticed the way the boy’s head was inclined downwards. Kilik’s eyes were not on Calis’s face, but rather, his chest. Rather than calling Kilik on the misdemeanor, Calis found a grin stretching across his face as he stood silently with a quirked eyebrow.

  In a matter of moments, Kilik’s head snapped up and a heated flush came over his cheeks. “I wasn’t…” Kilik whimpered.

  “Oh,” Calis purred, “I think you were.” He took a rather threatening step towards Kilik, as his eyes took in every piece of him. Such a small person, who seemed to possess every trait that Calis had ever imagined could make a person good.

  Without pausing to think about where it might go, Calis moved forward, pulling Kilik’s small, wet body towards him. His lips immediately seized Kilik’s own, pressing against them, sucking, and biting. His fingers moved avidly over Kilik’s back again, this time, able to feel every bit of smoothness that the bronze skin had to offer. Kilik really was little, Calis noted, as his fingers moved over the basic curvature of the boy’s spine. Calis brought his young lover closer still, so that their bodies found one another in the way that they had underneath the water. They pressed against one another, and Calis could feel Kilik against every part of him. His own head pounded as his lips expertly worked their way all along Kilik’s complacent mouth.

  Calis’s tongue swept the length of the small mouth a few times before Kilik finally let out a soft moan and pushed back so that their tongues met again in a battle for control. Kilik’s arms found their way around Calis’s neck again, and Calis removed the hand that he’d had on Kilik’s face down to his neck. He used the other to pull the boy closer by the small of his back, slowly running his fingers beneath Kilik’s waist, over the curve of his body, to pull the boy’s leg forward.

  At last, Calis’s lips grew too curious to remain where they were. They moved first to Kilik’s jaw, kissing along the sharp line of it, digging his teeth in shallowly. He pulled the skin as much as he could, sucking against it as if it were some kind of nectar that he required to live. After he’d carefully kissed every bit of skin along the jawline, Calis swept his kisses down to Kilik’s neck. There, he found precisely what he’d been wanting, and he pushed his teeth against the side of the boy’s neck, tasting and sucking.

  The water on Kilik’s skin vanished in moments, giving way to sweat, and the taste of Kilik assaulted Calis. A mixture of salt and cinnamon was against his tongue, and all at once, he could feel the craving. An addiction formed with a momentary contact for a taste so foreign and exotic that he thought he might shatter from thirst. He could not get enough, despite how hard and long he pressed his lips and tongue against the skin of Kilik’s throat and neck.

  Kilik’s fingers made their way to Calis’s back, and as Calis begged Kilik’s skin for more, the slender fingers clawed their way down Calis’s exposed back. Calis moved his head back upwards, finding a soft place just beneath Kilik’s jawline to imbibe. A faint, intoxicated moan escaped from the lips that Calis had abandoned, and the fingers against his back pushed more fervently.

  Kilik felt frail, as though he might collapse into Calis’s arms for a moment, and then all at once, he came alive. He pushed back against Calis, and his own teeth made their way to Calis’s neck, and then they moved with deftness to ease around his ear. The sensation could not be described as biting, perhaps nibbling, and Calis’s knees shook from the pleasure it generated. At last, their lips slammed against one another again, after a fervent exchange of investigation of the rest of their exposed skin.

  Calis wanted control of this, and he wanted it now. One of his arms moved to Kilik’s back, while the other gently eased one of the boy’s legs up into the air. In a moment, he’d brought Kilik onto the grass beneath them. It felt shockingly cool against the heat that they had engendered between them. Without letting Kilik come to terms with what had happened, Calis moved his lips to the boy’s neck again, savoring the taste for only a moment before his lips moved down to the collarbone.

  The taste was the same, though the skin against his body there was tighter. Calis let his fingers move tauntingly along the boy’s abdomen, and Kilik let out the softest of murmurs. The smaller boy’s hands moved to Calis’s hands to try and stop him, but Calis felt a grin grip him, and he eased both of Kilik’s hands over his head, pinning them with his own.

  Then, he used his mouth to sweep the entirety of Kilik’s torso. He used his tongue, gliding it just enough to cause Kilik’s muscles to tense. Finally, Calis placed his mouth firmly against the connection between Kilik’s chest and stomach and pressed his teeth into it. He pulled the skin just enough to get a rise out of Kilik, who moaned for a moment, before the very quiet plea. “Calis,” he whimpered.

  Calis’s arousal was threatening to consume him, and at last he released Kilik from the prison of his hands. Kilik’s hands were immediately on Calis’s face, yanking himself upwards so that their lips met again. Calis’s tongue immediately moved to taste every bit of Kilik’s mouth again, lingering on the palate, compellingly drawn.

  A trembling, damp hand found Calis’s cheek, and Kilik whispered his name, almost impossible to hear. Gently, Calis moved his hand upwards and took Kilik’s hand in his. “I want you so badly it hurts,” Calis choked.

  A visceral chuckle made its way onto his lips, and Kilik returned it with a soft laugh of his own. Then, Kilik took Calis’s hand—already wrapped around his own—and moved it to the waist of his pants. “So take me,” he said, strangely officiously.

  Calis’s body wouldn’t allow him to wait for any more than that. Without another thought, he eased both hands to Kilik’s waistband and slid the pants from his waist. Kilik’s fully exposed body sent another wave of inebriation through Calis’s system, and his cheeks were suddenly burning. “Kilik,” he whispered quietly.

  Then, that desire to control, to dominate, to satisfy, exploded through him and he moved a hand along Kilik’s inner thigh with that tantalizing gentleness. A small sound escaped Kilik to inform Calis that it was working. His fingers moved along Kilik’s thigh for another moment, diligently feeling the softness of skin untouched for so long. Kilik quavered at his fingers, and Calis could feel the invigoration of that need.

  Finally, Calis lowered his mouth, moving it along the places that he’d just had his fingers. His mouth worked more easily over the skin, and his tongue pulled much greater reactions from Kilik. As his tongue moved dangerously close to the top of Kilik’s thigh, the boy let out a cry, and his legs twisted, moving upwards. Calis laughed quietly, glancing up into Kilik’s eyes. The boy’s face was covered in a soft flush. “Apologies,” he murmured.

  “Are you okay?” Calis a
sked gently, though the smile never left his lips or his eyes. Happiness and want drove through his system unhindered.

  Kilik flushed a little more and nodded mutely. Calis lowered his head again and continued his exploration of Kilik’s lower body. His tongue moved along the skin like a cloth over marble. Calis pressed his teeth against it, sucking gently so that Kilik moaned more vigorously. Then, as he bit down on his own lower lip with mischievous amusement, Calis moved his mouth over to the one area he’d left unexplored.

  The moment his tongue found the tip of Kilik’s shaft, the boy’s entire body clenched. His fingers dug into grass. Inspired, Calis pulled more of it into his mouth, working his tongue in a much more intricate pattern than he had in Kilik’s mouth. The motion was quick, and slowly getting faster, as his tongue explored the skin inside of his mouth. Calis could hear the gentle keening escaping Kilik’s mouth as the boy trembled and tensed. Pulling his hands over the area just above it, Calis sucked against Kilik’s skin. A shocked cry escaped Kilik’s lips, and Calis could feel his own body stiffening at the sound.

  Calis had known causing Kilik pleasure would arouse him, but a sensation this intense was nearly overwhelming. He focused on Kilik in his mouth, wanting more of those soft whimpers. He pulled the boy further into his mouth, sucking, as his tongue continued to weave patterns along the flesh in his mouth. Strangely enough, the taste was not unappealing, and so Calis sucked harder, pulling Kilik even further into his mouth. Calis’s fingers clawed against Kilik’s hips, and the muscles there tightened. “Calis…” Kilik choked out the word.

  With a final, quivering groan, Calis felt the tangy substance in his mouth and he pulled away. Shaking his head, he swallowed—not feeling any need to ruin the mood by spitting it all onto the ground. He grinned up at Kilik, whose blush was far brighter than it had ever been. “You’d done that before,” Kilik accused.