by K. L. Hiers
Kneeling down, Ted hesitantly reached for the tile floor. He expected to touch firm stone, but his fingers slipped right through and he felt something cool and smooth. He grabbed it, lifting up a large jawbone.
“Holy shit,” Grell gasped, slipping into his human form and joining Ted on the floor. They took turns reaching down into the hidden space, pulling out bone after bone. “They’ve been down here this whole time?”
“Guess they needed a sneaky place to stash them?” Ted suggested, laughing triumphantly as the pile of bones began to grow. “Fuck, this is great! Graham, how did you find these?”
“Exploring,” Graham said with a smile. “Found them while the horsey man was yelling.”
“Thank you, Graham,” Ted said, smiling brightly.
“Thanks from me too,” Grell said, his expression somber as he lifted up a large skull and petted it reverently. “My most sincere thanks, little one.”
“Is that Vael?” Ted asked politely.
“My father,” Grell replied, glancing around the pile. “I’m afraid there’s only enough bones here for two skeletons. Maybe part of a third… and none of them are Vael’s.”
“I’m sorry,” Ted said, reaching out to squeeze Grell’s shoulder. “We’ll keep looking, okay? Maybe Ghulk and those other fuckheads had more hiding spots.”
“Maybe,” Grell said, gently placing the skull with the other bones. “I’ll need to figure out who is who and what is what and return them to the pits.”
“You want some help?” Ted scoffed. “Or is that going to land me buying a house with you or somethin’?”
“I’m sorry I didn’t say anything about the damn engagement,” Grell said with an agitated groan. “It’s an antiquated tradition, and I wasn’t thinking much of it at the time. I definitely didn’t think you’d be of a mind to accept it, considering how well it went the last time someone proposed to you.”
“Yeah, I died,” Ted said flatly.
“And you ended up single, ahem.”
“That too.”
“An engagement doesn’t mean there has to be a wedding right away,” Kunst chirped helpfully. “Although there’s been no record of an Asran engagement being refused—”
“Mute time,” Grell threatened, reaching up to bop Kunst’s orb.
“Hey, hey!” Kunst flew out of the way. “Look, you want to keep the Asran traditions going, and you two are obviously getting along very well, why not just accept the engagement and put off the wedding for a few hundred years?”
“Uh, because I’ll be dead?” Ted snarled, standing up hastily, his cheeks burning.
“Enough,” Grell growled, snapping with both hands.
Kunst and the bones vanished, and a drink appeared in Grell’s hand that he immediately began to chug.
“Hey,” Ted complained, holding out his empty hand.
Grell was still drinking but snapped his fingers one more time to give Ted a glass.
“Here’s to freedom,” Ted said, raising his drink and taking a swig. “So.” He stared thoughtfully at Grell. “Were you going to tell me about the whole getting married thing?”
“Planned to,” Grell said with a wince. “Thought we’d have a good laugh about it… in a few months when you were already well and madly in love with me.”
“That was your fuckin’ plan?”
“Didn’t say it was a good one,” Grell replied, strolling over to sit back down on the throne. “And I didn’t think Ghulk was going to bring it up in the middle of your damn trial.”
Ted followed him, nursing his never-ending drink. “Why’d you call me queen, then?” he asked. “Why?”
“You asked me if I trusted you,” Grell replied. “And I do. Not just with my heart, but with something even greater: the well-being of my people, their future, and laying the dead back to rest as intended.
“In that moment, I had to make a decision that would not only affect our future, but my people, my entire race. It would have been easy to make that decision based on how much I like sticking it in you, but… I didn’t.
“I’d be lying if it wasn’t a factor, but I do know you, Tedward of Aeon. I know how you care for the dead, despite the stain they’ve left on your soul. The same compassion you gave to me when we entombed Silas and Mire was the same when I buried a music box where my beloved should be.
“You were giving me a choice to not only help me, but to help the dead. That depth, that sort of passion… makes you worthy of being a queen.”
Ted’s mouth opened and closed a few times as he staggered a little closer to Grell and took his hand. “That’s… uh… a pretty good reason.”
“I’m not asking you to marry me,” Grell said softly, “but perhaps I’m asking you… to give the idea a chance. Give us a chance and see what happens. I know, in my soul, that you’d make a fantastic queen.”
Grell was looking at him with such sincerity that Ted could feel his breath catching in his chest. He couldn’t tear his eyes away for a second, and his fingers tightened around his glass.
“Ew,” Graham complained. “You guys are gonna make kissy faces again, aren’t you?”
“Yup, time to go, kiddo,” Ted replied.
“Grosssss!”
“What was that?” Grell frowned.
“Nothing.” Ted hid a smile, waiting for Graham’s presence to fade. “Just… give me a second.”
“Oh, of course.”
“Well,” Ted said after a leisurely pause, swigging back his drink and throwing the glass behind him as he sat down into Grell’s lap, “I will tell you that I’m not saying yes.”
“Oh?” Grell said, a quick snap of his fingers taking care of the mess and making his own drink disappear. His hands were now free to roam Ted’s thighs. “This feels like a bit of yes to something.”
“It’s a yes that I care about you a lot, I want to keep dating, and I’d like to celebrate being cleared of all murder charges by riding your dicks on this throne,” Ted said very matter-of-factly.
“All very good things,” Grell said, his palms making their way up Ted’s hips. “I like where this is going.”
“But I’m not gonna marry you,” Ted said firmly. “I’m not gonna be one of those dumb princess chicks who marries the prince dude after, like, two days of knowing him.”
“I’m a king. Does that make any difference?”
“Nope,” Ted said, leaning in for a kiss. He rolled his hips down slowly, grinning when he felt how hard Grell already was. “I think I’m gonna settle on a very solid maybe. Maybe I’ll let you put a ring on it and marry you one day, but that ain’t today.”
“That’s still not a no,” Grell gleefully pointed out, twirling his fingers and making Ted’s clothes vanish.
“True,” Ted said, his hips continuing to move and grinning when Grell’s clothes faded away, leaving bare flesh beneath him to grind on. “How about… waiting-to-be-permanently-engaged?”
“Doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, does it?” Grell chided playfully. “Not quite something to put on a card, you know? Please come to our ‘Waiting-To-Be-Permanently-Engaged Party.’ Meh.”
“Shut up.”
“I’m also not a fan of the ‘permanent’ bit. Feel like I can win you over if I try really hard and think good thoughts.”
“Shut up and kiss me,” Ted pleaded with a loud groan.
“Yes, my queen,” Grell said, dragging Ted in for a hungry kiss.
Ted didn’t even bother denouncing the new nickname, letting himself fall into the hot press of Grell’s lips. It seemed so natural now, holding each other, touching and caressing all over. The thrill of fucking Grell right here on his throne was not lost on Ted, and it honestly made this so much hotter.
Grell’s cocks were pressing up against Ted’s ass, and Ted could feel himself getting wet, his hole magically probed and stretched with a wave of Grell’s hand. It was easy for Grell’s first cock to slide inside Ted’s body, Ted eagerly accepting it with a heated moan. It was deliciously thi
ck, and Ted couldn’t stop himself from slamming down a few times to savor the hot stretch.
The pressure was amazing and made him ache, already so full. He could keep going just like this and easily make himself come, but he wasn’t done yet. He wanted all of Grell inside him, and he was determined to take both of his cocks.
The second one, well, that was going to take a bit more work.
As soon as Grell tried to push inside, there was a flash of pain that made Ted hiss. He grunted, trying to readjust himself and push down, but the resistance was still too much. Grell slipped a finger in alongside his first cock and tried to work Ted open before going again, but the burn was still intolerable even with his magic.
“Can’t you make me wetter?” Ted griped.
“Your ass is like Niagara Falls right now!” Grell shot back. “Just hold on! You’re too damn tight, and I don’t want to hurt you!”
“Hold the fuck on!” Ted declared, reaching back and stubbornly grabbing Grell’s second cock away from him. He pushed the tip up against his hole and began to sink down. The burn was still there, hot and almost blinding, but Ted was not going to give up. He groaned, gritting his teeth and willing his body to open up.
Slowly, yes, it breached him. The burn lingered, but he refused to stop. He groaned as he pushed down a little more, his body fighting against the new intrusion and fireworks lighting up under his skin from the intensity. There, fuck, the head was inside him, and he could hardly believe that he’d finally done it.
“Ted,” Grell gasped, his fingers squeezing down on his thighs. “Oh… fuck….”
“Yeaaaah, you’re damn right,” Ted panted, letting out another fierce moan as his hole relaxed enough for a few more inches to slip in. He’d never tried to take on so much before, and he could feel a surge of adrenaline rushing through his whole body, leaving him tingling as his cock leaked between them.
He began to move his hips in short bursts, grunting and moaning until he was finally able to take both thick cocks totally inside of him. He was so full, so full that he ached down in his core and trying to move wasn’t an option. The slightest movement sent a cascade of sensation to all of his nerves, and it was totally overwhelming. He sat very still, daring to lean in for a kiss. “Thiazi… I….”
“Oh, Tedward,” Grell soothed, kissing him softly. “If a mouse farts in here, I’m going to come, because right now your stuffed little ass is the most fantastic thing I’ve ever felt.”
Ted couldn’t help but laugh, protesting, “I had this whole plan of seducing you and fucking your brains out, you know. Not going quite how I planned it.”
“Things rarely do in my experience,” Grell said quietly. “I mean, I never expected that I might be falling in love with you.”
“Thiazi,” Ted murmured, shifting his hips and moaning loudly, his own cock throbbing from all the stimulation. “You’d better not be fucking around with me.”
“Never,” Grell purred, seizing Ted in a passionate kiss and rolling his hips up to drive both of his cocks into him.
Ted threw his head back with a sob, his thighs trembling as Grell fucked him right into sheer madness. It was too much too fast, and he moaned desperately as he suddenly came, his cock firing off several hot squirts between their grinding bodies.
Once wouldn’t be enough, it never was for Grell, and he continued to thrust up into Ted’s ass with ferocious strength. His magical skill kept the pain of overstimulation at bay, and Ted only felt the most intense pleasure. The pain was gone now, leaving him with a blinding bliss that had him smiling deliriously and moaning for more.
Grell buried his face into Ted’s neck, dragging his sharp teeth over his throat with a loud snarl. He groped Ted’s ass and thighs as he continued to fuck him, daring to bite down and moaning excitedly, “Ah, Ted… my love….”
“Thiazi!” Ted cried, clinging to Grell’s thick shoulders. The sensation of Grell’s teeth pressing into his skin created a flash of white-hot pain followed by intense suction that made Ted shudder. Fuck, it was going to be the mother of all hickeys, but he didn’t even care. He wanted more, grabbing a handful of Grell’s hair and holding him there, pleading, “Please, come on, come on, please!”
Grell growled, biting down harder in reply. His hips were losing speed, holding Ted down on his cocks as he grinded up into him before thrusting deeply again.
This slower, harder pace was making Ted melt, every nerve in his entire body winding up tight in anticipation of climax. He couldn’t believe Grell could fuck like this, pushing him to his absolute physical limits and then shoving him right over the edge. He groaned as he came again, bouncing up and down in Grell’s lap to soak up every ounce of pleasure.
Grell sped back up, pounding Ted as he panted, “There, my love. Mmm, look at you. You’re so beautiful riding me… mmm, now come on. I’m gonna come, I’m coming!” He let out a sound that didn’t even seem human, a deep primal roar that seemed to make the entire room vibrate. He licked the bite on Ted’s neck, pulling him against his chest. “Oh, Ted… mmph.”
Ted’s orgasm didn’t stop until Grell was finally done thrusting, and he was absolutely exhausted. He let Grell cradle him close, groaning low as he was overcome by the heat of two thick loads continuing to fill him up.
They kissed, long and slow, and Ted threw his arms around Grell’s shoulders. His heart was thumping so fast that he could feel the other pulse—the beat of his mysterious savior—but all that mattered right now was being here in Grell’s embrace.
“Did you mean it?”
“What, love?” Grell asked, peering up at Ted.
“About falling in love with me?” Ted asked, terrified of the answer but knowing that he had to hear it. He needed it to be real, and calling him “love” wasn’t enough.
“Well,” Grell purred, leaning up for another kiss. “What else can I say…?”
“Guilty?”
“Absolutely.”
Chapter 15.
“ARE YOU two decent?” Kunst asked, his orb hesitantly peeking around the corner at one of the court’s many doorways.
“Hang on!” Ted called back. He grinned at Grell, asking, “Don’t suppose you could wiggle those magic fingers of yours and fix us up?”
“Oh, I suppose,” Grell huffed, rolling his eyes dramatically. “It pains me to cover your naked flesh because I do so enjoy looking at it, but if you’re insisting….”
“I am.”
With a quick snap, Grell was fully dressed in a lush purple jacquard suit with a black dress shirt. He gave Ted a pair of jeans, snug ones, and a black V-neck shirt. Any sign of their debaucherous fun on the throne was out of sight, and Grell shouted, “Much against my will, yes, we are now decent.”
Kunst floated over in a huff, snapping, “Now, I need to talk to you both about the situation with the bones!”
“Which situation is that?” Grell asked, clearly bored. “That they’re still missing or the other thing?”
“The other thing!” Kunst’s orb shuddered with obvious annoyance. “I believe I know why Gronoch wanted such a large volume of Asran bones. If he was merely looking to create some kind of mindless Silenced slaves, he wouldn’t need so much. A tiny pinch of those ancient Asran bones would be enough to remove the souls from hundreds of mortals.”
“So what is he trying to do?” Ted frowned.
“Gronoch might be trying to remove the soul of a god,” Kunst replied with a gasp. “Can you imagine?”
“Uh… not really. Why is that a bad thing?”
“He could be removing the god’s soul to create a sort of ghoul,” Kunst explained hurriedly. “With the god’s soul removed, perhaps he could use one of the Silenced mortals’ souls to take it over and serve him.”
“So, a Silenced person would be driving around in a god’s body?”
“Even if it was possible to force a god to astral project,” Grell drawled as he rose up from the throne, “a mortal soul cannot be bound to an immortal vessel.”
&nb
sp; “What about another immortal soul?” Ted frowned, snagging Grell’s spot and sitting down on the throne. “Is that, like, a thing?”
“Theoretically? Perhaps Gronoch was looking to upgrade to a more powerful god’s body?” Kunst suggested, his orb pulsing thoughtfully.
“That still doesn’t explain why he needs Silenced mortals,” Grell argued. “Somehow, the fate of Aeon hinges on Ted’s little roommate being taken. My son’s visions aren’t always succinct, but that much he was absolutely sure of.”
“As true as that may be, my conclusion remains the same,” Kunst said. “There is no other purpose for so many bones except to forcibly remove a god’s soul from their body.”
“What the fuck is he doing on the throne?” a new voice sneered angrily.
Ted looked up to see a very familiar naked young man glaring at him. He blinked a few times to make sure this was a real person and not a ghostly illusion of some kind, grunting, “Hi.”
“Oh, look, speak of the devil! It’s my spawn,” Grell said cheerfully. “How good of you to pop in and say hello. Don’t you have a human you’re supposed to be guarding?”
“He’s fine,” the young man snarled as he stalked closer. “Left him with Starkiller and Azaethoth the Lesser.”
“Star-what now?” Ted asked.
“A mortal with the power to kill a god,” Grell replied. “Very strong, big eyebrows, thought we went over this.”
“Hey,” the young man snapped impatiently. “Wanna explain why the fuckin’ cat kicker is sitting there?”
“Hey, I got a name!” Ted growled, standing up and advancing toward the being formerly known as Mr. Twigs. “And I never fuckin’ kicked you! You kept tripping me, you little fuzzy psycho!”
“Fuck you!”
“Hey, fuck you!”
“All right, all right!” Grell roared, holding his hands up for silence. “Now, everyone play nice for five damn seconds. Daddy is getting a headache. Ted, this is my son, Asta. Asta, this is—”
“Ted, Kicker of Cats,” Asta cut in nastily. “We’ve met, Daddy.”
“I never—” Ted growled.
“Darling child, light of my life, fruit of my loins,” Grell began sweetly. He bared his teeth. “Shut it.”
