The Regent's Knight

by J. M. Snyder

  “Because I only see you.” Curving his forefinger beneath Amery’s chin, he raised the regent’s face toward his for a sweet, lingering kiss. “You’re just a jealous man, seeing things that aren’t there.”

  Tovin’s arms held him tight. “Of course I’m jealous.” He picked at a stray thread in his lover’s surcoat and struggled to rein in emotions that exhausted him. “That…that squire does what he likes with whomever catches his fancy. Last night he flirted with Berik at my table, shameless. And today he’s here with you, fondling himself as he entertains who knows what sort of wicked thoughts…”

  A smirk tugged at Tovin’s mouth. “If he spent the night with Berik,” he teased gently, “perhaps what you mistook for arousal was nothing more than a deep, burning itch.”

  Amery pulled out of his lover’s embrace and leaned against the table, crossing his arms, sullen. “Regardless, I am a prisoner in this castle, Tovin. You know it. The crown dangles above me like the hangman’s noose. My advisers pressure me into taking it, and now Bellona has the audacity to tell me that bedding a knight does not befit my stature. As if I have no say in the matter of who I am to love.”

  “Ah.” Tovin turned back to his maps, the smile on his face soured. “So that’s what this is all about. Beautiful Bellona. If witchcraft were a crime, she’d be the first to burn.”

  With a laugh, Amery sidled up behind him and wrapped his arms around his lover’s waist. Kissing the knight’s exposed neck, he murmured, “Can’t we stop these war games now? Put away our crowns and our swords? I want you.”

  “I’m in the middle of something,” Tovin replied, but he laced his fingers through Amery’s and leaned back into his embrace. “I’ll be finished shortly.”

  Amery sighed. “When?” Before Tovin could reply, he added, “You’ve been poring over those maps all day long. You’re neglecting me.”

  With a sardonic glance over his shoulder, Tovin said, “I am not neglecting you.”

  For the first time all day, Amery grinned. “You are.” Skirting around Tovin, he eased between the knight and the table. Tovin gave ground without comment, leaning against Amery as the regent glanced at the map the knight had been studying. Even in this position, Amery loved the way their bodies fit together. Ignoring the start of an erection that prodded his buttocks, Amery pointed at the top map. “What’s this?”

  Tovin hugged Amery close and buried his nose in the regent’s hair. “The castle floor plans,” he explained. “I’m trying to get a handle on the layout of this place. If I am to protect it—”

  “Where’s my room?” Amery interrupted. He spotted a large area that filled one section of the map and pointed to it. “Is this it? My chambers?”

  But Tovin laughed. “That’s the ballroom, silly.” Taking Amery’s hand in his, he guided the regent’s finger until it pointed to a small square in the far right corner. “That’s your room.”

  “Looks smaller on paper.” Amery flashed a wicked grin over his shoulder. “Let’s go there now.”

  “Let me finish here,” Tovin told him. “Then we can go.”

  Turning in Tovin’s arms, Amery sighed. “But I want you now,” he said, tugging at the knight’s surcoat. “You just don’t know the day I’ve had. I need you—”

  Without warning, Tovin pushed the maps aside and hoisted Amery up onto the table. Amery wrapped his legs around Tovin’s waist and pulled him closer, the knight’s hands strong on his hips and back, his mouth pressed hungrily against Amery’s own. Cradling Tovin’s face in both hands, Amery moaned into their kisses, and when Tovin cupped his buttocks, raising him off the table, the regent thrust against his lover, legs tightening around Tovin’s waist. “I want you,” Amery sighed as Tovin leaned him back onto the table. With a suggestive tug at the knight’s surcoat, he asked, “Right here?”

  “No,” Tovin replied with a smile. “I’ve got work to do.” He grabbed the closest map and spread it out across Amery’s body, once again engrossed in the castle floor plans.

  Amery pushed the top of the map down off his face. “Tovin!” he cried. “I thought—”

  “I know what you thought,” Tovin said, poking at the map where it covered Amery’s crotch. “Just give me a little bit longer, okay?”

  “No,” Amery said, sitting up. He shoved the map aside and slid off the table. “It is not okay. You’ll not play with me like this.”

  Tovin gave him an innocent smile. “But it’s so much fun. Do you know how cute you are when you’re infuriated?”

  Before Amery could answer, Tovin kissed him, a quick, soft touch that left the regent hungry for more. “Give me a quarter of an hour,” the knight whispered. “Then I’m yours for the rest of the night.”

  Amery sighed again. “Promise?”

  “Promise,” Tovin replied. As Amery moved away from the table, Tovin gave his butt a playful slap. “I love you.”

  “I know,” Amery said loftily. He grinned at the hurt look on Tovin’s face. “See? It’s not so fun when you’re the one being played, is it?”

  “Come here,” Tovin growled, catching Amery’s hand in his. He pulled the regent back and kissed his cheek. “Stop being a royal pain.”

  “I am not,” Amery started, but Tovin quieted him with another kiss.

  Chapter 7

  When Tovin managed to extract himself from his duties, more than a quarter of an hour had passed. Once the regent had left, the squire returned, and Tovin was careful to keep the table between them at all times. Still, minutes rushed by, tumbling into hours, and it wasn’t until he heard the evening prayer bells ring from the chapel’s tower that he realized how late it had grown. “Shit,” he muttered, rolling up the nearest map. To the squire, he ordered, “See to it that these are put away. I am late for an audience with the regent.”

  Very late. Given Amery’s earlier mood, Tovin suspected he would have a lot of making up to do.

  The door to the regent’s chambers was locked. Tovin did not expect that—he had one hand on the knob and walked right into the oaken door. A snicker escaped one of the guards stationed nearby, but when Tovin glared at them, they found something much more interesting to study on the floor or ceiling and refused to meet his gaze. Raising one hand curled into a fist, he pounded the door and ignored the hot stares on his back.

  When he had to knock a second time, Tovin felt his own irritation begin to rise. In a commanding voice, he hollered, “Do not make me break down this door, Your Highness!”

  He heard the scramble of locks, then the door opened an inch. Amery’s young page peered out and blanched when he saw Tovin blocking the way. “Sir Tovin,” he stuttered, bowing low while trying to hold the door shut. He simply succeeded in bumping his forehead against the door jamb. Rubbing the tender spot, he looked past Tovin to the guards and mumbled, “The regent is busy at the moment—”

  “He will see me.” Tovin shoved the door open, easily moving the page aside. As he entered the regent’s sitting room, Tovin took in the empty chaise lounge, the low fire smoldering in the hearth, the dim lighting. Through the doorway into the other room, he saw the bed neatly made; there was no sign of Amery. Rounding on the page, he barked, “I have urgent matters to discuss with him. Where the hell is he?”

  The page closed the door, then leaned back against it as if he were afraid Tovin might attack him out of spite. “The bath, sir. He said no one was to disturb him.”

  With a laugh, Tovin helped himself to the carafe of wine set out on a nearby credenza. Pouring a goblet, he sniffed at the blood-red liquid, then sipped the tepid wine. It seemed to suck all the moisture from his mouth, it was that dry. “Announce my presence,” he told the page, when it became obvious the boy did not plan to move. “Tell the regent to stop whatever solitary pleasures in which he may be indulging at the moment. I will not wait long for him to come.”

  His double entendre was lost on the boy, who opened his mouth to speak, thought better of it, then hurried from the sitting room. The bath was a large basin set in
the floor off Amery’s bedroom—Tovin drifted to the doorway to listen in as the page approached the regent. He stared into the flickering flames in the hearth and from the other room, Amery’s waspish voice snapped, “Who was it? I hope you sent them away.”

  Tovin didn’t hear the page’s reply, but Amery shouted, “Why didn’t you say so?”

  The knight grinned at the splash of water on stone and could imagine all too well the glorious sight of his lover standing in the bath, water and soap running down the flat plains of his body. He’d snatch a robe, maybe wrap a towel around his long hair, and rush out to see what Tovin wanted. His skin would be clean and fragrant, warm beneath the absorbent robe, still slightly damp…

  But it wasn’t Amery who stepped through the doorway into the sitting room; it was his page. Tovin set his goblet on the mantle above the hearth, face hardening into the mask he wore around the servants. “Well?”

  With a low bow, the page admitted, “I have been dismissed for the rest of the evening. The regent asks that you ensure his chamber door is locked when I leave, and says you can find your own way to the bath. Any business you have with him tonight may be conducted there.”

  Tovin struggled against the foolish grin that wanted to split his face. With a nod, he indicated the same door the page had tried to block earlier. The boy took a step toward it, then turned back to the knight, indecision twisting his young features. In a small voice, he admitted, “I fear leaving the two of you alone. The way you fight…”

  “I am the regent’s knight,” Tovin reminded him. He let slip a hint of a smile, and that seemed to relax the boy. “I assure you, despite our differences, he is safe with me.”

  “Yes, Sir Tovin.” He nodded, then hurried from the room, closing the chamber door behind him.

  Tovin waited, sipping his wine, until he heard an irritated splash from the bath. A few moments later, Amery called out, “Tovin?”

  Moving quietly, Tovin crossed the sitting room and latched the door. Then he downed the rest of his wine; the alcohol warmed him like dragon’s breath, curling down his throat and into his belly where it banked, waiting to burst into flame. As he headed for the doorway between the rooms, he began to strip—first his surcoat, which fell to the floor by the chaise lounge, then his scabbard clattered down beside it. Amery must have heard the noise, for he called out again, “Tovin? Isn’t that damn page gone yet?”

  Without answering, Tovin shucked off his boots, hopping from one foot to the other to remove them. Entering the bedroom, he untied his breeches, pushed them down, stepped out of them, then did the same with the bries he wore against his skin. Naked now, he padded barefoot to the elaborate folding screen that separated the bath from the rest of the room. He heard more water splashing, and Amery muttering beneath his breath. The regent was nothing if not impatient.

  The thought made Tovin smile. Regardless, he loved that man.

  At the last moment, he ducked down behind the screen. Keeping out of view, he snuck along its length, away from the opening where Amery would be expecting him to appear. Instead, Tovin entered the bath from the other side, easing into the slim gap between the screen and the wall.

  The basin had been cut from the floor around it, large enough for a man to recline in comfortably. The sides were sloped, allowing the regent to lean back with his head propped on a small pillow outside the tub. Nothing looked more relaxing. Tovin often thought of the regent’s bath when he was out in the field, scrubbing in streams or standing water in any attempt at cleanliness.

  At the moment, soapy water lapped the edge of the tub, and puddles formed on the tiles where Amery had splashed it out. The pillow had fallen away, and Amery sat with his back to the knight as he ran a washcloth down one arm. All Tovin could see of the regent was the back of his head and shoulders—the rest was hidden by the suds in the tub. Amery’s long hair had been piled into a loose knot onto the top of his head, and the heat from the water curled the few strands of hair that had escaped the bun to rest against his nape. Tovin approached on tiptoe, not quite sure what he’d do to get the regent’s attention but looking forward to the moment his lover turned to see him…

  Suddenly Amery cried out, “Tovin!” Anger laced his words. In a quieter voice, he muttered, “Where the fuck are you? No one else keeps me waiting.”

  Tovin suppressed a laugh, but when the regent stood from the tub, the vision that rose before the knight silenced him. Lust and desire crashed through him like surf as he saw Amery’s freckled skin slicked with water, suds sluiced away over taut flesh. When the regent moved toward the far edge of the bath to exit the tub, Tovin seized the opportunity to slip into the water immediately behind his lover.

  The water was much hotter than it looked—the moment Tovin stepped into it, he felt a deep flush rise up his legs and sweat beaded his brow. With a gasp, he pressed his dry body to Amery’s wet skin; they molded together perfectly, like stitches interlaced in an elaborate tapestry. His arms snaked around the regent’s wet hips, his hands already reaching for the length that hung between Amery’s legs. Hugging his lover close, Tovin nosed aside the stray hairs on Amery’s neck to kiss the pinked, warm skin behind his ear. One hand found the regent’s cock, already erect. “Pleasuring yourself?” Tovin whispered. “Your Highness, why was I not invited?”

  “You were,” Amery countered, leaning back against the knight, “hours ago.”

  Tovin’s reply was a suckling kiss that left a damp imprint of his lips on the regent’s shoulder. One hand smoothed up Amery’s chest, trailing over wet skin, as he massaged his lover’s balls with the other. His own dick pressed between Amery’s buttocks as if eager for entry. “Are you clean yet?” the knight teased. “Because your bed awaits.”

  Amery turned in Tovin’s embrace but only managed a brief kiss before he lost his footing in the tub and slipped. His lips glanced across Tovin’s one moment; the next he sat at Tovin’s feet, a surge of water slapping along the tiled floor. The look on his face was something between mirth and pain, like a child who has fallen and isn’t quite sure whether to laugh or cry. Dropping to his knees in the bathwater, Tovin reached for his lover, concerned. “Are you all right, Amery?”

  The regent took a deep breath, which escaped him in heady laughter. Tovin smacked the water, splashing them both. “You must be more careful,” he admonished. “You are the regent—”

  “I can fall on my ass if I want,” Amery replied.

  Beneath the water, his legs stretched out, one on either side of Tovin’s knees. Leaning forward, the regent wrapped his arms around his lover’s waist; the feel of skin on skin underwater made the most ordinary touch unfamiliar, exciting. Tovin allowed himself to be drawn nearer, and when he leaned Amery back against the side of the tub, he pulled the pin that held the regent’s hair in place. Long auburn locks fell like curtains to frame Amery’s face.

  “Love me,” Amery commanded. His hand found Tovin’s cock under the water, his fingers kneading, tugging, working it erect. “I’ll not be kept waiting. I want you.”

  Grabbing one of Amery’s knees, Tovin propped it on his hip to open a space between his lover’s legs. Then he moved closer, leaning down over his lover, letting Amery guide him where he wanted him. The other leg twined with Tovin’s beneath the water, and their bodies slid together like two pieces of interlocking clockwork. Tovin’s mouth covered Amery’s as the tip of his dick pressed at the small, puckered hole at the regent’s center.

  With one hard thrust and a silencing kiss to counter Amery’s discomfort, he entered him.

  The regent’s hands clawed at Tovin’s back, fisted in his hair. The knight had to hold himself up against the bottom of the tub to keep from crushing Amery into the porcelain, and he moved slowly, feeling his cock fill his lover, feeling the water move around them with their rhythm. The heat from the water made them both blush. Tovin felt the night stretch out around them, full of possibility, full of love.

  But after a few languid thrusts, Amery wanted more. He took c
ontrol of their lovemaking, sliding out from under Tovin while holding the knight close, both with his arms and the muscles of his ass, keeping him in as he repositioned them. Now he was on top, and Tovin found himself laying back against the side of the tub, the regent pierced on his throbbing cock. As he rode Tovin, Amery sat up in the water, gripping the sides of the tub—the ends of his hair were dark red and wet, and water dripped down his chest. “Yes,” he cried, rocking above Tovin. His voice rang from the tiles and off the stone walls. “Yes, harder, yes, yes!”

  Tovin held Amery’s hips as he fucked into him. The regent released the sides of the tub to finger Tovin’s nipples, but the touch excited the knight too much—he slid down into the water to keep Amery from picking at them. It wouldn’t do to come too soon and lose this moment. Amery bucked above him, riding him, then reached out and stretched down over Tovin to grasp the sides of the tub behind the knight’s head. With wild abandon, the regent moved above his knight, straddling him, loving him, faster, harder, deeper as they rushed to release.

  Water splashed from the tub, its steady slap slap slap matching their furious pace. Tovin kissed Amery’s chest, his throat, the thinly muscled arms stretched on either side of his head. His cock moved through the hot water, driving into his lover’s tight ass, bringing them both to the edge of orgasm.

  Just before he climaxed, Tovin slid into the water. It closed over the top of his head, washing away the sweat and grime on his face. The world thundered around him unseen, sounds distorted, touch unreal. Amery’s hands reached for him, found the hard buds of his nipples, and tweaked as the regent pressed him to the bottom of the tub. He sat heavily on Tovin’s cock, his body pinning him down, and Tovin could feel the regent’s shuddering heartbeat pulse against the tip of his dick, so deep inside his lover. The slightest movement sent waves of pleasure roiling through him, through them both. The sensation built up between them, rising to a crescendo, rising in pitch like the steam in a teapot, until it shattered beneath his lover’s distant touch. The rush of jism from his cock matched the roar of water in his ears and the pounding blood in his veins. A double heartbeat pulsed through the water, two men made one by a single love.