Rodin grumbled and went to Kinthor’s desk. He dug in the drawers a few moments. He took the opportunity to kiss Janus as they fucked. His prince was too overcome with arousal to pay attention to their voyeur.
Rodin held Kinthor’s flashlight. “Let me look into his mouth.”
“You can’t wait a few damned minutes?”
Janus face contorted. “I’m going to...”
Kinthor pulled himself off, throwing back the covers. “Fine. Maybe you’ll buy him another minute.” He turned Janus onto his hands and knees and reentered him from behind.
Rodin put a hand on his forehead to steady him against Kinthor’s bombardment. He pushed down his jaw and pointed the beam into his mouth.
“Damn it.” Rodin dropped back into the chair.
Janus arched his back so his chest and face came against the mattress. He quivered with his moans while Kinthor continued thrusting.
“What’s the matter?” Kinthor urged Janus lower to make certain Rodin could see his cock as it entered him.
Rodin focused on the point of their connection while speaking through a scowl. “I saw Janus’ dental records. Two gold fillings on the bottom left.”
Janus strained to lift his face. “That’s what I have!”
“That’s what your brother has too. Haine is supposed to have fillings in every molar.”
“He had…on the island…ugghh! I can’t talk! Just leave!”
Rodin leaned back in the chair and tented his green fingers. “But I’m enjoying the show.”
“I know you are,” Kinthor said.
Janus darted a look at him, then one at Rodin. His face darkened even further.
“Stop watching! You don't belong in his bedroom anymore!”
“How insecure he is,” Rodin said.
Kinthor leaned over him to kiss his shoulder blades. “He’s no competition for you, my pet.”
Janus shot Rodin a smug glare.
He pushed on the armrests to stand. “I’ll wait in the living room. Kindly hurry up.” He stepped out.
Kinthor lifted Janus by the chest so his fist could coil around his cock.
“What a wretch he is. Let’s finish.”
His hand pumped Janus’ stiff organ. He yelped through his climax with his body twitching.
Kinthor held Janus up by his splayed thighs and leaned back so he could rest against him. He throttled upwards while supporting him. His member dove to the hilt, smashing his thick testicles against Janus’ ass. He resumed his yelping while kicking with both legs. Kinthor snarled. The anterior vein of his cock squeezed with contractions. In moments, lines of white ran down his shaft.
Kinthor lowered Janus back onto his stomach and cuddled himself next to him. He nuzzled the round of his shoulder.
“See what an evil taskmaster he is? I don’t even get a minute to snuggle with my beloved slave.”
“Beloved?” Janus turned over to meet his eyes. “Does that mean you love me?”
He kissed his lips. “How could I not?”
13
Rodin clapped when Kinthor entered the living room. “That was lovely. You almost make me want your tree trunk crammed into me again.”
He finished buckling his pants and sat next to him on his couch. “I should break you open for interrupting. Why are you here?”
“I need to speak to the little twerp once he’s done recovering.” He gave him a sidelong glance. “So. You’ve fallen in love with him already.”
Kinthor snuffled. “I’m fond of him. I long for him when we’re separated. If I were to lose him I’d be distraught. That’s love isn’t it? He’s as sensitive as the father was, yet feisty and endearing.”
“He’s deceiving you. Even if he really is Janus, there’s things both of them are withholding. We’re being played.”
“My Janus is allowed. I give him forgiveness in advance. He’ll eventually trust me enough to tell us everything, and will be penitent for any wrongdoing.”
Rodin gave him an incredulous grin. “Sentimental old fool. You never change. You’re the same bag of mush who fell in love with me and then wept when I asked for my freedom.”
“I'm allowed to be sentimental with comfort slaves. And stop being cruel.”
“Just be glad I’m still here to keep your head on straight.” He placed his heals on the short table in front of them. “This truly is an internal matter for them. They aren’t considering a revolt. You can thank Shalen for lulling them into complacency. They regard our conquest as small detail of their lives. If we continue building up their technology so that their offerings are easily given, this world would happily support us for years.”
“Janus referred to it as a trade agreement.”
“This mystery, this murder—it’s irrelevant to us. I’m satisfied the new king, whether he’s Janus or Haine, will be loyal.”
He eyed him. “And you have better things to do.”
“So why do we persist?”
“Besides the fact that you’re invested now, and will demand to see it through?”
Rodin gave a low laugh. “Yes. Besides that.”
“Janus expects to go home to rule his kingdom.”
“So your love is not returned?”
“I'm unsure. But if we've reached that level, his lifetime of royal grooming and duty to his people won’t be easy to surmount. Particularly when he believes there’s a murderer in his court.”
“Feh.” He turned away with a scowl. “You’re turning me into a spoiled brat’s lackey.”
Janus emerged from the hallway in his most concealing black shorts. He stood in place watching them. Kinthor wondered how much he’d overheard.
“Come here, pet. Rodin has some questions for you.”
Janus went to them and climbed onto Kinthor’s lap unbidden. He cradled the sweet boy in his arms. Rodin looked disgusted.
“You and your stupid brother are cut from the same metal. Manipulative to the core.”
“We’re twins.” He enunciated each word with narrow eyes.
“That doesn’t explain why your fillings match.”
“They don’t match. Haine has fillings in every molar, top and bottom.”
Rodin flared his nostrils. “Neither of you have that.”
“The entire left side of his teeth got cracked when he bit into petrified syrup on the island. My mom’s doctor had to fix it for him, and they use white resin there instead of gold. I told him to have most the right side replaced too so we would match. That way he could take my place in my lessons sometimes. My instructors knew our teeth were the only thing different. They made me open my mouth for them before every session.”
Rodin grew curt. “How do I know you’re not the one who bit the petrified syrup? Or that you didn’t simply use this resin you mention to impersonate him?”
“Is this what you based your judgment on?” Kinthor said. “Teeth?”
“That, and a bluff about a lie machine. He didn’t flinch.”
“You don’t have a machine that can tell if someone’s lying. You just make that up to trick people into telling you the truth.”
Rodin gave him an acerbic glare. “How would you know?”
“Because I used the bluff on Shalen,” Kinthor said. “And then admitted later that we had no such machine. I assume he told his sons.”
Janus lifted his nose. “He did.”
Rodin groaned and soothed his temples.
“Rodin. He was lying about the clams. Why don’t you think he’s lying about being Janus also?”
“I don’t know who’s lying now. Both of them are cunning tricksters.” He darted a glare back towards Janus. “The burnt papers in your father’s bedroom. What did they say?”
Janus scowled. “Why should I bother to tell you anything when you call me a liar?”
“Because if you don’t—”
“You’ll do nothing.” Kinthor huddled him closer in his arms. “He’s under my protection.”
Rodin fixed his white glare on Ja
nus. “Your brother isn’t protected. Have you no love left for him? You want to expose him to my wrath?”
Janus fumed through his nostrils. “Father was planning a major edict on the one year anniversary of our conquest. He said everything would change, that we needed to be more like the Xen-Kroth because you were more enlightened than us.” He met Rodin’s glare. “That’s all I know. He was keeping the details secret until the day of the reveal.”
“Ah,” Kinthor said. “Now something is becoming clear.”
“And just what is that?” Rodin said.
“When Shalen was here, he had me give him lengthy tours between our lovemaking. He asked if all our people were as sexually liberated as me, which of course they are. He wanted to know much disease, injury, and death we suffered. I showed him how healthy and prosperous we were. I see now he was checking up on this supposed curse their gods cast on people who break their sexual rules. Their entire religion is based on abstinence and self-denial.”
“That’s not what our religion is based on,” Janus said.
“We were the first aliens to make contact with this world. Their archaic religious structures were built on the idea that they were alone in the universe. Shalen saw that his gods didn’t exist outside the minds of his people, and that the supposed curse they’d suffer if they gave into their desires was a fabrication.”
Janus blinked at him with wide eyes. “Is it true?”
“Of course, idiot,” Rodin said. “Every primitive world makes up stories about gods and demons. The purpose of religion is to explain where a person goes when they die. Worlds like yours twist the fear of death and the unknown into tools that control people, shifting the balance of power to unscrupulous holy men. The only curse that comes from sex is venereal disease and pregnancy.”
Janus stared at him with his mouth open. Kinthor soothed his shoulder.
“Enough, Rodin. We don’t tear apart worlds we conquer anymore, neither physically nor philosophically. Let them believe what they wish.”
Janus’ voice cracked with emotion. "But Arema fell off the balcony after he was caught touching himself. And Jurla almost drowned after she'd gotten pregnant. And--"
"Shut up," Rodin said. “Apparently Shalen had an awakening when he surrendered. Written on the one scrap of paper I could find was, ‘Our conquerors are our liberators.’ He meant liberation from a false belief system that condemned pleasurable acts.”
"It can't all be false, can it?"
Kinthor rocked Janus in his arms. “He did take great pleasure from what we did. His eagerness bewildered me. Now I understand.”
Janus wiped a tear with the side of his hand. “Mother said he wanted communion with her without trying to have a child. She said he’d been polluted.”
Kinthor eyed him. “The queen was at odds with your father?”
Janus nodded. “She left him a week after he returned from your ship. She returned to her home in the islands.”
“But she came back and took the throne when Shalen died,” Rodin said. “A temporary custodian while the murder was investigated.”
“Not temporary,” Janus said after swallowing a lump. “She was crowned as Sensicry’s new ruler.”
Kinthor looked confused. “Then how is it your brother was taking the crown only months later?”
Janus pressed his cheek on Kinthor’s shoulder. “I don’t want to talk anymore. I’m too upset.”
“You see!” Rodin jabbed his finger at Janus. “He’s deceiving you!”
Janus sobbed while clutching him. “Make him leave, master. Please.”
“And he’s manipulating you, also!”
Kinthor soothed Janus’ hair. “Listen, my pet, we’ll get our answers. There’s no point in subterfuge. You know I’ll handle things fairly. You have my ear now. If Rodin discovers the truth by himself, he may start slitting throats before I can stop him.”
Janus looked up with his eyes glassy from tears. “I didn’t think it was mother. She wasn’t there. She was still on her island when father was poisoned.”
“Their communication systems are primitive,” Rodin said. “Wired beeps to make words on the other end of metal coil, and so forth.”
“I don’t know how she could have made it happen from so far away. I didn’t suspect her. Then, the night before I was kidnapped, I figured out the poison was vitro leaf. It’s only found on her home island—the one where she has her manor. It was a poison we had no antidote to. No treatment. A completely foreign substance that was guaranteed to end father’s life, and one she had easy access to. It grew right in a tree in her court garden! She’d sent the leaf to the castle and had someone put it in father’s drink.”
“There you have it,” Kinthor said to Rodin. “Mystery solved.”
“Why did she wait all those months to do it? What was the catalyst?”
Janus shook his head. “I don’t know. Part of me still can’t believe it was her. But when I discovered what the paste was, I lost my mind. I found Haine and we confronted her together. She denied everything, but I wouldn’t listen to her. I said I was taking her off the throne and throwing her in the dungeon.” He pursed his lips. “It was late. I planned to bring my evidence to the royal court the next day.” He peered up at Kinthor. “That was the morning I was kidnapped.”
“Haine went from your ally to your enemy,” Rodin said.
Kinthor grinned. “So now you believe he’s Janus?”
“No. I’m just proceeding with his narrative.”
“Haine argued that mother shouldn’t be locked up. He said we should exile her. But that was nothing. She had to be punished.”
Rodin tipped his head up with elucidation. “Ah. So he stole your throne to protect your mother.”
Janus nodded.
“I told you,” Kinthor said. “Janus was the favorite of the father, and Haine was the favorite of the mother. That’s where their loyalties split.”
“Our greatest loyalty was to each other,” Janus said, his voice still drenched in pain. “It makes no sense to me that he went to such an extreme.”
“Indeed. He not only threw you away,” Rodin said, stabbing and then twisting an imaginary knife. “He concocted an entire network of lies to keep you off the throne.”
Janus’ face clenched with anguish. “That’s not how he is. We’d argued, but he knew I would sleep on it. He wasn’t desperate. Even if I put her in the dungeon he could convince me to let her out.” Tears built in his eyes once more. “It’s not as though I were going to execute her. I could never.”
Rodin stood. His outer robe was draped over an armchair. He threw it on. “I'm leaving. I have some new suspicions.”
“Such as?” Kinthor said.
“Wait for my report.” He headed for the door.
Janus leapt up from Kinthor’s lap. “Don’t kill my mother!”
“As you wish,” Rodin said.
“Or my brother!”
“He’s safe as well.” He exited through the sliding door.
Janus looked at Kinthor, still panicked. “Will he kill anyone?”
“The two you most care about are safe,” Kinthor said. He opened his arms to invite him back onto his lap.
Janus climbed onto him with his face vexed.
14
“Good morning.”
Haine grew fully awake in an instant. Rodin sat on the edge of his bed facing him. Behind him were the six Xen-Kroth guards holding bulbous lasers in front of them, not pointed at him, but at the ready.
Haine sat up. “What is this?”
“You’re so fond of showing up in my chamber. I thought I’d return the favor.”
“Why are your guards here?”
“Because we need to talk. You don’t talk when we’re alone. You manipulate.”
Haine pursed his lips.
“Your father surrendered to my master and saw a prosperous population on our megaship unharmed by your archaic beliefs. He became enlightened and returned home. He planned to end the rig
id rules by which you lived with an edict. Sex for pleasure would be allowed.”
Haine gaped at him. “I didn’t know that’s what the edict was.”
“Shalen attempted to initiate this new viewpoint in his own life, but your mother’s faith was unwavering. She left him. He proceeded to craft the edict that would share his enlightenment with the rest of your world. Three months before he unveiled it a leaf from your mother’s island poisoned him.”
Haine shook his head with his face marred by fear. “It was clams.”
Rodin turned away. “Kill him.”
One guard lifted his gun and pulled a lever on top of it. It charged with a burgeoning whine.
Haine cringed. “No! Please!”
Rodin didn’t look at him. “Those who deceive the Xen-Kroth are executed.”
“It was a leaf! A vitro tree leaf!”
Rodin lifted a hand to signal the guard. He lowered his gun.
He fixed on Haine with a smile. “I like you, and I don’t want to kill you. Don’t make me do it.”
Haine blinked at him. After taking a moment to swallow down his terror he said, “You like me?”
Rodin turned away again. “What’s your name?”
Haine began to cry. “Please don’t kill my mother.”
“You think I’ll kill her for murdering your father, Haine?” Now he glanced at him.
Haine nodded with tears streaking his cheeks.
“I won’t kill her. Now tell me everything. Not a single lie. Understood?”
Haine wiped away a tear. “I didn’t know that’s what father’s edict was—about lifting the curse on communion and excretion. He said he’d gotten a revelation on your ship and was going to share it on the one year anniversary of our conquest. He kept the details secret.”
“What happened in your court just before he was murdered? Had there been any contact between Shalen and the queen?”
Haine shook his head, bewildered. “No. Nothing had happened.”
The guard lifted his gun without Rodin’s bidding.
“I’m telling the truth! Nothing happened! If it had, then Janus and I would have investigated it.”
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