by Lyra Evans
“Does my body cause you discomfort?” Cobalt breathed, his words melodic enough to bear faint resemblance to a song. As Niko looked into his eyes, he saw pupils wide as the ocean with a thin crest of silver where his irises were. Cobalt looked him up and down, his lips quirked upward at the edges. “I’d call that the right kind of discomfort, mind.”
Cobalt licked his lips, leaning in closer to Niko, and as Niko breathed him in, he realized Cobalt still smelled undeniably of the ocean. It was a clean, clear, liberating smell, and Niko thought he might be lost in it forever. But Cobalt’s hardening cock brushed lightly against his leg through his jeans, and Niko felt another image intrude in his mind. This one did not leave him gasping. It hardened his resolve. He pushed the image aside. That wasn’t for now.
“Let me go,” he said, his tone as neutral as he could manage.
Cobalt’s lips were wet and parted. He breathed in Niko as Niko breathed him in. “I don’t think that’s what you want,” Cobalt whispered. His grip tightened on Niko’s arms, almost bruising, and a spark flared through Niko’s body. His hands rested down at his sides, and he made no move to remove himself from Cobalt’s grasp. His body reacted the way he knew it would. He fought the desire growing in him.
“I think I made it clear what I want,” Niko said, he looked up at Cobalt through his lashes, refusing to tilt his head up. Cobalt, similarly, looked through half-lidded eyes at Niko. Despite his effort not to, Niko felt his hips angle slightly toward Cobalt, his erection begging for pressure, for touch.
Cobalt hummed softly. “I rather agree,” he said, leaning in to breathe in Niko’s ear. “It’s painfully clear to me, but why don’t you tell me, anyway? Tell me what you want.”
His lips brushed with painful lightness over Niko’s ear. Niko couldn’t breathe, his every muscle straining to keep him still. Then Cobalt flicked out his tongue and pulled the tip of Niko’s pointed ear in between his teeth. He nibbled just hard enough to elicit an uncontrollable gasp from Niko.
He couldn’t let this go on.
“I want you to let me go,” he said. Every word was a struggle, each bitten out carefully. There was no heat in his words, no fear, no concern, nothing. They were as flat as he could make them.
With a sigh, Cobalt pulled back, though he did not yet release Niko. The yearning in Niko’s body felt alive, like an animal barely caged. But he couldn’t let himself go there. He just—
“What does lying serve?” Cobalt asked, and Niko met his gaze. This time, despite himself, he knew he’d given something away. Something in his eyes. Because Cobalt studied him a moment, his expression flashing to concern, and he released Niko’s arms. “When you’re ready. I told you, I’m more than happy to try anything you want.”
Niko flattened his palms against the brick wall, his hands sweaty, letting the rough surface pull him back. He shut his eyes a moment, and when he opened them, Cobalt had pulled back. He retreated into the bathroom to find his clothing. Part of Niko almost regretted letting him go, but Niko shut that part away.
He turned to his bedroom door, but he felt everything drain out of him, his mind in disarray. Behind him, there was a knock at the door. Niko exhaled slowly, scrubbing his hands over his face, and he went to answer.
Niko took the food from the delivery kid, leaving him with a bigger tip than was really necessary, but as he shut the door on the kid’s surprised thanks, Niko figured it evened out. He brought the bag of take-out to the counter. Trying to regain control of the situation, Niko set out the pre-made bowls of rice, meat, vegetables, egg, and chili paste on the counter, placing a pair of chopsticks and an extra container of chili paste at each setting. He pulled out the two jars of spicy pickled cabbage and set those out as well. Finally, he gathered the bottles of soda he’d ordered. He placed two out on the counter, taking the other two and turning to the refrigerator. As he opened the door to place them inside, Niko pressed the cold glass of one of the bottles to his face, the condensation on the glass almost sizzling against his heated skin.
How did he let himself get into this situation? How had things spiralled so far out of control so quickly? Niko wanted to blame Cobalt for it, but that wasn’t fair. The reality was Niko was the one to blame. He’d worked so meticulously to cut himself off from everything after returning from his undercover case, it was hardly surprising he was reacting to Cobalt this way. His traitorous body simply needed its kicks, and Cobalt was devastatingly attractive—and apparently willing—and that was that. If Niko had simply taken the time to go out and get laid a few times, then he wouldn’t be—
But that wasn’t true either. Even as he thought about it, going out to a pleasure club and picking a random willing partner, the same old memories rose up from the depths of his mind. That same face, those hands on him, the pain rising, flaying his nerves, and that taste at the back of his throat. Every time he had considered going out, considered getting a nameless partner to fuck him, he’d experienced the same thing. And he’d end up lying naked and alone in his own bed, a magically enhanced dildo inside of him, and shame and humiliation on his face.
With a groan, Niko put the bottles in the refrigerator and turned back to the food. This was why he couldn’t let anything happen with Cobalt. He wasn’t going to pretend he couldn’t be objective and still fuck his partner. He could. He’d done it before. Niko was excellent at compartmentalizing. Or he had been. But he didn’t just want Cobalt to fuck him. He wanted so much more. And he couldn’t—shouldn’t—it was too much. Something churned in his stomach, and he momentarily lost his appetite. But a calculated breathing pattern brought him back. He was fine. He was at home. His place. He was in control. Not undercover. That was done.
When Cobalt emerged from the bathroom, he was clothed, and Niko had collected himself just enough to stop himself from immediately getting hard again. Cobalt was going to kill him, if this continued.
He was wearing one of the outfits he’d purchased, which Niko had apparently not fully considered before suggesting. He wore a pair of black denim-like trousers, though they had a sheen to them that suggested another fabric. They must have been the pants the shopkeeper said were Fae-made, because Niko had some experience with the style, but the low-slung waist, revealing the deep ‘v’ of Cobalt’s hipbones, still stole the air from Niko’s lungs. Cobalt was clearly not wearing any kind of undergarments, and the slight outline of his cock was visible in the right lighting. Niko forced his eyes upward instead, finding Cobalt’s top half nearly naked. He wore only the black leather shoulder harness Niko had picked out for him, the black band across his chest perfectly obscuring the Soul Stone. He also wore thick black boots, like Niko’s, which finished the whole look. There was nothing else to it, and Niko was still barely contained.
“How do I look?” Cobalt asked, holding out his arms to either side. Niko swallowed back every one of his urges.
“That’ll work,” he managed to say, turning his attention away from Cobalt in an effort to maintain a grip on his sanity. He gestured to the counter. “Food’s here. Hope you like beef.”
Cobalt pulled out one of the stools at the edge of the counter and seated himself upon it. Niko popped the top of Cobalt’s soda, then his own, then walked around the counter and took the seat next to Cobalt. As the Selkie considered the bowl of food in front of him, he held the extra chili paste in hand, apparently unsure what to do.
Niko watched him a moment, then took his own container of paste and used the tip of the chopsticks to pour it out into his bowl. Then he set about mixing it together. Cobalt watched him and started to do the same.
“That’s pretty spicy,” Niko warned, but Cobalt brushed him off. As Niko took a mouthful of rice, beef, and chili paste, savouring the flavour and satisfaction of eating at all, Cobalt did the same next to him. He struggled momentarily with the chopsticks but figured himself out quickly. He took a rather large and overly confident bite. In moments, he was coughing and choking. Niko turned, ready to assist, when he realized Cobalt wa
sn’t choking on the food, he was choking on the spice. He reached wildly for the soda and downed about half of it before Niko could stop him.
Unable to control himself, Niko coughed out a laugh. He got up, poured out a glass of cold water for Cobalt, and handed it to him. He didn’t have any milk on hand, so this was as good as it would get.
“This will help more,” Niko said. Cobalt took the water and downed it instantly. His eyes seemed to be watering slightly as Niko poured him out another glass. “I told you it was spicy.”
Cobalt favoured him with a wide-eyed stare as he downed the second glass. Only then did he seem to manage speaking. “How exactly do you consume this without damaging your internal organs?” he asked somewhat hoarsely. Niko shrugged, finding his way back to his seat. He took another bite of his meal.
“Never said there was no damage,” he admitted. Cobalt glared out of the corner of his eyes at Niko, but the expression was somewhat undercut by the smile on his mouth.
Cobalt began searching through his meal for the portions less coated in the chili paste. “Does everyone in Maeve’s Court eat like they’re trying to compete with Dragons?” he asked, and Niko bit back the smile that threatened his otherwise calm face.
“No,” he admitted, taking another bite. “I guess I’m sort of a masochist.” A moment of silence followed the comment, with Cobalt studying him sideways, his lips upturned. He took smaller bites of his food now, warily interchanging bites with sips of water or soda. Something in his eyes lit up though, and Niko tried to ignore the minute shifts in the atmosphere between them. “Sorry about the spicy food, but you did say anything.”
Cobalt turned to him a moment, saying only, “I did.”
Niko popped some of the vegetables into his mouth, chewing slowly to regain some distance. “So what’s the food like in Azure’s Court, then?”
“Not quite what you might think,” he said, taking a long swig of the soda. “There is a lot of what you call ‘seafood,’ of course. Fish, crab, mollusks… naturally. But there are also numerous plants—fruits and vegetables—I haven’t seen in other Courts. At least so far. I believe these plants only grow underwater, fed largely by the Reef.”
His bowl of rice nearly finished, Niko nodded and took his first sip of soda. It was a mango-flavoured kind of pop very popular in Maeve’s Court. Not his favourite, mind, but it was packed full of vitamins, sugar, and caffeine, which Niko needed for the night ahead.
“So what does a meal look like? How does cooking work? Or don’t you—” Niko started, suddenly awkward. Cobalt, however, was more amused than anything.
“We do cook our food,” he said, easing the awkwardness. “Most of it. Some things are better raw, mind, but mostly we cook. There is no fire, of course, so the Landwalking fondness for ‘crispy’ food is somewhat lost on us. But chefs in Azure’s Court primarily use undersea vents for the cooking. The water that jets from some of these vents tends to be above boiling.” He picked some more at his dish, apparently enjoying the parts not trying to burn his taste buds off. “But given the danger of working so closely with the vents, cooking requires special training.”
Niko took a pull on his bottle, mulling the liquid in his mouth a moment. “Then how do people cook for themselves? Everyone has to get trained on the vents?”
Cobalt shook his head. “No, of course not. We don’t cook for ourselves.” He said it as simply as stating the weather.
“So you are all eating out all the time?” Niko asked. “Doesn’t that get expensive?”
Cobalt considered him. “This was one of the greatest shocks to me, visiting Land. I thought perhaps it was only a quirk of Nimueh’s Court, but I’ve come to find it’s the same throughout the Three Land Courts. You all pay for food. It’s strange.”
Niko wasn’t sure how to answer that. “How is paying for food strange?”
Setting his chopsticks down carefully next to his abandoned bowl, Cobalt shrugged. “We do not. Food is free for every inhabitant of Azure’s Court. We take our meals in large community halls or centres. Food is considered a basic right of survival, like breathing.”
Taken slightly aback, Niko wanted to respond. But he wasn’t sure with what. The urge to defend his Court rose in him, but nothing Cobalt had said was outright offensive. And Niko had had his fair share of experience of poverty and the stark pain of too little food.
“I’ve never heard of anything like that,” Niko finally said. “Even in Connor’s Court. And they share nearly everything among packs.”
Cobalt nodded, finishing his soda. “I did toy with the idea of becoming a chef.”
Falling into a sense of comfort he had not in a while, Niko found himself easily keeping up the conversation. “What happened?”
Smiling, Cobalt said, “I went on my Landwalk and found my talents lay elsewhere.”
“You came on a Landwalk and found you had a particular talent for being a Royal Guard?” Niko asked. “How did that happen?”
Cobalt leaned forward on the counter, somehow closer to Niko than he’d been a moment earlier. Thinking it over a moment, he ran his tongue along the edges of his teeth beneath his lip. “I went to Nimueh’s Court on my Landwalk and found my way into the pleasure district there.” Niko felt his body still. “What they call a pleasure district is more like a single square block of bordellos and brothels, compared to what Maeve’s Court has to offer, mind, but I still managed to experience some interesting new things.” He ran a hand back through his silver hair, the strands still moving in their own unnatural current. “I found I have a knack for bending others.” Pausing, he seemed to consider his words, a secretive smile on his lips, his eyes flashing with mischief. Niko was frozen, caught on what he was saying. “I enjoy punishing people who needed to be punished, I suppose.”
Unsure of how this related to his position as a Royal Guard, Niko found he didn’t really care anymore. His pants were tight again, his cock beginning to throb. Thoughts of just what Cobalt could do, just how he might punish someone, filled Niko’s mind. His hands on Niko’s arms, pressing him to the wall, the way he’d bitten Niko’s ear—the sensations were still vivid. Niko tried to pull back from them.
“I see,” Niko said, his throat tightening. He gathered up the bowls and chopsticks and brought them to the garbage.
“Now you know something of me,” Cobalt said. “Allow me to learn something of you.” Niko considered this, wanting to say no. But it was only fair, he supposed. Cobalt deserved to know whose home he was staying in, after all. He nodded, and Cobalt wasted no time. “What are you sexual proclivities?”
Niko choked. He turned to Cobalt, expecting to find the Selkie mocking him, but Cobalt seemed genuinely, strikingly interested. There was nothing on his face to indicate he knew the question was inappropriate.
Setting his jaw, forcing the thoughts out of his mind, Niko determined to educate him. “That’s pretty fucking personal,” he said. “And it’s none of your business.”
Cobalt seemed unfazed by Niko’s reaction. “It could be.”
Niko shot him a hard look. “If it becomes relevant to the case, I’ll let you know.”
A pleased smile spread across Cobalt’s face, lighting him from within. Then, without apparent logic, Cobalt pressed his lips together and hummed a few bars of some song. The melody was beautiful, ethereal, surreal. A tingling sparked up and down Niko’s spine, as though tiny pixie lights were turned on all over his skeleton, and he was hard again. The urge to touch himself, to palm his cock and let himself go was strong, but the moment Cobalt stopped humming, the feeling dissipated. Niko studied him closely, caught on the edge of alarm. But Cobalt only smiled pleasantly at him.
“I should get ready,” Niko said, feeling less and less like he was in control of anything. “We’ll need to go soon.”
He disappeared into his bedroom within moments, pulling the door shut behind him. Falling backward onto his bed, he pressed a shaking hand to his throbbing erection and worked himself swiftly. It took n
o time at all, his body ready to explode from the sexual frustration of the day. He choked back a moan as he came, his mind a mess of pornographic images. Even as he sat, heaving in his own mess, Niko could feel the yearning in his lower belly. He’d gotten rid of the erection, but only temporarily. His desire was still roaring like a flame. Wiping himself off with his soiled shirt, he tossed it aside and dropped back down on the mattress.
He needed to get a grip on himself. He had a case to work. And whatever Cobalt’s talents, Niko wasn’t about to let himself get punished again.
Chapter 9
The club was a different place at night, once the streets of the pleasure district lit up in red, awash with a rainbow of Fae and tourists coming to get their kicks however they wanted. The roads themselves were cut off to traffic after dark, allowing the drunken and dazed club-goers to wander around freely. There were crowds everywhere with people dressed in all forms of fetish gear and lingerie, or anything at all they could rustle up that made them look vaguely sexy. Having parked close to where they had earlier that day, Niko and Cobalt walked easily through the crowds, blending in seamlessly in their outfits.
Niko’s attire didn’t differ dramatically from Cobalt’s, as he decided it would work best if they exuded the vague suggestion of a couple. He’d chosen a pair of matte black denim pants, torn at the knees to reveal fishnet stockings beneath. They hung low at his hips, as though they barely clung at all and threatened to slip down to reveal his cock at any moment. His torso was completely bare, adorned only with the pale scars he’d accumulated. The main accents of his outfit were the thick leather cuffs at each of his wrists, each sporting a silver ring for easy attachment, and the thick leather collar at his neck with a similar silver ring.
The Werewolves who visited Maeve’s Court tended to meet Fae in collars in confusion. Werewolves used them as part of a centuries-old mating tradition. They bonded with their mate by exchanging them. But Fae—and to a lesser extent, Witches and Wizards—used collars primarily in sexual play. And for a handful of other reasons. If Selkies had any strange notions about collars, Cobalt was silent on the subject. Though Niko thought he noticed Cobalt licking his lips when Niko first came out in full gear.
