“Goldenglow,” he said.
“You know it?” Ravi asked, for the plant was familiar to him.
“I’ve never seen one growing, but I know of it,” Ishwar answered. “We have to hurry.”
Ishwar didn’t hesitate to grab his medicine bag and fill it with various potions. Ravi ran forward and grabbed the scuz leaves and the uphress extract. Ishwar had said once before that those were his two most important herbs. Ishwar didn’t have time to give him more than a small, grateful smile as he took them and stuffed them into his bag with the others. But Ravi knew he didn’t have time for manners.
The three men sprinted through the jungle, as difficult as it was in the darkness. Ishwar took Ravi’s hand so that he wouldn’t trip, but this time not with his gentle touch or warm smile.
They reached the village and raced to Abhi’s house, finding his children gathered around the door, looking to Ishwar with faces as desperate as their father’s. This time, Ishwar didn’t greet them warmly, only gave them a cursory glance as Abhi swept them both into the hut.
There they found the girl lying in her bed with her mother – Abhi’s wife, Ravi assumed – bent over her, her face streaked with tears.
Ishwar gave a gentle touch to her shoulder as he knelt down next to her.
“Can you do something for her?” the desperate woman sobbed.
“I’ve never treated goldenglow poisoning before,” Ishwar said, inspecting the red spots around the girl’s neck, “but I’ll do what I can. Ravi, bring a lamp over here.”
Ravi lit a lamp which Abhi offered him and held it as close to Ishwar as he could manage, to give him as much light as he could. Abhi and his wife collected water and cloth and anything else he asked for without hesitation as he mixed herbs and ran a damp cloth over the girl’s sweating brow. Ravi could do little more than stand in silence holding the lantern.
You are doing what you can. Just do what you can, he told himself over and over again. That’s what Ishwar would have told him if he weren’t preoccupied at that moment.
Time seemed to stand still as Ishwar worked. Ravi’s arms ached from holding the lantern, but he didn’t once let his arms drop. He had to do this for Ishwar. For little Priya. He had the weight of the entire Kingdom on his shoulders, but tonight, the only thing that mattered to him was the life of this one small girl.
“This is it,” Ishwar finally said, shaking the mixture of herbs and water he’d been mixing. “This is the antidote.”
“Will it work?” Ravi asked, hoping he didn’t worry Abhi and his wife too much at his words. He had every faith in Ishwar, but he himself had said that he’d never treated this poison before.
“We’ll see,” was all Ishwar said as Abhi opened Priya’s mouth and Ishwar poured the antidote inside, stroking her throat to encourage her to swallow. “There’s nothing more we can do now,” Ishwar said, stepping back and touching Ravi’s shoulder. “We can only wait.”
Several long, painful moments passed before Priya coughed violently. Ravi tensed, but Ishwar squeezed his shoulder before he stepped forward to catch the blood on a cloth.
Priya’s eyes opened. Her parents let out sighs of relief.
“Ish…war…?” she murmured. “Is somebody sick?”
“It’s alright, my dear,” Ishwar said, wiping her forehead and sitting her up so she could drink some water. “You’ve been eating things you shouldn’t have, weren’t you?”
“Yes. I’m sorry. I thought the berries would taste good,” she muttered before Ishwar stepped back to allow her parents to smother her with grateful embraces and kisses.
“You can put that down now,” Ishwar said to Ravi, who finally put down the lantern, his arms throbbing. “Thank you.”
“I didn’t do much. You’re the one who cured Priya,” Ravi said as he rubbed his aching arms.
“I couldn’t have done it without you,” Ishwar said, stroking his arm, no doubt already concocting a potion to sooth them in his head. “A small help still makes the difference between life and death.”
“Ishwar, I can’t thank you enough,” Abhi said, taking Ishwar’s hands in his, tears falling from his exhausted eyes.
“Don’t trouble yourself. You did the right thing by coming to me so quickly,” Ishwar said, returning the embrace. “She’ll have to rest now. But in a few days, she’ll be back to her old self again.”
He helped the two of them settle the girl before touching Abhi’s shoulder and indicating to the door. Ravi saw and followed, knowing already what Ishwar meant. The goldenglow was still in his hand. He had to talk with Abhi, but couldn’t in front of his sick daughter and emotionally exhausted wife.
“Do you know where Priya found this?” Ishwar asked once they were outside and far enough away.
“I have no idea. It had to be near the village, though. I’ll send out a party first thing tomorrow to find every one of these and dig them up and burn them,” Abhi answered.
“That is most wise,” Ishwar nodded his approval. “But something else troubles me. Goldenglow aren’t rare. But they have never grown in Raegaryn before. This is the first time I’ve ever seen one.”
“I’ve seen it before,” Ravi said. Both men looked to him with surprise.
“Where?” Abhi spoke for both of them.
“When I was on a trip to… a trip abroad. I saw these plants everywhere,” Ravi answered, taking the plant in his hand. “It’s from the Jade Empire.”
All three fell silent for a long moment.
“Perhaps the pollen was blown here by the wind?” Abhi suggested.
“It’s too far. The wind isn’t strong enough for that,” Ishwar shook his head.
“So the only other way it could grow here…?” Abhi said, his voice catching in his throat.
“Is if it had been planted on purpose,” Ravi said the words that none of them wanted to hear.
Abhi ran his hands through his hair.
“I’ll get the word to the neighbouring villages. We’ll have to make it spread as far as we can,” Abhi said.
“I’ll make up more antidote. You saw how I made it, didn’t you, Abhi? Could you tell others how to make it?” Ishwar asked.
“Yes. I will,” Abhi answered.
Ravi could only stare at the plant in his hand. They had reached Priya in time, but how many other careless children had already eaten the plant’s tempting berries and died? How many more would before the war ended? How far had they spread these plants?
Things had just gotten so much worse.
Chapter Six
“If you do that for much longer, you’re going to wear a hole in my floor,” Ishwar said from his work table.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t be as calm as you are,” Ravi said from his pacing up and down the length of the hut. “You said it would take close to a month. How long has it been now?”
“I haven’t been keeping track,” Ishwar sighed.
“Neither have I. But I know it’s been far longer than a month,” Ravi said, looking up at the moon slanting in through the canopy. He’d long since stopped counting the days he’d been living in the hut in sexual bliss with Ishwar. But he had watched the moon wane into nothingness, wax to completion, and begin waning once again.
“I can always tell a person’s destiny,” Ishwar said, finally glancing up at him.
“I’m not doubting the truth of your words,” Ravi stopped pacing to address him. “But the longer I stay here, the more danger the Kingdom is in. The closer the Jade Empire’s army comes…”
The day after Ishwar had cured Priya, the two of them had been out with the rest of the village finding and pulling up the goldenglow plants they’d found and burnt them in a large fire. There had been far more than Ravi had realised. It had been time taken away from Ishwar’s other duties, and their necessary lovemaking, but they’d both done it willingly.
There hadn’t been any other poisoning incidents since then, but it did little to stem Ravi’s fears.
“Your destiny affec
ts us all. That’s why it’s taking so long,” Ishwar said, putting down his work tools to approach Ravi. “But it will be told, you can be assured of that.”
“But what if it’s already too late?” Ravi said, leaning into him. Ishwar’s arm came around his shoulders, rubbing comforting circles across his skin. How was it that just the man’s presence could calm him so?
“It won’t be. Whatever your destiny is, I know you can meet it. I trust you,” Ishwar said, taking Ravi’s chin and raising it to meet his own eyes. Ravi couldn’t help himself. He leant in to kiss him, determined to let the world fade away for just this moment. To forget all of his troubles and the troubles of the Kingdom.
But there was more than just his worry for the Kingdom on his shoulders. He knew he had to be told his destiny as soon as possible so that he could save Raegaryn and prevent more families from losing their loved ones as Abhi had nearly lost Priya.
That only meant more glorious sex with Ishwar. Yet he was reluctant too. He loved having sex with Ishwar. His body had come to crave the man. He needed him as much as he needed food and water and air. Yet every passionate encounter only brought him closer to leaving this peaceful paradise forever. It brought him closer to leaving Ishwar behind and never seeing him again. He’d known that all this time, yet had allowed himself to forget about it and enjoy the sensual bliss.
Ishwar’s kiss deepened, his hand drifting lower to cup his barely covered cheeks. Ravi was growing hard too. He could tell that this was more than just Ishwar’s way of comforting him or speeding along his prediction. He truly wanted this. He wanted Ravi as a man. As his lover and nothing more. Just as he always told him, worrying would only make his problems worse. He could forget about them just for a moment. Just for now, it could still be the two of them.
So, he allowed Ishwar to pick him up, which he did easily in his strong tree-trunk arms, and carry him to the bed, setting him down gently, yet with a lustful look in his eye which told him what was to come.
Ravi pulled him down for deeper kisses, ripping off his loin cloth and allowing Ishwar’s hand to drift down and remove his own. They had been naked together so many times that it had become second nature to them. Yet that still didn’t stop their bodies from bringing out such arousal in them.
He found himself lowered to the mattress and Ishwar’s cock rubbing against his, its impressive length pressing into his hip as Ravi’s glided against Ishwar’s skin. The healer’s head lowered to Ravi’s neck, placing opened mouth kisses there. They’d come to know each other’s bodies so intimately over the past month, and Ishwar knew just where to kiss him to bring him to ecstasy. His head lowered further to Ravi’s nipples, teasing and playing with them as Ravi leant forward to kiss the back of Ishwar’s own neck. Their cocks rubbed all the while, twitching and growing harder with each passing second.
Finally, Ishwar stopped his assault to meet Ravi’s eyes again.
“What do you desire?” he husked.
“Taste me as I taste you,” Ravi replied, his hand still stroking Ishwar’s neck. The other man grinned and kissed him eagerly. He’d come to learn that this was something Ishwar particularly enjoyed, so he was more than willing to grant him his desire. And to his luck, he was exactly the right height to do so without craning his neck. It was almost as if they truly were made for each other.
Ravi motioned for him to lay down on the bed as he took his position over him, his lover’s tantalising cock in front of him, waiting for him. Ishwar took hold of his hips and gently guided him down, positioning his throbbing cock perfectly into his mouth, eliciting pleasured mewls from Ravi’s mouth. He rewarded this attention by taking Ishwar’s cock in his own mouth. It was difficult for he was so big. Yet he’d spent the past month taking his cock little by little, until he could take all of it in at once and bring out pleasured whimpers from his lover. He felt them now, emanating across his own cock and bringing out even more pleasure.
They continued this cycle of increased pleasure, Ravi’s hand taking a firm hold of the base of Ishwar’s cock, stroking his soft balls gently as he brought the cock in and out of his mouth, soaking it in his saliva. Ishwar did the same, moving so fast that Ravi didn’t know how he could do such a thing.
He felt the quivering deep in Ishwar’s body, knowing his climax was close. No doubt Ishwar felt the same thing in him, for he slowly let Ravi’s cock fall from his lips, gasping at the release. Ravi did the same, for admittedly his jaw was aching from the size of Ishwar’s cock.
“You just keep getting better at that,” Ishwar purred, giving Ravi’s cock a final kiss, which sent it twitching.
“I might be biased, but you are too,” Ravi said as he moved off Ishwar and turned to face him again. Both of them laughed as they launched in to kiss again, the taste of each other mingling on their tongues.
“Tell me what you want now. Anything you desire is yours,” Ishwar said, gazing up at Ravi adoringly.
“Anything you do to me will be wonderful,” Ravi said, stroking Ishwar’s hair. “But what I would love most now is to be where you are.”
“If that is what you desire, it is yours,” Ishwar said, sitting up to kiss Ravi again before moving him down to the bed, adjusting the pillows to ensure he was comfortable. Ishwar always took such good care of him.
He watched as Ishwar retrieved the vial of oil, returned to the bed, and slicked up his fingers. He prompted Ravi to raise his leg over his shoulder and slid his finger in, which was already enough to leave Ravi dazed. He wasn’t certain how Ishwar made this oil, but it was so much better than what Ravi used back at the palace. It allowed him to slide in and out easily without any pain. In fact, it left a pleasant tingling sensation. Ishwar slid his finger in and out, prompting Ravi to throw his head back against the pillows. How could just a single finger be enough to intoxicate him so?
Just when it seemed like the pleasure would never end, Ishwar’s finger left him and his cock pressed against his puckered entrance. They looked into each other’s eyes, not even needing to ask if he was ready, for they could read it on each other.
The oily cock slid inside him, both of them inhaling sharply at the sensation. When he’d first taken Ishwar’s cock inside him, he’d feared that his sheer size would break him, and that he wouldn’t be able to build the physical bond they needed. But Ishwar had been gentle with him until he’d grown accustomed to the sensation. His oil had helped too. Now he could take him with barely a hint of pain or discomfort.
Ishwar gripped onto Ravi’s shoulders, moving in and out of him quickly, throwing his own head back, breathless from the pleasure. Ravi watched his cock pumping into him. He would never grow tired of this sight.
They moved together so perfectly, as if they were dancing. Even now, Ravi was stunned. He shivered as Ishwar stroked his skin, smiling down on him. His movements inside him were so rough and fast, yet the slow ministrations of his hands were so gentle and tender.
This past month had been like a dream. Ravi could still barely believe that he had been steeped in such pleasure. That he had come to know a man such as Ishwar. Being surrounded his entire life by rich men, stuffy politicians, and people begging for wealth they hadn’t earned, he hadn’t known that people as kind as Ishwar could exist. Even in a world so cruel, he kept a kindness in his very core. He was kind even to Ravi, who lived a privileged life and didn’t deserve such kindness.
As if sensing his thoughts, Ishwar leaned in to kiss him, sweeping a hand through his sweat-drenched hair.
“Are you alright?” he whispered.
“I’m fine. I just… can’t believe you’re so…” Ravi whimpered as Ishwar’s forehead touched his.
“I know. I can barely believe it either,” Ishwar replied.
Their movements halted for a moment as they kissed, joy swelling in them. Even after an entire month together, Ravi had never felt this way before, teeming with something he couldn’t name. All he knew was that it overwhelmed him, even more than the erotic desire which Ishwar’s body
brought out of him.
His own body tightened around Ishwar, making him gasp. He trembled as Ishwar’s onslaught continued. His legs parted instinctively and his body pulled Ishwar in even deeper, crying out for more.
“Oh… oh Ishwar…” he panted as Ishwar seemed to permeate him completely – his scent, his touch, his eyes on his.
“Ravi,” Ishwar murmured as his muscled arms snaked around the back of Ravi’s head, bringing their faces close together.
“Ishwar…”
“Ravi…”
Their kisses continued, their tongues rolling over each other’s in a way which Ravi loved so.
Ishwar didn’t just know every one of his desires. It also seemed as if he could see directly into his soul, at everything that had been plaguing him for years. And as he looked into his eyes, Ravi could almost see into his soul; at the loneliness he’d been hiding for so long as every one of his lovers left him the moment they’d found what they’d come to him for.
He took a firm hold of Ishwar’s hips, pulling him down even further and so deep that he touched depths inside of him that no man ever had before. This was the closest he’d ever been to a man, to anyone, body or soul.
Perhaps when this was all done, when the war with the Empire was over, Ravi could come back here. They could spend their days brewing potions and playing in the water and making love. They could help the people in the village. There was so much good they could do together.
Then Ishwar wouldn’t have to be lonely anymore. Ravi wouldn’t have to be lonely either. Neither of them would have to be alone ever again.
Because Ishwar didn’t deserve to be alone, even if he claimed to be content. A man as kind and self-sacrificing as him deserved so much more. He deserved everything.
“Oh Ishwar,” Ravi said as Ishwar’s healing hands stroked his face, dissolving him into pleasure. He’d never felt so aroused. He’d never felt so overcome with emotion. He’d never been as close to anyone as he was to Ishwar.
“Ravi,” Ishwar gasped, clearly just as close to completion as Ravi, given the shaking of his voice and body.
The Prince's Destiny Page 4
