by R. Cooper
Taji instantly looked down at his new, simple, unbelted soria. The fabric was a warm, not metallic, gold with occasional threads of black. He wore a long, thin, black robe over that. He tugged the soria closed again. “What? I’m decent.” He had pants on this time.
Lin huffed. “If I did not know that outfit was for your isica, I would ask if you were trying to draw the attention of someone else.”
Taji glanced down to note that with the soria unbelted, his chest was visible. This was why he couldn’t ask Lin shehzha questions and was going to have to track down Mos, wherever she was.
“This outfit is for me.” He drew himself up with dignity that immediately vanished when Lin dismissed that answer with one backward ear flick. “I’m going upstairs.” Taji informed her with a sigh. “Not because…” He was arguing with her ears and made himself stop. “Because I have work to do.”
“I will send him up when he returns!” Lin called smugly after him.
“You won’t have to. He’ll be up anyway!” Taji shouted back before getting into the lift. Once alone, he realized he was smiling again.
The outfit was for him, or for the work Taji would eventually return to. And Taji had been meeting with an emperor. And…the fabric was soft to the touch. Taji was in pretty clothes and shimmer in the middle of the day and he was not required to do any work.
It was revolutionary.
He finished the drink so everyone would leave him alone about it, and removed the robe so he could hang up the soria and keep it neat. The robe was also soft, so he put that back on before clambering onto the bed. His pants were cheaper, with rougher fabric, so he removed them.
This was indecent. If he had looked like this downstairs, he would have understood why he’d been shushed and sent up here.
He wondered what Trenne would think of this look. Trenne had bought the red shimmer at Taji’s request but he hadn’t seen Taji wear it yet. Maybe the shimmer was why Rodian wouldn’t even look at him.
Taji flopped onto his back, then wriggled to get more comfortable. The robe gaped open, but he let it. He wasn’t cold, although he shivered when he passed a hand over his thigh. The longing was so much more bearable when he wasn’t exhausted or terrified and when he knew Trenne would return. It was almost exciting to ache like this, to feel it build and slowly burn him up from the inside out while he kept watch on the door. He would have been embarrassed to be caught doing it by the others, but one of these days, someday very soon, not even Taji’s curiosity was going to be enough to drag him downstairs, and Trenne was barely going to be able to leave him, and then Taji wouldn’t have to watch the door anymore.
His eyes stung with tears but he wiped them away without examining them. It happened, and it wasn’t always from stress. He suspected his brain was afire with input and needs and emotions and tears, and the feelings just…leaked out from time to time. The lack of calories probably didn’t help.
That should have been frightening, too. But Taji had been arrested and faced down an abuser and been there when he’d died, he had faint bruises on his neck from being silenced, and that was far more terrifying than the knowledge that Trenne would gently brush the tears from his lashes if he saw them.
Taji shifted on the bed again, propping his head up on his hand to better stare at the door, and when he heard the sound of the lift, it was easy to roll onto his back to wait.
“Taji?” Trenne announced himself while still out of sight, then appeared a few moments later. He stopped in the doorway as though Taji had struck him.
He was tall and beautiful in clean fatigues and a black shirt that Trenne probably thought was plain. He stared at Taji, eyes slightly wide, ears utterly still, and Taji couldn’t really do anything else but spread his legs and sigh in complaint.
“I was not gone for more than two hours.” Trenne came closer. He pulled his knife from his belt and dropped it somewhere on the bed. “The longing is growing deeper.” His voice was low and satisfied despite all his worrying.
“The house better be ready soon.” Taji did not recognize this version of himself that made pouty demands, though he suspected Lin or Nadir would have. He smiled at Trenne anyway, pleased when Trenne stripped off his shirt before climbing over him. Taji pulled him down for a welcome kiss on his lips and then another, harder welcome kiss on Trenne’s throat. Trenne made a rough noise that echoed through Taji’s chest.
Lin said Trenne wore the marks of Taji’s kisses with more pride than he wore his service patches. Taji was electrified at the idea, wanted to claw into Trenne and stay with him forever and all kinds of strange, needy thoughts that he didn’t know what to do with. He settled for sucking another bruise onto Trenne’s skin and judging how much Trenne liked it from the way Trenne’s hands curled around him.
“What about your visit with Talfa Emperor?” Trenne asked, textured palms heavy over Taji’s ribs and against his hip.
“Don’t care,” Taji sang out breathlessly, shoving at Trenne’s pants. The longing became so intense the moment his body realized Trenne was actually with him. “Keep touching me.”
“Yes, shehzha,” Trenne said into Taji’s hair, his breath tickling over Taji’s skin, which was starting to stick with sweat. He pushed Taji up, bending his knees to fit better between them, and rocked his hips without being told. Taji wrapped a hand around their cocks. He couldn’t close his fingers but it didn’t matter. He was already hard, probably had been from the second he’d heard the lift. He was conditioned, and snorted a small laugh into the side of Trenne’s neck.
Trenne peered down at him, which only made Taji laugh again before the slide of their cocks and the realization that Taji was leaving red shimmer all over Trenne’s skin distracted him.
“Oh.” Taji couldn’t help himself. “Trenne, please. Please.”
Trenne brought one hand up to offer his fingers to Taji’s eager mouth. Taji accepted two, knowing they wouldn’t bring relief, but needing to feel Trenne on his tongue. Trenne was staring; Taji liked that, too. Trenne had stared just like that earlier that morning, when Taji had woken him up by kissing his thigh and begging to taste him.
Taji felt a bit guilty about that now—Trenne needed rest, now more than ever. But Trenne had said yes and laid there, breathing hard, with one hand at the back of Taji’s neck while Taji ate him out and then sucked him off.
Trenne had jacked Taji off afterward, though Taji had been high enough by then that he had already been floating. All Taji had noticed was how gorgeous Trenne was, and how he looked at Taji like he felt the same way.
“I’m pretty?” Taji murmured into Trenne’s palm when he finally pulled off his fingers.
“Yes.” Trenne didn’t resist or even seem to want to.
“You want me?” Taji asked anyway. Trenne was marked with streaks of glittery red.
“Yes, shehzha.” Trenne closed his eyes for the first second Taji’s fingers tangled in his hair.
“I’m not ready for you.” Silly of Taji to have forgotten that, but he was so very distractible these days.
“It is my pleasure.” Trenne could reach up easily to drag one of the countless pots of lube down to the bed. Of the two varieties of lube at their disposal, Taji preferred the Shavian kind, which they had been using for taste and less mess, but they did tend to use more of it. Trenne didn’t bother to get up for a towel; the laundry was a problem for later.
“Did you eat, shehzha?’ Trenne paused to ask, and Taji stopped stroking their cocks long enough to frown at him. “Your wrinkled nose does not tell me,” Trenne added and placed a tiny kiss to the end of Taji’s nose. Taji didn’t know where Trenne had learned that move but decided he didn’t care when Trenne began to finger him open. “Would you like me here?” Trenne teased Taji’s rim with hot, slippery fingers, but didn’t quite press one inside. “Or would you like your toy cock in you and your mouth on me?”
Taji’s whine was high in his throat. “Not fair, asking that. I want all those things.”
“Greedy.” Trenne shou
ld always sound that pleased.
Taji pushed down toward Trenne’s fingers. “Yes.”
“Everything,” Trenne promised immediately. “I will give you everything.”
Taji curled his fingers to feel Trenne’s hair fall between them. “Lin thought I was looking to seduce you, dressed like this.”
Trenne’s ears came up. “You went out in only this?” he asked, and his voice, the strain and hunger in it, only Taji got to experience that. Bask in it, like a bird in the sun.
Taji pulled him back for a fierce kiss. “I had more clothes on,” he admitted after, though the way Trenne tightened his hands on him made him want to try walking around half-naked to see what Trenne would do.
“Were you?” Trenne’s eyes were impossibly beautiful up close. “Did you want to seduce me?”
“Would it work?” Taji couldn’t keep the faint hint of disbelief from his tone, although he knew Trenne wanted him. It was still hard to believe sometimes; Trenne was so unreal.
Trenne leaned in to speak against Taji’s mouth, soft against whatever shimmer was left on his lower lip. “My shehzha will take all I have and I will give it.”
Taji squirmed with embarrassment and something stronger than delight. He closed his eyes. “I love you, too.”
“You have said so many times.” Trenne’s regard was going to be the death of him.
Taji reopened his eyes anyway. “Is that a hint to say it more?” Taji lifted his hips in silent reminder that he was waiting, but didn’t take his gaze from Trenne’s face. “Or am I saying it too much?” His voice hardly trembled.
“I do not believe you can.” Trenne pulled Taji’s robe from beneath his body, left it spread out next to him, with Taji’s arms still in the sleeves. “I like to hear it.”
Getting Trenne to admit he liked something was a blissful victory. Taji beamed at him. “I love you, too,” he repeated. “I never thought to have anyone, but there you are. Even if you aren’t inside of me yet. And why, why aren’t you inside me right now?”
“Demanding.” Trenne was pleased again.
“You sure you want to sign proverbial paperwork for me?” Taji gasped the question in slow increments that matched the careful push of Trenne’s finger.
“I will wait until you are shehzha no more and ask you that.” Trenne was watching his finger disappear into Taji with the fixed sort of attention he normally gave to strategy games.
Taji dropped his head and curled his toes and let it happen. He stretched one arm up above his head. “The answer will be the same.” Trenne exhaled, uneven and pained. Taji smiled. “In the meantime, you are going to fill me up.”
Trenne bent over him to kiss Taji’s stomach, then his cock.
Taji hummed and stroked Trenne’s hair. “You’ll have to meet my dad, anyway. Then Talfa is going to send us to some ruins. You are going to have my name and share my history, such as it is.”
“It is a great history.” Trenne kissed his way to Taji’s thigh, leaving Taji panting. “Taji, who defied two empires.”
It took a second for that to sink in. “What?”
“IPTC would not have minded me as emperor.” Trenne kissed Taji’s other thigh, then moved up to lightly suck the tip of Taji’s cock into his mouth. It was not what Taji had wanted, though he wanted it now, and moaned a little when he tried to speak.
“They’d love you as emperor.” Taji petted Trenne’s ear, hoped the touch was teasing and not torturous. “And I’m not sorry you’re not. You’d hate it.”
“Oreh,” Trenne breathed against Taji’s wet cock.
“Daydream.” Taji was ridiculous.
Trenne probably had no idea what he meant, but he barely paused before he responded, “Taji,” soft and intense.
“Please,” Taji answered, and tried to get Trenne’s finger in deeper.
“Whatever you need,” Trenne told him, the way he always did, and Taji couldn’t go another second without him. He wanted it all, and that must have leaked out too, in his wet eyes and his harsh breathing and the grasp of his fingers at Trenne’s back.
Trenne pulled out gently over Taji’s protesting whimpers, then slicked up the toy instead. It was shaped like a human cock, thicker at the head, but he bent over Taji to let Taji kiss him while Taji’s body accepted it. “Taji,” he whispered when Taji was full at last and humming with it.
“Want to give,” Taji whined at him, knowing he was really taking. But it didn’t feel that way with Trenne moving up to kneel next to him, to have Trenne’s hand guiding him when Taji opened his mouth for his cock. Every shift pressed the toy in deeper, and Trenne’s taste was on his tongue, making Taji moan gratefully.
He didn’t feel anything but good, warm and content, even though he ached. His face was hot and damp, tears and spit and red shimmer leaving Taji a mess. Lube dripped down his leg. He didn’t care about that, either.
He sucked Trenne’s cock noisily, drawing out what he needed, curling his hands into Trenne’s thighs. And when he was buzzing and the droplets were richer and stickier, he pulled off and said, “Please,” and Trenne lifted him up to settle him into his lap.
Discomfort was for later. Taji buried his stinging face in Trenne’s shoulder and sobbed when Trenne removed the toy and left him gaping. Trenne’s tone was gentle, awed, little whispers above Taji’s ear as he made sure Taji was wet enough, pushing in more lube despite Taji’s impatience, and only then putting his hands on Taji’s hips to help Taji take his cock.
It was still tight. Would always be tight. Taji mouthed Trenne’s skin and breathed hard and barely had to move before he was coming. He heard the sound he made but it only registered in his hoarse throat. His thoughts were blank, static, his body twitching.
His hands were weak. He couldn’t stop moaning, hitching gasps breaks in the sound whenever Trenne thrust in again, and then a long, hungry shuddering groan when Trenne stopped and Taji had what he wanted.
He was not aware of much for a while after that. He complained again, wordlessly, when Trenne eased out of him and laid him down. He shivered to be wiped clean, then he closed his eyes and turned toward Trenne’s body and tried to catch his breath.
His hands kept moving, and when he opened his eyes, he saw he was thumbing the smears of red shimmer on Trenne’s shoulder.
Taji was on his stomach, draped over Trenne, who was on his back and must have wanted Taji this way. Taji thought about lifting his head, but it was too much work. He was probably sore, but that didn’t matter if he couldn’t feel it.
“New leg,” he muttered when he unstuck his tongue from the roof of his mouth. “When we go. Visit dad. New leg. Do this easier.”
“Yes, Taji,” Trenne agreed. He was slightly out of breath, too. That was reassuring.
Taji was naked. Trenne must have removed the robe. Taji wrinkled his nose, but no longer being trapped by the robe’s sleeves did help him stretch for Trenne’s hand, which he pulled down to his ass. Trenne took the hint. Taji shivered to have two of Trenne’s fingers back inside him.
“Taji, the demanding,” Trenne remarked. Taji was high, but he thought Trenne was smug. He smacked a kiss onto Trenne’s chest. Trenne added, “Taji, the soft,” and Taji nuzzled him.
“Love you,” he managed, too content to wonder at how this was possibly his life. Taji was supposed to be alone, somewhere far away, doing research. “Happy to be Taji shehzha. To be…what’s the ‘Asha word for…” Saying spouse out loud, or anything associated with marriage, was enough to penetrate the fog in his mind. He blinked. He didn’t want to know the ‘Asha word for it. He wanted to know the hurat word for it.
“The ruins will make a good honeymoon,” he murmured at last, thinking of it, and Trenne settled a hand at the back of neck, agreeing or tired or politely suggesting Taji rest. Taji closed his eyes, and smiled, and didn’t move for a long, long time.
The End
More works by R. Cooper:
How to (Not) Train a Firecat
My Man Godric
<
br /> Let There Be Light
A Little Familiar
The Being(s) in Love series
R. Cooper lives among the redwoods of Northern California. She spends her time working, writing, and spoiling two greedy black cats. You can follow her on Twitter or Facebook, or subscribe to her newsletter.
www.riscooper.com
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
