The invasion was relentless and all-consuming. Galahad let Trystan set the pace, but it was hard not to instinctively rock beneath him and hurry things along. The need was building to unbearable levels.
“That’s it.” Trystan’s hand ran over Galahad’s hair, fingers tangling in the blond curls. “Nice and slow. I will take care of you. I promise.”
“Please, Trys. I need all of you.”
“All of me is yours.” Trystan kept talking, like he wanted to soothe Galahad, even as he pushed in deeper and deeper. “It must have been torturous for you to stay quiet about our bond, knight, given how difficult it is for you to play hard-to-get. I would expect you to proclaim you were my destined mate, as soon as you bid me ‘hello.’”
“It took me a while to be certain…” Galahad swallowed, trying to focus through the incredible sensation of Trystan’s thick girth inside of him. “And then I thought… Maybe you wouldn’t feel it back.”
“How could I not feel it? It’s everywhere. Everything.”
“Or at least… resist the idea, then. I thought I’d… let you figure it out for yourself.”
“And I have figured it out, ha’yan.”
Galahad gave a gasp as Trystan sank in as far as he could go, filling him completely. He was so big. So hot. He felt so good. Galahad made a broken sound of need, so close to the edge he could see it shimmering before him.
“Fuck yes.” Trystan muttered in lustful satisfaction, holding himself still as if he was reveling in his complete possession. “Like you were made for me.”
He had been made for him.
Trystan’s beautiful wings came forward, brushing Galahad’s arms. Trystan instinctively wanting to shield him from the world. “I like that you have wings.” Galahad breathed, turning around Trystan’s earlier compliment. “I like when they touch me. I feel safe.”
Teeth grazed the back of his neck in a small show of dominance and Galahad shivered. “You are safe.” It was a vow. “You are in my care. Always.”
“I know. And you’re in my care.”
“I know.” Trystan kissed his shoulder, right where he’d bitten him. “You are tight and warm and welcoming, knight. Just as I knew you would be.” Hands ran over his body, touching him. “I didn’t know of our True Love bond, when we first met. But I knew that I felt a need for you that was beyond anything I’ve ever experienced. I looked at you and I was… lost.”
“I love you.” Galahad whispered, his mind a fog of need and pleasure and sensation. It was the very heart of him and the only thing he could concentrate on long enough to say. “I love you, Trys.”
Trystan’s palm came around to stroke him in time with his thrusts. “I like it when you pledge yourself to me in the words of your people.” His voice was intent now, his body more demanding. “I like it a lot. You will say it often. Understand?”
“Yes.” Galahad bobbed his head. That was seriously not going to be a problem.
“You will tell me again, now.” Trystan did something miraculous with his hand. “Right now, ha’yan.”
“I love you.” Galahad was going to come. He couldn’t stop it. “I love you, Trystan. I love you so much.” He exploded, chanting Trystan’s name and words of soul-deep devotion.
Trystan liked that.
He found his own release with a series of hard thrusts that ended in a roar that shook the room. “Galahad!” He shuddered for an endless moment in triumphant possession. Then, his drained body collapsed against Galahad, like all the strength had left it. “My gods…” His lips brushed the nape of his neck. “You truly are everything.”
Galahad smiled, out of breath and energized. “You still feel ‘attached’ to me?”
Trystan’s fingers moved to caress Galahad’s hair, not wanting to break contact. “The emotion is called ‘love.’” He murmured, as if awed by the whole experience. “I have finally defined it.”
“See? I knew you’d figure it out.”
“It was not difficult. Uther locked me in a prison for three years and I didn’t break, but I would die begging on my knees before I lost you. This fact drastically narrowed the field of possible emotions.” Trystan snorted, sounding more like his normal self. “In fact, my love for you is so obvious that I should not even have to say it aloud. You know how I feel. Everyone knows it.”
“I do know it.” Galahad shifted beneath Trystan, so they were face-to-face. “But, say the words, anyway.”
Trystan’s mouth curved. “I love you, Galahad.” His hand cupped his cheek. “You are my light.”
“Good.” Galahad leaned up to give him a smacking kiss. “I love you, too.” He paused for a beat. “Hey, who do you think invented sex?” He asked randomly. “Like the first person who had the idea? How did the conversation go, when they tried to talk someone else into it?”
Trystan laughed again and the sound was beautiful. He rested his forehead against Galahad’s, letting out a contented sigh. “I think some crazy, artistic virgin got the idea.” He theorized. “And I think it was very easy for him to convince his mate that the plan was the height of creative genius.”
“Oh, it wasn’t that easy to convince you. Trust me.”
Trystan looked smug and tender, at the same time. “I apologize for the hold up. It was a doomed and very stupid choice on my part to try and resist your seduction.”
“No kidding.”
“But, I thought perhaps you had some wingless True Love, waiting for you.” Trystan ran a thumb down the center of Galahad’s face. “I did not wish to give you a reason to reject me for him, if we had sex and you did not feel a connection.”
“The connection between us is because you’re Trystan. I would always feel it. Even if you weren’t my True Love, I would claim you over all other men.”
“This is pleasant to hear.” Trystan arched a brow. “It would also have been pleasant to hear it a week ago.”
“Is this why you kept harping on imaginary guys? Because you thought I might one day want someone else?” Galahad chuckled at the idea of another man even comparing to this one. “Jesus, you never have to worry about that, Trys. I have my hands on a hero and I’m keeping him.”
“Gryphons do not often worry. Only when the moonlit creatures we need to survive threaten to slip away.”
“I need you to survive, too, so I’m not going anywhere.” He smirked. “I built a working satellite for my sophomore science fair project, by the way. It’s still the foundation of Camelot’s telecommunications network. Pretty sure I can figure out a way to track you down, if you ever change your mind and decide to wander off to kill people without me. Just saying.”
“I am pleased with my hero, as well.” Trystan gave him a kiss. “I have no intention of wandering anywhere without you.”
“Good thinking.” Galahad grinned at him. “So, wanna have sex, again?” He asked eagerly. “I can do it even better next time.”
“You will kill me, if you do it any better.” Trystan reluctantly straightened up. “But… yes. I do wish to do that, again. Give me a chance to find a way out of here and then we will go test how long I survive your insatiable appetite.”
“We can swim out, just like we came in.” Galahad dragged his clothes back on and hoisted himself up to sit on the edge of the table. “But we can’t just leave, Trys. Not yet.”
“Why, you wish to honeymoon here?” He scoffed. “No. I fully intend to take you in a bed, next time. This is the care that any proper ha’yan would show their new mate.”
“You have shown me excellent care.” Galahad’s shirt no longer had buttons, so he left it hanging open. “As your new mate, I am very satisfied having sex with you lots of places.”
Trystan grunted and pulled his pants back on. “Good, because you will be having sex with me in lots of places.”
“But we can’t leave, yet.” Galahad went on. “We have to try pushing on all the stones in the wall to see if there’s a secret passage or something.”
“Why in the hell would we do t
hat?”
“Because this room is what the Looking Glass Pool was shielding. Why would it be doing that, if there wasn’t something valuable down here? The gryphons built a whole temple around it.”
“This stone building is not the temple.” Trystan scoffed. “Listeneise is a covering intended to guard the temple.”
Galahad blinked. “What?”
“All of this?” He gestured around to indicate the entirety of the crumbling edifice. “Is not what we are searching for, knight. This is just the shell. The graal would be in our most sacred space. Inside the temple itself. At the core of gryphon culture. That is what we must find. The heart.”
“So… this isn’t really the temple?” Galahad repeated blankly. “Even though you said it was the temple.”
“I do not recall saying such a thing. Why would I say such a thing? It isn’t true.”
“You definitely said Listeneise was the temple, Trys!”
“I said the temple was in Listeneise. Not that the temple was Listeneise.” Trystan rolled his eyes skyward. “You do not listen. That is the issue…” He stopped his lecture on Galahad’s inability to pay attention, his focus suddenly fixed on the ceiling.
“What?” Galahad automatically looked up, too. “You see something?”
“The mural on the wall of the Corbenic Fire Cave… The maze of rooms that Fisher drew.” Trystan kept his gaze on the roof. “The last step in the graal journey was depicted as upward.”
Galahad hopped down off the table and hurried over to join him. “Fisher never got this far. You said he didn’t even try to go through the Looking Glass Pool.”
“Fisher heard my ancestors, when he found this place. He knew what was down here.” Trystan’s head tilted, his gaze scanning every crack in the ceiling. “Hold onto me.”
Galahad wrapped his arms around Trystan, excitement filling him. “You think it’s up there?”
“I think if it is, we will both need to be present to reach it.”
“Two ya’lahs.” Galahad agreed. “A gryphon and a knight needed to come together to complete this mission. That’s destiny, Trys. You see that, right?”
“Either that or we are about to crash our skulls into stone blocks.” Trystan flew them up towards the ceiling.
Flew them through the ceiling.
What looked like stone blocks was really just air disguised with a glamor. It had been put in place to hide a circular room with a domed roof and a low stone alter made of coral.
Galahad’s lips parted in wonder. Trystan was wrong to think that all gryphons hated art. Every surface of the rounded space was covered in a painting of sky. White clouds and a brilliant blue expanse, and small, flying figures soaring free.
The ancient power of the place made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.
Trystan landed them on a small ledge, a mesmerized expression on his face. “This is the first gryphon temple.” He whispered. “We found it.”
Galahad nodded, feeling the energy all around him. It felt like thousands of years of prayers had soaked into the walls. This whole mission was like nesting dolls. Find Atlantis, to find Listeneise, to find the Looking Glass Pool, to find the temple, to find the graal. He hadn’t understood that when he began, but now it was so clear. Like with any worthwhile venture, you had to keep digging until you saw… everything. You had to look past your preconceptions and prejudices, if you wanted to see the treasure that was hidden deep inside. At the very heart.
“Do you hear the voices, knight? Do you hear them, too?”
“I hear them.”
The voices were singing. Hundreds of them, all overlapping each other.
“My mother used to sing me this song.” Trystan swallowed hard. “When I heard you whistling it at the hotel in Ted-ville, I knew it was a sign. I knew you must be able to hear my ancestors.” He gave his head a dazed shake. “I felt the shadow of fate, as I always do when I look at you, and I knew you were given into my care for a great purpose.”
“I think the same thing about you, Trys. That you’re a gift. The very heart of me.”
Trystan kissed his forehead. “I claim you again, here in the oldest site of my people. Now and for all time, Galahad Airbourne. Never leave me. I would be lost.” He gave a wry paused. “…And I would track you down, too.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. Unlike you, though, I would not need a satellite to accomplish my search. I can easily locate you, wherever you are. I just follow my path.”
“I like being found by you.” Galahad teased in a quiet tone. The holiness of the room made you want to speak in a respectfully lowered voice, even when you were flirting with your fiancé. “Hey, what’s that thing over there? It looks like a soap bubble.”
Trystan’s head snapped around. “A bubble?”
“Yeah.” Galahad gestured to the coral alter and the iridescent orb sitting on its rough top. It was about the size of a bowling ball and appeared to be made of very old glass, a rainbow of colors dancing across its surface, even in the dim light. “See?”
Trystan gave a low chuckle, his gaze falling on the shiny orb. “That is the big glass bubble that Avalon’s been nagging me to find.”
“Avi told you to find that ball?” Galahad’s eyebrows climbed.
“Yes. She asked me to bring it back to her.” Trystan explained quietly. “She told me to bring you back, too. To be nice to you. That I would love you.” He lifted a shoulder. “The child is always right.”
Galahad beamed at him. “So, all those times you complained at me, and tied me to stuff, and threatened to feed me to tigers you were being nice?”
“Of course. Even when I did not have the word for the true feeling, I wished for you to become as attached to me as I was to you. I have therefore been on my best behavior, since we met. How is that not obvious?”
“Fine.” Galahad shook his head in amused exasperation, borrowing Trystan’s favorite word. “Well, if Avi sent you after me and that bubble, you know what it means, don’t you?”
“It means she knew you were my True Love. My heart, and my future, and my dream. So I probably shouldn’t strangle you, no matter how irritating you became.”
“And?” Galahad prompted, his eyes shining.
A victorious smirk played around the corners of Trystan’s mouth, his gaze flicking back to the magical orb. “And it means we just found the graal.”
Epilogue
So, this is my final broadcast.
It turns out that this podcast only has twenty-six subscribers.
I guess no one else cares about the gryphon menace, these days.
I guess everyone just wants to move on from the Looking Glass Campaigns and live in peace, now.
What a crazy goddamn idea...
“Stopping the Savages” Podcast
Sir Dragonet of Camelot- Former Troubadour of King Uther and Host of the Program
Camelot
Three Months Later
“There’s no way we’re filming this.” Galahad took a red pen and crossed out the whole page. “You kill seven pig-guys in the first paragraph! Parents’ groups will be writing us hate mail for months.”
“Those pigs in Wilbur’s village were all terrible people. Their deaths will teach an important lesson to children, about not being assholes.” Trystan frowned down at his own copy of the script. “Certainly, more valuable than this shit you’ve added to the scene where Medusa’s tomb collapses. You describe every single rock in those cairns for pages on end.”
Galahad’s head snapped up. “Oh no, we need that part. Rocks are super interesting.” He’d studied them extensively, when he’d created a machine to stop earthquakes. “One of the reasons I’ve always wanted to go to the moon, is to collect some cool space rocks.”
Trystan fixed him with an exasperated look. “We’re not going to the moon, Galahad.”
“Well, no. Of course not!” He paused. “…Not right now.”
Trystan sighed loudly and ate some more caramel-and-w
hey Pop-Chocolate.
The chocolate and popcorn snack was just as delicious as Galahad had imagined it would be. At least, in its original formula. Its success had led to new flavors being developed, including the disgusting caramel-and-whey version that Trystan couldn’t get enough of. As much as he loved the man, Galahad was baffled by his lack of good judgement sometimes.
“I like rocks.” Avi piped up from the third seat at the table. She couldn’t actually read the script for the pilot episode of Galahad and Trystan’s new TV show, because she was too young to read. Instead, she was drawing pictures of rocking-horseflies all over her copy. “They’s pretty.”
The three of them were sitting in the courtyard of Camelot’s Palace, shaded by a large umbrella and drinking lemonade. Everyone agreed that the small picnic area was much more useful than Bedivere’s hideous statue had been.
Galahad looked at Trystan. “See? Avi likes rocks.”
“I like pig fighting, too.” Avalon continued cheerily. “They both is fun.”
Galahad frowned.
Trystan arched a brow at her. “This is why you are here, Avi. To force the knight to compromise with my superior taste. That is what it means to have a true partnership, yes?”
Galahad wouldn’t have phrased it quite that way, but he supposed Trystan had a point. That was the moral of the new show they were creating, after all. Kind of. The idea was to adapt bits and pieces of their actual lives into a children’s program, featuring a knight and a gryphon learning to be allies. All the proceeds would go to rebuilding Lyonesse.
Galahad’s goal was to show that the War really was over forever. To model to children that it was okay to be friends with people, who were once your enemies. To show that each culture was special and deserving of respect. To teach love, and compassion, and forgiveness, and maybe a little something about interesting rocks.
Trystan’s goal was to drill kids on battle tactics.
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