“No! No dolls for Zan! He is but a servant now. Why should he receive niceties from any of us?” Micah shouted childishly. His hands were clenched into fists, enraged that he would leech comfort from his lover so masochistically and still have a bit of Shemmy to hold onto. Little did Micah know my brother didn’t even notice he had the doll—he was just used to having it in his pocket.
Shemmy shook her head; she dearly loved her boy, but his spoiled side made her weary. “I will take it back, not to worry, Micah. We should get back to camp anyhow, and I can see if mebbe you do react to the doll. Mebbe yer stitch thought I had it.”
“My stitch? Yes, that’s a good way to put it. I do not want to be blamed for hurting my dear Shemmy, nor do I want to think of a ‘Bad Micah.’” He looked at her longingly, wishing to apologize, to hug her, but he was too afraid.
Billiam picked up on this desire, so he wrapped his arms around the prince from behind. With Micah’s arms held to his sides, he felt safe to carry him to Shemmy to give her a kiss on the cheek.
Micah was delighted to be able to do so and giggled as he spoke to them both, “Oh thank you, Billiam! And thank you, Shemmy, for taking care of me even more!”
“O’course, cupcake. Let’s go play dollies den, shall we?”
Billiam followed her, enjoying carrying the powerless prince a bit longer. He was squirming and pretending to struggle, adding to his man’s delight. His demeanor turned more flirtatious as Zan was in view, thrusting backward and biting his lip. My brother’s jealousy was already to a violent level; I do not understand Micah’s desire to consistently increase it, yet he did.
“Awlright, Billiam, keep hold of yer captive while we try dis.”
“Gladly, my lady,” Billiam replied, easily tossing the prince up to cradle him in his arms instead. Micah made sure to loudly kiss his new surroundings as they descended around my brother.
“To what do I owe all this attention?” Zan asked, feeling quite curious. He had untied himself but kept his hands behind his back. Seeing Micah frown, he explained himself genuinely, “It was itchy, and it was inhibiting the clotting of my hands. I have no intention of leaving or harming you. You know I am not lying.”
“Fine, give Shemmy her doll back,” Micah commanded, disappointed that he was unable to punish Zan for anything.
“You wan’ me ta grab it, hence yer hands an’ all?” Shemmy asked.
“No, I’m fine.” He grimaced as he pulled the doll out of his pocket, at first from the pain and after when he realized he had lied. He got himself off the ground and handed Shemmy the doll before presenting his right hand to Micah. He decided he’d rather lose a third finger than a second.
“This is your one free pass, Zan. You lied to spare strife for the lady, so I don’t really want your finger. This will not happen again, understood?” Micah shocked them all by shoving Zan’s hand back into him. He smiled, quite impressed with his slave’s obedience.
“Since we ain’t dismemberin’ each other, be we ready to try dis out?”
Billiam nodded to her, so she readied the doll in her hand. My brother looked on in awe, as he had no idea what this was about and knew nothing of either time Micah’s eyes turned black.
“Okay, hold him tight, he gets rill strong and rill fast.”
She was thinking hard about how to do this. Should she just touch the skin on his arm with it or throw it on his face? She decided to place it in his hand instead. Billiam obliged, letting the prince move his wrist slightly. Shemmy set the doll in his smooth palm, jumping at least three yards back as soon as she let go.
The three of them sat breathless for what felt like an eternity, while Zan began to laugh quietly. It was really strange to see them so terrified of the prince holding a doll. He thought it suited Micah perfectly.
“Nothing is happening, right?” Micah asked, looking up at Billiam who just shook his head.
“Really? Huh. I thought we was getting somewhere, but I guess my Chammerline would’nae have nuffin to do wif the first time.” She skipped back to them and grabbed the doll. To be sure, she started touching it all over the prince’s body. It was extremely old and dirty, and dampened by my brother’s sweat. It was gross enough to make even Micah uncomfortable, who was hardly as fastidious as his betrothed.
“I think it’s no use, Shemmy,” Billiam informed her sternly, blocking the doll from touching his lips.
She obeyed and went to throw the doll back to Zan, before a glare from Micah stopped her dead in her tracks. “Right, she’ll go in a saddlebag, den.”
“Um…. Your Highness, do you mind me asking what is going on? I understand if you do not want to indulge me, but this an extremely curious scene I just witnessed,” my brother asked, on his way to sit back at his tree.
“Let us go back to the fire to discuss it. It is getting quite dark. You will, of course, still return here to sleep.” Micah tugged on Billiam’s arm, alerting him he was ready to be set down.
He obliged him and was happily surprised as the prince wrapped his arm around his waist, pushing him ahead. Micah really did want to take care of him, to protect him from Zan.
“Thank you, Your Highness,” my brother replied, quite earnestly.
“Spare me your sniveling!” Micah shouted whilst playfully pushing Billiam into the earth as they reached the fire. He curled in his lap while grabbing some bread and ale from their food basket that sat behind them. His hunger had not returned, but he wanted to make sure Billiam ate. The ale would be for them both, as he was feeling quite vexed. “Shemmy, you witnessed the most of it, followed by Billiam. I think you would explain it best.”
“Awlright, Micah. I can do that.” She was helping herself to some of the jerky and swallowed it down with the prince’s ale before continuing. “Well in Param, they was doing naughty stuff, and Micah bit Billiam rill bad.”
“Oh, is that when I flew down the stairs? I fell back asleep and forgot to even ask what happened. You bit him?”
“Yes, I was fucking him and got carried away it seems.” Micah gloated as he stared Zan down.
“I think I’d liken that to sitting on a thumbtack,” Zan muttered. He was pale white from the injuries, so the prince was unable to tell how much he had gotten to him. He definitely had, as my brother foolishly thought he would be the only one to do that to Billiam, after damaging him so. He wanted to reach out and snap Micah’s neck and throw his head into the woods, as he had done earlier to his finger. Instead, he sat motionless, waiting to hear the rest.
“He’s not dainty everywhere, a happy surprise even for me. I’d say he’s my perfect fit,” Billiam defended, beaming with pride and effectively plastering a huge albeit bashful grin on the prince’s face.
“Yes, yes, boys. Micah is a man too; we get it. Can I move on, or do ya all gotta whip ’um out and compare notes?” she asked, wanting to sound angry, but knowing Shemmy that wouldn’t bother her at all.
Since she heard no objection, she got further along with her account. “Right, well technically, he ate a chunk of his shoulder. Billiam said his eyes turned all black, but when his teef was off, he turned to regular, sweet Micah again and could’nae remember none of it. The black eye fing happened again juss now. It was juss me and the prince. I was checkin’ on the enchantment. He reached for my waist ta hug me, and then, boom, ’twas Evil Micah. His voice changed, and he clawed at me, sayin’ he had to get sumfin’ outta me. Billiam’s runnin’ over afta I buried him seemed to snap him out of it.”
“Now it’s been upgraded from Bad Micah to Evil Micah? I thought we were calling it the stitch!” Micah objected.
“Well, he does’nae know ’bout the defective stitch. Neva told him.”
“It doesn’t matter,” my brother said calmly. “I know what is inside you, not that I have any idea what the Bad Micah’s stitch would want with it.”
“What? How would you know? And how do you know you know? Is this your fault?” Micah wailed. He had finished all his ale and fell into Billiam, gett
ing a bit caught up.
“I can feel the blood-bond.”
It sounded like something simple, yet it made no sense to either Shemmy or Micah. Billiam clenched Micah extremely tight after he heard Zan’s reason. His hand closed hard around the prince’s frail wrist, forcing him to yelp. “Billiam, stop! You are hurting me! Are you okay?”
He let go of his wrist and kissed the top of his head before releasing him completely. I guess the kiss was an apology, but his face was full of rage and fear. He knew exactly what a blood-bond was. As a halflock, those were the only ones he felt. He got up abruptly and asked, “So, you have sown your seed then, Zan?” He had his back turned to them all, making Micah extremely concerned. He couldn’t bear hearing Billiam sound so cold.
“Well that’s a way to put it, I suppose. Shemmy carries my child.”
“What? Billiam, I have no idea what he is talkin’ ’bout!” She shuffled backward on her butt, feeling that somehow increasing her distance would also increase her innocence.
“The only time it could’ve happened was when you watched us, no?” Micah asked suddenly, sounding oddly excited.
“Watch? I dinnae watch nuffin!”
“Right, of course you would know if something happened between them. You felt no need to tell me our friend was sleeping with that monster? And watching us?” Billiam’s back was still turned. He was enraged at all of them, and he couldn’t decide who had angered him the most.
“Shemmy, lying is pointless,” Micah berated her before trying to reach out to his angry lover. “Billiam, I am sorry. You can thoroughly punish me later. For now it is extremely important I know the truth. The only time you could have possibly ‘sown the seed’ was when you were watching us, right?”
“That was the only time I was inside her, yes,” Zan answered, amused.
“Oh, but you have been carrying on with him otherwise, Shemmy? I thought you hated him. I thought you were my friend. I understand being civil, but that doesn’t mean you should go and polish his knob!”
“Oi, Billiam, wait, I’m really—”
“Quiet!” the prince screamed, effectively getting Billiam to turn at last as well as commanding the others’ attention. “If you two conceived a child at that moment, the only reason you did so was because of what you saw. Had Billiam not been making love to me on that cliff, the child would not exist, right?”
“That is correct,” Zan answered calmly. “Why is that so important, Your Highness?”
“Well, perhaps you and Shemmy are my surrogates. I know it doesn’t technically work that way, but it is not as if I can create an heir on my own with the person I love. As I see it, the two of you would have never even considered copulating had you not been peeping on us. Thus the child was created from the love between Billiam and I alone.”
Billiam looked sick, but he did not give in. He sat back down with the prince and held him close. This talk of surrogacy and an heir made him extremely anxious, but remembering his first time with Micah brought a wave of happiness, whether they had been watched or not.
“Yes, I follow that, Micah. I would not have touched her had we not been in such a situation,” conceded Zan.
“Such a situation? You say it like it was an accident. You don’t accidentally climb a cliff to watch your former lover fuck, and you don’t stumble and drop your dick into his friend.” Billiam’s regained calm was wavering, so Micah held his hand and fought away the jealousy summoned by the term “former lover.”
“It was not premeditated, is all I meant.”
“The fuck it was not!”
“No! It really was’nae, dammit!” Shemmy screamed as she crawled up close to the fire again. There were tears stinging in her eyes, and her voice was extremely shaky. “Ya, I was up there watchin’ yas. I had been, and I know it ain’t right. I never once learnt how to control myself, and I know I can be disgustin’. But I swear to Spirit, to all the energies of the globe, I meant ta juss watch. I am really, really sorry.” She choked down more tears as Billiam’s face only hardened further.
“You gave me an emission in my sleep. I only went up there to wash in the creek, when Shemmy found me and invited me to watch with her,” Zan explained, free of any malice.
“You are so pathetic and revolting, Zan. Do not blame this on me or your species,” Billiam fired back.
“We dinnae intend to, though! We were watchin’, and it was just so sensual. Yer so masterful, Billiam, we could’nae ’elp it.”
“I don’t need you to tell me how well I fuck. I have Micah for that. His opinion actually matters.” He grabbed the prince and forced him into his lap, but he did not hurt him this time. He needed to hold onto him, to gain sanity from the loving presence. If he did not hug him, he felt he would kill one of them.
Micah looked up to him concerned, whispering softly, “I agree it was a violation. I am sorry I didn’t tell you. I should have been upset, but as I remember things instead of being told, I think I am forced to feel the way he did about them.”
“No, prince, it’s not your fault.” He hugged him tighter and wanted them to be alone. He also really wanted this journey to be over; it had become completely overwrought with hormones and lunacy. “How do you even know so soon, Zan? That was what, five days ago?”
“Faelocks and halflocks grow fast I guess. I’m not sure. My blood-bonds are extremely weak, so there was nothing competing with this new presence. I think the spark was lit, meaning the soul created, in Param. That’s when I first felt this warmth,” Zan answered him, but didn’t look up. He felt a peace thinking of that being inside Shemmy, and he didn’t want Billiam’s hatred for him to break it.
“Well, spark or no, it has’nae a will o’ it’s own yet. I can stop dis fing, and then Micah should’nae try and rip me open,” Shemmy grunted out from her knees, where she had kept her face buried.
“No! Did you not hear me? That child was created out of Billiam’s love for me. It is not yours to dispose of! It is my heir! I will not have you kill Ella!” Micah shouted. His cheeks were bright red from the ale, and he swayed a bit as he pouted.
“You really want this, Micah? You want his child?” Billiam asked him, both concerned and disturbed.
“No, she isn’t his. She is ours. I really, honestly believe that. I felt her presence before, when we were in Param, just like Zan did. That must be when I, you know… but I feel her, and I love her, and I know she is mine. I would have never expected to start a family so soon, and I understand if you are not ready but….”
“I ain’t even agreed to let this fing live in me rent free anyhow! Ain’t ya forgettin’ your stitch wants to tear it apart and destroy it? How are ya gonna be able to raise it?”
“You will find a cure for him. We have nine months, do we not?” Billiam held Micah tight, allowing the prince’s joy to pass into his own heart. He did not feel ready to be a father, he did not like the idea of how this child came to be, but he could understand where the prince was coming from. He would need an heir, and as bizarre as this was, it truly was the closest thing to two men conceiving a child on their own. Whether he felt prepared or not, he could and would do anything for Micah.
“I guess I should’nae anyhow. Yer kind is endangered, right?”
“I am not his kind; we are not the same!”
“No, but Ella will be a halflock, just like you.” Micah smiled up at him, cutting away a few layers of anger. It warmed Billiam’s heart immensely to hear his late mother honored so. “Will you carry my child, Shemmy? I am your king, but I would never dare order you to do something like this.”
“You needn’t order me. I will do it. I should’nae have let this happen in the first place. I am very sorry, Billiam. I hope I can earn your trust, your forgiveness. I know I owe you at least this much.” Shemmy felt extremely guilty. Regret was not something she felt often, but she was not an immoral person. Despite how wild she was, she had her own code for how she lived her life. Betraying her friends was definitely against it.
“Billiam, just think of her as a tool for the mission and the carrier of our child, and she will surely cease disappointing you. You said our baby!” Micah chirped up to him.
The prince’s words cut like a knife through Shemmy’s heart. She was a lovable weirdo no longer; she was now an insidious violator. She hated hurting Micah, making him feel that callously toward her. She still loved him regardless, and he was still her child. She wanted to give him everything, and she would, even if he couldn’t love her back.
“Your Majesty, it would be my honor to carry your heir,” she said in an oddly elegant voice, getting up to execute a perfect curtsy.
“Thank you, Shemmy. Do take care of yourself, as you hold very precious cargo. Will you tie Zan back up for me?”
“Yes, m’lord.”
She walked over to Zan, expecting to have to lift him up. Instead, he got up on his own, walking ahead of her to the tree. “How you want it?” she asked when they arrived, holding the rope.
“What, are we really doing that again?” He laughed as he fell back hard into the tree. He was exhausted and ready to sleep, with or without waking.
“Right, I’ll tie yer fockin’ neck up, then.”
“Whatever you need to do, Shemmy. I can’t believe how willing to obey the little shit you are, giving up your body for his whims. You aren’t even a citizen of Casperland as of yet. Why do you belittle yourself so?”
She had the cord wrapped three times around his neck, using the last bit on his hands. “I love that boy. I’d wager to say I love him more than Billiam does, least a different kind. I will protect him the rest o’ my life and give him any stupid fing he wants because I made him, you hear me?”
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