by Marcy Jacks
And even then, whenever he shut his eyes, all he saw was Dravick’s face.
At first the man had seemed so sincere, so loving and affectionate whenever he’d kissed Aaron or been inside of him.
Only that had changed the moment they’d both realized Novik had entered the room.
Then Dravick’s words and demeanor had changed, and he was no longer the man Aaron loved.
He’d been cold, someone who used people because it was his place in the world and Aaron was just a lowly servant.
Then there was Novik. What if he said something? He was the commander of the dragon warriors. Anyone would believe him over Aaron.
That was what Aaron needed to be worried about, not Dravick’s reaction to him, not his cold commands.
Aaron knew it was for show. The man was always cold whenever he was in public with Aaron, and Aaron knew why. They’d spoken of it time and again. Sometimes Dravick did not want to be so cold, but Aaron had to talk him out of it. Other times, when Aaron could hardly handle it anymore, Dravick had to be the one to speak some sense into him.
Now, Aaron was being weak, and there was no one here to speak some sense into him.
All he could do was tell himself again and again that Dravick was not cold and he actually did care for Aaron, which was all the more reason to keep their affair a secret. Otherwise, Aaron would be torn apart by the mobs.
Aaron woke up late the next morning for his chores, and he had to jump out of bed in order to catch up.
His morning work was mostly prep in the kitchen, and not chopping vegetables sort of prep. Aaron cleaned and prepared the dishes that would be used at the royal table. He filled the trollies with extra supplies and made sure each plate was immaculately clean. If there was so much as a speck of anything on any of the plates, then it was sent back for more cleaning and he got another plate.
Luckily, for once, everything was in proper order today, and despite waking up late, Aaron was able to walk the trollies containing hot cereals, bacon, toast, eggs, fruits, coffee, tea, and an assortment of other items. There were dozens of them, and he would need another trolley.
The king was to be served first.
Aaron’s heart beat when he approached, and not because he was still struggling with how Dravick had spoken to him the night before but because, as per usual, Novik was sitting beside him.
Aaron swallowed. His hands trembled, and when he held the saucer that contained Dravick’s coffee cup, it made a loud rattling noise.
The rest of the great hall wouldn’t be able to hear it, not with the combined chatter and clinking of plates, but Dravick certainly heard it. As did Novik, Adam, and Kraigan, who had the seat of honor on Dravick’s other side.
“Are you well?” Dravick asked when Aaron finally put the saucer down.
Without spilling its hot contents on his king, thankfully.
The question wasn’t anything special. There was no warmth in Dravick’s voice, and his tone was as neutral as if he’d asked that question to anyone else he didn’t care for, but it still made Aaron’s heart leap.
Aaron nodded but didn’t speak, just in case Novik would overhear him or he should give something away when he wasn’t supposed to.
He brought cream and sugar, brought a tea for Adam, who was no longer drinking coffee at Novik’s insistence—and Adam’s irritation—and then quickly set the plates before the food could grow cold.
Dravick made a wonderful speech to the great hall, honoring Kraigan for his fine work, and everyone applauded and cheered for him. Aaron also clapped his hands, grateful, as well as impressed, that he’d managed to survive his ordeal.
Usually, the king and his men stayed at their tables, discussing battle tactics for some time after their breakfast meal. Only the lower-level dragons and humans had to quickly be on their way, off to their respective jobs.
Aaron and the other servants quickly cleared the plates. Aaron had reached for Dravick’s empty plate when he felt something shuffle in his pocket.
Dravick was not looking at him. He was speaking with Kraigan, his arms behind his chair in a relaxed position.
Aaron stared at him then realized what he was doing and stepped away. He looked down at Novik, who had a brow lifted at him but was doing a much better job of not staring than Aaron ever could.
Aaron turned away from the man. He finished collecting the plates, gave Adam one last refill of tea with honey, and then took the dirty dishes and leftover food away.
His hope this morning had been to take some of that leftover food for his own breakfast since he’d had to miss it for rising so late, but now all he could focus on was the burning sensation in his pocket.
Had he imagined that? Had Dravick actually left him something? What was it?
Aaron returned to the kitchens and, along with the other servants, quickly made a plate for himself from the leftover and untouched foods and put it away for lunch since he would not be snacking right now.
He called out that he needed the water room and would return, and then he fled.
Once alone, he sat down on the toilet and pulled something from his pocket. A folded piece of paper that had not been there before.
Heart hammering, he unfolded it.
I am sorry a thousand fold for last night. I beg your forgiveness, though your humble servant would not deserve it.
Aaron’s eyes went wide. “Humble servant?” Was Dravick serious?
Beneath the note was a drawing of a rose in bloom, a colorful and very well-done drawing of a rose in red and green. A light scent of perfume must have been sprayed onto it to give it a real floral scent.
I cannot fit a real rose in in here, but please accept this token anyway.
Affectionately, D.
Aaron looked back down at the rose and then up at Dravick’s words then the rose again. His throat swelled up with pain so sweet he thought he would cry.
Chapter Six
Aaron tiptoed through the vast stone halls of the nest, leaving behind the smaller, and slightly colder, areas that were left to the servants and travelling to the warmer, well-lit space where the warriors slept. He just had to make it down this hall without notice and he would be fine. Dravick’s room was just beyond.
He’d just have to brave Novik’s door first, getting by it without the damned thing snapping open and revealing him.
He shook his head and stepped out from around the corner. He also made a run for it.
His feet didn’t make the noise he’d thought they would, not with the new thick rug that had been put into place, but his heart still hammered when he was out of the hall where the warriors had their rooms.
He could hardly get control of his breathing either. It was as though someone had caught him. That was how much of a panic he was in.
No matter. Aaron collected himself quietly, gave himself a tiny inner speech about bravery, and then moved on.
Dravick’s door was just down one more hall, and he would be there.
Aaron couldn’t get his key into the lock quickly enough. He unlocked the door and stepped inside, quickly shutting it behind him, though still quietly enough so as not to draw any attention, and only then could he finally breathe.
“You’re here,” a soft voice said in Aaron’s ear.
“Gah!” Aaron jumped, nearly slamming the back of his head against Dravick’s nose, but the king pulled back quickly before that could happen.
He also laughed out loud, as though Aaron’s cowardice had been funny.
“It’s nothing to laugh at!” Aaron snapped.
Dravick, the royal bastard, would not stop his laughing. He even shook his head. “It is incredibly funny,” he said. He even wiped his eyes, ridding them of moisture before staring down at Aaron with that same delightful smile. “I wasn’t sure you would come.”
Aaron’s cheeks heated, and he knew that the blush he hated so much, the one that made him look even less like a man, was staining his cheeks.
He reached behind himsel
f and into his pocket, grabbing the note that Dravick had given him.
“I got your note,” he said, even though it was obvious since the thing was, in fact, in his hands. “It’s beautiful, but it’s also dangerous to be doing this.”
“I know,” Dravick said, nodding, soft smile still in place. Aaron wanted to melt at his feet. “I had to. I didn’t want to think of you as being sad because of me.”
Aaron shook his head. “I know it was all just for Novik’s benefit,” he said, even though he had been saddened. He wasn’t going to admit to that, however. That would prove a weakness, that he couldn’t handle the emotional requirements necessary for him to be in this same room with Dravick, for him to kiss the same, and be in his bed.
“Regardless, I wanted to give you a token. I wish it had been a real flower,” Dravick said, and he reached forward, touching the soft hair that grew behind the shell of Aaron’s ear.
“I’m not a woman,” Aaron said.
“Then you would not like flowers?”
Dravick was teasing him.
Aaron could not admit to how much he enjoyed that. “Perhaps, but I won’t be able to bring them with me when I leave your rooms.”
“Then you would like for me to bring you flowers?”
He wasn’t going to stop until he got Aaron to confess. “Yes, but only if I can leave them here with you. Then I can see them as much as I want when I come back.”
Dravick’s eyes lit up at his words. Aaron’s heart lifted at the sight of that as well. Why did Dravick have to be so stunningly handsome, and what in the world did he see in someone like Aaron?
“I could press one into the pages of your favorite book,” Dravick said. “Then you could see it whenever you liked.”
Aaron shook his head. His king was a romantic fool, and he was mostly certain the man didn’t even know how true that was in himself. “Shut up and kiss me.”
Dravick moaned. “Another command from my lover. You know exactly what I like,” he said on a soft, breathy sigh, just before he leaned down and covered Aaron’s mouth with his own.
“Mmm,” Aaron said, moaning into that kiss and leaning up into it, wanting more of that warmth, more of that slick wetness that came when their mouths opened for each other.
Which, of course, happened rather quickly. There was no stopping that. There never was any stopping it. They both knew exactly what they wanted, and today there was no time for any more talk. Aaron was tired of talking, and his king was wearing too many clothes.
“You are overdressed,” he said, and his voice was surprisingly throaty, even for him, as his hands fumbled against Dravick’s many buckles, buttons, and belts. “Let me help you out of this.”
“I only ever enjoy being undressed by you,” Dravick said, and his hands were not idle while Aaron worked to free him of his clothes. In fact, Dravick ripped his shirt a little in his effort, and impatience, to make Aaron as naked as possible. Which was entirely happening.
Aaron glowered down at his shirt, which had just been cleaned and pressed. “I need to wear that back to my room tonight.”
“No you don’t,” Dravick said, his hands clasping Aaron behind his neck, warmth spreading into him as he was held tightly and close. “Stay here with me tonight.”
Aaron’s entire body tensed. Without meaning to, his gaze flicked over to the bed. He’d been in it before, but he’d never spent the night.
The first time he’d dozed inside of it he’d woken in a panic. The room had been dark, and Aaron had been so convinced he would be punished when Dravick woke up that he’d quickly dressed and left the room for his own bed.
That had been early on in their love affair. Now Aaron knew better, or at least suspected, that Dravick wanted him to actually sleep in his bed, rather that just be fucked in it before leaving.
“I see this is causing you some concern, so allow me to make this easy for you. I command you to stay the night,” Dravick said then grinned a boyish grin that should not have made him even more handsome, but did. “There, now your problems are solved, and you cannot go anywhere.”
“I should not—”
“Yes you should,” Dravick said, backing up, and being in his arms, Aaron had no choice but to follow the man, follow his king and climb into the softness of the bed with him.
Goose feathers awaited him, and Aaron’s body was already starting to give in. He moaned when his knees were cushioned on the comforter.
“I hope that noise was for me,” Dravick said and then reached for Aaron’s cock, finding it only half-hard in his grip. “I see not so much.”
“Forgive me,” Aaron said. “But I promise more will come for you later.”
“It had better,” Dravick said, and he swooped in like a predator on prey, his mouth claiming Aaron’s once more, his tongue pushing forward, claiming what was rightfully his, like any proper king would.
And Aaron, just like any proper servant, was willing and able, eager, to give everything over to this man, which was precisely what he did as he held on tightly to the back of Dravick’s head and neck, pulling the man’s weight down on top of him, opening his thighs and welcoming Dravick between them.
Their cocks met and then thrust together, both of them easily accepting each other like old friends, and now Aaron’s moan truly was for Dravick and not for the comfortable linens beneath his back and ass.
“That’s what I want,” Dravick said, humping forward, his mouth continually moving, kissing Aaron’s lips, warmly touching his throat, and then down to his chest.
Aaron sucked back a sigh when those sinfully, sent-from-God-and-heaven lips touched his nipple, sucking on it until it was a hard nub and there could be no more pleasure obtained from it. Then Dravick moved on to the next one, biting down with his teeth.
“Oh!”
That bite, that wonderful, painfully pleasurable bite rocked through him, and Aaron thrust forward, pressing his firm cock harder against Dravick’s.
The crown of the dragon king’s dick was swollen and thick, the small fleshy spike that protruded from it exposed and tickling against Aaron’s stomach and navel.
Dravick licked Aaron’s nipple before pulling back, a wicked smile on his face. “You enjoy that, don’t you?”
“No,” Aaron said, shaking his head. “In fact I wish you wouldn’t do it. It hurts.”
“Liar,” Dravick said, his mouth so close to Aaron’s wet nipple that he could now feel the heat against the budded flesh. “You love when I do that.”
“I don’t like the pain.”
“But you like what comes after the pain.”
He did. He did like it, and it fucking killed him that Dravick was right and he got to be cocky about it.
The man didn’t bite him again. Maybe he thought that Aaron’s poor nipple was abused enough because all he did was press one last lick to the tender flesh before that mouth came back up and quickly kissed Aaron on the jaw.
“I don’t want to spend all night messing around with that anyway,” he said, and he reached under his pillow.
He pulled out a vial with a cork in it. Old-fashioned oil. Not lotion or lube, but something that would work just as well. Aaron shivered at the sight of it.
“On your hands and knees,” Dravick said.
Aaron scrambled to obey, and the second he was right where he was commanded to be, he looked over his shoulder to make certain that Dravick was getting a move on and that he wouldn’t be wasting his time with anything else.
Instead of opening the vial and pressing those long, strong fingers inside of Aaron where he wanted them to be, Dravick leaned his mouth in and pressed the tip of his tongue to Aaron’s pucker.
The touch of warmth, so soft and wet, and so good, immediately had Aaron’s fingers clenching in the sheets and his spine arching as he fought to keep from thrusting back into that amazing sensation.
He would have, in any other normal position, but Dravick’s fingers were tightly clenching Aaron’s hips, holding him in place.
The man wasn’t entirely comfortable when Aaron wanted to put his lips and tongue on his dick, but he absolutely loved putting his tongue against Aaron’s rosebud, licking him deep until Aaron was a sobbing mess and couldn’t contain himself anymore.
That was almost true right now, and when he felt the tongue pressing deep inside of him, Aaron cried out, shoulders bunching and his asshole clenching around Dravick’s tongue.
He just knew the man was smiling at him from behind. Dravick was too cocky to not be enjoying this.
And this, as wonderful as it was, was also incredibly wrong. It was wrong that his king was behind him, putting his tongue on him like that and pleasuring Aaron while Aaron simply took it and offered nothing in return. It was wrong, and he couldn’t bring himself to care enough to stop it.
It felt too good to stop, and Aaron was turning into a puddle in the king’s bed because of it.
He shivered and shook. That tongue could make Aaron speak in tongues. He realized the thought that had just gone through his head and nearly choked on a laugh, but then all he could do was groan in pleasure because there was nothing else his brain would allow him to process.
His cock. He needed to touch his cock because it was being neglected for far too long, and that wasn’t right. The poor thing needed some attention, and it was driving Aaron crazy not to give in.
He reached down, fisting himself, his dick throbbing in his palm and oh! “So good,” he said on a pant.
Then something horrible happened. Dravick pulled his tongue away. “Are you touching yourself without my permission?” he asked. His tone was teasing, but Aaron was not in the mood for it.
“Yes!” he snapped. “Because you won’t!”
He didn’t often yell at his king, but this was a special circumstance.
Dravick narrowed his eyes, and Aaron wasn’t entirely sure whether the pleasure he felt wasn’t because of the heat that stare inspired to pool in his belly or because he was nervous of what else it might mean.
Dravick’s hands clasped tightly onto Aaron’s hips, flipping him over and onto his back with ease.