History of Beauty

by Meraki P. Lyhne

  “Randr, you said that we, in areas where we don’t live, are mythical?”

  “Yes, My King.”

  “How many Cubi live close to the human King?”

  “Not many, I imagine, why?” Father asked.

  “So we are mythical to him, too?”

  Father closed his eyes, nodding. “He has secured his people against a threat he has gauged and weighed from what he knows he has, and not included something mythical that some only hope to witness. That’s why he hasn’t taken our needs into consideration. We are not enough a part of his everyday life to matter when making a decision that impacts his Kingdom.”

  Elakdon nodded. “Exactly.”

  “Such a wise boy you are.” Father caressed Elakdon’s hair. “I’m proud of you. Until Ting, we must then build friendship…we must strengthen allegiance. We must bridge this gap.”

  “Without marriage,” Elakdon said.

  Father raised a brow. Then sighed. “I will not be opposed to taking a human bride, but you cannot. I will not breed with her if she is not stunningly beautiful. I don’t want ugly children.”

  Elakdon glanced at Randr, and he seemed…diminished somehow at the comment. But it was the Cubi way, and Elakdon would not apologize for their need for beauty.

  “Now, mingle, be seen, and be lusted after.” Father winked, stood, and walked away.

  Elakdon snorted and looked at Randr. “What is the Cubi strength in the eyes of the humans to whom we’re mostly myths?”

  “Your beauty, your physical strength, and your abilities to sweep us off our feet and share physical pleasure unlike any we could ever imagine.”

  Elakdon smiled and caressed Randr’s scar. “Are we overrated?”

  Randr laughed. “No, so go be what everyone lusts for, My King.” Randr leaned closer. “Because I know who you will be held by tonight,” Randr whispered, then pressed a chaste kiss to the corner of Elakdon’s mouth. That was so frigging hot, and Elakdon sported a fat boner before Randr pulled back, grinning. “I think I understand now.”

  Oh, he did, Elakdon was sure about that. Randr had just made himself the most lusted after man in the room by doing that. And what did he do? He stood up and walked away, leaving Elakdon with a fat throbbing cock and a snickering Fountain.

  Elakdon groaned, adjusted his cock, and stood to join the Earls, Father, and King Harald.

  It was almost midnight before the party wound down. As the mead and beer started flowing, the humans showed what they thought about the absent ways of their new God. Either that, or the sons and daughters of Loke and Lofn were not out of the hearts and loins of the followers.

  Foldon was the first of Elakdon’s two prime responsibilities to succumb to hunger, and he dry-humped a young thrall boy while Styrk, laughing his ass off, tried to get him off the boy. Not easy when the boy was clamoring onto Foldon, kissing him like he was the very air he needed.

  “Randr, I might need your help here.”

  “Even fully healed, I would never throw myself between that young man and the one he wants to feed on.”

  Elakdon looked at Randr. “Why not?”

  “Because he will lay me out. He is strong and capable, and the gods took away all his fear at birth.”

  Elakdon looked at his Fountain, trying to see him through the eyes of Randr. Either way, Elakdon felt proud that his Fountain had earned such respect. The gods took his fear the day he was born. Elakdon couldn’t help but chuckle. If he ever told Foldon those words, he’d grow intolerable.

  Then again, if Foldon humped the boy, Elakdon could be with Randr and take care of both of them. And what the thrall boy couldn’t keep up with, Styrk could. Elakdon hoped they’d all be willing to touch Randr, too. It irritated him whenever he saw that expression of shame over his looks. His heart and courage were literally all over his face. Half of it, anyway, and Elakdon loved every scar on him.

  “Ela!” Styrk shouted, still hanging onto the back of Foldon who’d gotten the pants off the thrall boy, placed him on the table, and swallowed his cock.

  Looking around the place, Elakdon figured they had to take that party elsewhere.

  “Help me out.” Elakdon set off in a run and jumped onto Foldon’s back. The Fountain didn’t stop sucking cock, and the thrall boy didn’t stop moaning and writhing on the table as he thrust into Foldon’s mouth. “Come on, Foldon, come to my bed. I’ll dose you and watch you hump that cute boy until he falls apart from the pleasure you can give him, but don’t let him pop. Come on, fight that dose!” Elakdon bit his ear hard enough to make Foldon cry out and jerk his head back. “Take him to bed. Take him to where you slept, and I’ll dose you good. You can hump us all.”

  A loud groan escaped Foldon, and he collected the thrall boy in his grasp. “Come on, Arvid, I’ll give all the pleasure a son of the gods can.”

  “Yes.” The human gasped and wrapped his legs around Foldon, but Elakdon was hanging there, so his legs slipped down to the back of Foldon’s thighs. Foldon growled, snuck his arms under the human’s legs, and shuffled him up into his arms. The young man locked their lips together, and Foldon began walking in the general direction of their sleeping nook, missing it by a mile as he was high on lust, mead, and hunger.

  But that was when Randr chose to assist along with Styrk, and they both guided Foldon carrying Elakdon and Arvid, kissing and being kissed and fondled. But the touches of the horny human irritated Elakdon’s skin, so he slid off Foldon’s back and followed.

  Randr looked slightly amused by the situation as he kept glancing back at Elakdon, yet the only thing on Elakdon’s mind was skin to skin and lots of time with caressing skin and having every part of himself touched and enjoyed.

  They made it to their enclosure and flopped down on a huge makeshift bed. The human King hadn’t found one big enough, so one had been crafted for them, consisting mostly of hay and loads of pelts.

  Foldon lowered his trophy onto the pelts and commenced undressing him.

  “What is your plan, Nol?” Styrk asked, staring at the hungry Fountain.

  “I will dose him, and he spends all that lust on making the thrall boy come many times. You may help. I might help. But I will feed my love.” Elakdon turned a hungry gaze on his lover.

  “I like your plan,” Styrk said, almost cut off by the thrall boy when he cried out from pleasure.

  Elakdon looked at the bed where Foldon penetrated the human. “Time for a dose.” Elakdon crawled onto the bed and up beside the humping men. He then grabbed Foldon by the neck, locked their lips together, and kissed him greedily, releasing the first dose.

  It tore through Foldon, who quickly turned his attention back on the boy giving him pure energy. Styrk climbed up behind Foldon and began caressing both him and the thrall, while Randr pulled Elakdon in for a greedy kiss, the trace amount of dose still in Elakdon’s mouth making Randr impatient and groan into the kiss.

  He was definitely getting stronger again, and Elakdon sank into the embrace as Randr pulled him close and deepened the kiss. It was exactly what Elakdon needed, and he slipped away in hunger and passion as Randr claimed his body and made him the center of his world.

  At least until Foldon’s dose was gone and he demanded another. For the moments that took, Randr stopped and shared his lover with his people, and he didn’t look like he minded a bit.

  Elakdon’s heart soared at the soft gaze that met him while Foldon and Styrk went all in on the thrall again to ride out another dose.

  “Dose me, My King,” Randr whispered, moving slowly inside Elakdon.

  Elakdon released a dose in his ass, watching as the lust in his lover’s face changed to the deep need for release, and his body ignited from the need to take his lover’s body to the border of insane physical pleasure and push him over into orgasm.

  He loved that side of his lover as much as he loved the unhurried feedings. So newly changed, Randr would still roll into all-consuming need at the blink of an eye. Other times, he’d be in control when making love
to Elakdon. This was the hold-on-tight kind of feeding. Had Randr not finally come to terms with the fact that losing himself to lust and hump Elakdon to sooth the need of the hunger, then feeding would be a problem.

  But Randr had come around, and the look on his face when he tumbled over the edge into the bliss of the dose and gave into the chase for release was a great turn-on for Elakdon.

  Being toppled for another dose ruined Elakdon’s first rise toward an orgasm, and it wasn’t easy lying on his back, getting taken demandingly while trying to dose his Fountain. He somewhat succeeded.

  Foldon then toppled Styrk and humped him, while Randr once again pulled Elakdon into another bearhug and made him the center of his world. And he was very good at that. In his arms, Elakdon had no trouble giving in and not only focusing on the energy rushing toward his spine. It always did with Randr. It always raced unhindered, and Elakdon was sure that it was their love that caused that. He felt it deep inside as the orgasm tore through him. It left him feeling fuller in a way no one else did. The trio in the bed flopped over, exhausted and heaving for air.

  “May the human stay in our bed for the night?” Foldon asked.

  Elakdon chuckled. “If he’d like to be your early morning feeding, then yes.”

  “Yes,” the thrall mumbled groggily.

  “And you, My King. Do you feel better?” Randr asked.

  “I do, and I will be my very best again tomorrow.” Elakdon snuggled up. “All I need are your bodies.”

  Randr smiled and rearranged Elakdon’s legs so that he was on his side. Elakdon’s lover then climbed behind him and snuggled in close, spooning him. Foldon snuggled up against Elakdon’s front, and Styrk moved up behind Foldon, draping an arm over both Foldon and Elakdon. And Randr, it felt like.

  Elakdon smiled, feeling rich, but it wasn’t just in a personal way like when he focused on the sensation of Randr’s body pressing against him. It was almost in a possessive way when he focused on the feel of Foldon against his body. A feeling of gratitude and trust mingled when he focused on Styrk. That was where the strongest sensation of richness came from.

  Nil-Savadin had explained to him how he was the crown jewel of his people’s riches. They, in turn, were the parts of his entire treasure. They enriched him as he enriched them.

  Thoughts on the sweet Queen put thoughts of the reason for them being with the human King back on track, and the aftermath of the orgasm no longer held the strength to keep the stressing thoughts at bay.

  Soon, his King and Queen allies would arrive, and he would have to have befriended the human King and earned his trust before then. He needed the King to want to focus on the Cubi people’s future, too.

  And if he couldn’t secure that, then he needed the human King to fear him and the Cubi people enough to secure the Cubi people’s future anyway.

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Having had his night with the fill of the much-needed intimacy, Elakdon felt balanced and in control again. He had the surplus to banter with his Royal Guards and Foldon, and he enjoyed the company of curious humans.

  He did not, however, enjoy the disapproving glances from the man of the cloth that never left the human King alone for long. It was obvious that King Harald tried to keep the man away from the Cubi and at bay from himself—especially when in the company of Elakdon—yet he was obviously having trouble keeping him away completely, and it seemed more like a difficult balance to find than an attempt to not dismiss the religious man flat out.

  But Elakdon finally understood the saying of the cloth. It referred to the clothes of this group of men. They were a mere cloth of poor, bland weaving pattern. Not much care or pride had been put into its fabrication. To hold it all together, a string was tied around his waist. He looked odd and…poor. What Elakdon found the oddest was that he’d shaved a balled spot on his head. He wondered why, yet he wasn’t really curious enough to ask at that point.

  The man finally left the human King’s side. King Harald looked less satisfied with the end of the conversation than he had at the beginning. He then rose and came to sit next to Elakdon, thus letting himself be surround by purple and green eyes and no humans. Randr, however, left them.

  “The Church will not recognize you as having any say over the lands.”

  Elakdon more felt than saw his Guards grow restless. Mainly because his gaze was locked onto Harald’s face, and he still looked displeased. “Do you?”

  “Yes. I grew up with you as the children of my gods. I’ve even seen you once. When I was a child, at least. Then not for a long time, and you faded into…”

  “Myths. I do understand, Harald,” Elakdon said. “I understand why you haven’t prioritized us when trying to secure your Kingdom.”

  “I do believe in God, don’t get me wrong, but I cannot eradicate all we are.”

  “Were,” Elakdon corrected him. “All you were.”

  Harald looked scolded for only a second, then indifferent. Elakdon noticed that the human found solace in touching the cross around his neck like Elakdon did touching the runes or god carvings he carried when needing their strength or wisdom.

  “All I was, yes. And all the rest of the now converted humans were.”

  Father came to sit, and Randr found his spot behind Elakdon again. Elakdon smiled at Randr, appreciating the initiative.

  “So you recognize our rights,” Elakdon began to get Father updated, “but the new God’s Church does not.”

  “Exactly.”

  “May I ask something?” Randr asked.

  Father looked curious at the question, yet he was not used to someone so outside meddling, and he never liked that. Being Elakdon’s lover apparently earned him Father’s silence, though.

  “What?” King Harald asked.

  Randr leaned in to whisper in Elakdon’s ear, and he found the question interesting since Randr had lived as human until so recently, yet he didn’t know the answer.

  “Ask your question, Randr,” Elakdon said.

  “You don’t want to?”

  “No, I think who it comes from is as important as the question.”

  “My King.” Randr took a breath, apparently trying to word it better. “I ask this because I was human and have lived my whole life as a human. To me, the sons and daughters were myths, too, for most of my life. But I don’t even know the human Kingdom’s level of power enough to hold this answer. Who do you, a King with such a big decision to make, fear the most? The Church of the Christ or the strength of the Cubi with purple magic in their eyes?”

  Harald leaned over the table, thinking, picking mindlessly at a spot.

  “I think the question is too simplistic. This cannot be looked at as either or.” The human King looked off in contemplation. He then looked at Randr. “What does the common Karl think? Who does the common Karl fear?”

  “Those of us who will never abandon the gods find the new God to be no threat. Something irrelevant cannot be dangerous. But now, I have learned more. I have learned of the ways of the sons and daughters. I have been given the great gift of their magic. Now I find the new God even less threatening because I grow stronger, and I will never abandon the gods who gave me a gift like My King.”

  Elakdon’s heart swelled with warmth, but for entirely different reasons than Father looking proud and the Guards looking satisfied with the answer.

  “This God is love,” Harald said. “But they can wield swords like no one I’ve ever seen. And they don’t stop.”

  That was fear Elakdon saw on the King’s face. He found it incongruous since the human claimed his God to be of love, yet a sword was apparently something he feared in the hands of a love god’s followers’ hands. Or was there an aspect that Elakdon didn’t know yet? Did they have a Valhalla?

  “We don’t stop either,” a Guard said.

  “And what will be left?” Harald asked. “When a massive force of unending numbers runs into your strength, the carnage will be…”

  Elakdon looked at Father, and he apparen
tly feared what the King feared. Maybe life experience let Father understand parameters that Elakdon couldn’t.

  “Father?” Elakdon asked in Cubi.

  “We tried an enemy like this before,” Father answered in Cubi. “In the age of Nil-Kardin. Our strength is not enough.”

  “I would like to share a thought,” King Harald said. “It is a loose idea for us to debate and contemplate.”

  “Yes?” Elakdon said.

  “Forget Ting. We resolve this here, King to King with no Earls and Church. We rule, so we decide.”

  Elakdon remained quiet, wondering about the suggestion. Harald stood, nodded his head in departing respect, and returned to his chair among humans.

  “I wonder about a society so split that a common Karl can see the world so differently from his King,” Father said, the wise man having easily caught onto why Elakdon thought it so important to be asked by Randr himself.

  “We never saw the world from the same height,” Randr said.

  Father merely nodded. “Your question did bring about the need for a nuanced approach. The Cubi people live under a flatter rule than humans, it seems. We have a strict hierarchy that you may never get to experience because of your lover. It might rob you of bonding experiences and learning one’s place and responsibility to others, yet…your looks considering, that might be for the best.”

  Again, Elakdon felt anger at Randr’s looks being shoved in his face, yet a side glance at Randr showed indifference. And a bit of gratitude. Elakdon understood why. He was happy he wasn’t a mere Changeling, yet he understood the hazing, having had the experiences in hindsight explained to him by so many.

  Sometimes, it was too much, though.

  “Not going to Ting.” Father drummed his hands on the table, ripping Elakdon from his thoughts of gangbanging red-eyes during their newfound and irregular lust.

  “What do you think, Father?”

  “I think the King has an idea that he hasn’t shared with us yet, and he wants us to think up solutions to be made behind the back of his Church and all the Earls.”