A King's Ransom

by Lia Black

  "What…what was that?" Kaidos stammered, trying to catch his breath. Lines of confusion furrowed his brow as he looked into Veyl's face.

  Veyl quietly brought his feet back to earth and laced up his breeches. He smiled. "That was just what I needed." He would certainly be sore for a few days, but nothing worse than he'd ever dealt with before. He frowned down at the new stain on his shirt and shrugged. "I imagine you'll need a nap now?"

  Kaidos said nothing as Veyl presented his back, intent on leaving the alley, and unable to look him in the eye. He could feel Kaidos' stare, burning up his spine. This isn't right. Something doesn't feel right. Any time Veyl had done this in the past, there had been relief. He'd use the pain to focus, to draw himself inward and shut out the world. But he was too aware this time around, and he feared that Kaidos was all too aware as well.

  Veyl cringed as he walked across the street to the whorehouse with Kaidos following silently behind. He could feel the blood and semen running down his thighs, as cold as he felt inside; and no matter how hard he tried, how many beds and warm bodies he'd shared, he just couldn't get warm.

  He hadn't realized that he was falling until he felt Kaidos' arms around him, holding him up. He forced a smile, his vision clouded by tears.

  "Clumsy," he giggled, and then felt sick.

  "You're an idiot." Kaidos sighed softly and scooped Veyl up, carrying him back to their room.

  *~*~*

  Kaidos felt used, but couldn't very well tell it to the man he'd kidnapped.

  Oh he very nearly had; he'd thought about demanding answers from Veyl—why he'd seduced him in the alley, what, or more likely who, it was he was trying to forget…but these were the conversations had between lovers, not by a kidnapper and his captive.

  The one thing he couldn't understand was the need for Veyl to make Kaidos hurt him. He'd seen the streaks of blood mixed with his seed on his cock when he'd pulled out of him in the alley. Although his initial entry had been uncomfortable, Kaidos knew the blood hadn't come from him. Afterwards, after Veyl had started walking away from him, the man's body betrayed him to weakness. He had only risen from his bed the day before; the exertion, and likely injury, had sent him right back.

  Walking behind him a few paces, Kaidos had seen him sway and was there in an instant to catch him before he fell. There had been tears in his amber eyes, though he'd tried to feign good-humor. It was something Kaidos guessed that Veyl learned as part of his profession, and it nearly made him sick, imagining how many men had let themselves be fooled.

  Only Rose was awake when they'd entered the house; her mouth set into a grim line. Kaidos had carried Veyl up the stairs, certain his legs could not manage, and put him on the bed.

  "Take those off," Kaidos demanded of the loose-fitting breeches Veyl wore. He could see the fabric darkening already. "We've ruined a perfectly good pair of trousers, you know."

  Veyl paused as he was unlacing, his mouth twisting slightly as he mulled something over, but he gave a little shrug to whatever thoughts he'd had and finished the job.

  "I'm fine, I can take care of it myself…" His voice was soft, and Kaidos wondered if it held an apology.

  "Take them off, let me see."

  Veyl appeared ready to protest but closed his mouth before making an argument and he lifted his hips, sliding the coarse fabric down his thighs.

  Kaidos tugged them off the rest of the way, frowning at the diluted blood on the inseams before tossing them aside. He wrung out a washcloth in the basin and put one knee on the bed.

  Veyl had his knees drawn up, his thighs pressed together. Kaidos touched one knee, giving it a little pull and Veyl sighed, defeated, and parted his legs.

  The damage wasn't as bad as Kaidos had worried, but it was enough to shed blood. Veyl sucked in a sharp breath as Kaidos carefully washed the area, then gently patted it dry. His harvest moon eyes flitted around the room, never resting on anything for long, and never meeting Kaidos' gaze.

  "Why." It was not a question that Kaidos posed to him, but a quiet demand for information.

  "I didn't mean—"

  Kaidos' warning glare stilled the lie on Veyl's lips. He blinked as tears glazed his eyes.

  "You wouldn't understand."

  "You're right, but that doesn't mean I don't want an answer."

  Veyl sucked on his swollen lower lip for a moment before speaking.

  "You don't have the right to one," he said firmly, but his voice wavered. He stared Kaidos down, waiting for his anger to manifest.

  Kaidos did feel the anger flare, but he realized it would do nothing but make them enemies again. While they couldn't be friends or lovers, it had already been established that they could at least communicate as though they were.

  He sighed and lay down beside Veyl, pulling him against his chest. He felt the other man's body go rigid with surprise, but Kaidos held on, combing through his long hair with his fingers, and Veyl gradually relaxed.

  Kaidos shivered lightly when Veyl's hand found the bare skin of Kaidos' back beneath the fabric of his shirt. He traced his fingers over the scars that were too numerous to count.

  "What was the tattoo?" Veyl asked him softly.

  "It was the mark of my tribe. My identity. I received it when I was sixteen—considered a man. It was…extensive, because I was the only full-blood of my father's sons—the only one worthy of wearing it, so I carried them all."

  Veyl lifted his head slightly, then rested it once more against Kaidos's chest. "You wore the marks of your brothers as well?"

  "Yes."

  "That must have been painful."

  Although Kaidos understood that Veyl was referring to the application of the tattoo, his pain was far more than physical. "Yes."

  "Are you sorry that it's no longer visible?"

  Kaidos considered the question. He'd never mourned the loss of the inking of his heritage, but he'd never let himself understand why. "No. Not really. I stopped being the man who'd received it when I rejected my heritage and left the tribe." Kaidos closed his eyes, concentrating on the touch that brought sensation to his scars. With the exception of the tribe's healer who had tended the injuries when they were still fresh, Veyl had been the only person to touch him in this place.

  "I was trying to erase memories," Veyl murmured, answering Kaidos' question from before.

  "I see." Kaidos dropped a kiss to the top of Veyl's head, understanding that he'd seen the scourge as doing much of the same. As his skin had been flayed, and ink replaced by raw flesh and blood, Kaidos had been almost relieved. He was no longer marked by memories, and he would have died as a blank slate. The concept had been freeing then, but it made Kaidos realize now that he'd only rewritten the same history once he'd managed to survive. The thought was sobering.

  "Do you think…do you think this place I am going…it's because someone really wants me?"

  "Yes. That's why I'm taking you there." Although the reminder left a sour taste in Kaidos' mouth.

  Veyl lifted his head, arching his neck to look up into Kaidos' face.

  "No, I mean really wants me. All of me. Not just my body."

  Kaidos read the need on Veyl's face, and worry paled his cheeks.

  "I don't know." He couldn't lie, although Veyl's eyes begged him to. If he lied to him, then Veyl would never trust him. If he could have nothing else, Kaidos wanted that trust.

  Veyl nodded and let out a trembling breath. He smoothed over his obvious despair with a practiced smile.

  Kaidos kissed him, understanding the silent command and playing his part. It was okay, it was expected. They weren't lovers. But the guilt still weighed down on his head like an icy cowl.

  *~*~*

  The next morning, Veyl was wearing his new outfit, examining himself in the mirror as Kaidos sat on the bed and finished packing up the rest of their belongings. He was trying not to pay so much attention to Veyl as he posed and preened, but he did look damn sexy.

  Yesterday they had dozed and retrieved Veyl's
new clothing along with some boots and a few other necessities. Then they'd eaten and Kaidos spent much of the day helping Rose out with small repairs while Veyl taught the women a few secret tricks of the trade that caused Kaidos breeches to tighten every time he imagined what they might be. He was relieved, and somewhat disappointed, when he realized that a wooden phallus was being used for demonstration and not actually the real thing.

  Veyl was wearing the crisp white shirt with billowing sleeves fastened tightly at his wrists, the oxblood leathers, black boots and the "lady's" oxblood leather vest. The vest was cut low, as it would normally rise beneath a woman's breasts, and cinched at the waist. The front and sides were held closed by lacing and Veyl had them done up tightly enough to show off his narrow frame. And yet, he still could have possibly passed for a woman had it not been for the complete lack of padding on top, and an abundance of it down below.

  Veyl turned to the side, arching his spine back enough to thrust his hips forward and make the bulge in his breeches quite obvious. The grin he gave Kaidos over his shoulder looked predatory, and Kaidos felt his mouth go dry.

  "What do you think?" Veyl raised an eyebrow.

  "Can't think." Kaidos grunted and swallowed hard as Veyl moved, catlike, towards him. Gods, had it been bad idea agreeing to Veyl's demands for sex? The thought ghosted through Kaidos' brain only for a moment, to be exorcised by lust as Veyl put one knee on the mattress between Kaidos' legs, grasped his shoulders, and kissed him hard on the mouth.

  If anyone had told him a few weeks ago he'd be enamored with a man and hungry for his body, Kaidos would have beat them bloody. But back then he hadn't even known someone like Veyl existed.

  Kaidos groaned underneath as Veyl leaned into him, still kissing him, and pushed him onto his back on the bed. At some point, he'd grabbed Kaidos' wrists and had them pinned near his face, though Veyl's left hand was doing less pinning. Kaidos didn't care; in fact he thought he liked it a little too much and started remembering what Veyl had mentioned about ropes, and where it had taken Kaidos' imagination.

  Veyl was straddling his hips, his long curtain of golden hair creating their own little private chamber as it fell around Kaidos' face. His hot tongue darted slick and firm through Kaidos' eager open mouth, sending bursts of pleasure down between his legs. He pushed up with his hips, grinding his erection against Veyl's ass--leather on leather--the heat between them like a living thing.

  And then came that damnable knock on the door moments before Rose, Lin, and possibly all the residents of the brothel house came into the room.

  "All right you two--stop rutting and get on with ya', or I'll put you both to work in the rooms tonight." Rose said, her hands on her hips.

  Murmurs and giggles arose from the girls who apparently approved of the idea.

  Veyl sighed and got up off of Kaidos, unabashedly adjusting himself through the crotch of his pants and smiling at the flushed cheeks and eagerly heaving breasts of the girls. Since they'd found out that Veyl was a man, he'd become much more popular among the women. Kaidos might have been jealous if he hadn't known that all of Veyl's flirtations were just sensual little lies. Veyl certainly had a talent for charming the pants off of people with whom he'd never had any intention of having sex.

  Grumbling, Kaidos also stood up, and had to adjust himself as well.

  "Thank you Rose, ladies, for your hospitality," Veyl tipped his head to the giggling group.

  "You ever want a job here—" Rose began but Kaidos' frown made her stop.

  He'd felt it, possibly for only the third time in his life, and the previous two could also be attributed to Veyl: a stab of jealousy.

  It was irrational, and foolhardy to be feeling any way about a man who was only in his company by force, and only temporarily. Despite their journey veering quite far off the beaten track, Herrendsport and the ship that would deliver Veyl to Dandre loomed ever closer. The thought darkened Kaidos' mood and killed his ardor. He had indeed made a mistake, but one that he feared would have been inevitable to avoid. He was falling in love.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Many Hands Make Light Work

  They left Thieves Den by noon, although Kaidos had told himself they'd leave earlier. But Veyl had made quite an impression on Rose and her girls, and Kaidos could have sworn at least a few took second and third helpings of hugs goodbye. If that hadn't been enough to delay them, the clothier met them on the way to the stables and gushed for several minutes about the delightful fit of Veyl's new clothes.

  All of it was surprising and a bit confounding for Kaidos. They had ridden into town as enemies, but left it as, not lovers, but something that looked that way on the outside. It was also starting to feel a lot closer to being that way to Kaidos.

  They shared one horse; riding along the edge of the forest, Veyl's long hair shimmered in the sunlight. The graceful tip of one tapered ear peeked out when he brushed a few strands behind it, and Kaidos could see every reason why a man might want Veyl so badly that he was willing to cross the sea and pay a thief to get him.

  "Why didn't you run?" Kaidos' voice came out sounding hoarse and he grimaced at his lack of control.

  Veyl glanced over his shoulder at him, his long eyelashes glinting gold.

  "Where to? And for what reason? I have nothing in Aaullsworthe; assuming I could ever get there without running into bandits or being eaten by bears."

  "There aren't any bears this far north," Kaidos mumbled absently, thinking about what Veyl had said. Not even his guard captain then was enough to make him want to return home. Part of Kaidos felt a smug satisfaction that Veyl was no longer so enamored with the man, but part of him also realized it was only circumstance that made it so. He believed that if Ahrn Engel showed up right now, Veyl would run to his arms. The thought made his stomach clench.

  "Hm." Veyl made a little sound of acknowledgment and faced forward once more. He slid his hips back just enough to press harder against Kaidos' crotch and wiggled his ass, effectively pushing every other thought out of Kaidos' mind.

  "We'll be stopping soon, I hope," Veyl again looked over his shoulder and Kaidos could see mischief in those amber eyes.

  They had been riding for several hours, but would not make a town before sunset. Stopping now might afford them a bit more time to make camp, and Kaidos could set some snares to see if he could trap something for dinner. With Veyl taunting him as he was now, Kaidos had a different sort of riding on his mind. Unfortunately, that sort of thing was better left until bedtime.

  "All right, we'll make camp at the first decent clearing, but you'll have to let me do a few things to get us set up before anything else."

  "Anything else?" Veyl asked coyly and rolled his hips against the hardness in Kaidos' pants.

  "Yes." Kaidos moved his hands down to still Veyl's provocative undulations.

  They found a place well-sheltered by the trees and Kaidos began to set up camp.

  "Can I help?"

  Veyl's offer took Kaidos by surprise, and he stopped in the midst of clearing the ground for a fire.

  "You don't have to—"

  "I want to." Veyl took a step forward, stopping as though he worried he'd overstepped some boundary. He clasped his hands in front of him, sucking on his lower lip.

  Kaidos thought that Veyl resembled a boy asking to help with an activity that was typically reserved for the strength of men, and that was why Kaidos would not deny him. He was well aware that Veyl had never been asked to lift a finger back in Aaullsworthe, and likely never asked as much; or if he had, he was dismissed for being too delicate. But Veyl was a man, and to deny him any task—regardless of how small it might seem to Kaidos—would be emasculating him.

  "Sure. Ever put together a fire?"

  Veyl shook his head, but crouched eagerly near Kaidos as he gestured him forward.

  Kaidos showed him how to gather rocks and place them in a ring around the area he'd cleared, then showed him how to find the right kind of wood in the forest.


  As Veyl was wresting some dry branches from a fallen tree Kaidos began setting a few snares.

  "What's that?" Veyl asked, standing over him.

  "Snare. To catch a rabbit or anything else small enough to slip through the loop."

  Veyl stood silent, watching Kaidos work and Kaidos rose with a smile.

  "Want to try setting one?"

  Veyl's face shone surprise, his angled eyes widening. "Do you think I'd do it right?"

  Kaidos shrugged and took the wood from Veyl's arms, noting that his winter-white shirt was no longer so pristine, and there was even dirt under his fingernails—a few of them slightly ragged. "Grab that twine there."

  Kaidos patiently walked Veyl through the proper method for tying a slip-knot, and suggested the best kinds of areas for placing the trap. Veyl looked around and set the trap near the exposed roots of the fallen tree, smiling as he wiped some dirt off of his hands.

  "Now what?"

  "Now we go back to camp and finish building our fire. We'll come back in a couple of hours to see if we got lucky." He half-expected Veyl to twist his words into a euphemism, but he didn't. Instead he nodded eagerly and collected a few more pieces of wood for the fire.

  *~*~*

  Veyl had been surprised that Kaidos had taken him seriously when he'd asked to help. He'd been nervous about doing so, because to be turned down would put Veyl into a foul mood. Yet his gut told him to ask, and deep inside he knew he was using it to test Kaidos. For what purpose, he wasn't entirely certain, except to prove to himself that Kaidos was just like every other man he'd ever met. Veyl was not ashamed of his looks, but just because he could pass for a woman, didn't mean he should be expected to always behave and be treated as one.

  Whether it was his Wanderer heritage—growing up in nomadic tribes where everyone, regardless of age or sex, was expected to contribute--or something else, Kaidos took him seriously and let him lend a hand.

  Veyl learned many things about himself in that scant few hours. He learned he could build a fire, and get a splinter of wood out of his hand. He learned what dirt felt like on his hands and under his nails, and he learned he could lay a decent snare. Decent enough to catch them dinner.