by Joey W. Hill
“I find most strong women to be unsettling, in a very stimulating way. And never to be underestimated. Our Lady Lyssa, for example, as well as your Queen Rhoswen.” Uthe settled back in his chair. He wanted to ask if the Fae had been here earlier, if it hadn’t been a dream. But he couldn't. His desire to ask the question was problematic enough. The answer would be even worse, whether it was yes or no.
Keldwyn lifted a shoulder. “On that note, Her Majesty has granted you the right to enter the Fae world for the sole purpose of completing your mysterious quest. She also sent you a gift.”
“Should I be worried?”
“Always, my lord.” Keldwyn withdrew an amulet on a cord, tossed it to Uthe. It looked like a piece of ice, and was cold like one, but there was no melting against the fingers. Inside something shimmered, like captured energy.
“The cord is to help you hold onto it, but do not put it around your neck until you need it.”
Uthe wondered if it was a noose that would strangle him, then dispelled the morbid thought. “What will it do?”
“Repeat these words.” Keldwyn spoke a short sentence in the Fae language. Uthe repeated it, then the Fae Lord had him do it several more times, until he had the pronunciation correct.
“Roughly translated, it means: Should all about to be lost, may those true of heart and of like mind come to aid my purpose, be it of the highest intent.”
“Ah. And that means…”
“Your guess is as good as mine. Either it will help, or it will summon an army of blue Smurfs. They are very true of heart.”
“You have been watching TV with Kane again.”
“True enough.” Keldwyn crossed his arms over his chest as Uthe tucked the amulet safely in a drawer. “It can only be used once, so save it for when the need is dire.”
“Good to know. You told me to trust you, and you came through.” The Fae preferred gifts to thanks, so Uthe usually worded praise accordingly.
Keldwyn swept a gaze over him. “She had a condition for your travel in the Fae world. In order to act ‘freely’ there, you must be bonded.”
Uthe’s brow creased. “Meaning?”
“Meaning you are the full responsibility of someone from the Fae world. She has an aversion to letting a vampire wander around the Fae world like an unsupervised child.” Kel spread out his hands. Today he wore only the amber ring with the rose petal. “Her words, not mine.”
“Though I’m sure you would have been capable of supplying her the phrase if she was at a loss to find it.”
“I have never known Queen Rhoswen to be at a loss to find the right words.”
Uthe studied the Fae. There was a curious expectancy to Keldwyn, an energy humming off of him that made Uthe want to shift restlessly in his chair. “Who has been assigned to babysit me?” he asked lightly. “Or am I not allowed the information until I have breached the gate to your world?”
“I am the obvious candidate, since there is no one else who knows you well enough in our world to vouch for you. Unless you have other relationships with Fae royalty I did not know about until now?”
The slight trace of sarcasm was unexpected. Keldwyn already knew Uthe hadn’t fully recalled Reghan until contact with Rhoswen had brought those memories rushing back. But the Fae were easily irritated. Uthe chose not to remark upon it. He was digesting the idea of Keldwyn as his guide.
He genuinely hadn’t expected it to be the Fae Lord. While the male might like toying with him in the Council setting, the Fae Lord had many responsibilities, to both Fae courts as well as to the Council. “My lord, I have no problem with you vouching for me to another, rather than tying yourself up with this matter. I have no intention of causing harm in your world, but I’ve also no idea how long my task will take.”
“Accompanying you is my decision. I have conditions for that patronage, and I am your only option. While you are bound to me, it means you are subjugated to my will, Lord Uthe. My vassal, so to speak.” Keldwyn took the guest chair across from Uthe, stretching out his legs and crossing his ankles to the right of Uthe’s. “Are you aware the origin of the word of vassal is ‘boy’ or ‘vessel’? So if I called you my vassal, you would be ‘my boy’ or,” his gaze slid over Uthe, “my vessel.”
Uthe didn’t rise to the bait, burying the images Keldwyn was planting in his head under far bigger concerns. “What does subjugated to your will mean, Lord Keldwyn? I have a goal to accomplish. It does me no good to go to your world if that mission will be hampered by your demands.”
“I will not get in the way of that, never fear. Her Majesty wants you out of the Fae world sooner rather than later, and on that we are in agreement. The Fae world is sensitive to incursion from other species, and imbalance is never a good thing there. Until your task in the Fae world is done, you will lie with me when I desire it.”
For a moment, Uthe thought he’d misheard him. The request was so banal, at odds with the complexity that he normally associated with Keldwyn’s motives. He blinked. “Your price for being my tour guide is that I be your whore?”
“I will not be paying for your services, my lord. Your payment to me, for my sponsorship, is your body.” Keldwyn swept his gaze over it, lingering on the columns of Uthe’s thighs, the way the cotton shirt stretched over his shoulders. Muscles tightened under his regard, and Uthe had to quell the desire to shift again. “You have compromised your chastity over the years to prove yourself vampire rather than Templar,” the Fae said. “And to protect your mission and secrets. You deemed them far more vital to your charge than your personal pride in keeping your vows."
“You are not that privy to my thoughts, my lord. You are guessing.”
“I am deducing, based on what I know of you.” Keldwyn lifted a brow at Uthe's passive expression. "Maintain that sphinxlike look all you will. It is no less transparent to me. You have always compromised your oath with women, giving your vampire kind the impression that you enjoy them more than men. When you have had a servant, you choose females. Though you can be aroused by sexual interaction regardless of gender, male flesh is far more distracting to you.
“All of this is, I suspect, your way of honoring your Templar chastity code in the only possible way in the vampire world, whose politics are inseparable from their sexually-based power games. It’s far less tempting to partake of the gender you don’t prefer, isn’t it? Then sex is simply sex, a necessity like eating or drinking. What would your Templars, so opposed to sodomy, have thought of that? Did any of them ever accuse you of being a sodomite? You know they were remarkably free of that taint, compared to other Orders. Or maybe they were more discreet."
Uthe templed his fingers. He would treat this as a debate, like the many topics they’d dissected and argued over chess. That would calm the nerves jumping in his belly, as ridiculous as those experienced by a virgin bride on her wedding night. "Or maybe they just subjugated their will to God, abandoning all desire in favor of serving Him, no matter what those desires were."
Keldwyn made a noncommittal hum. "I wonder how many of your Templars preserved their ideals as faithfully as you have. They had to do it only for a mortal life span, or until the Order ended. Whereas you have clung to them for centuries. Is it hubris, a fear of having no faith, or something else that makes you that stubborn?"
"To believe in nothing is no better than to believe in too much," Uthe said between his teeth.
“A sentiment on coffee mugs and T-shirts. It is cliché and old, unoriginal.”
“Just as you putting a sexual price on your patronage is.”
“Careful,” Keldwyn said. Uthe felt that thrum of energy again as the Fae Lord’s gaze flashed with heat. “I will have your oath on bended knee that you offer yourself to me willingly. If you do not, your mission cannot proceed, whatever it is.”
Uthe met the onyx and moonstone gaze. “You weary me,” he said. “Whatever it is you hope to gain with your torment, Lord Keldwyn, I wish you well of it. If it is my body you desire, it is yours. It is m
erely future ashes and dust.”
He could defuse the intensity building behind this conversation by bringing up other topics. Like blood sources. If he was in the Fae world longer than a few days, he would need blood to fortify him. Since no Fae would feed a vampire, Uthe had to determine how he could stay nourished.
Keldwyn didn’t give him a chance to bring it up. He straightened in the chair, uncrossing his ankles and planting his booted feet. His elegant hands dangled loosely on the end of either chair arm. “I would have your oath before we proceed with any other details, Lord Uthe. Trivial though you consider the matter, it has value to me.”
Keldwyn looked pointedly at the floor between his braced feet. It drew Uthe’s gaze to the columns of his thighs, the spread of his legs making it impossible not to note the impressive evidence of his virility under the molded fabric. He forced his gaze upward, but refused to look at Keldwyn’s face to see if he’d noticed him looking.
“I am waiting, Lord Uthe. Unless you have decided your quest is not as important as your virtue.”
“Perhaps your revulsion for sharing your blood is only matched by my distaste for sharing your bed.”
“If that was the case, you would not be aroused now.”
His shirt was loose over his jeans, but neither Fae nor vampire needed visual evidence to detect arousal. Rather than confirming or denying, Uthe bared his fangs in a dangerous smile. He’d hung his sword on the back of the chair. Rising, he drew the blade from the scabbard in one swift movement, a whisper of menace. Let the bastard think he might try to skewer him, regardless of the consequences.
Keldwyn did not move, though Uthe had the satisfaction of seeing the sensual mouth thin, the eyes rivet on him in that cool, watchful way that suggested he might be close to inciting the Fae’s temper. He liked the idea too much. There was more at stake here than a pissing match, and he was channeling desire into aggression to deny his need. He ignored the faint tremor in his hands, the tightness in his chest as he teetered on the precipice of doing the unthinkable.
Planting the tip of the blade in a groove of the oak flooring, he dropped to one knee.
“Speak your oath, and I will repeat it in good faith, my lord,” he said, a growl. “You have my promise to adhere to it, unless it countermands God’s will.”
“I have noticed you still speak like a Templar, vampire. After all these decades.”
“In this modern world, promises are broken for convenience or comfort. I will not use casual words to speak a true oath.”
“Very well.” Keldwyn stood, moving the chair back and putting his hand on the pommel, curling his fingers over Uthe’s. His touch was cool, his palm smooth against Uthe’s knuckles. “Swear to be bound to me, offering your body willingly to my desires and demands, no reservations, until your quest is done. In God’s name.”
“I think God has little to do with this,” Uthe said, but he repeated it, his gaze lifting to meet the Fae’s. “I swear myself bound to you, the Fae Lord Keldwyn, liaison of the Unseelie and Seelie Courts, liaison for the Vampire Council. I will offer my body willingly to your desires and demands, until my quest is done.”
“With no reservations,” Keldwyn prompted. “You will not hold your mind apart from me, Lord Uthe. I will not consider the oath served if you lie like a board while I fuck you.” He slid a curled hand along Uthe’s cheek, so Uthe felt the rough edges of the ring resting above Keldwyn’s knuckle. “Say it.”
“With no reservations,” Uthe said, hearing the harsh rasp of his voice, a reaction to Keldwyn speaking his intentions so baldly. His hand was clenched on the pommel, and Keldwyn’s, still upon his, would feel it. “I swear.”
Keldwyn removed his hand, giving him a speculative look. “Access to our world must mean a great deal to you, Lord Uthe. I did not expect to win your agreement so easily.”
“Accomplishing my quest is all that matters. The rest does not.” Though he had sworn the oath, Uthe wasn’t going to count the edge in his voice an infraction of the “without reservations” part. He could still react to the Fae’s irritating nature.
“Clever. You imply my demands do not matter, that they are as nothing to you. I am glad you are so unaffected. Because I require a demonstration of your oath, right now.”
Uthe’s gaze snapped up. Which was a mistake, since he could ignore the Fae’s proximity only so long as his eyes remained focused on the floor. Now he was looking up the full length of Keldwyn’s body, the temptation of it inches away from Uthe’s fingers wrapped around the sword hilt. This close to him, he had an eyeful of just how well the leggings defined his lower body, the lines of muscle in haunch and thigh, the sizeable package of cock and testicles. If he inhaled too deeply, that autumn scent filled him. Keldwyn also smelled like a summer rain right now, the heat of thunder and the electrical spark of lightning.
“You have no mercy,” Uthe said, keeping his voice even. He was thinking of the bed only a few feet away, of how Keldwyn would want the oath demonstrated, and trying to contain his body’s far too enthusiastic response. On that, the monks of old had been right. Without the mind, the body had no interest in restraint. Its only intent was to satisfy whatever impulses seized it.
“Mercy is a boon only if it’s the proper gift for what is needed,” Keldwyn remarked. He reached down again, traced Uthe’s temple, his cheek. Uthe steeled himself not to move, but when Keldwyn caressed his mouth with his thumb, it took all his effort not to part his lips.
“I was in the courtyard, watching you spar with Lord Daegan the other day.”
He could be wherever he wanted to be, unseen. It was one of the things that Lyssa had warned them about. She’d had Keldwyn and Queen Rhoswen’s agreement that he would not use the ability to spy on members of the Council in their private quarters, but the gardens and public spaces were apparently fair game.
“Something inside you opened up,” Keldwyn mused. “It was like watching a confined animal suddenly freed. There is that moment when the creature realizes—truly realizes—he can now run. He bursts forth with such speed and enthusiasm, it’s as if he never wants to stop. There are few things as beautiful as a muscled, well-formed male pushing himself in an extraordinary, deadly show of grace and power. Lord Daegan could only stop your headlong dash by disarming you. I wanted to follow you when you were done, take you right then, while you were still damp with sweat and your eyes were still flashing with the passion you show so rarely, but which is there in such glorious abundance.”
Keldwyn brought his sharp eyes back to Uthe’s face, pinning him in place. “I don’t think you want my mercy at all, Lord Uthe. I think what you truly want is just the opposite. So stay on your knees and prove yourself to me.”
Blood pounded through Uthe’s heart, throbbed in his testicles. As Keldwyn held him in that pointed gaze, the Fae’s lips curved. “Your clever mouth offers much wisdom to the Council. I'd like a memory of when your tongue was otherwise occupied. And hear me now,” he added, “If you bite me, score me with your fangs, I will take my pound of a flesh in a way that will tear your soul wide open.”
Devils came in many forms. The tremor in his fingers had increased. Uthe dispelled it with an act of will before he reached out, figured out the laces to the leggings. Keldwyn didn’t help him, but Uthe stiffened when the Fae’s fingers moved to Uthe’s shoulder, tracing the breadth of him, coming back to curve over his skull.
The pants were a front flap style, laces on either side. Underneath was all Keldwyn. His cock stretched out, growing thicker and harder before Uthe’s eyes. His pubic hair was smooth and trim, black silk framing his member and curling over the testicles beneath. His shaft was flushed to a darker flesh color, thanks to the blood filling it to such rigidity.
Uthe’s heart was beating up into his throat. He was not a stripling lad, not a virgin by any means. It had just been so long, even before the Order. Had it truly been that long since he’d been intimate with a male?
“Your mouth, vampire,” Keldwyn said in
that same low tone. He slid his hand down to Uthe’s wrist, resting on Keldwyn’s upper thigh. Closing his grip around that, he guided Uthe’s hand to his erection. Uthe watched the Fae curl his fingers over the base, making Uthe’s thumb brush his balls. A different species, but still so much the same.
“It has been many years, my lord,” he said, his voice strange to his ears. “Though I fear nothing so little as your retribution, if I score you, it will be by accident.”
“Just imagine it’s your own cock and you will take extra care. Unless you vampires get aroused by punctures in your genitalia.”
“No, my lord.” Uthe almost smiled at his tone. Keldwyn’s wit was sharp and on the mark, often capable of amusing Uthe. This wasn’t amusing, but the tease helped. Mixed feelings filled him. The practical part of his mind told him to just do it, get it over with. If touching Keldwyn this way was truly distasteful, he could have done that. It all would even be easier. But the problem was just the opposite. He was mesmerized, seeing his hand clasped around another male’s cock, and not just any male. A male who had proven himself irresistible to Uthe. Even without the oath, Uthe had known it was just a matter of time before they ended up here. Keldwyn had merely tired of waiting and taken the advantage he’d been given. As a tactician himself, Uthe couldn’t fault him. He might even be thankful for it.
Keldwyn increased his grip on Uthe. “You are shaking, my lord,” he said. “Do not fear yourself in this. This is truth, for both of us.”
Which was why it was so disturbing to him. Leaning forward, he put his mouth over the glans. The musky pre-come smell was clean, earthy, but with a heated flavor that tempted the tongue. He thought of spiced cider, or the tantalizing thick syrup formed by the sugar and juices of an apple pie. He traced the corona and teased the slit, collecting more of that taste.
Keldwyn drew in a breath, his body growing taut. Uthe curved a strong hand over his upper thigh, holding him, savoring the sudden tautness of the muscles under his palm. Knowing the Fae wasn’t unaffected, and was less in control than he appeared, was useful. Needed. Uthe slid his whole mouth over the head, then down the shaft. By the Cross, it truly had been so very long since he’d done this, since he’d had someone he’d wanted like this. He couldn’t help but take his time, reining back the wasteful urgency of lust. Keldwyn’s hand moved to his nape, then cupped his skull, applying a firm pressure that told Uthe he was not the only one fighting that battle.