And So It Begins

by R. G. Green

  “A torch might have come in handy,” Derek muttered as he worked. “I don’t think there is anything in here large enough to burn.”

  “Or dry enough,” Kherin added, squinting to pick out shapes on the floor. He could only assume a fire pit of some sort was also inside the shelter somewhere.

  “Oh well, perhaps it’s best we don’t see exactly what we will be sleeping in.” The trader’s voice was as calm as ever as he left off the task of sweeping. “I suppose we will just have to make the best of it. See if you can pull some dry clothes from those bags. The spare cloaks as well, if you grabbed the right ones. The bedrolls will be too wet to sleep in.”

  He didn’t sound perturbed in the least, as if this were completely normal. But then again, Kherin thought irritably, for Derek it probably was. Another flash of lightning through the dirty window showed the trader had already removed his cloak.

  Kherin huffed softly and forced himself to the task without speaking. What he pulled out, he did by feel, caring little whether the clothes were fine or plain, and he was relieved to feel the heavy cloth of the spare cloaks near the bottom, the fabric completely dry. Barely seen hands took the clothes he pulled free and spread them in the area that had been cleared, covering what dirt remained. The cloaks followed, one spread for a blanket, the other rolled into a makeshift pillow.

  “We’ll sleep on our clothes,” Derek explained, though Kherin hadn’t asked. “Our body heat will warm them, which will make them seem warmer when we dress in them in the morning. It won’t keep them clean, but we’ll be better off for it tomorrow. Are you hungry?”

  Kherin wasn’t, though he should have been. Meals had been sparse and quick, eaten hurriedly in what little shelter they found on the road. But he was thirsty. He didn’t relish the idea of venturing out to the stable to retrieve their waterskins, however.

  Derek laughed softly when he said that aloud. “Come. Let me show you something.”

  Kherin could see well enough by now to follow the trader across the room, and he crouched next to him as he squatted in the corner. Derek brushed lightly over the floor, using only his fingertips, until he found what he was looking for. A small ring attached to a wooden section of the floor was pulled, and the clinking of metal chains sounded as a tiny door swung open. One end of the chain was attached to the wood of the door, while the other vanished into the ground below.

  A well!

  Derek confirmed the suspicion when he pulled the chain up, hand over hand, until a small bucket reached the top. Not much larger than a mug in any city tavern, the water it brought up was nonetheless fresh, and Kherin swallowed it gratefully. He was too thirsty to have qualms about drinking out of the bucket itself, and he offered no complaint at the slight metallic taste the water held. He drained the bucket quickly and retrieved the second bucket himself.

  “These way-stops used to see much more use,” Derek said as he moved back to the bed he had made. “Even if they aren’t maintained any longer, the wells are still welcome to those of us who know they exist.”

  Another peal of thunder shook the glass as Kherin drained the bucket a third time, and though he was tempted to take yet another dip, he instead let the bucket drop when he was finished, then closed the cover with another clinking of chain. Derek had resumed the task of spreading his wet cloak, and Kherin joined him, adding his own to the carpet they were creating, though the chance of them drying before morning was nearly nonexistent. They worked quietly for several moments before Kherin broke the silence.

  “Derek, why were you at the Mouse?”

  The question had been lurking in the back of his mind ever since he had grown sober enough to realize Derek wouldn’t have chosen the Mouse for entertainment any more than Kherin would have before that night, and the curiosity had only grown as he continued to stay in the trader’s presence. But simple curiosity or not, Kherin immediately felt the change, though he could see very little in the darkness.

  Derek wasn’t normally reticent in sharing his secrets with either of the princes, and he was far too experienced to be thrown off guard so easily, but a sudden burst of lightning flashing through the window showed the trader crouched on one knee, still, if not quite tense, his figure limned in a brief show of silver. And then the lightning vanished and the image was gone. Kherin waited, though he was beginning to feel uneasy.

  “If I said I was there on business, would you leave it at that?” Derek asked at last, not exactly hesitant, but almost warily. Any further signs Kherin might have caught were hidden in darkness.

  “Most likely, yes,” he answered cautiously. “Since I can’t see you engaged in any of the usual business taking place at the Mouse, I assume it was your own that took you there. If your business is none of mine, just say so.” He finished with his cloak and sat back, balancing on the balls of his feet. “I was just curious.”

  “I was there to see a whore.”

  Kherin blinked at the frankness of the answer, but he covered his surprise quickly enough. “Like I said, that’s your business. I wouldn’t think you would buy a whore from the Mouse, though. There are safer places in Delfore to find them, you know.”

  Derek’s chuckle surprised him even more, and Kherin heard movement as the trader stood. “An informer, Kherin. Not a personal venture.”

  “One of your spies is a whore at the Mouse?” Kherin nearly laughed at the idea, but not because the revelation was so unbelievable. Whores generally did learn things they shouldn’t from drunk and therefore unguarded customers, and probably earned a good deal of coin from selling more than their bodies. In truth, the kingdom’s most knowledgeable spies were also the most obvious—and the least considered. It was simple, conspicuous, and overlooked. And it was hard not to laugh.

  But he managed it as he stood, swiping the damp hair from his face, a smile still tugging at the corners of his mouth. “I don’t know whether to ask who she is or how you managed to recruit her. Or him.”

  Something soggy and wet slapped his chest, and Kherin let it fall without trying to learn what it was.

  “That is none of your business, my prince. I was there only to gather information, a task which was interrupted, as I recall.”

  Kherin’s smile faded. “I remember well enough, thank you,” he answered clearly, keenly aware of the change of subject. It was irritating how Derek could be as bad as Adrien at reminding him of his faults. “Like I said, I was just curious.”

  “And no doubt expecting a more intriguing answer,” the trader mused teasingly. “Now get out of your clothes. It won’t do you any good to sleep in them wet.”

  Kherin nearly snorted at that, but complied without arguing and was not at all surprised to find that Derek even undressed with much more efficiency than he did. Goose bumps appeared as his skin was exposed, but though the air was cool, it didn’t seem particularly cold.

  “Never let your suspicions provide your answers,” Derek continued quietly. “It’s one of the easiest ways to become disappointed. And it’s the first rule in becoming a successful trader.” He had stripped completely and begun the task of spreading his wet clothes beside the cloaks without bothering to don anything dry. Kherin noticed, and knew he would soon be just as bare as the trader, but again, the trader didn’t seem concerned about his own or the prince’s nakedness. Kherin knew what he would have liked to attribute the trader’s ease in that particular matter to, but this wasn’t the time or the place to test the waters of intimacy beyond his own fantasies, any more than the washroom at the Crossroads had been.

  Instead, he snorted aloud this time, though softly. “I’m a prince, not a trader, so I guess I don’t have to worry about that.”

  Derek didn’t answer, but took the clothes from the prince’s hands, one piece at a time, having covered a large portion of the floor by the time they were both naked and chilled. Then he stepped back over the makeshift bed, drawing Kherin with him with a touch to his arm.

  “Come, let’s get what sleep we can. With luck, we�
�ll be in Gravlorn tomorrow.”

  Kherin hoped the trader was right. He stretched himself out on a dry cloak with a surprising sense of relief, and pulled the edges around him, even as Derek did the same. Talk didn’t resume, and with no other distractions, it didn’t take long to become aware of the blunt stones beneath him and the uneven ridges that pressed uncomfortably on his back and thighs. He flexed his fingers to work out their stiffness, and he knew by morning his whole body would be paying the toll for this night. Thunder rumbled around him.

  “Come,” the trader said quietly, shifting closer as he spoke. “It’s going to be a cold night without a fire, and body heat will do well to keep us warm.”

  Kherin granted at least that much was true, though it was odd that, even now, he didn’t feel cold, just tired. It was the heaviness of the air, rather than the chill, that seemed the most discomforting, but he let the thought go as he told himself the cold would undoubtedly leech in soon enough, and he shifted over until Derek became a solid presence at his side. The chill of Derek’s skin was surprisingly comforting, and Kherin nestled into the coolness as the stark awareness of their intimate positioning increased. He closed his eyes as he breathed in the smell of rain and wet leather that seemed almost a part of the trader himself. Damp strands of long, dark hair brushed against his cheek as Derek reached over him to draw the cloak more securely, though he felt it when the trader hesitated and pulled back. Derek lifted a hand to gently brush the hair from the prince’s face.

  “You’re warm,” the trader said quietly, studying the prince’s face in the darkness. “You feel feverish. Are you feeling well?”

  Kherin gave a slight smile. “Well enough, considering,” he answered as lightly as he could, pointing out with his tone that the circumstances were far from ideal.

  But cool fingers continued to brush his skin, and even in the shadows he could see Derek’s frown at the heat he felt. He knew being in the city—any city—would have been better if he were indeed falling ill, but they both knew there was nothing that could be done at the moment, and Derek finally drew a breath with the sound of resignation. Derek’s only move then was to tuck the cloak closer around them.

  Kherin sighed as he burrowed again into the coolness the trader offered. Then the sigh gave way to a yawn, and he relaxed. Derek followed, though more slowly, and one hand slipped over the trader’s hip in an almost unconscious movement as sleep began to take him. Derek made no argument against it.

  Neither woke when the next crack of thunder shook the stones.

  DEREK stirred, pulled out of sleep as awareness of the heat pressed against him grew stronger. He was on his side, and though he remained far from fully awake, the hardness he felt pressing against his own made him twitch his hips forward. He relished the feel of his stiff cock sweeping over the hard shaft of another. Recognition invaded his waking senses, bringing with it the awareness of newly heightened pleasure, and he began moving against the velvet heat stretched against him, pressing into the contact, answering and encouraging it as a slow pattern of teasing and touching ensued…

  Until the cock deliciously teasing his own pressed forward in a sudden, demanding thrust.

  He groaned aloud as he responded, his senses coming alive as lust tingled across his nerves. He found the warm, solid flesh lying against him and clutched it greedily, twisting sharply to force it under him, covering it with his own as he used his legs to force those beneath him to spread. Hunger burned in his veins as the thighs lifted to enclose his hips. He drove forward with a sharp, furious thrust, grinding his cock into the hardened heat of the other. The gasp he heard in return was harsh and exciting and… very, very familiar.

  Full awareness crashed over him with a suddenness that snapped him into full wakefulness, and he drew back, staring with sickening dread at the prince who lay brashly and unashamedly beneath him. Kherin’s eyes were open, watching and anxious, and breath panted from his lungs as his legs lifted higher in an invitation that was clear and unmistakable. The hands that had settled on the trader’s shoulders slipped to the small of his back, and fingers dug into flesh as Kherin began to move.

  Derek’s dread built, and he seized the prince’s hips to stop him.

  “Kherin…,” he breathed urgently, but his words were lost as Kherin rocked against him. The response of his body was instant as Kherin pressed and arched beneath him, and lust singed his nerves anew as Kherin, inadvertently or not, presented the hard pebbles of his nipples in a near invitation to be bitten. The throb of his cock as he watched the blatantly erotic display made him push his hips down, and the sudden and scorching thought of taking one tantalizing bud into his mouth—teasing it with teeth and tongue, sucking and biting until Kherin cried out in pleasure or pain—created an ache he nearly answered as Kherin arched against him again.

  How easily he could take the prince now, how completely he could devour him with hands and mouth as he ravaged his hot channel. He couldn’t stop himself from thrusting forward, couldn’t stop his hands from clenching the prince’s hips as he drove himself sharply between his legs, couldn’t stop the hiss of his own breath as he forced a ragged and wrenching cry from Kherin’s lips when he thrust again…. Stopping would be nearly impossible.

  But he had to. He had to stop, and with an effort, he did.

  “Kherin…,” Derek breathed again, a desperate plea rather than a warning. With an incredible effort, he tried to roll off the prince, put space between them before they did something that couldn’t be undone.

  But Kherin caught him in a grip every bit as desperate, his fingers and thighs clenching as he pulled Derek down to meet thrusts that were quickly becoming frantic. Kherin’s chest heaved against his own, and his nails bit flesh as his efforts rocked them together, hard and gracelessly.

  Derek’s willingness to stop vanished under an inescapable wave of pure hunger. The mesmerizing sight of the beautiful body writhing beneath him fed the almost feral need that suddenly claimed him, and he panted heavily as he snapped their hips together, driving deep into Kherin’s willing warmth. His gasps rose to match the raggedness of Kherin’s as they fell into a hard and brutal rhythm. Then Kherin shot up to claim a kiss both ruthless and devouring, and teeth met his tongue as he forced it inside the prince’s wet heat.

  Had it lasted only moments longer, Derek would have taken him, taken him and answered the base, animalistic need bristling in every shred of his being. But Kherin pulled back with a suddenness that surprised him, gasping, nearly sobbing, as he reached orgasm in the midst of their tangled limbs. Derek snaked his hand down instead, seizing and stroking, drawing out the seed of each strong burst to coat the fist his hand had become.

  And then it was over. Derek was balanced on the edge, but the sudden calmness that settled over Kherin in the aftermath of his release gave Derek the strength to will himself to wait. He saw contented satisfaction mingle with exhaustion as it played in the shadows on the prince’s face, and he felt, as well as heard, the prince’s breathing grow easier. Derek wasn’t surprised when Kherin’s eyes began to close. Within moments, Kherin was asleep.

  Derek breathed a sigh heavy with frustration as he moved carefully off the prince, releasing the softening cock with more than a little regret to let it nestle in the sweat and cum that still coated the prince’s skin. Kherin may be sated, but Derek was still hard and aching, almost shaking at the intensity of his arousal from the fantasy he’d just witnessed. He moved away enough to ensure they weren’t touching, then found his own release with a series of well-practiced strokes, his hand slicked with Kherin’s cum. His storm, however, he weathered in near silence.

  Only later, when the waves of pleasure had receded and his heart began to slow, did he reach for the sodden clothes to clean them both.

  He sighed deeply when he finished, his lust finally satisfied enough to let him think clearly, and the dread he had felt earlier returned. He had known Kherin’s preferences as well as any other who spent any time inside the castle at Del
fore, and if not for the royal standing Kherin carried with him, he would have welcomed Kherin into his bed, or joined Kherin in his, willingly and with pleasure. But Kherin did have royal standing, and he knew the repercussions of bedding the prince would be grave, as they had proven to be with Tristan.

  He sighed again, softer now. As ill-placed as his judgment had been, he had given in to Kherin with a passion that was all his own, and though it was less than what he had wanted—what either of them had wanted—it was more than what he could deem to be safe.

  It had been a mistake.

  And for both of their sakes, he hoped the king never found out.

  Chapter 5

  GRAVLORN wasn’t the largest of the Defender cities, but it may very well be the darkest and most dismal, at least from what Kherin could see from the road. Windowless walls lined the Defender Road, the name given to the stone-paved roadway that linked the Defender cities from east to west. The towering structures of cut gray stone and dark tiled roofs guarding the city proper seemed both cold and forbidding, and probably would have remained so even had the fading day been clear and dry and if Kherin’s eyes had not burned with fever.

  He had awakened near dawn, hot and thirsty and completely naked under their cloaks. Derek had already risen, dressed, and begun the preparations to leave the way-stop, though he had stopped immediately when the prince began to stir. The clothes they had slept on showed the stains they had picked up in the night, and though he would have preferred the coolness of those still wet, Kherin hadn’t had the strength to argue as Derek helped him dress in the dry clothing instead. The weakness of his limbs made it clear he needed the help.

  Neither of them mentioned the previous night.

  Kherin had a fair idea of what had happened, and would have been able to guess if he hadn’t. The stickiness still present on his skin and the rawness that stung his cock were familiar, and combined with the blurry memory of Derek moving against him, there was little doubt what they had done. But his memories weren’t solid enough to separate reality from fantasy, nor clear enough to assure him Derek’s attentions had been given as willingly as they had been received. The uncertainty of whether the night had been mutual made him cautious, and therefore reluctant to ask the question that would give him his answer.