All around Frolic, the others faced similar obstacles. Reg, Tom, the mercenaries, and Jack Owens seemed to have defeated their doubles, but Corny still struggled against a version of herself in a ridiculously elaborate, upholstered dress, and the baron battled another wizard with gouts of flame and flashes of colored light. As Frolic hurried to help them, he hoped none of them had seen what he’d had to do. He didn’t want them to know what he, a machine, was really capable of inflicting.
THE SON of a bitch was fast, but Querry was fast, so why wouldn’t he be? Querry was still the real thing, and he had no doubt he’d prevail over a cheap imitation. He couldn’t help but admire the way his double moved with the grace and fluidity of a cat as it dived to avoid his bullet, tucked into a roll, and fired on him all at the same time.
Querry dodged to the left, his boots sliding across the smooth stone as if it were ice. As soon as he skidded to a stop, he crouched and aimed at his duplicate again. This time, the other Querry took a grapple from his belt, shot it into the darkness above them, and soared into the air with a delighted chuckle Querry knew well. Swearing, Querry peered into the gloom through his night vision lenses, searching the shadows until he found the other looking back at him through identical goggles. Querry wondered if he looked as smug as his doppelgänger when he grinned. Instead of thinking too much on it, he located the rope the other Querry clung to, looked down his sight, and fired. Querry had always been a decent enough shot, but he didn’t have Reg’s uncanny aim, so it surprised him a bit when his bullet severed the rope.
The other Querry landed lightly, barely raising a cloud of dust. He drew his sword, and Querry mirrored the action. Both of them ran to face each other, their boots making almost no sound against the stone floors. Their blades met with a resounding clang and the scrape of metal against metal. The duplicate attacked, and Querry parried. Querry attacked, and his copy dodged. They sparred back and forth, each of them landing a glancing blow here and there, but neither causing any real injury.
Querry started to sweat as the duel continued, neither of them getting the upper hand. Both of them slowed as their muscles started to fatigue. Querry heard the cacophony of magic, swordplay, and gunfire around him as the others fought their duplicates. He just wanted to dispatch this annoying copy of himself so he could make sure Reg and Frolic were all right. Even though he’d tired the bastard out, it continued to slash at him with an exact replica of his rapier. Querry blocked most of the attacks, sustaining only a few scratches, but he didn’t manage to hurt the imitation, either. Damn it, why did he have to be so good?
Querry feigned to the left before swinging his fist at his double’s ribs. Querry wouldn’t have been fooled by such a trick, and it wasn’t, either. It leapt back a few inches and avoided the blow. Querry cursed again and spit on the ground. How the hell could he best something as clever, quick, agile, and experienced as himself? It anticipated every ruse, parried every attack, and returned with every bit of Querry’s speed. Worse yet, it was better equipped than Querry, having not lost most of its gear in the jungle. Even so, he saw his own frustration mirrored on its face.
Somewhere behind him, Frolic cried out, and a shot followed. Without even thinking about it, Querry spun to make sure his beauty wasn’t hurt. He no sooner located Frolic, who stood with Reg and Jean-Andre, fighting the Belvaisian’s double, when he felt a slash across his lower back. He heard the leather of his waistcoat tear, but the metal plates beneath it saved his skin from a similar wound. Twirling back around, Querry raised his sword just in time to block the other’s blade, which it aimed directly at his throat. He still saw no end to their battle in the near future, so he kept fighting, trying desperately to think of something the other Querry wouldn’t expect. And then it came to him. He would never, ever surrender.
So that’s exactly what he did. “That’s it! I give up. I’m finished.” He threw down his sword and pistol. The other Querry looked at the discarded weapons with total confusion. That was when Querry kicked himself in the bollocks. He winced vicariously as his doppelgänger doubled over. “I can’t believe I fell for that,” Querry said and laughed at his other self.
The other Querry was straightening up once more, and the look on its face was pure murder. Querry stopped laughing abruptly under the intensity of that gaze.
“Querry, drop!” Starling yelled over the chaos of the battle.
Without a second thought, Querry fell to his knees and covered his head with his arms. A bright, bluish-green stream of magic sliced through the stale air just above his head, striking his adversary in the chest and knocking it to its back. Querry heard the sick, hollow thud of its skull against the stone. It lay stunned and twitching.
“Hurry and finish it off,” Starling called.
In a shocked daze, Querry stumbled over and drove the point of his sword through his double’s windpipe. It gurgled for a moment, spitting up blood, before disappearing with a puff of smoke. Breathing hard, Querry looked around the room. The others had defeated their doppelgängers, and aside from some minor scrapes and bruises, they looked unharmed. Reg and Frolic busily bandaged Jean-Andre’s hand with some strips of fabric that had been Reg’s right sleeve. Corny examined a gash on the side of Jack Owens’s waist. Querry wandered over to the baron, who held a handkerchief to a burn on the side of his neck.
“Thanks for that,” he said sheepishly, staring at his boots. “What gave you the idea?”
Starling snorted out a surprised laugh. “I simply waited for your duplicate to do something rash and stupid. How in the world did you not know to do the same?”
“I—what are you saying?”
Starling simply shook his head and clapped Querry on the shoulder before calling Tom over to tend to his wounds. He sat cross-legged on the floor while the glowering fey looked at the blisters on his neck. Querry sat down with Reg, Frolic, and Jean-Andre to take advantage of a little rest while the baron permitted it. He couldn’t stop thinking about what Starling had said. Was he impulsive without even realizing it? Did everyone think he behaved like an ass, even his partners? If they did, maybe they were right. After all, the others had managed to defeat their doubles without help. Everyone but Querry. What had they seen that he hadn’t? He’d spent his life in a world where he had to make split-second decisions, and it would prove a hard habit to break. His ability to think fast had saved his life plenty of times. Now, though, he kept mulling the details of the battle over and over, wondering what he’d missed, what he could have done differently.
None of them spoke as they sat patching up their wounds and sharing the remainder of their water and bits of dried meat and fruit. Querry wondered what his partners had experienced, what they didn’t want to discuss. He didn’t press them, though, because he didn’t really want to talk either. As tired as he was, he was glad when Starling roused them to move on. Action he understood, and he needed a distraction from his thoughts. He found himself hoping he’d encounter something he could just kill, the good old-fashioned way.
Chapter 29
QUERRY FELT like he’d been walking for days, but it may have only been hours. He had no way to tell in the ever-present darkness. He only knew his thighs ached, his feet hurt, and his clothing and gear felt like they weighed a hundred pounds. All of them plodded along in almost complete silence. Only the sound of their feet, their breathing, and the scrape of Frolic dragging his crate cut through the tomb-like silence. To Querry, that was how he saw this place as they descended: a tomb. He saw no evidence of a life-giving fount of magical energy. This place felt beyond dead.
After Starling stumbled, fell to his knees, and couldn’t stand again without Tom’s assistance, he finally agreed to let them stop and rest. Querry found a rounded corner and collapsed, drawing Reg and Frolic’s heads to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. To hell with what Owens or anyone else thought. What could they possibly do that would be worse than being stuck in this horrible place? He let the tension bleed out of his muscles as he rak
ed his fingers through his lovers’ hair. Reg’s had grown past his shoulders, and he had to pin his fringe behind his ears to keep it out of his eyes. Querry liked running his fingers through it, and pondered if there was any way he might convince Reg to keep it long. He doubted it. Querry wondered if Frolic would keep the beads and feathers woven into his locks when they left this place. If, he reminded himself.
“I’m sorry,” he said in a voice scratchy and thick from disuse, resting his cheek on the top of Reggie’s head.
“For what?” Reg asked.
“For us even being here. For putting you two in danger. For just generally being an ass and not thinking things through.”
Querry expected Reg to respond with some mild sarcasm, but he merely reached up and touched Querry’s face. “We’ve been over this, love. Too many times.”
“I’ll make it up to you,” Querry vowed. “I’ll see we get out of this, no matter what it takes, and then I’ll do something special for you two. We have all this gold. What should we do with it? Take a holiday? We can go anywhere in the world.”
“I want to go home,” Reg said in a broken whisper.
“We can’t,” Querry said, his heart shattering like glass. “That’s my fault too.”
“No, it’s mine,” Frolic said. “But it doesn’t matter. What’s done is done, and we can’t change it. All we can do is keep living as best we can. Look how fortunate we are to be free and to be together. We almost weren’t. We don’t know how much time we have with each other, so we can’t waste it on regret and wondering what might have been different.”
Once again, Frolic, for all his lack of experience, proved the wisest of them. Querry and Reg sat silently contemplating the truth of his words.
“You two are all I need,” Reg said. “I’m just feeling sentimental. Whatever has happened, no matter who’s to blame, I love you more than ever. I suppose we should try to get some sleep.”
Querry looked across the chamber they occupied to a small hallway thick with shadow. “How would you feel about sneaking off?”
Frolic giggled and cuddled closer to Querry, while Reg looked up at him with wide eyes and a wry smile tugging at his lips. “You’re out of your mind. With everything going on, that’s what you’re thinking about? I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. I know where you keep your brain by now, after all.”
Querry leaned down and covered Reg’s lips with his own. “Is that a no?”
Reg, already coloring, shook his head. “Not a no. I suppose there’s nothing really happening just now, anyway.”
Frolic kissed the back of Reg’s hand, then Querry led them both to the mouth of the corridor.
“WE HAVE to be quiet,” Reg panted as Querry tore his trouser flap open and gripped his erect cock greedily, possessively.
Querry made a grunt of acknowledgement before he sucked the skin of Reg’s throat between his teeth and pushed Reg’s foreskin back. He pressed Reg to the wall of the narrow corridor they occupied as he fondled Reg’s fat, swollen cockhead and slick, leaking slit. Reg’s sweat tasted divine, and so did Frolic’s lips when Frolic caught Querry’s long hair and turned his face to kiss him. Reg thrust into the tunnel Querry’s fingers formed around his flesh, clawing at Querry’s hair, while Frolic ground his erection against Querry’s hip as he worked the buckles of Querry’s leather waistcoat loose. Already the closeness, hot, damp air, and his arousal had Querry coated in perspiration. Querry pulled away from them just long enough to shrug off his armored vest.
Reg grasped Frolic by the hips and pulled him close, kissing him so hard their teeth scraped together. Frolic yanked Reg’s shirttails free of his waistband and plunged his hands beneath Reg’s linen and leather to knead the flesh of his chest. Reg cupped Frolic’s ass and urged Frolic tighter against his belly and groin. Both of them circled their hips, rubbing their cocks together as they nipped and suckled each other’s heated skin, their breath growing erratic.
Querry hurried out of his clothes and left them scattered over the floor. As much as he enjoyed watching Reg and Frolic together, at this rate, with the urgency and need they showed, they’d satisfy themselves before he ever got a chance to join in the fun. With a low moan, he gripped his erection at the base just as Frolic brushed Reg’s shirt from his shoulders. Bloody hell, Reg had really toned up since coming to the jungle. His wiry muscles bulged and rippled as he wound his arms around Frolic. Querry had never imagined seeing Reg as he was now, with his long, sun-bleached hair, thick stubble, and taut, powerful body. Damn, he was beautiful, so strong and aggressively male, but still possessed of his gentle nature and quick wit. Frolic, of course, looked the same as ever as Reg peeled away his layers of clothing: flawlessly pale, perfectly proportioned, eternally adolescent, ideal in every way.
As soon as he got himself naked, Querry hurried to join his lovers. He pried them apart to take his place between them, pressing his palms to their ribs to push both of their backs against the wall. They joined hands as they stood side by side, allowing Querry to explore their bodies with his hands and mouth. He dropped to his knees, fondling Reg’s full sac as he sucked Frolic’s cock into his mouth. In minutes he brought Frolic to climax, and Frolic’s knees knocked together as he gripped Querry’s hair with one hand and reached for Reg with the other. As they kissed, Reg swallowed Frolic’s cries of bliss. Querry turned his attention to Reg, hoping to show him the same pleasure, but his lovers had other ideas.
Reg and Frolic both turned and pressed their chests against the cool stone. They reached down and touched each other’s erections, sliding their fingers up and down each other’s hard flesh and turning their heads to kiss. Still on his knees, Querry burrowed his nose into Reg’s cleft while he massaged the lithe crescent of Frolic’s ass. Reg stepped to the side to open his legs, and Querry pressed his face between Reg’s cheeks, his tongue seeking out and finding Reg’s clenching, wrinkled rosette. As he ran the tip around the rim of Reg’s opening, Querry imagined plunging deep inside him, feeling the familiar sensation of Reg’s muscles hugging his cock. He wriggled his tongue inside Reg as his fingers found Frolic’s opening and eased it open. Both of them moaned with need and muttered encouragements as they pushed back against Querry. When he could take no more, Querry got to his feet, ready to explode with the feelings these men inspired in him.
“I want to fuck you,” he mumbled, staring down at both their asses arched forward in offering. “Both of you. Fuck, I wish I had two cocks.”
Frolic looked over his shoulder and grinned at Querry, managing to look seductive, wanton, and innocent all at the same time. “I’m sure you’ll manage, Querry.”
Frolic licked his lips, making them glisten in the low light, his gaze met Querry’s, and Querry was lost. He spit into his palm, rubbed the moisture over his throbbing, almost painful erection, and seized Frolic by the hips. He crossed his arms over Frolic’s chest as he thrust into him, pushing past any resistance, desperate to be deep within him. Frolic cried out in a mélange of pain and pleasure as he spread his legs and leaned further forward, his back almost parallel to the floor. Reg pumped his cock and kissed his shoulder as Querry plowed into him, trying to be gentle but too aroused to control his frantic movements. Frolic cried out rhythmically with his release, his muscles clamping down on Querry’s cock and his cheek pressed against the wall. Both Querry and Reg wound their arms around his waist to support him as he fell apart, once, and then again seconds later.
Frolic’s flesh clung to Querry as he pulled out, as if reluctant to let him go. Querry missed his tight heat as soon as he left it, but he wanted his Reggie, his first love, the first man he’d ever been inside. He wanted his Reg to tremble with bliss and abandon from his touch, as he’d done years ago, before they were even grown men. Querry raked his nails lightly down Reg’s sweaty back. He’d never tire of the feel of Reg’s soft skin, now a rich, enticing bronze dotted with freckles. He bent to run his tongue up Reg’s spine and savor the taste of his arousal.
“Reggie, f
uck—”
“Please,” Reg whispered, opening his thighs in invitation. As Frolic had, he looked over his shoulders with his eyes glazed and his lids heavy. His needy expression, full of lust and devotion, devastated Querry as Frolic’s had.
Querry couldn’t think or speak and only whimpered as he nodded. He sank back to his knees and ran his tongue along Reg’s cleft to get him moist and ready. With his eyes closed, he listened to the sensuous sound of Frolic kissing, licking, and nipping along Reg’s taut belly and up the sides of his waist. Reg giggled as Frolic grazed the ticklish spot above his hip. His laughter, and Frolic’s resulting chuckle, made their bodies tremble delightfully. Querry mopped his chin with the back of his hand as he stood up. Reg bent at the waist, but Querry caught his hand and gently turned him around. He raked the overlong fringe out of Reggie’s face and kissed him softly.
“God, Reggie, you’re just as beautiful as the first day I saw you. I’ve loved you since then. I don’t deserve either of you.”
“Querry, that’s not true,” Frolic whispered.
Reg just told Querry to shut up, kissed him, wrapped his leg around Querry’s waist, and guided Querry’s cock to where he wanted it. Incredible heat and pressure surrounded Querry as Reg shuddered at the penetration. Querry seized his other thigh and lifted him off his feet, pressing into him and pushing his back against the wall.
“Oh, my love,” Reg panted. “You… you’re just the most alluring, passionate, incredible man… I… I can’t tell you how I feel, you or Frolic. I’m so happy. So… good. I want more. I want this forever.”
“Forever,” Frolic said, pressing his lips to the corners of Querry and Reg’s, all three of them kissing, opening their mouths and twining their tongues together.
Querry, reaching the limits of his endurance, lowered Reg to the floor, careful not to separate from his body. He paused in his movements, not quite ready to end their union, and just looked down at Reg’s flushed, sparkling skin. “Beauty,” Querry said, “there’s still one thing we’ve never done together. I want to do everything with the two of you. Do you want that, Frolic?”
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