“My duty is currently sitting in my lap and giving me cramp. Move a little, will you?”
Kei grinned and obeyed, sensing he was forgiven. He decided it was best not to conceal any more from Arman. “There’s something else. He’s asked Seya if you could pass your sentence working for him, not Ai-Darbin. She’s agreed, if you want to do it that way.”
He felt Arman getting really angry now, and regretted bringing it up. “I won’t allow you to suffer for Meki’s ambition and that’s final. I’ll write to both of them and explain. Seya said she would wait, and so she can.”
Kei nodded. “Only...Arman, what if you did go to Darshek for six months? It’s not like I don’t have good reasons to go there myself, and the village is well-provided for now with healers, or it will be on Myka’s return.”
Arman looked at him in surprise. “You want me to accept?”
“I’m saying I don’t object if you choose to work for Meki, not Seya. We both know you could do more good in Darshek than in Ai-Darbin, and their village doesn’t need another labourer. They need more people to move there, but that’s being encouraged from the south anyway.”
“Hmmm. Let me think on it, and let’s talk more. Don’t let Meki or Seya push you around. I’m just one person, skilled at destruction. You’ve saved many lives. You’re more useful to Darshian than I am, I feel.”
“Lord Meki has another view on that.”
“Lord Meki’s not sitting in my lap.”
Kei grinned. “And are we not all thankful for that? All right, I’ve told you about it, and you can think about it. I do want to go back to Darshek at some point—we have friends there, and I was talking to Jena about the library just today. If we can get Lord Meki good and grateful, I think I can exploit that.”
Arman looked at him in surprise. “Well, aren’t you the little general too? My little boy is all grown up.”
Kei splashed him. “Little nothing, you great hairy bastard. A couple of inches difference and suddenly you think you’re so much bigger and better than me.”
“Hmmm, maybe bigger,” Arman said, grinning.
Kei rolled his eyes. “I’ve created a monster. Five months ago, you wouldn’t have given a damn about your penis size, and now you bring it up all the time.”
“So to speak,” Arman said, kissing him again. Kei took a little time over responding, enjoying Arman’s freshly cleaned mouth, and even his slight bristle was now familiar, enjoyable. “If you keep that up, bath or no bath, we’ll end up having sex here.”
“Myka’s away.”
“Yes, but it’s the principle of the thing. Besides.... I like falling asleep with you afterwards. If I have to wake up, dry off, and then go to bed, I suspect it will spoil things.”
Kei shook his head in disgust. “You’re so incredibly logical. I thought I’d cured you of it when it came to making love.”
“I’m sorry. Some things are too ingrained, and besides I’ve got cramp again. Move.”
Sighing, Kei admitted defeat and got out of the bath. It wasn’t the most practical place in the world and it was considered very rude, but just once.... “You don’t even think about the fact I might not be in the mood once I dry off and go upstairs, do you?”
Arman just laughed at him. “You’re always in the mood. Even Reji isn’t as eager as you.”
“Oh, yes, and what do you know about Reji’s eagerness?”
“Jena’s very forthcoming. Of course, she expects a similar level of openness from me.”
Kei stared at him in horror. “You don’t...you do...you don’t, do you?”
Arman grinned in what Kei considered to be a very annoying manner. “Hurry up. I want to go to bed all warm and relaxed.”
Kei considered telling him to sleep in the bath, but the possibility of sex outweighed the need to punish his irritating lover. Sex with Arman would outweigh a good deal more irritation than Kei was feeling, which was very little in truth. He was more glad than anything to see Arman a little playful, confident about sex and relaxed about it too. He was more relaxed about a lot of things, and any lingering doubts Kei might have occasionally had about whether enticing Arman from his home was wrong, disappeared every time he saw Arman laughing with Jena and Reji, talking seriously to Fedor, or working intently on one of Vikis’s new wagons, tongue stuck through his teeth in concentration as he wrestled a joint into position. Arman’s heart was less burdened every day, and those who loved him—and now there were more than Kei included in that number—rejoiced to see it.
Kei lit the bedroom lamps and climbed onto the bed. Arman, sitting cross-legged, insisted on unbraiding Kei’s hair and combing it out before carefully remaking the plait, obviously enjoying the task. Kei, who was always happy to be pampered, felt his heart slow as he reacted to the gentle grooming. “I still don’t know why yours is so much longer than anyone else’s,” Arman murmured. “Reji’s seven years older and his is shorter. It makes no sense.”
“It depends on luck, and Reji has to trim the ends off more than I do. The beasts tend to chew it,” he said.
“Oh, that sounds unpleasant.”
“Better the braid than your hand. If they try to chew on yours, they’ll break their teeth.”
Arman gave his hair a tug. “Are you saying I have coarse hair?”
“No—it’s just thick and curly. Jena thinks it’s pretty. I’ll have to keep an eye on that woman. She spends too much time admiring your finer points.”
Arman finished the braid and pulled Kei back against him. “Jena is a wonderful woman who holds absolutely no attraction for me at all. I don’t even notice other people when I’m around you.”
Kei twisted and grinned in Arman’s face. “Gods, you don’t really think I’m jealous, do you?”
Arman raised his eyebrows. “You sounded it.”
“I need to tease you a lot more so you get to know what the difference between it and reality is.”
Arman flicked Kei’s nose with the end of his own braid. “I don’t know if it’s possible for you to tease me more, you impossible boy. You spend every waking moment doing it now—you’d have to harass me in your sleep.”
“Boy?” Kei said, grabbing Arman’s hand and putting it around his cock. “Does that feel like a boy to you?”
Arman stroked Kei’s erection with a skilled movement which made him jerk with pleasure. “No—but that mouth of yours is as bratty as it comes.” He cupped Kei’s head with his free hand and pulled him close, so that he could kiss him. Kei closed his eyes and lost himself in the feel of Arman’s lips, the taste of his mouth. Arman was a very good kisser, and very dedicated to practicing his new skill. Kei liked that in a lover—dedication, that was.
“Can I have you tonight?” Arman breathed.
“Thought you were tired and sore?”
“Mmmm, a bit, but I want to be inside you.”
Kei had no problem with that at all. He reached for the pot of cream they kept in the bedroom for this and handed it to Arman, then lay down on his stomach, anticipating the pleasure of preparation as much as the sex itself. He loved being touched and played with, and Arman was always gentle and patient, not to mention admirably thorough. He didn’t like the kind of boisterous sex Reji did, but Kei didn’t mind. The concentration Arman brought to bear in lovemaking made Kei feel like he was the centre of Arman’s universe, literally the most important thing in it—exhilarating to experience. He shivered as Arman’s hands spread him, and a cool, slick finger stroked lightly over his entrance, spreading the cream over him as Arman bent and kissed the back of Kei’s neck, pushing the braid aside and licking his skin just at the hairline. Kei sighed and bared his neck a little more—Arman knew all his pleasure areas now, and found them unfailingly. Kei had Arman pretty well mapped too, but on nights like this, Arman liked to be in charge, taking his time stretching Kei and loving him slowly. He never liked to be rushed.
Arman’s finger entered him, and massaged him a little. Kei smiled, knowing this would take a whil
e and loving every moment of it. Arman had long, agile fingers and had learned how to use them to pleasure Kei in exquisite detail. Kei cried out a little as the finger stroked over his prostate, gently, but still sending delightful ripples through his groin. It grew even more intense as Arman bit his shoulder a little, the dull, deep sensation mingling deliciously with the more powerful ones radiating out from his lower parts. “Gods, Arman....”
Arman reached under him and wrapped a hand around Kei’s trapped erection—it was almost unbearably pleasurable, being touched in three such different ways, at three different points, the raw desire racking up in him like a rising wave.
“Oh, I’ll come, don’t!” he cried softly, twisting in helpless delight, trying to get more of the different sensations and not knowing which to beg for first.
Arman’s hand on his cock eased off, and Kei could relax again. The careful nibbles turned to licks, long delightful strokes of his skin. He turned his head—all he could really see was the top of Arman’s golden head, the dark damp hair already drying and brightening into the astonishing colour that was uniquely Arman’s. “Please,” he whispered. “Now?”
Arman looked up. “Are you ready?”
“Mmmm. Wait—let me.”
Arman removed his finger and Kei sat up. He got some cream on his fingers and curled them around Arman’s erection, as he leaned in for another deep, languid kiss. Arman’s lust and need radiated from him, but over all of it was the love, always there, always so strong, powerful as a drug. “Lie back.”
“But—”
“Shhh. Lie back.”
Arman’s brief irritation disappeared once he obeyed, and Kei swung himself so he was sitting over Arman’s body. “You’ve been working so hard, I thought I could do the work tonight.”
Arman smiled. “I’ve no object...ion...oh....” The ‘oh’ was because Kei had eased Arman’s cock inside him and then seated himself. Kei sighed too—Arman had such a nice cock to be fucked with. “You just like to be in control.”
Kei grinned. “You’ve guessed it...oh...oh!” Arman had put a slippery hand around Kei’s erection and done something quite evil as he stroked it which sent a bolt of pleasure through him. “You bastard,” he panted.
“How romantic,” Arman said dryly. “Are you just going to sit there cursing me, you lazy child?”
Kei rose a little. “You’re obsessed with my age, you know that? Can I help it if you’re—” He lowered himself and Arman’s eyes crossed a little. “—just—” He rode Arman in earnest and Arman cried out in pleasure. “—so damn elderly?”
“You talk too much,” Arman growled and got revenge by pumping Kei’s cock with such skill and energy, Kei lost concentration and rhythm, almost forgetting to keep moving on Arman’s cock, until Arman tugged on his braid and brought him out of his lust-induced stupor.
It was a contest then who could drive the other more wild with desire, Arman cheating by toying with Kei’s nipples in a frankly ungentlemanly manner, but Kei was too lost in the pleasure his teasing, tweaking fingers created to complain, too absorbed in the happiness he felt from Arman to care.
Arman came before he did, and then redoubled his sneak attacks on Kei’s helpless body, sitting up with his cock still inside Kei so that he could take a firm hold of him and stroke his erection to climax while plundering his mouth.
Kei yelled as he came, and then had to cling helplessly to his lover’s broad chest, panting with exhaustion and spent desire, as his body tingled with the last pleasurable shocks of his completion.
Arman kept kissing him, on the lips, on the cheek and forehead, as Kei came back to himself. Then Kei punched him feebly on the arm. “You bastard. I was supposed to be taking care of you.”
Arman chuckled. “You’re not the only one who likes to be in control.” He kissed Kei’s forehead again. “That was pretty good though.”
“‘Pretty good’? You’re getting spoiled, I think. Oh, I can’t move,” he groaned.
“You relax. I think I’ve recovered enough to find the cloth.”
He shifted Kei off him and made him lie down, then padded off to the basin for a damp cloth to clean them both with. Kei suffered the attentions because he was too sated and limp to do anything else, but when Arman finished and came back to lie against him, he found the energy to pull him close. “Not bad for an old man...ow!” He rubbed his slapped bottom and pouted. “Well, it wasn’t.”
“I’ll put you to work on that wagon we’re building and see who cries for mercy first, you horrible boy.” Arman closed his eyes in contentment. “This is why I like to make love in bed,” he said sleepily. “Who wants to move afterwards?”
“Hmmm, good point.” Kei snuggled closer as Arman put his arms around him in a warm, comfortable embrace. “You know, I don’t think I care where I live any more, so long as it’s with you.”
“We don’t need to talk about this now.”
“I know. I’m just saying it.” Arman stroked his braid, almost a ritual for him, something that gave him a strange amount of pleasure. Kei loved feeling the contentment rolling off his lover as he did it. “I wish I hadn’t been so afraid of living in Utuk with you. I could have been with you sooner. I’m such a coward.”
Arman kissed him again and then looked into Kei’s eyes. “You’re the bravest man I know. Utuk wasn’t about me. Utuk was about losing your family, your friends, all you had suffered. I was amazed you could allow yourself to set foot in it again.”
“But it was also you, and Karus—”
“Not enough. I would never have asked it of you. Stop feeling guilty. It’s unnecessary and foolish. And you still talk too much,” he said with a wry smile. “Go to sleep and stop fretting. We’ve both given the world enough of ourselves, it can wait for our attention a little longer.”
“Yes,” Kei said with a peaceful sigh. The world would not wait forever, but it didn’t need to intrude tonight. All the world he needed was right here holding him tenderly, love for him shining in astonishingly blue eyes.
And for now, in this time and in this place, he was completely content.
~~~~~
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Chapter : Darshian 1
Chapter : Darshian 2
Chapter : Darshian 3
Chapter : Darshian 4
Chapter : Darshian 5
Chapter : Darshian 6
Chapter : Darshian 7
Chapter : Darshian 8
Chapter : Darshian 9
Chapter : Darshian 10
Chapter : Utuk 1
Chapter : Utuk 2
Chapter : Utuk 3
Chapter : Utuk 4
Chapter : Utuk 5
Chapter : Utuk 6
Chapter : Utuk 7
Chapter : Utuk 8
Chapter : Utuk 9
Chapter : Utuk 10
Chapter : Return to Darshian 1
Chapter : Return to Darshian 2
Chapter : Return to Darshian 3
Chapter : Return to Darshian 4
Chapter : Return to Darshian 5
Chapter : Return to Darshian 6
Chapter : Return to Darshian 7
Chapter : Return to Darshian 8
Chapter : Return to Darshian 9
Chapter : Return to Darshian 10
Chapter : Return to Darshian 11
Chapter : Darshek 1
Chapter : Darshek 2
Chapter : Darshek 3
Chapter : Darshek 4
Chapter : Darshek 5
Chapter : Darshek 6
Chapter : Darshek 7
Chapter : Darshek 8
Chapter : Darshek 9
Chapter : Darshek 10
&nb
sp; Chapter : Darshek 11
Chapter : Darshek 12
Chapter : Darshek 13
Chapter : Darshek 14
Chapter : Darshek 15
Chapter : Epilogue
Kei's Gift Page 93