by Lina Langley
Jesse swallowed and glanced at his phone. “Ouch.”
“Silence,” Taln said, his voice ringing. “You will not speak of things you know nothing of.”
, startled. Then he put the back of his hand over his mouth and bit his finger, trying to contain his laughter.
“I apologize, brother.”
She always called him that. Jesse wondered why she never used his name, but it wasn’t like he could just ask her that.
“You will do as you are told,” Taln said quietly.
“Yes,” Salisei replied.
They were both quiet for a minute.
Jesse stood up. “That must be her. I think I just heard her park.”
* * *
Once Salisei and Rayne were out the door, Jesse opened his mouth to say something, but couldn’t. He wanted to talk about their conversation the night before but bringing it up seemed weird now, especially after Taln’s angry outburst.
Despite defending him, Jesse thought the girl was probably right. He seemed to have caused Taln nothing but pain and frustration. How much Taln liked him didn’t matter if all he ever did was upset him.
He put a hand on his chest as he felt the pressure building on it.
It had been ages since he had felt a panic attack coming on and he definitely didn’t want Taln to be around and see him freak out for no reason. Definitely not when it wasn’t something he could actually explain.
He got up and walked over to the bathroom. When he put his hand on the knob, it was trembling slightly. Taln frowned.
Jesse forced himself to smile. “Shower.”
Taln’s frown deepened but he nodded. Jesse looked away from him, took a deep breath and opened the door to the bathroom. He leaned on the sink and closed his eyes, trying to count to ten as he took deep breathes.
Jesse checked his reflection. There was still some discoloration around his nostrils, a little swelling on his right cheekbone. He opened his mouth and looked at his crowns. They weren’t permanent and they looked weird in his mouth.
Jon had chipped a front tooth and broken another one in half. Jesse had thought that being in the hospital was painful, but getting dental work done while his face was still healing had been a lot worse.
He didn’t want to think about it. He didn’t want to think about anything. He turned the tap on, took his shirt off and started to undo the buttons on his jeans. It wouldn’t take him enough time to get undressed that the water would be hot enough when he stepped inside, but it would be fine. He didn’t need warm water. He just needed not to think about anything for a little while.
He stepped inside the shower. He was more light-headed than he thought, and for a second, he wondered if he was going to pull the shower curtain down by tugging on it to steady himself.
He leaned against the tiled wall and closed his eyes, letting the lukewarm water wash over his skin and focusing on the sound it made when it hit off the tub. He didn’t hear the door opening or Taln moving the shower curtain aside.
He only opened his eyes when he heard his name being called.
* * *
Jesse set his gaze on Taln, frowning. He wasn’t sure what to make of his sudden appearance in the bathroom or of the fact that he didn’t seem to be speaking at all.
First, into his eyes, then he lowered his gaze, a smile dawning on his face as he did so.
Jesse could feel himself blushing. “Hello?”
“Hello,” Taln replied.
Jesse smiled at him. “What do you think you’re doing? You can’t just barge into the bathroom when people are showering.”
Taln nodded. “I considered that.”
“You considered it?”
“Yes,” Taln said. “I considered it.”
Jesse shook his head. “But you decided against it.”
“Yes.”
“Right. Well, you’re getting the floor soaked, so—”
“Oh,” Taln said. He took his shirt off and unbuttoned his jeans, letting them fall on the wet floor. He paused for a second. “Do you want me to join you?”
Jesse smiled at him. It sounded forced coming from Taln, but he appreciated the effort, and using the same words that he had used when they had first been together. “I think I would like that, yes.”
He had barely gotten the words out when Taln’s hands were on him. Taln put his hand on the back of Jesse’s head and kissed him. His lips were soft and warm against Jesse’s, who could feel Taln’s quickening breath on his nose.
Jesse kissed him back. He wrapped his arms around Taln before he was quite aware that he had done so, pressing his body against him, feeling the heat coming off Taln’s skin. He moved his face away from Taln, taking a moment to catch his breath.
“Wait, Taln,” Jesse said, panting. “Wait. Are you sure about this?”
A smile dawned on Taln's face. “Yes.”
“Really?”
“I don’t think I’ve ever been more certain of anything,” Taln replied, licking his lower lip. He kissed Jesse again before he could say anything in reply, his lips soft and warm before his tongue went exploring the inside of his mouth. Jesse closed his eyes and enjoyed the long, drawn out kiss, digging his fingers into Taln’s wet back. He traced his hand over Taln’s sculpted muscles, wondering for a second how much he actually worked out.
He could feel Taln’s hand slowly moving downward from his shoulder down his arm, until Taln’s hands was holding his, their fingers interlocking.
Taln moved his face away from Jesse’s and smiled at him again. Jesse looked into his bright, shining eyes and found himself smiling back at him. Taln put his lips on his neck and kissed him, slowly, all over his body, until he was finally on his knees in front of him.
Jesse looked down, stroking the top of Taln’s head, letting his fingers run through his beautiful fine hair. He let out a gasp as Taln wrapped his mouth around him. His grip around Taln’s hair strengthened and his breathing quickened.
It wasn’t like Taln was an expert at what he was doing—in fact, it was an inexperienced, sloppy attempt—but he had wanted it so much, for so long, that he was having to think about something else, anything else, to stretch the moment.
“Hold on,” he mumbled.
Taln stopped what he was doing, looking up at Jesse with questioning eyes. “Don’t you like this?”
Jesse laughed. “No. I really like this.”
Taln frowned.
“Get up,” Jesse said.
Taln got to his feet. Jesse kissed him on the lips again, nibbling on his lower lip slightly, playfully, before he moved away.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” Jesse said. “This is great. Everything is great. I just need a minute.”
Taln nodded. “Jesse?”
“Hm?”
Taln took a deep breath before he spoke, closing his eyes as he did so. “This is what I want.”
“You can’t—”
“I do know that,” Taln replied, his eyes narrowing. “I can know that. I know you don’t believe me but—”
“It’s not that I don’t believe you,” Jesse replied.
“I want you to feel how you made me feel,” Taln said. “I want to show you how much I want you.”
Jesse shook his head. “You don’t have to do this.”
“I know I don’t have to do it,” Taln replied, smiling. “I want this, Jesse.”
He took a step forward and kissed Jesse again, putting his hands up against the wall, his arms on each side of Jesse’s neck. He pressed his body against Jesse. Jesse kissed him back, holding onto Taln’s hips.
“You should get that,” Jesse said, moving his face away from Taln’s mouth and pointing to a bottle of conditioner that had fallen into the floor of the shower.
Taln knelt down to grab it, looking up at Jesse as he did so. He took Jesse in, leaning, naked and aroused, and couldn’t help but smile. Despite the last few bruises and cuts left on his skin, he was even better looking than when Taln had arrived a
nd first set eyes on him. He didn’t really understand why every time he looked at Jesse, he seemed to be even better-looking.
Jesse opened his eyes and smiled back at him. Taln wrapped his mouth around Jesse’s erection again, watching Jesse close his eyes and moan.
“Wait,” he said. “Get on your feet.”
Taln did as he was told, grabbing onto to Jesse’s hand to steady himself as he did so, and holding on to the bottle of conditioner with his other hand. Taln's eyes widened as he remembered the first time they’d been together. It was in bed, obviously, and the bottle Jesse had used beforehand had been different, but he understood. He was getting even more aroused just thinking about it, something he didn’t even think was possible beforehand.
Jesse’s eyes twinkled, a mischievous smile on his face. “This is what you want, right?”
“Yes,” Taln replied. “Turn around.”
Jesse laughed. “Okay, just like, use a lot, alright?”
“Okay,” Taln replied. Jesse could hear him fumbling with the bottle of conditioner.
“Hurry up, though,” Jesse said.
“Why?” Taln replied, a smile in his voice. “I thought you said you needed a minute.”
Jesse laughed. “You’re such a jerk.”
“You like me,” Taln said.
“I do like you. I like you a lot.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” Jesse said. “Do you need me to tell how much?”
“That could help speed this up, yes.”
“Wow.”
“You said that part of the fun was waiting,” Taln said. “That’s what you told me.”
Jesse laughed. “Yes, I’m sorry to say I do remember that.”
“You made me beg.”
“I made you ask nicely,” Jesse replied.
“I’m making you ask nicely,” Taln said, putting his hands on Jesse’s waist and pressing his erection against Jesse’s ass.
“Please,” Jesse said. “I want you inside of me.”
“Okay,” Taln replied. He thrust his dick inside of Jesse, who moaned and threw his head back. Taln tried to catch his breath before he spoke into Jesse’s ear. “Do you see now? Do you see how much I want you?”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Salisei looked at her reflection.
Her clothes were so strange. She was wearing a long black tunic that went down to her knees and gray leggings. Rayne had asked her if she wanted to get a haircut. She didn’t. She had consented to having it braided and pinned to the top of her head in an attempt to make it less noticeable.
Not that it had stopped people from staring at her.
Rayne had asked her a lot of questions. She had answered as politely as she could, though she hadn’t exactly been thorough. She didn’t trust Rayne. She didn’t trust anyone that would talk Taln into staying somewhere that he didn’t belong.
Taln.
Why was he acting so strange?
She had come to fetch him, to save him. He didn’t seem to be interested in it. Whatever strange magic this world had, it seemed to have changed him. The brother she knew would have never allowed anything like that to happen. She was aware that she wasn’t able to use her magic in this world, and not having come of age, her ability to do any was limited even inside the Citadel.
The door opened and Jesse and Taln walked in. They were smiling at each other. Salisei couldn’t actually place the expression on their faces. It was certainly not one she’d ever seen on Taln’s face, a result of this world’s powerful magic, to be sure. She wondered if Taln knew how dangerous Jesse was. Of course he didn’t know.
He was lost in whatever Jesse’s spell was.
Jesse. So good-looking and so charming. And so dangerous. Taln was so lost in whatever Jesse was doing that he had been short with her. Taln was a good, compassionate brother, and she thought it may have been the first time he had ever raised his voice at her.
“Hello,” Jesse said, smiling at her. “You look nice.”
She nodded. Taln narrowed his eyes.
“Thank you,” she whispered through gritted teeth.
“You’re welcome,” Jesse said, biting his lower lip, trying to stop himself from smiling. “We brought you food. Do you like soup?”
“You’ll like it,” he said, smiling at her. She felt a pull at the corners of her mouth.
* * *
“Spoons are easier than forks,” Jesse said to Taln when they were clearing the dining table.
Taln smirked before he looked at his sister. “So did you like it?”
“Yes,” Salisei said. “It was fine.”
Jesse sighed. “Well, you two obviously need some time to talk, so I’m going to leave you to it.”
Jesse walked into the bedroom and closed the door. Taln exhaled and went to sit next to Salisei.
It was the first time they had been alone ever since she had arrived to fetch him. In truth, he didn’t want to be alone with her and he had avoided it as much as he could. He had already told her he wanted to stay. She had told him that she had come to save him, but save him from what, exactly? There was nothing he needed saving from. If anything, Jesse needed him here.
Yet he worried about her. Being alone in the Citadel couldn’t be pleasant. Her experience here didn’t seem to be much better, though. She seemed terrified all the time.
He waited for her to speak, to explain herself. She didn’t say anything.
“The food here is good,” Taln said, breaking the silence.
Salisei exhaled. “Yes.”
He put his hand on top of hers. She was cold.
“Sali,” he said quietly. He only called her that when they were children. She hated it then and she probably hated it now. “Why are you here?”
“For you,” she replied. “I’m here to take you home. The Conjurer—she showed me what’s happening to you. I could feel how much pain you were in. I was brought here so I could stop it.”
“You were brought here?”
“I begged The Mage to bring me to you,” Salisei said. “I pleaded with her. Now you won’t listen. Your punishment is over and I can take you back. You don’t appear to be interested.”
“I’m not.”
“Why? You were never in pain there. “If you—if you stay here, Isocrice said you might always feel like that. You have served your sentence and now you can come home. You belong in the Citadel, brother.”
Taln put his face in his hands. “I don’t know what the council was doing, but this isn’t punishment.”
“It’s not?”
“No,” he said. “It’s not.”
“What is it, then?”
The tone of her voice startled both of them. It was sharp and accusatory. She didn’t think she had ever spoken to him—actually, to anyone—like that before.
“I don’t know,” Taln replied. “I fear my vocabulary is rather limited when it comes to describing what actually occurs in this realm.”
“I must understand.”
“Of course,” he said. He outstretched his clenched hand, setting his gaze on his fingers. “I suppose I would compare it to magic.”
“You’d compare it to magic?”
“Yes. How I feel, in this realm, when I’m—I’m just sitting around and I’m not doing anything here, when Jesse is around me—”
“He put a spell on you,” she interrupted him.
He laughed, shaking his head. “He didn’t. Even when I’m not around him. It’s like when we do magic back home, but different. You don’t just feel it through your bloodstream, you feel it everywhere.”
“So it’s magic. Powerful magic.”
“I suppose so,” he said. “Like magic. But better.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
Jesse was sitting up in bed when Taln came in. He was looking at his phone with a frown on his face. His expression softened when he saw Taln, but not by a lot.
“How did it go?”
“She remains unconvinced,” Taln replied.
“Sorry,” he said. “She’s a teenager. Teenagers are stubborn. She’ll probably come around.”
“I hope,” Taln said. Jesse watched him take off his shirt and throw it on the floor. “Are you tired?”
Jesse shook his head. “Why? Did you have plans?”
“Tentative plans.”
He smiled at Jesse, biting his lower lip. Jesse could feel himself blushing. He wondered when the last time he had blushed was before meeting Taln. Now it felt like he was constantly doing it.
“Tentative plans?”
“If you have time,” Taln said.
Jesse rolled his eyes, his smile widening. “I do have time. We kind of have to talk about something, though. Come here.”
Taln sat down next to Jesse and waited for him to speak.
“Look, I don’t mind you staying with me. And your sister, she’s your family, so she’s always welcome here. I’m kind of struggling, though.”
Taln raised his eyebrows.
“You know. Financially,” Jesse said. “Even taking into account Rayne and Peter’s help, I’m running out of money this month already and it’s only the seventeenth.”
Taln cocked his head. “Money?”
Jesse chuckled and nodded. “Of course you don’t know what that is. Fuck, how do I explain money to someone? Okay, so, everything costs money. You exchange money to get goods or services. Like this bed, it costs money, alright? And staying in this apartment, that costs money. And using the electricity and water, that costs money too. It’s currency. You know what currency is, right?”
“Something in use,” Taln said.
“Okay, no, forget I said that. Right. So everything I do, it costs money. Everything you do, it costs money. Everything your sister does, that costs money too. Except I only have enough money to support myself, you know, barely. And now I have to pay for you and for your sister too.”
“Can you get some more, um, money?”
Jesse laughed again. “It’s not magic. I have to work for it. Or grovel, that one works too.”
“Grovel?”
“Yes. And that’s the last thing I want to do. Rayne and Peter have already helped us so much. I know they have the means but it’s not really cool to ask them to look after us like that. Money is hard to come by, Taln, unless you’re really lucky. Do you understand what I’m saying?”