by Jade Astor
Elven Conceptions 1
Lyrion’s Gift
Elven Prince Regent Talek has a problem. The duties of his office require that he father a son and royal heir, but he has no interest in either marriage or the females of his kind. When he hears the legend of a strange race of elves in which the males can bear children, he is determined to claim one of them as his mate.
Unfortunately, he soon discovers that getting what he wants will not be as easy as he imagined. Lyrion, the man his soldiers deliver to him, conceives a son and immediately begins to long for the comforts of his own village. Then there is the prince’s longtime concubinus, Kevris, who is not exactly thrilled about the newcomer and is skeptical of the king’s suggestion that all three of them raise the child together. Talek must convince both his lovers that the growing passion between them will be enough to create a happy, though unusual, royal family.
Genre: Alternative (M/M or F/F), Fantasy, Ménage a Trois/Quatre
Length: 20,555 words
LYRION’S GIFT
Elven Conceptions 1
Jade Astor
MENAGE AMOUR
MANLOVE
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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IMPRINT: Ménage Amour ManLove
LYRION’S GIFT
Copyright © 2012 by Jade Astor
E-book ISBN: 978-1-62241-400-0
First E-book Publication: September 2012
Cover design by Harris Channing
All cover art and logo copyright © 2012 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
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DEDICATION
For my friends Hanna Hart and Diana Sheridan, great writers and great friends as well…and they aren’t even spiders!
LYRION’S GIFT
Elven Conceptions 1
JADE ASTOR
Copyright © 2012
Chapter 1
Prince Talek, Regent of Mavra, the Forest of Shades, and the Four Elven Territories, strode into the council chamber and assumed his place at the head of the long table. His ministers, who had risen and bowed their heads as he entered, took their seats a moment after he did.
Kevris, his concubinus, followed him into the room but did not take a chair for himself. Instead, he remained standing just behind the prince’s right shoulder, his hands clasped behind his back. The brief, diaphanous garment Kevris wore displayed every inch of his body to the members of the council, including the glistening strand of fine jewels he kept wrapped around the base of his cock. He needed only sway his hips a bit to make the dangling jewels clack, and he did so the moment Talek opened his mouth to address his ministers. The prince glanced back to offer a silent reprimand, which Kevris met with the usual half smirk on his face. The council members knew better than to betray their distaste for the concubinus’s antics, but Talek could read it in their narrowed eyes and compressed lips nonetheless.
He turned to Lord Qath first, fixing him with a stare that made his minister’s round, florid face blush an even deeper shade of red. “Well? Have you completed the task I charged you with?”
“I have, my prince. The royal scribe finished his examination of the scroll just this afternoon. As we anticipated, it is most unlike anything he has ever encountered before. However, after much effort, he was able to decipher the majority of the text.”
Talek smashed a fist on the table. “I ordered you to have the entire scroll deciphered!”
Qath swallowed. “Fear not, my prince. We were able to transcribe all the pertinent passages. The honored lords here assembled can confirm that.”
“Indeed—I hope so, both for your sake and my scribe’s. Tell me, then—what has this mysterious, long-missing document revealed to us about the Hidden Ones? Have they confirmed that the old legends are true? Or were they simply superstitions held by our benighted ancestors, as you have been so quick to suggest?”
He looked around the table again, prompting several of the ministers to lower their own gazes again.
“We meant no disrespect, prince,” the Master of Learning offered in a strained voice. “’Tis our loyalty to you and to your royal father that prompted our honest speculation.”
“Understood.” Talek softened his tone. Now and again, it pleased him to watch such self-important but ultimately powerless men squirm. This time, he preferred to loosen their tongues. Even Kevris leaned closer with interest. Talek heard the jewels around his cock clatter. He ignored the corresponding lift it gave within his own codpiece. “So? Have these same honored lords reached a consensus?”
“We have, prince.” The Master of Learning cleared his throat. “Of course, we must remember that the scroll in question is of an antiquated character. The elven of those days had not our understanding of nature or the workings of men’s bodies. Where knowledge failed them, they substituted fantasy—”
“Enough of your honeyed talk!” Talek’s patience vanished. “Answer me once, and answer me true—do the scrolls speak of a race of elven in which the males can bear infants?”
“Yes, my prince.” Qath seemed to choke out the words. His face grew re
dder than ever. “The scroll does in fact speak of such things. However, even if it were true—”
“And the scroll itself is hardly proof,” the Master of Learning supplied.
“—The race described in the text disappeared into the Forest of Shades many hundreds of years ago. From that day to this, no one has made contact with them or seen any sign of their existence. It seems unlikely that they still survive.”
“Lord Qath speaks wisely,” Lord Cardaw, Master of the Royal Guard, spoke up, nodding. “Even if such men did once exist, it is possible that disease, famine, or war obliterated them long ago.”
Talek leaned back in his chair. He did not have to look over his shoulder to know that Kevris was scowling. He, like his council members, had good reason to wish the scroll false. “My father claimed the Forest of Shades as his own many years ago, but to this day it remains scarcely explored. It is quite possible there are wonders—and elven—there we cannot imagine.”
“The Forest is also full of danger,” Lord Rogin, his Master of Magic, reminded the group. “Evil spirits dwell in the trees, the streams, and even the rocks. Indeed, these childbearing elven may have shared the darkness with them.”
“Now who is relying on ignorance and superstition?” Talek could not hide his sneer. “Surely my Royal Guard will not be deterred by a few will-o’-the-wisps hovering around dead trees and fetid swamps. Lord Cardaw, you will prepare an expedition at once. Have them scour the forest until proof emerges either that these strange elven exist or are all long dead. And if they do in fact exist…I want one brought here without delay or fail. Is that clear?”
“Perfectly clear, my prince.” Lord Cardaw bowed his head in assent.
“The rest of you will assist his men in locating our quarry. Qath, have the scribe prepare copies of any sections of the scroll that might prove useful—references to landmarks and the like.”
“I shall, my prince.” Qath, too, dipped his shoulders in reverence. “Yet I feel I must speak further on the matter, with your permission of course.”
“Proceed.”
“I am sure I need not remind you that our king continues to suffer from ill health. Obviously he would be cheered to know that his line is secure. While we all understand the appeal of begetting an heir upon the sort of mate your lordship…prefers…it simply seems to me, my lord, advisable that we have a…contingency plan in place should these admirable efforts come to naught. I can easily compile a list of well-bred ladies with impeccable discretion—”
“Enough!” Talek’s fist came down on the table again, this time with far greater force. “Such talk will neither dissuade me nor convince me to take a female mate. With regard to my father, it is true that his mind and body are equally weak as of late. However, should some lamentable event occur, I do not intend to follow him from this world for many years to come. As regent, I have the authority to choose who shall bear my heir. The members of my council—and my household—will oppose me at their peril.”
This time, he did pause and look back at Kevris, who pressed his lips together and said nothing. The ministers around the table blushed and paled by turns, stumbling over their own words in their rush to affirm their fealty. Satisfied that he had made himself clear, Talek adjourned the meeting and exited the room in a forceful gesture, his long cape snapping behind him. Kevris hurried to catch up. The jeweled strand clacked between his legs.
“Can this really be true?” he asked as he struggled to keep up. “Could there be such a thing as an elven male who could supply you with an heir?”
“I cannot say for certain,” Talek said, pausing only long enough for the guards outside his chamber to open the heavy double doors and allow them inside. “The scrolls may lie, or they may provide the key to both my future and the future of this kingdom.”
“But how?” Kevris moved into the center of the prince’s spacious chamber, shedding his wispy garment as he did so. “Men cannot bear children to other men…though they can certainly satisfy plenty of their other needs.”
He stood with his legs apart, the strand of beads swinging back and forth between his thighs, pulling his cock to an even more erect position beside the reddish-gold tufts surrounding it. Talek recalled how intriguing he had once found Kevris’s thick mane of hair, both for its unusual color and for the way it coiled around his milky shoulders. Over the past year, though, the appeal of his concubinus had begun to fade somewhat. His petulant attitude, in particular, often grew wearisome. Still, his body remained outwardly attractive, and he was devoted to pleasing Talek’s varied appetites. In those respects the prince found him difficult to resist.
“May I prove that to you?” Kevris hinted. His fingers tugged suggestively at the strand. “I can take your mind off those dreadful old men. Throughout the meeting, I was planning what I might do to distract you. It was all I could do to contain myself until it ended.”
With a sigh, Talek reached down to undo the wide belt around his own waist. “My ministers may not always express themselves with appropriate sensitivity and deference. Yet I must admit they are correct about one thing—I do require an heir, both for the sake of my father’s bloodline and for the good of the kingdom.”
“You have spoken of such matters before,” Kevris said. He moved to the king’s enormous feather bed and stretched out on it, letting his legs fall wide open. “I thought we agreed that you would take a wife of convenience. Then the two of us would continue on as before.”
“I did consider that option at one time.” Shedding his tunic, Talek crossed the room and joined Kevris on the bed. Kevris’s hands got busy with the laces of his codpiece. “However, this new possibility has changed everything. Imagine—I would not have to marry a woman and endure a forced union that could go on for years. I could take a mate who is more to my taste—one with whom I might even enjoy creating and then raising a family.” His tone turned wistful. He scarcely registered Kevris freeing him of his leggings. “I confess, I find the prospect…intoxicating.”
“Mm.” Kevris’s brief response made it clear that he was far less enthusiastic. “’Tis a tale to marvel at, to be sure. I cannot help but wonder, my lord, what my position shall be if such a being were to arrive at the palace.”
Talek scowled. “Why do you assume it would change at all? ’Tis not as if you have any official designation here.” He lay down on his back, his hands clasped beneath his head and his cock jutting into the air. Though it was already hard and getting harder, he knew that his excitement was not entirely due to Kevris’s attentions. He was excited by the idea of watching another man bear his son and heir. Never before had he even dared to dream of such a possibility.
Kevris drew his tongue slowly over the prince’s bulging cockhead and was about to apply his lips to the same area when he paused in midmotion. He glanced up, apparently mulling over Talek’s words. As their meaning sank in, his cheeks flushed with heat and his dark green eyes narrowed. “Do I not, my lord? For this past year and more, I have served you most loyally as your concubinus. I consider that a title, of sorts.”
“Do you? I suppose it is—of sorts, as you say—but you cannot imagine that I would forfeit my royal duties for you. Chief among those is my responsibility to secure the Mavra dynasty.”
To the prince’s astonishment, Kevris’s lashes glistened with what appeared to be tears. “I wish, my lord, that I could be the one to give you a son,” he said, his voice tight with emotion. “Perhaps then I could claim a more permanent spot at your side.”
Talek sat up abruptly. His hand cupped Kevris’s chin and tilted the other man’s face to his. “You must remember, Kevris—’tis not, and will never be, your place to claim anything with respect to me. On the contrary, ’tis my place to do the claiming. And I plan to claim you many times more, both before and after this mysterious childbearing elf arrives.”
“Assuming he ever does,” he thought he heard Kevris whisper. Such insolence jarred him, but at the moment he had more pressing concerns. Besides,
he knew from experience that reprimanding or even punishing Kevris would do no good. Instead, the prince abruptly turned the smaller man over so that his stomach rested on the bed.
Using his thigh, Talek pushed Kevris’s legs apart, exposing the pliant flesh between, ripe and ready like fruit waiting to be harvested. The prince reached for the small earthenware jar on his bedstand, scooping out a quantity of scented herbal unguent prepared especially for him by the royal apothecary. He smeared one dollop onto his own thick column, now throbbing and aching for release, and another onto Kevris. His lover moaned as Talek used his fingers to ready him for the promised claiming. The well-trained ring of muscle tugged as if pleading to be stretched out and filled.
“Soon enough.” Talek positioned himself between Kevris’s legs. “You are so impatient, Kevris. You must learn that all things happen at their own pace—assuming they are ever meant to happen.”
“Do you mean—like the conception—of an heir?” Kevris challenged, pausing to gasp between words as Talek pushed his cock slowly into him.
“Yes,” Talek said, sinking himself to the hilt inside the willing chasm. The herbal unguent, warmed by the friction between them, provided additional stimulation. Pleasure streaked through his loins and ignited a fire in his bollocks. As he and Kevris fell into their usual rhythm, his cock traveling once again that well-blazed trail to bliss, Talek closed his eyes and allowed his imagination to drift for a moment.
In his vision, Kevris no longer lay beneath him in the bed. Instead, his strong limbs curled around a different man, one with nebulous features and skin that seemed to shimmer and glow. This was not like any other dream figure, though. When Talek felt his body convulse and release his hot seed, he allowed himself to pretend he was already on the way to creating new life—his heir, his prince, the future king of Mavra and all its sovereign territories. And he would be a king born from the love of two men.