"I'll have to experiment," Hiraeth said. He looked back at Keith, eyes mischievous. "Then, without delay—"
He kissed Keith.
Lucas's presence was cool next to him as Keith tightened his grip on Hiraeth's side and kissed back, eyes closing, leaning into the kiss, tangling tongues and catching at his lips.
"Nice," Hiraeth breathed as he pulled back.
Keith caught his breath and looked at Lucas, who was watching them approvingly, relaxed.
Hiraeth looked at Lucas as well, stepped away from Keith, and moved in close to Lucas in the same way. "Here is normally where I would do the same to you," he said, tone almost curious. "But I'm not sure that I'd be able to. Should I just let the spirit of the matter lie, if the letter's impossible? That doesn't seem right—I'd like to involve you somehow. Leaving you standing here watching while I kiss your gentleman friend seems a little gauche, at the very least."
Lucas brushed a hand against Hiraeth's cheek. Keith saw Hiraeth shiver lightly, and knew the sensation he was dealing with, intimately.
"Actually," Lucas said, "I have an idea. Do you remember what I did back in the house?"
"Other than save my life?" Hiraeth asked. He tilted his head curiously. "Yes, I remember."
"Would you be willing to give me room inside you?" Lucas asked. "Just for a little while."
He sounded embarrassed, and Keith, shocked, couldn't blame him. This was the first he'd heard of the idea. He wondered how long Lucas had been thinking of it and not daring to say anything. It seemed impossible.
"Just a bit, just to see what it feels like?" Hiraeth asked. His eyes were a little wide, slightly alarmed, but he held his arms open. "I'll trust you."
"Thank you," Lucas said, "Hiraeth."
He stepped into Hiraeth's body and didn't appear out the other side.
Hiraeth let out a full-bodied shiver, eyes still wide. He slowly lifted his hands, gazing down at them.
"Interesting," he said. And then, "Yeah. Not sure I'd want to stay in here long. Doesn't feel like my body at all. But it is a body." And then, without hesitation, "Yes, that's why it takes an Other so long to make a vessel a proper vessel. We really do carve it out in our shape inside. But you're a welcome guest."
Keith heard himself make an absurd sound. "Are you. Is that really. Are you both actually—"
He—they—looked up at him. "Oh yes," Hiraeth said. And then, through his mouth, Lucas added, "I don't think it'll last if you move too far from him. I'd have to go with you, not him. But I don't think we're planning to go far from you at all right now."
Keith wheezed.
"Not far at all," Hiraeth agreed with his own tone of voice, and stepped up to Keith, putting a hand back on his cheek. The smile on his face looked odd, unusual. Lucas's smile, not his own. "Is that all right?"
All right didn't begin to cover it. They were both there in front of him. He could hold them both. He could kiss them both.
He didn't have to choose.
Keith threw his arms around them, squeezed hard, and knew that they both could feel it.
Fin
If you liked this book…
How Saeter Robbed The Underworld
By Meredith Katz
The day before his coming-of-age ceremony, Eirik's fathers tell him a bedtime story about of the son of the god of Love and the son of the god of Envy—one beloved by all, who knows no pain; the other who lives in his shadow and feels nothing but.
Still fuming from a fight with a friend, Eirik is not in the mood for stories. However, he quickly becomes engrossed in the strangely relatable tale of love & betrayal and how Saeter and Skault trick the underworld out of a very special prize…
An M/M fantasy romance with bisexual protagonists. Full of found family, daring rescues, shape-shifting tricksters, and Norse-inspired mythology.
About the Author
When preteen Meredith Katz moved to a new house, she gained a new imaginary friend: a teenaged boy wearing an old-fashioned nightshirt who she claimed had died on the property when it was a farmhouse.
In retrospect, everything about that is suspicious.
She lives in Vancouver, BC with her wife, fellow writer Aveline Reynard, and their extremely sensitive cat. She loves tea, monsters, and sweetly uncanny things that go bump in the night.
https://www.softcryptid.com
https://twitter.com/meredithakatz
https://twitter.com/softcryptidbook
http://king-of-katz.tumblr.com
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