by Astor, Jade
Charis noticed that Zav’s voice again held a note of sadness.
“Maybe there is something to those legends about the ancient gods,” Charis suggested. He was only half joking. For whatever reason, his heart did seem lighter in his chest just then, and his blood seemed to surge harder in his veins. “Perhaps they really can inspire those who are open to their powers, even now.”
He moved closer to Zav, whose eyes narrowed in thought. “Do you think so?” he asked in a husky tone.
“I do not know,” Charis admitted. “But I admit that I suddenly feel…different.”
He leaned forward, just a little, and Zav did the same. Their mouths met, lightly at first, and then more energetically. Before long, Charis felt Zav’s hands slide up his back, rubbing and stroking. He liked the way it felt. No one had ever done that for him before, though he had kneaded Prince Vidnar’s tired muscles many times. He knew now why Vidnar seemed to enjoy it so much.
Next, Zav’s tongue crept across Charis’ lower lip. Charis enjoyed that sensation very much, too. He pressed closer, letting Zav shield and cover him. He opened his mouth a bit more and let Zav’s tongue explore. At one point he even forgot where they were and had ceased to worry that others might be watching them. No one seemed to exist except him and Zav.
Not even Prince Vidnar.
All too soon, though, reality intruded and Zav broke away. He stared down at Charis with a mixture of desire and trepidation.
“Was…was it like that with Siphu?” Charis asked as an uncomfortable silence stretched between them.
“Yes,” Zav said. “Sort of.”
“It’s all right. How could I judge you?”
Zav dropped his arms to his sides and stepped back. Charis was all too aware of cool night air filling up the void between them.
“You still want to return to the palace, don’t you?”
Charis looked down at his feet. He felt his cheeks grow warm. He was getting used to that sensation lately. “Yes.”
“You mean you would give up the chance to be with me—to be my partner, my lover, my equal in all things—to serve him? After he cast you out, even?” Zav shook his head in bewilderment. “Why?”
“Because he is the prince. Also…” Charis paused and took a deep breath. “There is something else you ought to know. Prince Vidnar did not eject me from the harem. I was kidnapped…possibly by some of Prince Vidnar’s family members who wanted to keep him from me.”
“Kidnapped?” Zav’s eyes widened.
“Yes. Don’t worry. I doubt your brothers had anything to do with my abduction. I doubt they even knew about it.”
Zav nodded. “As far as they knew, you were a troublesome consort whom they sold off to avoid more disruption in the household. That’s all my brothers told me. As you know, I didn’t approve of what they did, but by the time I found out, it was too late to take you back.”
“I believe you. I also believe that Prince Vidnar will find out who was responsible and avenge my abduction. I do not blame you—or your brothers—in the least.”
“Well…I’m glad to hear that, anyhow.”
“I have enjoyed helping you these past few days, Zav. Truly. But when we finish our business here, I need to go back to the city. Perhaps with the work we did for Masylion, I’ve earned enough to buy my freedom. I will gladly turn over the coins to you. I ask only that you leave me enough to make my way back somehow.”
Zav’s shoulders stiffened, and he turned away to look out at the lake. Eventually he shook his head.
“No. You don’t need to pay me anything. I can give you your freedom now, without a price. And I’ll take you back to the palace myself. We will leave tomorrow.”
“Thank you.” Charis kept his eyes on his feet. He thought he would be much happier than he felt at the news.
“There is no magic in those ancient stones,” Zav decided, still gazing out at the water. “Wine and politics influence men’s behavior, not gods. Society was right to give them up.”
Chapter 9
The city looked wholly different to Charis when the xoxobeasts pulled them onto the main street on a sunny afternoon. He knew Zav was making a huge sacrifice, both of time and potential profit, to suspend his cloth-selling itinerary in order to escort Charis home. Still, he was happy to have Zav beside him as he entered the city.
No one paid them much attention as they rode through the crowded streets. No one seemed to recognize him, either, mostly because of the hooded traveling cloak he wore. More than once, he glimpsed someone he knew from the harem strolling through the crowd. He even saw some of the courtiers from the palace out walking, perhaps heading to the marketplace or the public baths. Charis made sure not to meet their eyes, even if the hood did cover half his face. He had no wish to give away his presence until he could surprise Vidnar.
“How does it feel to be back?” Zav asked, noticing his uneasy silence as they passed the bazaar where the whole unfortunate sequence of events had begun.
“It feels as though I have lived another whole lifetime away from this place. It looks entirely different to me, though all the landmarks are the same. That makes no sense, I know.”
“It does, in a way.” Zav nodded. “Your life will be much different now. You are not the sheltered boy who left. You are a free man now.”
The words moved Charis in a way he hadn’t expected. Tears sprang to his eyes, but he fought them back. “I thank you again for giving me my freedom. I will never forget your kindness.”
“Nonsense. You know I don’t believe in such arrangements. Your life is your own, Charis. No one had any right to take you from the city against your will.” Zav’s mouth thinned for a moment, and Charis remembered what it had felt like to kiss those lips back at Masylion’s party. He had not done anything like that since, suspecting it would be too painful for both of them to start something they would not be able to finish. “Still, we cannot change what has happened. Would it be so wrong of me to say that I am glad of that, at least? The time we spent with one another, Charis…I will always remember it fondly, even if we can no longer be together.”
He reached across and took Charis’ hand. They squeezed their fingers and Charis felt a thrill race through his body. He had avoided confronting the truth—that most likely he would never see Zav again, unless it was in a formal setting when he came to sell cloth at the palace in the future. They would offer one another brief, almost ceremonial nods and continue with the business at hand.
The prospect made Charis almost too sad to speak.
They continued on to the palace gates, where Zav used his credentials as a favored and recognized merchant to request an audience with Prince Vidnar. As on the street, no one spared Charis a second glance as they were shown to the prince’s private audience room. Even Charis had been there only once before, when Vidnar had taken him on a secret tour while the royal family was asleep. This was not a space for harem boys, but for diplomats and official guests. Again Charis reflected on how his status had changed.
They waited in tense silence until a small flurry of motion commenced in the hall outside. Moments later Prince Vidnar charged through the door, accompanied by two servants and Lord Ezda, the matriarch’s favorite adviser. Discreetly Charis stepped behind Zav, keeping his hood up, struck speechless as always by Vidnar’s beauty and forceful personality. He looked especially regal today, dressed in flowing robes and ornate jewelry, as though he had just come from the kind of royal function he had always claimed to despise.
“To what cause should I attribute this visit, merchant?” Vidnar addressed Zav impatiently. He never glanced at Charis, no doubt perceiving him as nothing more than another servant unworthy of notice. “Surely I have no outstanding orders or bills to settle?”
Zav bowed deeply to the prince. Knowing him as well as he now did, Charis noticed that his manner was more theatrical than deferential. “My apologies for interrupting your duties, my prince. However, over the course of my recent travels, I have found
something that I thought would interest you greatly.”
“Oh? How intriguing.” Vidnar tilted his head, and his eyes scanned Zav’s tunic as if he expected to find the unknown object protruding from a pocket or tucked in his sash. “Let us see it, then.”
Straightening to his full height, Zav held out his hand and bade Charis step forward. He tugged down his hood and grinned—no doubt foolishly—as he did so.
“It is I, Charis!” he cried, dropping to one knee in front of Vidnar and his speechless entourage. “I have returned, my prince!”
Vidnar himself stood as still as a statue. He looked stunned, as though he had been struck across the face.
“How…how is this possible?” he whispered at last.
“I was kidnapped, my lord,” Charis bubbled, waving his arms for dramatic effect. Surely Vidnar would find the story just as fantastic as he did. “I received a note supposedly from your highness. I know now that it was forged. When I went to the marketplace as requested, I was snatched from the crowd, bound and gagged, and finally sold into servitude. But I am a free man now, thanks to Zav, here.” He rose to his feet after finishing the tale and bowed once.
“I…see. So you have found your way back here after all.”
Charis wasn’t sure what he expected. He didn’t think Vidnar would run over and embrace him in front of everyone. But he never expected the look of cold horror he soon found directed at him. No doubt Vidnar was in shock.
“It was far from easy, my prince…but I thought only of reaching you to let you know I was still alive. I have traveled for many days to find my way home.”
“How wonderful,” Vidnar said without a trace of joy. His jaw tight, the prince turned to Lord Ezda. “You are responsible for this, Ezda. You have failed me most egregiously. My mother will not be pleased.”
Charis glanced at Zav, offering a little nod of vindication. He had been correct all along, then—the matriarch had arranged the whole thing, and Lord Ezda had helped her. It hadn’t taken Vidnar long to figure out the truth.
Vidnar’s next words, however, plunged him first into confusion and then despair.
“You sold him to a merchant wagon? To my own favorite cloth merchants? Knowing they come back here every season?”
“I did not sell him to this man, your highness,” Lord Ezda protested. “There were two of them!”
“Those were my brothers, your highness,” Zav cut in. He bowed again, though his expression had turned grim. “They made a gift of Charis to me. I, in turn, gave him his freedom in exchange for the outstanding loyalty he showed me in my travels.”
“We will speak later,” Vidnar said to Ezda, his voice trembling with an unspoken threat. Turning, he gave Charis a curt nod. “I am glad you are well and prospered away from the harem. You must be on your way, though, for I am busy just now. I hope you will enjoy your newfound freedom. No doubt you have earned it.”
With that, he whirled around and left the room, his long robe fluttering behind him. His servants followed close behind him, but Lord Ezda remained and fixed Zav and Charis with an icy look.
“Go now,” Ezda snapped. “Both of you. Do not come back if you value your well-being.”
“But…” Charis began, only to have Zav clamp a hand over his arm.
“We will take our leave,” Zav said in a calm, respectful voice. “We thank you for giving us this audience.”
In no time, the two of them were on the street with guards looming behind them to make sure they did not turn around and dash back in. The heavy palace doors slammed shut behind them.
*~*~*
“I cannot believe it.” Charis was close to sobbing as the two of them perched on the back of the wagon, their legs dangling over the side. Zav had gone to his private stash and hauled out a large jug of something that was quickly making him very drunk, though it did little to ease his pain. “All along, it was Vidnar himself who wanted me gone. I thought it was his mother, or his brothers…or even some of the palace ministers…”
“I wouldn’t dwell too much on it,” Zav said, shaking his head. “Who knows what goes through the minds of royals.”
“I was a burden to him. Though he always denied it, deep down he wanted to live the life his mother had planned for him. I made it inconvenient.”
“They always choose their own kind,” Zav said. “They are not like us. They live in a different world—one of wealth, power, and selfishness.”
“I’m lucky they didn’t have me killed.”
“Indeed. Though I suspect Vidnar and the matriarch would not have minded if it had come to that.”
Charis wiped his tears away and took another swig of the liquor. It burned his throat and made his eyes water all over again. “I was nothing but a plaything to him. One he tired of. He didn’t even want to look at me any longer.”
Zav tugged the jug away. “I would say you’ve had enough of this. Perhaps you should lie down for a while. You’ll probably be dizzy when you stand up again.”
“I’m fine.” Charis struggled to his feet and found that Zav had been right after all. He stumbled around a bit until he tripped against the edge of Zav’s bed. Zav caught him and lowered him to the mattress.
“It probably seems as though you’ve fallen into a long, dark tunnel,” he said, keeping a grip on Charis’ arm. “And it’s not just from the drink. You’ll find your way out, though. I know that for a fact.”
“You’ve always been so kind to me,” Charis said, leaning his head on Zav’s shoulder. “I think you just might be the only real friend I ever had.”
“I will always be your friend,” Zav said, his manner suddenly serious. “Please believe that, even if everything else seems false right now. I am not. I never could be.”
“I do believe you.” Charis looked up into those sad, dark eyes. He tipped his head a little, even though it made his senses swim, and touched his lips to Zav’s.
“I would like to be more than a friend, as you well know,” Zav went on when they inevitably tugged apart. “Even if I am a poor substitute for a prince, I hope you will consider my offer.”
“A poor substitute?” Charis blinked, not sure he had heard correctly. “Do you mean in the same way I am a poor substitute for Siphu?”
“Never! You are your own man. When I see you, I do not think of Siphu at all. You know I would have no one else but you. Ever.”
“No? What if he came back and asked you to love him again?”
“Then I would pretend not to know him. Really, it is as if I never did. I can hardly recall his face. Yours is the only one in my eyes…in my heart.”
“Then you know how I feel now about Prince Vidnar. The truth is…the moment I saw him again, I knew I could never go back to the way I was then. Perhaps I could not have put it into words…at least before I tasted the drink…but I think now that I really came back here to say goodbye. Not just to Vidnar…but to the person I was.”
“Do you mean it?” This time Zav himself looked like he was about to cry. “Are you sure it is not just the drink saying those words?”
“I am the one saying them,” Charis assured him, fighting off another rush of dizziness. “The drink only gave me the courage to say what has been in my heart for some time.”
“It has been in my mine, too.” Lifting his hands to Charis’ shoulders, Zav drew him in for a kiss, this one much slower and deeper than any they had shared before. Soon they were stretched out on the bed together, their clothing on the floor beside them.
Zav’s body made Charis drool—he was so lean and taut, with a light dusting of hair on his chest and crotch, with a long, thick cock and small, down-covered balls. His skin looked as soft and edible as some creamy concoction spread over a sweetcake, his nipples blunt and dark as ripened berries. As he tongued those rigid bumps, Charis’ whole body convulsed with the desire to feel Zav’s teeth—along with other parts of himself— sinking into the depths of his own body.
A little hesitantly, Zav moved closer, his erection s
napping up in front of him. Breathing hard, Charis reached out, grabbed his wrist, and pulled him on top. He lifted his hips and ground his crotch into Zav’s. Zav gasped when their rigid cocks brushed against each other.
“Let me,” Charis said breathlessly. He didn’t have to explain further. “I know how to please a man.”
“Everything you do pleases me,” Zav whispered.
“Just wait,” Charis promised with a small smile.
With that, he went to work, giving himself willingly and fully…but as Zav’s equal, not as his servant or concubine.
This was nothing like the times he’d spent with Vidnar. Never had he enjoyed kissing his way down a man’s body so much. Never had he savored every lick and flicker of his tongue against a hard cock. Yet he wanted more, and Zav seemed to sense that. Their thoughts were always so in tune with one another, like twin strains of a song being played simultaneously on two different instruments. It didn’t take long for Zav to roll Charis onto his stomach and slide on top of him. Zav’s muscular legs gripped Charis’ tightly and made him feel safe.
Reaching over to the nightstand, he picked up a small bottle of oil. When he tilted it, some of the warm liquid splashed onto Charis’ thighs and trickled down between his ass-cheeks. This oil was nothing like the special potions the prince had acquired—it performed no magic on his body, nor did it enhance the sensations in any but the most natural way. Yet, Charis mused, nothing had ever felt better or made him want to krask so badly.
Soon Charis moaned when he felt the thrust of a hard shaft inside his body. He groaned with pleasure and began to pump his hips up and down. Charis knew how to take charge without seeming to, letting his well-primed muscles draw Zav in so he wouldn’t have to push his way inside. They found their rhythm quickly. Charis hoped it would never end, but all too soon he heard Zav suck in a breath and release his seed in a hot, quick torrent.
An invisible fire raged between them, melting their heaving, sweat-slicked bodies until it really did seem they had melted together. Their damp flesh pulled, flexed, and squeezed as they became one. The experience was the most exhilarating sensation Charis had ever known. For a moment he feared he might actually turn inside out with pleasure.