by Brandon Fox
“But I can’t feel him!”
“A problem,” Sorel admitted. “They use spells in their tortures, and it might be blocking his bond. But we might be able to find a way through it. The kei is still a vast mystery. We make discoveries all the time.”
Ander sat up straight, nostrils flaring. Could Lucian help? If anyone knew the mysteries of the kei, it would be the ghost. But it would be impossible to attempt contacting the shade without revealing his existence. He realized he was holding his breath and exhaled slowly.
Sorel’s head cocked to the side. “What?”
Ander gulped, at a loss. Lucian had sworn him to secrecy, but Thane’s life hadn’t been in danger then. Thane’s capture changed everything. “I need some fresh air,” he said softly. His gaze locked with Sorel’s, and he tried to convey his desire for discretion. Though the two of them had started to develop a bond during his training, the link was weak compared to the profound joining he experienced with Thane.
Sorel’s reputation for keen perception was justified. “I’ll walk with you,” he said. “You shouldn’t be alone at a time like this.” He turned to his partner as Ander stood. “Nicolai, why don’t you and Leif decide what merchants we might approach?”
“All right. We’ll wait for you here.”
Ander followed Sorel downstairs. Several customers were still taking their meals; aromas of roast beef and rye bread lingered in the air. They slipped out the door unnoticed and walked to a dark alley between the inn and a wine shop.
Sorel pulled Ander to a stop. His expression held sympathy and concern. “It’s time for you to tell me. Whatever it is, you know you can trust me. That’s not why you’ve held your silence, is it?”
Ander sighed. “I’m not that transparent, am I? What makes you think I’m hiding something?”
“Don’t try to bluff me. There’s no need, and it wouldn’t work. I’ll respect your silence if that’s what you want. But it seemed you needed to talk.”
Ander closed his eyes and rubbed his temples, feeling miserable. “This is so complicated. And I’m still not sure I should tell you. Thane could be hurt.” He opened his eyes and looked at Sorel, pleading. “You’ve felt his pain. The way he aches when he thinks of Lucian.”
Surprise flickered across Sorel’s face. “What do you mean? You remind him of Lucian. He’s commented on it before. How could that be a secret?”
Ander shivered, fearing to break his oath. How would Thane feel, discovering a part of Lucian still lived? Would the knowledge rekindle his grief as Lucian fears?
Sorel’s gaze was steady. “Tell me. Trust me to care for Thane as much as you do.”
“I’ll have to break an oath. An oath intended for his protection.”
“The decision is yours. But remember, we love him too.”
Ander took another deep breath, then looked Sorel in the eye. “Tonight Thane is in the zamindar’s hands. Everything has changed.” He took a step back and drew Sorel further into the shadows. “You said there are mysteries in the kei. Things that might help us find Thane. And you know that nobody has ever been closer to Thane than Lucian.”
“So? Lucian’s been dead for ten years.”
“Yes, but Lucian and Thane explored the kei together. Loved each other in the kei. Part of Lucian still lingers there.”
For once, Sorel was speechless.
“It’s true! Lucian appeared to me at the lyceum. He asked me to love Thane, give him release from grief. He’s contacted me since then too. He wants to help, but he’s weak.”
Belief slowly registered on Sorel’s face. “You’re not imagining this, I can see that. Maybe it explains why Thane bonded so strongly with you. Did Lucian help forge the bond?”
“I don’t think so. He wants to conceal himself. He fears Thane will try to seek him out, refuse to accept his death. The quest would be doomed to failure and heartbreak, but he’s sure Thane would try.”
“I understand,” Sorel said softly. “Even in death, he’s trying to protect his beloved.”
Ander nodded. “Experiencing the grief all over again would be too much. You know how intensely he feels.”
“I do. But remember, something else has changed. Thane has you now. There’s joy to balance his loss.”
“I hope you’re right. Do you think Lucian’s shade can help us find him?”
Sorel’s shadowed features took on a thoughtful look, and he paused before answering. “What’s left of Lucian exists on a level of the kei we hadn’t known about. A spell that keeps us from reaching Thane might not affect a ghost.”
“But can we reach Lucian? Do you know how to do it?”
“I won’t try to deceive you. I don’t. But just having something we can try is a breakthrough.”
A flicker of hope began to kindle. “Then we should try as soon as we can. He’s in grave danger.”
“I agree. Let’s go inside. I want to hear Nicolai’s thoughts on how to work the magic. And we’re working with limited resources. We only brought the most basic elixirs with us.”
“We have to succeed,” Ander insisted as they left the alley.
“We’ll do our best. Thane’s in trouble, yes, but don’t underestimate him. You know how strong he is, how determined—”
Ander lurched forward, gasping and stumbling against Sorel. He bent over and retched. Tearing pain, like slashing claws, ripped at his gut. Moaning miserably, he sank to his knees.
Sorel knelt beside him and steadied him. “What happened?”
Ander wiped his mouth on his sleeve. A choked laugh shook him, somewhere between hysteria and relief. “At least we know he’s still alive. Our bond just burst open. They’ve begun the torture.”
Chapter 16
ANDER leaned on Sorel as they went inside. Each step brought a wave of disorientation. His muscles jerked, reacting to the torments of unseen implements. By the time he staggered into their room, he was ready to gag.
“Ander!” Leif sprang across the room as Ander toppled onto the bed. “What happened?”
He tried to answer, but only a moan escaped.
“They’ve put Thane to torture,” Sorel said. “Some of it’s coming through their bond. We have to act quickly.”
“How?” Nicolai asked, leaning over Ander and brushing hair from his sweaty brow. “We don’t know where he is. And Ander can’t help us find him if all he gets through their bond is pain.”
“There may be another way. A way you’d never guess.”
Nicolai turned to Sorel, an eyebrow raised.
“Lucian. Part of him still lives in the kei.” Nicolai’s expression shifted to shock.
“Who’s Lucian?” Leif demanded.
“Lucian was Thane’s first love,” Sorel said. “He died ten years ago. But his shade survives in the kei. He concealed himself to protect Thane from grief.”
“How can a ghost help us?”
“He’s been in the kei for ten years. He’s part of it. If there’s any way to use the kei to find Thane, Lucian has the best chance of discovering it.”
Ander groaned and pushed himself upright. “But Lucian hasn’t shown himself to anyone but me. I’m too sick to use the art, and that’s the only way to go looking for him.”
“An obstacle,” Sorel said. “But not insurmountable. You’re not really sick. You’re only feeling Thane’s suffering. If we block out the pain, you could enter the kei.”
“Imperial sorcerers might notice if we use the art to help him enter the kei,” Nicolai said.
Sorel spread his cape on the floor. He unbuttoned one of the pockets and removed his case of elixirs. “There’s risk, I agree. But a gamble is all we have left.” He opened the case and started choosing among vials of colored liquid.
“But I feel terrible,” Ander said, choking on the words. “I couldn’t even get hard feeling like this.”
Sorel reached over to pat him on the leg. “Trust me. I know a mixture that should do the trick. Rest with Leif until we’re ready. If the potion has
the effect I’m seeking, you’ll need your strength.”
“I think I see,” Nicolai said, crouching beside his partner. “Even with an arrow in his flank, a rutting stag thinks only of mating. I scarcely believed it the first time I saw it.”
Ander barely heard them. Curling into a ball, he squeezed his arms around his torso and shivered. His body rebelled against unseen torments. Leif stretched out next to him. “They know what they’re doing,” he said, cradling Ander in his arms. “It won’t be much longer.”
Ander buried his face in Leif’s hair. “I can’t tell what they’re doing to him,” he whispered. “Only that he’s in agony.”
“Try to think about something else. Remember when we went swimming last summer and somebody stole our clothes while we were napping on the rocks? How we had to go home wearing nothing but loincloths made from rags?”
Ander groaned. “This is supposed to cheer me up? We were the talk of the market for a month.”
“Well, I found out Mina did it. She couldn’t resist teasing me. So I waited until she and Tannis went to the harvest festival, and—”
Ander’s body jerked. His breath hissed through clenched teeth.
“How much longer?” Leif asked, glancing at the mages. Both youths had stripped and were putting away their elixirs.
Sorel turned and held up a vial of dark brown fluid, then knelt beside the bed. “Drink this. It should be strong enough to drive pain away. But it will cloud your mind too. Try to concentrate on entering the kei and finding Lucian. You’ll be drained after the elixir does its work, so you’ll only have one chance.”
Ander nodded weakly, shivering. “I’ll try to remember.” He took the vial and put it to his lips. A desert odor, somewhere between sage and sunbaked rock, made his nose wrinkle. He shuddered and then drank the murky liquid in a single gulp. He nearly gagged as the thick, pungent liquid slid down his throat. “What’s in that!” he demanded as soon as his tongue functioned again.
Sorel started to answer, but a sound like rushing winds filled Ander’s ears. His heart raced. The answer to his question no longer seemed important. The clean scent of Leif’s hair and the solid feel of his friend’s body were much more interesting. He shifted, tightening his grip on the companion.
Nicolai leaned close. “Ander? Are you listening?”
The words barely registered. His gaze had fixed on Leif’s masculine features, the intriguing tilt of his eyes. His friend’s tawny skin, the sweet musk of his body, were more arousing than ever. Blood pounded in his cock. He twisted some more and pushed Leif onto his back, holding him by the shoulders and straddling his waist. His breath came fast and hard.
Strong hands pulled him back. He rolled onto his side, blinking. Nicolai stood beside the bed and was already aroused. Ander’s mouth went dry as he gazed at the athletic form. Nicolai’s years as an acrobat had sculpted his body into sleekly muscled perfection: powerful without being bulky, perfectly proportioned, moving with panther grace. Memories of their lovemaking and the intense pleasure the young athlete imparted pushed everything else from his thoughts.
“Let’s get rid of your clothes,” Nicolai said. “I hear your flesh calling out for caresses.” Grabbing the garment by its sides, he pulled Ander’s shirt over his head and tossed it to the floor while Sorel pulled off boots. Tousled black hair fell in front of Ander’s eyes.
An inch of Ander’s cock extended beyond the waistband of his pants, pressing against his midriff. Nicolai brushed the slippery glans with his fingertips, then unfastened the pants. “You’re as eager as a virgin,” he said, his fingers sliding along the warm flesh of Ander’s thigh as he eased the garment off. “You’re already slick with desire.”
Ander grabbed Nicolai by the forearm and pulled him down. They tumbled together on the bed while Leif stripped. Ander rolled on top of the northerner and held him fiercely, pinning him to the bed.
“Let me fuck you,” Ander panted, his cock pressing against Nicolai’s hard belly. “I’ll go slow, the way you like it.” The quivering tension in his body belied the promise.
Nicolai shook his head. “Later, minx. You’ll have to wait.”
“I can’t!” Ander ground his cock against Nicolai, almost frantic with the need for release.
Nicolai shifted, throwing Ander off balance and flipping him over. Their bodies strained against each other like wrestlers seeking a hold. Ander fought strongly, flushed and aroused, but it didn’t take Nicolai long to pin him. He held Ander in a bear hug, arms circling his chest just beneath the armpits. Ander’s buttocks rested on the edge of the bed, and his legs were held between Nicolai’s straddling thighs. He panted, straining against the acrobat’s tight grip. Nicolai’s erection pressed thick and heavy against his belly.
Nicolai chuckled, his muscles bulging as he pressed Ander into the bed. “It’s too bad Skorri and Erik aren’t here. They love wrestling, especially if you oil them first. They’re like horny eels. A lot like you, really.”
Ander squirmed, his nostrils flaring. “Let me fuck you. Please!”
“I’m glad to see you’re feeling better,” Nicolai said. He turned his head and beckoned to Sorel. “I’ll hold him still for you. Be careful, he’s close.” He swung around until he stretched on the bed at Ander’s right side, maintaining his grip with his shoulders pinning Ander’s chest. His thick blond hair fell forward and caressed Ander’s fevered body.
Sorel knelt on the bed at Ander’s left side and caressed the ridges of muscle sheathing his abdomen. Slick patches left by Ander and Nicolai gave his fingers ample lubrication. “A challenge, making him last when he’s so inflamed. I like a challenge.” He leaned closer until his lips barely grazed the straining phallus. Ander’s heels pushed against the floor and lifted his hips, his cock spearing the air, craving contact with warm flesh. His balls were pulled up tight against the base of his cock, and the muscles in his legs formed shallow curves.
“Help Nicolai hold him,” Sorel told Leif. “We have to help him control his body.”
Leif quickly positioned himself between Ander’s legs and pressed down on his thighs.
Sorel lowered his head again. His lips slid around the head of Ander’s cock and lifted it upright. Ander writhed, but his friends held him fast. The press of Sorel’s tongue against his sensitive flesh made him gasp.
Once Ander was firmly under their control, Sorel’s lips began a slow slide down the shaft. He moved carefully, heeding Ander’s urgent moans.
Ander fought to keep from shouting as pleasure soared. The sensation filling him was raw and primal, not mediated by the control usually exercised when using the art. He struggled to maintain awareness and not get lost in the avalanche of sensation.
Sorel continued his strokes, the phallus glistening with slippery spit as he released it from his clenching throat to lick gently at the sensitive glans before slowly encasing the shaft in his throat again. His ministrations were effortless and delicate, undeterred by the erection’s size and aching hardness.
Ander shouted incoherently, his body straining. Nicolai tightened his grip and pressed their lips together to silence him.
Sorel moved when Ander started bucking, pushing with strong legs against the floor. He touched Leif’s side. “You know him well, and you know how to prolong pleasure. You should take him now. Just go slow. You can see how helpless he is. It’s up to us to make him last.”
Leif nodded. “Don’t worry. I know his signs. I know when he’s going to come before he does.”
Ander turned his head, breaking his kiss with Nicolai. “Do it! Hurry!”
Sorel fetched a vial of oil from their supplies while Nicolai corralled Ander into another kiss. In moments he returned with the lubricant. He applied generous portions to Leif’s erect cock and to the cleft between Ander’s buttocks, then stepped back. Leif put his hands under his friend’s knees and lifted his legs up. At last they had him completely immobilized.
Ander felt the head of Leif’s cock touch his opening at the s
ame moment Sorel resumed sucking. He shuddered and hugged Nicolai fervently as the wet heat of Sorel’s mouth reclaimed his erection.
“Easy,” Leif said as Ander’s opening clenched. “Let me in. I’ll stroke the place where it feels best. Do you hear me?”
Ander couldn’t answer, couldn’t even nod. Nicolai held him captive in a sweaty embrace, his tongue forcing entry in a deep kiss. But just hearing his friend’s voice and feeling his familiar presence was enough to trigger a reaction. His body knew Leif and welcomed him eagerly. He relaxed, and the first two inches of Leif’s cock slid in.
He almost came when Leif entered him. His well-oiled flesh squeezed the smooth shaft of Leif’s cock. A trembling shudder ran through his body.
Nicolai felt the shiver and broke their kiss. “Did you know that Sorel once kept Skorri hard for five hours before letting him come? It’s still a record at the lyceum.”
The comment was just enough to divert Ander from a climax. He blinked, still dazed by lust, slowly digesting the information. “I can’t wait five hours.”
Nicolai rubbed noses with Ander, keeping him off-balance. “We’ll see. But I think you’re ready for more of Leif’s cock now.”
Taking the cue, Leif pressed forward while Ander was still bemused by Nicolai’s distractions. His cock slid in without resistance until they were fully joined. After a few moments, he pulled partway out and held Ander’s feet high while arching his back and moving his hips back and forth. His phallus slid repeatedly over the sensitive spot that drove Ander wild.
Ander soared in a whirlwind of intense pleasure. He tried to crane his neck to see Sorel and Leif, wanting to watch them create the amazing sensations that filled him, but Nicolai’s powerful grip held him immobile. His head fell back to the bed, and he looked at the northerner with dazed lust.
“You glow when you’re being fucked,” Nicolai said. “I could come just from watching you.”
Ander released his grip on Nicolai’s shoulders and reached between his legs. The northerner still knelt on the bed with his knees spread wide like a wrestler. Ander wrapped his fingers around Nicolai’s phallus, feeling the slick lubricant it was oozing and smearing it over his glans.