"Yeah, I'll bet you do. Do any of them ever contact you?"
"Safir. But it's very dangerous for him to do it. I'm lucky he loves me enough to be stupid."
Ture laughed. "I adore the way you describe things. It's unique."
Maris winked at him. "Far be it from me to ever be normal. I don't like doing what's expected of me." He gave a squeeze to Ture's knee then returned to his chair and tea. "What about you?"
"Definitely not normal."
"Normality is overrated."
"Some day's so is sanity."
Maris laughed. "I couldn't agree more."
Ture stirred cream into his tea as he watched the elegant way Maris moved. He held so much grace and dignity. Regal refinement bled from every part of him and at times it left Ture feeling inadequate. Like a bumbling hick. Yet Maris never seemed to mind the fact that he was lowborn. "So what's it like being a prince?"
"It's no different from any other life, except you have to watch your back more carefully. Enemies and desperate news reporters abound. It makes one extremely paranoid."
"You seem to handle it well."
"Mostly because I don't care. What are they going to do to me? Call me names? Oh, the horror! Someone save me from hearing the opinion of someone I couldn't care less about."
Ture shook his head. "I respect that about you. I hate to be criticized. It's like a knife in my heart."
Maris toyed with the handle on his cup. "I guess it comes from my childhood where I was insulted so much that I honestly thought my name was Idiot and Dumbass."
"You did not."
"Oh, I assure, I did. Darling is the only one whoever called me by name."
"I'm sorry, Mari."
He shrugged with a nonchalance that Ture was beginning to suspect was a front. "Nothing for you to be sorry over. We all have our burdens. Just some of us have the ones that strive to kill us vindictively."
"You joke about things that floor me."
"Yes, well, I tried seriousness once and found it rather depressing. Who wants to live like that?"
In that moment, the urge to kiss Maris was so strong, he wasn't sure how he refrained. All he could think about was peeling off the layers of clothing until he had him naked in his arms. If Maris was one tenth as animated in bed as he was in casual conversation, he'd be an incredible lover.
Maris's link buzzed. He pulled it out and checked it, then smiled. "Please excuse me for a second." He flipped it open. "Hey, Hauk. How's my luscious Andarion tonight?"
Ture swallowed against the weird stab of jealousy that he couldn't fathom. He had no right to be possessive of Maris, and yet. . . .
He wanted to have the right to complain when Mari flirted with other men.
"No, sweetie. I actually have company tonight." Maris laughed. "You keep talking to me like that and you'll have more of me than you can handle."
Feeling suddenly awkward, Ture was about to excuse himself when Maris ended the call.
"Sure. I'll talk to you later." He hung up.
Ture knew he should keep his mouth shut, but he couldn't resist asking the one question foremost on his mind. "Boyfriend?"
Maris flashed him an adorable grin. "You can stop asking me that. I don't have one and have no interest in being tied down to any one man."
That stung like a slap. "Ah. You're one of those."
Maris arched a brow. "Those?"
"Players."
Maris laughed so hard, he choked. "Hardly. I assure you, I never play the field. My only problem is the man I love is currently in bed with your best friend."
"Darling?"
He nodded.
"So you and he--"
"Have never touched."
"Not even a kiss?"
"Not even." Maris sighed. "I am forever drawn to what I can't have. It's extremely irritating."
Ture knew the feeling. "You think you'll ever find someone?"
"Honestly? I stopped looking. There's only so many dreams a man can have shattered in one lifetime. I think I exceeded my quota when I was three." Maris took a sip of his tea. "What about you?"
"My work is my love. No man has ever been as seductive or as rewarding. It's the only thing worth my time."
"So you love your kitchen."
Ture nodded. "I'm as married to it as Zarya is to Darling. It's where I spend almost all my waking hours."
"Are you nervous about having been gone from it for so long?"
"I was. But Anachelle said that she's been staying on top of everything for me while I've been away."
"Anachelle?"
Ture smiled. "Like Zarya, I rather adopted her. She was a waitress in the restaurant where I work and when she became pregnant, she lost everything. So I offered her a bed and she's been with me for the last few months."
Maris was impressed with his kindness. "What made you trust her?"
"If you ever meet her, you'll understand. She's a lot like Zarya. Guarded and wounded. Yet there's a hope inside her that all her hardships have yet to extinguish. Not to mention, she's precious and kind."
"I like her already." Maris got up to refresh their teas then returned to converse with Ture until the sun came up.
Yawning, Maris gaped as he realized what time it was. He couldn't remember the last time he'd stayed up all night talking to anyone.
Even Darling.
"Did you know it's seven already?"
Ture's jaw dropped as he turned to look at the windows. "Where did the night go?"
"It turned into daylight."
Ture duplicated Maris's yawn. "No wonder I'm so tired." Getting up, he groaned.
"Are you all right?"
Yawning again, Ture nodded. They had spent the entire night talking about everything and nothing. Maris had definitely kept his promise to distract Ture's thoughts from his sister. "Thank you, Mari."
He inclined his head to him. "Any time."
Ture kissed his cheek then he headed to his own room.
Maris didn't move as his cheek tingled from those lips. Lips he wanted to taste with a madness that made no sense.
Why am I always attracted to what I can't have?
And he had no idea what it was about Ture that fascinated him so. Well, not entirely true. There was something about him that Maris found easy to talk to. He didn't feel like Ture judged him. Rather he seemed to be fine with all of Maris's quirks.
It was enough to make him reconsider his vow of solitude. But dreams were for fools.
And Maris was through being hurt.
CHAPTER 4
"Push yourself harder."
Ture paused, mid stroke to glare at Maris as he coached him from the side of the large pool deep inside the Caronese Winter Palace where he was still recuperating. "I'm pushing as hard as I can. If you think you can do better, I defy you to crawl in here and try."
Maris flashed a charming smile at him. "I'd hate to show you up, love. This is about your progress, not my greatness."
Unamused, Ture rolled his eyes at the pomposity. That was the one thing that could get irritating about Maris. His ego was as vast as the universe. But Ture also knew it was a front. For all his bluster, Maris was actually quite insecure and bashful. Preciously so at times.
For almost a month now, Ture had been in physical therapy as his body healed, and he learned to use it again and rebuild atrophied muscles. Oddly, these sessions seemed to be getting harder instead of easier.
And right now...
Ture gasped as his leg locked up. Because he had so little body fat, he sank to the bottom of the pool like an anchor. He tried to swim up, but couldn't get his body to cooperate. His heart pounding, he knew that Maris couldn't swim. It was why he'd never joined him for any of the water exercises.
If he didn't get to the surface...
He panicked even more.
All of a sudden, someone grabbed him from behind and pulled him up.
Ture coughed and choked as they broke the surface. He glanced around for Maris. His jacket and shi
rt were where he'd been, but there was no sign of him.
At least not until the man holding him lifted him out of the water with an ease that was terrifying.
Maris?
Still choking, he turned back toward the pool.
"Don't look at me," Maris growled. He held himself below the edge of the pool so that all Ture could see was his hand.
A hand that now held a strange translucent silver color and long fingernails that were more claw-like than Maris's flawless manicure...
"Mari?"
"I'm all right, Ture. Just don't look at me."
But he couldn't help himself. His curiosity was too great. Before he could think better of it, he inched his way toward Maris and peeped over the edge. His eyes widened at what he found in the water.
Gasping, he stumbled back as raw fear gripped him. What the hell?
Maris flinched at the look he'd seen on Ture's face. With the exception of Darling, humans didn't handle seeing Phrixians in their natural state gracefully. Who could blame them? His species was repugnant.
Oh well...it wasn't like there could ever be anything between them anyway.
Suddenly, Ture was back at the edge, leaning over it. His eyes guarded, he reached down to touch Maris's wet hair.
"I know," Maris sighed. "I'm disgusting."
"No. You're very beautiful like this."
Stunned, Maris looked up, unsure of what to expect. But he saw truth in Ture's eyes, not horror.
Ture cupped Maris's cheek as he stared in awe of the man's current appearance. He'd never seen anything like this. Mari's skin reminded him of a sleek, silvery fish's. Only it wasn't scaled and it was as soft was warm velvet. Even his eyes were now an eerie glowing silver color. Not their normal dark chocolate. The neatest part was the beautiful design that was now visible around his eyes. Like someone had used dark gray and black eye shadow and liner to draw an intricate flowing scroll pattern.
He placed his hand over Maris's as he studied its differences, too. His nails were a bit longer, coming just over the end of his fingers, and he now had webbing between the phalanges. "Do your feet do this, too?"
Maris nodded. "So that we can grip better in wet environments." He pressed one nail deep into the concrete with almost no effort and no effect on his finger, but there was a deep line furrowed in its wake as he dragged it back toward him. "We're amphibious. But we're much stronger in the water than on land. It's what makes my people such lethal assassins. If we can get our target in the water, we own them and nothing can stop us."
That was terrifying to think about. "Why didn't you tell me?"
Maris looked away. "We're not supposed to let anyone outside of our own know. Ever. On Phrixus, I'd be killed for this."
Ture gaped at him. "You'd have let me die?"
He flashed a wicked grin. "On Phrixus...yes."
Laughing at something he knew Maris wouldn't really do, Ture shook his head. His gaze fell to Maris's well-sculpted wet body. While he'd suspected how finely toned it was, he'd never seen it before. Not even a glimpse. For all his flamboyance, Mari always kept himself completely covered from neck to feet and all the way to his wrists.
Now Ture knew why. Maris's back was a nasty roadmap of scars. Scars that ran down his arms and over his chest. Without thinking, Ture reached down to touch one that had barely missed Maris's heart. "What happened?"
"I was a soldier with a lot of battle experience." Maris covered Ture's hand with his. "That one is a present from my older brother once he found out I was gay and tried to kill me for the dishonor I'd done to my family."
Ture winced at words that cut through his own heart and reminded him how badly his own parents had reacted. Though to be honest, none had tried to kill him for it. "I'm sorry."
Maris shrugged as he released Ture's hand. "It is what it is. If everyone was decent, how could we legitimately fight each other? Assholes keep us sharp."
A sad smile curved his lips as he watched the ease with which Maris treaded water. "You seem to be enjoying that pool."
"I told you, we're amphibious, and are born underwater. It's our most natural environment. We don't really walk land until we're almost in school."
"Really? And here I thought you avoided the water because you couldn't swim."
Maris laughed. "Hardly. I didn't venture onto land until I was five."
"Do you remember it?"
A dark shadow fell across his eyes, letting Ture know it was a painful memory. "I do." Shaking it off, Maris held his hand out to Ture. "Want to join me?"
Ture's gaze dropped to the dark pants Maris was still wearing. "You're going to swim half dressed?"
"We don't swim naked at home. It tends to be frowned upon. Phrixians are lethal, yet civilized. Of course, our clothes are water resistant, but I'm used to this, too. It doesn't bother me in the least."
Ture returned to the pool.
Amazed, he studied Maris as he headed straight to the bottom to swim for several minutes. He was fascinating to watch. Mari twisted and turned in ways Ture wouldn't have thought anyone with a spine could manage. But what was really shocking was how much speed he had. He could shoot from one end of the enormous pool to the other so fast that Ture could barely follow it with his eyes.
Maris was truly a thing of beauty. And full of pleasant surprises that intrigued him a lot more than they should.
Don't go there.
He knew better than to get involved with the friend of a friend. It never worked out. Ever. And still he couldn't keep from seeing Maris as the most desirable thing on two legs. Something helped by the fact that Maris seemed to feel the same way about him. Yet Maris kept his distance.
Another thing that was sexy as hell. He had integrity where most people didn't.
Maris shot up in the water, a few feet from him with a smile on his face that made Ture really glad he was in the water. Otherwise, Maris would know exactly how lickable he found him.
"It feels so good," Maris breathed. "You've no idea how hard it's been watching over your therapy while dying to jump in. Water is like the air we breathe." He sank down so that all Ture could see was that incredible set of eyes.
"I can tell. I don't think I've ever seen you this animated."
Maris sobered instantly.
Ture frowned at his reaction. "Did I hit a nerve?"
Maris raked his hands through his wet hair. Damn...he had the most perfect features of any man Ture had ever seen.
"Ghosts. Sorry. I try to keep them hidden, but sometimes they pop out at the worst times."
Ture swam closer to him. "Yeah, I know all about those."
Maris swallowed as Ture touched his shoulder in sympathy. The heat of his hand combined with the look on Ture's face held him immobile. He knew he should pull back. Yet he couldn't get his body to cooperate.
Not when all he really wanted to do was swim closer.
Before he could move, Ture captured his lips with his own. Maris growled at the sweet taste of him. It'd been way too long since he'd been this close to anyone except Darling. Every hormone in his body went into overdrive, and it was all he could do not to show Ture exactly how limber and powerful he was in water.
His breathing labored, Maris nipped Ture's chin as long-buried fantasies about having sex in the water surged. Since his people killed anyone who wasn't heterosexual and he'd never dared to let anyone know about this side of him, he'd only been naked with a lover in water in his dreams.
But now. . . .
Don't go there.
Ture couldn't breathe as he felt the full power of Maris in his arms. Somehow, Maris managed to hold them both steady in the water.
For as long back as Ture could remember, he'd dreamed of having a hot, masculine warrior of his own. But never had he thought to meet one who could be so incredibly skilled in war and yet tender to others. All his past soldiers had been as vicious to him as they'd been to their victims. Maris was the strangest dichotomy of brutal killer and playful charmer. At times, it was like
two men inhabited his lush body.
And Ture found both of them delectable.
Maris deepened the kiss then pulled back. His breathing heavy, he skimmed Ture with a look that only made him hungrier. "We can't do this."
Ture pressed his cheek to Maris's. "I know, sweetie. I'm sorry...I couldn't resist you." He placed a chaste kiss to him then moved away.
Maris ground his teeth as he watched Ture return to his physical therapy routine. The fact that Ture understood and agreed made him all the more alluring. It was rare to find someone who was willing to put the needs of others above their own. That was the heart and soul of Darling that had kept Maris bound to him all these years. Why he'd never been able to walk away from his best friend even when he knew he should.
Because that was his life's blood, too. He would never fight for himself. He couldn't care less what happened to him. He only fought for who and what he loved.
Darling, above all others, for the simple fact that Darling had bled for him on more than one occasion.
The rest was a short list made up of the only brother Maris had who still spoke to him--Safir, Darling's immediate family, the Sentella and Caillen Dagan.
Now Ture stood to inherit that small circle. But not if he broke Maris's heart. And though he would give anything to let Ture in, he knew better. He'd been down this bloody path too many times. As soon as his lovers realized that they could never supplant Darling in his heart, they turned on him with a justified hatred.
Maris couldn't help how he felt. Darling owned him. He always had. Even though they could and would never be anything more than best friends, Darling was his heart. He'd been there for Maris when no one else had. When the entire universe had slammed down on him and no one had cared, Darling, alone, had traversed hell itself to save Maris's life.
He shuttered every time he thought of where he'd be without his noble prince. If he'd even be alive.
Sighing, he lifted himself out of the water to sit on the edge of the pool while Ture continued swimming. Memories surged as he reached for a towel. Even now, he could see Darling the day they'd met as tiny kids on a playground.
Because of his young age, Maris had been cloistered on Phrixus and hadn't fully learned the Universal language. For that matter, he'd barely known how to walk. One day, he'd been a caudate, learning about his own people and laws, and the next he'd been ripped out of his world and sent to exist among humans and their strange, foreign rules. Rules that had baffled and scared him.
His father's only dictate for behavior had been harsh. Shame or betray us and I'll cut out your heart myself and feed it to you before you die. One word that you've violated any human code or custom, and you will be put down for it.
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