“We did the right thing by stepping aside.”
Intellectually, Lorren knew that, but it didn’t feel very right. Not when he was considering the consequences anew. The fact that Errion was at peace with their decision only aggravated him more. Although, having Errion pacing in fury with him wouldn’t help in the least. Still, his implacable calm and occasional pedantic snippets of deep wisdom weren’t helping matters either.
“She knows that we love her. She loves us too. We just have to wait.” Errion flopped onto his back. “Waiting is the hardest part.”
Fear gnawed at Lorren, eating away at his pride, his self-assurance and the very core of his belief in himself. Softly, he asked, “What if Farjika discovers that she no longer wants either one of us?” Gabriyel was her hero. There was no escaping that. Since she carried his child, she’d chosen him as her bondmate and primary consort.
“She also did so to save his life,” Errion pointed out.
Lorren snarled something ugly in response that Errion ignored.
“What if Farjika discovers that she no longer wants either one of us?” Errion asked.
Lorren closed his eyes. He couldn’t see himself returning to Avalith and picking up the pieces. If Farjika rejected him, he would never recover.
“Oh, such drama!” Errion rolled over to his belly. “Do you hear yourself?”
“Why don’t you go to your own room?” Lorren pointed to the door that separated their suites. When he’d gone over to investigate, he discovered a mirror image of his suite. Same double beds, same elaborate bathroom, same dining area complete with a simple way of ordering anything they wanted. Well, except for Farjika’s companionship. He’d already tried to contact her and been told absolutely not in no uncertain terms. For the length of a season, he would not be able to speak to her or be in her presence. This was his and Errion’s punishment for abducting and detaining her.
“I don’t want to be alone.” Errion hit him with his plaintive gaze. “Everyone now knows that I don’t like to be alone.” Errion’s initial embarrassment faded away once he and his lovers understood his driving need for companionship stemmed from the abandonment of his parents. “I’ve accepted myself as I am. Maybe you should do the same.”
“And what does that mean?”
Errion didn’t speak. He just looked at him.
Turning away, Lorren continued his steady pacing. “A season on Diola is a long time, almost an entire turn on Avalith.” Lorren reconsidered that what seemed a spacious room would grow increasingly cramped. “Plenty of time for Farjika to lose herself in Gabriyel’s embrace.”
“His is an embrace that would be easy to get lost in.” Errion nodded thoughtfully, his smile turning devious and dark. “But what could really woo her is that amazing cock of his.”
Lorren glared at Errion. “You’re not helping.”
“I’m not trying to.” Errion rolled over until he dropped off the side of the bed. “You just wanted to be the hero.”
Stopping midstride, Lorren closed his eyes and saw himself in Gabriyel’s place. He wanted to be her eternal bondmate and primary consort. “I wanted to be her chosen.” The admission cut into his pride like a physical blow.
“I know.” Errion wrapped his arms around him, hugging him from behind. Warm, solid and familiar, his embrace soothed the hurt. “Despite what you think, you are a hero.”
Lorren scoffed. “How? By making all of this come about?” He lifted his hands as if to encompass all that had happened in the last few spins.
“You were heroic enough to stand aside and let Farjika have what she needed, not what you wanted.” He paused, giving Lorren time to consider his words. “That’s what a hero does.” Errion’s voice was barely a whisper, the heat of his words restful along Lorren’s ravaged nerves. “Doing the right thing, the honorable thing, is rarely easy.”
Lorren turned, wrapping his arms around Errion. Pulling him close, he let himself feel all the pain of stepping aside. Crushing in intensity, he clung to Errion for support. “I hate to admit this, but I think I hoped that she would see that, my sacrifice, and push him aside for me anyway.” He moved back just enough to glance into Errion’s eyes. “How heroic is that?”
“It’s not. It’s human. And you’re that too.” Errion brushed a few wayward strands off Lorren’s forehead.
“You know, I really am beginning to despise this wise and philosophical side of you.” Lorren shook his head, flinging his hair in all directions, knowing how much Errion always did like him looking as if he’d just tumbled out of bed.
“Yeah?” Errion brushed both hands through his hair, tangling the dark strands even more. “I thought I was embracing the new me rather well.”
“The new you is going to be an annoying know-it-all?” Lorren rolled his eyes. “And I’m stuck here with you for a season?”
“Well, I could refrain on the all-knowing thing if you can contain your regret.”
Lorren considered. “Deal.”
Errion kissed him quick before he could change his mind.
Lorren let his familiar scent and feel comfort him. “Was all this a trick to get into my embrace?” Lorren toyed with the buttons on Errion’s shirt. Slipping them apart one by one, he watched as his eyelids lowered and his gaze darkened.
“Think of all this time we have together. What better way to spend it than in bed, scheming?”
Lorren’s eyebrows rose. “Scheming?”
“Oh yes.” Errion popped the buttons apart on Lorren’s shirt with practiced finesse. “Scheming ways to torment and tease the lovely lady Farjika when we do have her back in our clutches.” Errion emitted an evil laugh that was so over the top Lorren couldn’t help but laugh too. “Of course, we will have to plot some devious plans for the heroic Gabriyel as well.”
“Yes, he of the awesome penis.” Begrudgingly, Lorren had to admit the man was something special, and not just because of his spectacular body. In truly heroic fashion, he’d been willing to take the blame to spare the rest of them from harm. Lorren was now bonded to the man, and he accepted him, but living up to someone like Gabriyel wasn’t going to be easy.
“Yours is just as nice.” Errion cupped him through his trousers. “And I already know all the secret spots on you.”
“You think so?” Lorren maneuvered Errion back toward the bed he’d been lying on.
“Do you want me to prove it?” Errion’s fingers made quick work of Lorren’s trousers and then his own. Nude, they stood pressed together.
For a long time Lorren considered all the wicked pleasures that Errion could give. In the end, he shook his head. “You don’t have anything to prove.”
Tumbling him back on the bed, they didn’t even bother to crawl under the covers. Instead, they rolled around, kissing, teasing and playing. Without striving toward climax, they simply were together, enjoying each other as only longtime lovers could.
Rolling Lorren to his back, Errion lifted up so he could look into Lorren’s eyes. “Don’t be angry, but I’m glad she didn’t pick you as her primary.”
Shocked, Lorren opened his mouth to blare a rude response, but Errion’s despairing expression cautioned him to silence.
“I still want you for myself.” Errion shook his head. “I know, I know, we’re part of this group thing now, and I’m happy about that, I really am. But there’s still a part of me that wants you as my primary.”
Mollified, Lorren considered. “Not Farjika or even Mr. Fabulous Cock?”
“Not even.” Errion sighed. “It’s always been you. I’ve always known.”
Touched, Lorren cupped his head and kissed him. Before Errion could toss up a block, Lorren saw the truth. “You’re still afraid that once I have her, I won’t want you.”
Errion tried to deny the accusation, but the truth was there, simmering in his mind, no matter how he tried to cover it up. “It’s difficult for me. I’ve always worried when you hooked up with someone that one of them might lead you from my bed forever.”<
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Holding forehead to forehead, Lorren peered into his eyes. “I want you too.” He opened his mind and let Errion see and feel that truth. “You know I’m a greedy man. I want all three of you.”
“But you want her more.” Errion glanced away, then back, as if hoping when he looked into Lorren’s mind again, the answer would be different. “And I don’t think you’d mind if Gabriyel were entirely out of the picture.”
“That isn’t true.” When they’d been forced together in the prison below his manor, Gabriyel’s intense and quiet command of his body had stolen a part of his heart and soul. “I’m bound to him, as I am to her and you.”
Errion looked to argue the point.
“But I was bound to you long before all of this.” Lorren rolled Errion onto his back. “We didn’t need the magical, mystical Fentaru accident to be irrevocably entwined to one another. That happened long before then. Long before the incident in the study.” Gently he rubbed his scruffy cheek against Errion’s, loving the raspy sound of their facial hair colliding. “The very first time I saw you, I think I knew. I think my father knew too. That’s when he started in with his plans and demands, always wanting me to be a man and do manly things despite the fact I was only a boy.”
“Your father is such a limp dick.”
Together they laughed.
“He’s going to be so upset that I ended up the consort to an empress and yet still have you.”
Errion nodded. “We just have to get through this.”
“As you said, we can spend the time scheming.” Lorren slipped between Errion’s legs. “Now, what do you think we should do first?”
While they made a lazy kind of love, they considered all the options for teasing and tormenting not only Farjika, but Gabriyel as well. Their scenarios became ever more fantastical the closer they came to climax. Envisioning the most bizarrely perverse positions possible pushed them over the edge and into blissful oblivion.
As the season passed, they were allowed out of their rooms and given tours of the grand palace, but they were never allowed anywhere near Farjika. Repeatedly, she tried to sneak in to see them, but security was far too tight. Frustrated, they had to console themselves with telepathic lovemaking, which offered a release, but nothing so intense as actual contact.
Toward the end of their captivity, Gabriyel let both Errion and Lorren ride in his mind as he gently loved a very pregnant Farjika. The experience had been more poignant than any of them thought possible. Feeling the life within her body had been profoundly moving, bringing Errion to tears.
When the child came, screaming and bellowing into the world, they had been there too, terrified for Farjika as complications arose, necessitating surgery. The child had simply been too big to pass in the usual way. During surgery, they sent energy to her and the child, all feeling overwhelming relief when the ordeal was over.
Robust, with dark hair and eyes, the boy blended the best of his parents’ features. They named him Javon, derived from Jarravon, the god of honor and fidelity. Slipping into Farjika’s mind to feel the child tug at her breast had been both touching and oddly sensual, causing his and Errion’s nipples to stand at attention.
Finally, the day of their release was at hand. He and Errion dressed with care, both laughing as they were allowed shoes. After such a long time without them, they felt unnaturally stiff and slippery against the carpet and polished stone. Rather than fall and embarrass themselves, they decided to leave them off. Barefoot and bohemian, they moved through the palace to meet their destiny.
A small contingent of guards escorted them to what one of them called the circle, which referred to both the advisors to the empress and the large circular room where they met. Farjika stood waiting by massive double-hung doors. Dressed in clinging crimson, her hair artistically piled atop her head, her mysterious dark eyes hit Lorren with almost a physical force. In the intervening time of their separation, she’d matured somehow. Her stance seemed taller, more assured. The cut of the dress showed off her swollen breasts, and Lorren’s mouth watered at the thought of tasting her.
The guards left them at her command. For a long time they stood staring at each other. A season of time had passed without physical contact. Even though he felt starved for her touch, Lorren was oddly hesitant to rush forward. There was no question in his mind that Farjika wanted him just as much now as she did the day they parted, but time had left them feeling like all this was new again.
Biting her lower lip, Farjika took a step toward them, and that was all it took. In a rush, the three of them embraced. Wrapping their arms around each other, they hugged so hard they lifted Farjika off her feet.
She kissed Lorren, then Errion, then back and forth until they melded their mouths together in simultaneous bliss. Farjika tasted wonderful and sweet, her sighs and moans of pleasure heating his blood and hardening his cock. He wanted to push her up against the nearest wall and do her right here. So what if the enormous hallway looked well-traveled? If anyone saw him with the future empress, they’d probably turn away out of respect, or at least leave them alone out of embarrassment. Lorren doubted anyone would have the guts to stand and watch him fornicate with the empress’s daughter.
When she felt Lorren pressing against one hip and Errion digging into the other, she placed her hands on their chests and forcefully pushed them back.
“I have to claim you first.”
Desire straightened his spine. He’d been waiting so long, but a perverse need to make her work for him compelled Lorren to ask, “Do I have a choice?”
Surprise registered on her face. “I thought you wanted to be my consort?” Her gaze jumped to Errion. “Don’t you?”
Lorren felt her seeking access to his mind. He cut her off by slamming down his mental shield. He wanted to hear her speak the words in her heart, not just convey everything to him in a jolt of telepathy by mimicking what she read within him.
Errion bowed. “I do, my lovely one, but I think Lorren wishes to play hard to get.” Turning on his bare heel, he wandered away to inspect the artwork along the walls, affording them some privacy.
A frown wrinkled her forehead. Lorren felt her concern sweep over him, seeking out any pain that she had caused to him, but he still wouldn’t let her inside his mind.
Lowering her face, she whispered, “What do you want from me?” Her genuine torment turned the black depths of her eyes smoky.
Knowing he was being cruel didn’t stop him from continuing. “I wanted to be first, but I guess you’re asking me to settle for second place.” What Errion said was true; he did want to play hard to get. Moreover, he wanted her to consider that his acceptance wasn’t a forgone conclusion, even though it was. Lorren could no more walk away from her than he could stop breathing. But his ego, that incredibly fragile and nebulous creature, demanded some satisfaction.
“You’re not second.” Farjika’s intense longing and passion poured over his battered pride like a balm. “I love you.” She spoke while looking right into his eyes. “I want you to be my consort. I wanted to claim you the day we came here, but you know there was nothing I could do.”
Lorren wanted to berate her about choosing Gabriyel to be not only her consort, but also her bondmate. He didn’t. Lorren knew that was not her wish. She wanted to have all three of them as bondmates and consorts, but she had no choice in the matter. She had one bonding ceremony and she had to claim Gabriyel right away. His status as a slave made him vulnerable to an attack by members of the elite and even members of his own class. She couldn’t simply claim him as a consort because she had to claim a bondmate first. And since she only had one bonding ceremony, she couldn’t claim multiple bondmates like her mother or namesake. Waiting for the two of them to be free simply wasn’t practical. There was nothing to be done about the situation now, even though it dug at him and probably always would. Lorren knew he had to get control of his resentment, because letting his bitterness fester would drive a wedge between him and Gabriyel. That would
only hurt their quaternity.
“What does being your consort mean, exactly?” Lorren crossed his arms over his chest, earning him an annoyed sigh from Errion. All his life he’d been the one pursued. Men and women longed for him and strove to capture him. He’d turned them all down. It irked him to no end that he’d fallen victim to the same tormented feelings he’d disdained in others.
“You have many rights, a few responsibilities.” She shrugged, then added, “I can never execute you but for treason, and any children that come of our union will be legitimate.” He could see her struggle for more, but the details eluded her. Quietly, on a whisper, she finished, “We can be together, all of us.”
Lorren nodded slowly, considering.
Without a word, Farjika lowered herself to her knees.
His pulse shot up so fast he almost toppled forward.
“Do you want me to beg?” Her gaze traveled up from his waist to his face. “If that’s what you need, I will humble myself.”
Every cell in his body that longed to master her sparked to awareness. Blood flooded his cock, leaving just enough in his brain to fuel the primitive mind of the beast.
“They say actions speak louder than words.” Lorren reached out one finger to trace her lips. He gritted his teeth when he saw his hand shook. Farjika had fallen to her knees before Gabriyel. As much as it shocked her parents, it inflamed his jealousy. He wanted her to hunger for him in the same way. This was her way of appeasing that longing in him.
“You want to humiliate her?” Errion asked, watching them as he leaned against the wall.
“No, I want to know that she really wants me.”
“And sucking your cock in a public hallway is going to prove that?”
“It couldn’t hurt.”
Bracing himself, Lorren stared hard at her plush lips, his intent clear.
Without hesitation, Farjika popped apart the edges of his trousers, freeing him. Hard and thick, his prick craned toward her face, hungry for contact. Leaning her head back, keeping her gaze locked on his, she kissed the tip, then slid him within.
Dark Empress: The Onic Empire, Book 5 Page 29