by Lyra Evans
Niko took off the jacket carefully, trying not to wrinkle it unnecessarily. He replaced it on the hanger, taking the shirt from beneath it instead to start to dress. He noticed, after a beat, that Cobalt remained in the doorway, watching him. Niko paused, his insides fluttering with a slowly building desire. With purposeful movements, Niko reached for the towel at his waist and dropped it. Standing naked in front of Cobalt, he pulled on the shirt and began to button it. Cobalt simply observed him, his silver eyes like liquid metal. Niko licked his lips, reaching for a pair of fitted boxer briefs to don before the pants, but Cobalt stopped him.
“No,” he said, his voice low. “Without.”
Cock twitching, Niko reached instead for the pants and pulled them on slowly. He did up the fly and buttons, adjusting the shirt tuck as he did. The softness of the fabric against his rapidly filling cock was almost painful, but he tried to ignore it. Cobalt stepped into the room at this point, plucking the tie from the hanger. It was also black, but the silk shone more in the light than the other fabrics. Cobalt held it up to Niko, and Niko saw the weave on it was complex. Black and silver fibers intertwined, it looked as though it was patterned with a very subtle chain link.
Swallowing hard, Niko flipped up his collar and tilted his head back, exposing his neck for Cobalt. With a soft, carnal growl deep in his chest, Cobalt wrapped the fabric around Niko’s neck and began to tie it. Fingers moving deftly, Cobalt yanked the knot tight to Niko’s throat and smoothed his hands down Niko’s chest.
“Not a soul can resist you in this,” Cobalt said, his hands moving to Niko’s hips. Chest tight, Niko found it difficult to breathe. Blood rushed through him, and he looked up through his lashes at Cobalt, his eyes lingering along the curve of Cobalt’s lips.
“You seem to be doing all right.”
Cobalt’s grip tightened on Niko’s waist immediately, dragging him into Cobalt’s body. He caught Niko’s lips in a deep, hungry kiss, and wrapped his hands around to Niko’s ass. Niko raised his arms to coil around Cobalt’s neck as Cobalt hefted him into the air. Cock rubbing gloriously against the fabric of the suit pants and Cobalt’s hard stomach, Niko crossed his ankles around Cobalt’s back, pouring himself into the kiss and forgetting, for a moment, what they were meant to be doing.
Cobalt moved them, turning to sink onto the edge of the bed, Niko straddling him in his lap. Hips rocking against Cobalt, Niko moaned as his cock brushed against Cobalt’s trapped erection. He was wearing too many clothes, too many layers between them, and Niko couldn’t think of anything but tearing off the suit to lay himself bare for Cobalt to plunder. But Cobalt had other ideas.
He broke the kiss, pulling away just enough to breathe. They both heaved, hot and ravenous for each other, but Cobalt pressed his forehead to Niko’s and gripped him tightly to stop his gyrating.
“I need to give you something,” he said through rough breaths, “before we go.”
Niko sorely wished Cobalt meant to give him his cock, and hard and fast, but he suspected it was something else. His mind a mess of desire and feelings and denial, Niko nodded silently. He watched in muted confusion as Cobalt pulled open his own shirt, revealing the Soul Stone shining on his chest. With one hand still on Niko, Cobalt took the other and pressed his fingertips to the edges of the Stone. It glowed brilliantly, blindingly white before the light faded and Cobalt was holding the Stone out between them. It pulsed with magic this close, and Niko sensed it on his skin like a flame, a heartbeat, a source of pure magic. He didn’t understand.
“I’m giving you my Soul Stone,” Cobalt said, and Niko nearly pulled back, the shock hit him so powerfully.
“What?”
“I need you to take it, Niko,” Cobalt said, and Niko’s eyes went wide as the Stone itself. Cobalt may as well have offered him his still-beating heart.
“I can’t—why?” Niko said. His muscles seemed made of stone, his arms unable to move from their position except in the brief flinching as he kept trying to escape. Panic gripped him. The Stone was Cobalt’s—everything. It was like giving Niko his very Soul. It was giving Niko his Soul. “You can’t. That’s not. I can’t—”
“I trust you, Niko,” Cobalt said, and Niko couldn’t breathe. He searched Cobalt’s eyes, completely lost. But Cobalt only looked back at him with calm determination, as though he knew exactly what he was doing. But he couldn’t. It was crazy. Perhaps seeing this in Niko’s eyes, Cobalt sighed and said, “We don’t know why Indigo and the others gave away their Stones, but they did. Either they did it willingly, or they were somehow forced by a magic I cannot begin to comprehend. We do not know what or who the Woods is, or what they are capable of. Which means I cannot risk carrying my Stone on my chest.”
Okay. That seemed vaguely logical. Niko’s panic receded slightly. He swallowed hard, his heart still pounding in his chest.
“Then leave it somewhere safe,” he said, knowing the suggestion was wildly irresponsible.
“I will,” Cobalt said. “I will leave it with you.”
Niko shook his head, staring at the Stone as though it was—he didn’t know what. What was more dangerous or precious than a Soul?
“Who says I won’t give it away? What if the Woods forces me to give it up? I’m no safer than—”
“You won’t,” Cobalt said quietly. “There is no power great enough to force you to relinquish my Soul Stone. I cannot explain to you why because I do not think you would believe me. But that is hardly the point,” Cobalt said, apparently pushing thoughts away, his eyes momentarily closed. Niko was more confused than ever. “Even if there was a way to force you, no one will know you have it.”
Niko was still skeptical, still filled with alarm and the urge to bolt, but something in his body pinned him in place, wrapped around Cobalt and staring at the glowing Stone between them. There was a faint music coming from it, Niko was sure. He couldn’t hear it, really, but he could feel it.
“Where am I supposed to keep it?” Niko asked, more terrified than he had ever been. Even standing on the precipice of death had not been as frightening as this.
“Take it, and you will know,” Cobalt said. After a hesitation, Cobalt added, “You may return it to me after this case is done.” There was something unspoken in that sentence, but Niko did not know how to decipher it.
With unsteady hands, Niko reached out and touched the Stone in Cobalt’s palm. He pulled back almost instantly, spooked by the warmth of it, by the rolling magic that permeated every inch of it. Steeling his will to the fear, Niko wrapped his fingers around the Stone and took it from Cobalt.
Immediately, he felt warm and light and calm. He stared into the swirling blues and greens of the surface of the Stone, and Cobalt was right. He did know what to do.
Without thinking on it, Niko pressed the Stone to his chest, right in the centre just beneath his collarbone. It was the precise place where he might have had his own Soul Stone, if he’d been a Selkie. As the Stone touched his body, the blinding white light flashed again, obscuring everything from sight. But Niko felt it happening. He felt the Stone sinking into him, passing through the barriers of his clothes and skin and muscle and bone and magic, and settling in a place inside of him that suddenly felt agonizingly full. He hadn’t been aware of how empty that little space had been, how cold and hollow, until this very moment. Fighting every emotion that crashed over him, Niko denied himself the urge to cry or call out or scream or laugh or moan. He did nothing but shake from the overwhelming sensations of it.
And when the light faded and the hollowness was full, Niko took a few ragged, desperate breaths. His hand gripped tight to Cobalt’s shoulder, the other hand pressing flat to his chest. Cobalt wrapped his arms around Niko, steadying him.
“I can feel it,” Niko said breathlessly. “I can feel you.” And he was dizzy with it. It was blinding and deafening and deadly with sensation. He felt Cobalt’s life in him, and he didn’t know how to handle that. He had no skills for this, no tools equipped to deal with this kind
of intimacy.
“I can too,” Cobalt told him quietly. “I can feel you.” He pressed a kiss to Niko’s face, and Niko turned into it, their lips meeting with an urgency unparalleled. They held each other for a time, kissing and breathing and clinging to the strange experience that passed between them. “Are you all right?” Cobalt asked him after a while.
Finally, the heady rush of sensations began to fade. They were still present, but Niko seemed to be growing accustomed to them. The weight in his chest felt more and more natural with every passing moment, and Niko pushed the panic at that thought aside.
“Yeah,” Niko said, his tone uneven and rough. “I think so.”
“I’m afraid we need to go,” Cobalt said, his hands still at Niko’s waist, fingers stretched over the globes of his ass.
“Yeah,” Niko said, unable to come up with anything more eloquent. Finally, Niko was the one who made the decision for them, swinging his legs around and off the bed to get up. Cobalt released him with a kind of reluctance visible on the air, like a magnetic pull just barely denied. “You should dress.”
Forcing himself to the door of the bedroom, Niko stepped out into the living area. He knew if he watched Cobalt take off his clothes he’d be unable to stop himself falling to his knees and begging to be fucked. So he looked anywhere but the bedroom. But his will was still weak, and he couldn’t bring himself to close the door.
In the kitchenette there was a small fridge. Niko pulled it open to find a bottle of ice water. He poured out a glass and downed it in a few gulps, needing both the hydration and the calming effect of the cold. Finding that not to be enough, he took the cold bottle and pressed it to his face and neck.
When he finally calmed enough, he replaced the bottle and searched for the shoes Cobalt had promised him. A shiny black box on the coffee table was his best guess, so Niko opened it. Inside was a pair of brand new, black silk socks sitting atop a pair of black leather derby-style shoes. The leather was smoothed to a perfect finish, the lacing simple and elegant, strange only in that the seaming cut diagonally across from the inside sole to the middle of the throat of the shoe. This seam was accented with a deep navy edging that blackened the colour of the leather further. Niko picked up the left shoe with caution, flipping it over to see the sole. As he expected, the sole was coloured a bold blue to match the edging on the seam, and in the centre of it, beneath the ball of the foot, was a five-pointed star design unique to this particular designer.
Niko fell into the armchair, unsure what to do with himself knowing he was holding about half a year’s salary in his hands. He suspected he was wearing even more than that, but he didn’t quite know the cost of clothing the way he did footwear.
Cobalt emerged from the bedroom, fully dressed now. He wore a black suit, though it was similar to Niko’s only in the colour. The pattern of the weave drew fine swirls all over the fabric, only visible in certain lights. The collar swooped low and was adorned with a shining, chain-link patterned embellishment that called to mind seaweed or something similar. Beneath the jacket was a black vest with similar weave over a black shirt with black tie. The only real colour came from the silver detailing on the suit or the bold blue leather shoes he wore. Even from a distance, Niko could tell they were the same make as the shoes in his hands.
“You bought me Bleu Ciels?” Niko asked in disbelief.
Cobalt tilted his head, adjusting the fit of his sleeve. “Are they not the quality I thought?”
Niko shook his head. “Bleu Ciel is one of the best designers in the Three Courts when it comes to men’s shoes.” He shut his eyes, pressing fingertips to his temple. “These are—extravagant—to say the least.”
Rather than sheepish, Cobalt seemed pleased. “Perfect,” he said. “Precisely what I was hoping for.” Niko didn’t know what to say to that. “Do you not like them?”
He didn’t want to say that he’d always wanted a pair. One day. He didn’t want to admit that he had strange fantasies about shoes. The only part of his wardrobe that spoke to his identity at all were his shoes. And the fetish gear, he supposed. But Niko wore black boots to work most of the time, so few people had even ever witnessed an inkling to his interest in foot fashion.
“They’re—very nice,” he said, slightly strangled. Cobalt appeared next to him, and when Niko looked up at him, it was to find Cobalt’s expression soft and somewhat mournful.
“You don’t think you deserve them,” he said. It wasn’t a question. The Soul Stone in his chest pulsed.
“I haven’t earned them,” Niko muttered, and Cobalt squeezed his shoulder.
“You’ve earned them more than ten times over,” he said. “If only you knew it.”
Brow furrowed, Niko didn’t quite think that made sense. But as they were short on time and he had no alternative, he pulled on the socks and carefully slipped his feet into the shoes, one by one. Immediately, the magic in the seaming took effect, the shoes fitting to his feet perfectly. The leather was soft and supple, with just enough give, and the insole cushioned enough to make Niko think he was stepping on air.
He’d have to give them back, right? Have to return them or submit them to the department at the end of the case, for analysis or official reasons, or—something. He couldn’t keep them. He tried to convince himself not to get attached, but now he was wearing them it was far too late for that.
Remembering the earring at the last moment, Niko retrieved it from a side table and replaced it on his ear. Shaking his head slightly, he tested the fit to ensure it wouldn’t slip off, but the earring held tight to his earlobe. Niko grabbed his falsified IDs and slipped them into the inner pocket of the jacket before shrugging it on. When he made for the door, however, it was to find Cobalt blocking his path.
“You are putting yourself in a particularly dangerous position tonight,” Cobalt told him, as though Niko were unaware.
“Like I have no experience with those,” Niko said deadpanned. Cobalt gave a half nod, conceding.
“That is fair. But when you were undercover in the past you had the advantage of knowing you could call for help at any time,” Cobalt said. “We do not have that luxury here.”
Niko’s mind flickered to Uri’s instruction, and he reached for the green candy he’d been given. Niko placed it in his pocket as well, hoping he wouldn’t have to use it.
“We don’t have an army of backup, no,” Niko agreed. “But I don’t see how that puts me in any more danger than you.”
Cobalt shifted his jaw left and right, apparently tasting his words before speaking. “I am attending this event as a buyer. Someone of relatively equal footing to those gathered there. You are attending not as an equal, by as my pet, my—property, for lack of a better term. Who knows what they expect me to do to prove my depravity, but you will be the subject of those actions.” His voice never rose in volume, but the timbre to the words changed. It was almost fear tingeing his concerns, but Niko brushed it off.
“You already told them you wouldn’t kill me,” Niko answered. “Everything else is fixable, basically. I wouldn’t worry about it.”
Hands on Niko’s biceps, Cobalt gripped tightly, forcing Niko to stare into his eyes. Niko tensed as he did, the spike of frustration in Cobalt’s expression clear.
“You don’t understand,” he said. “There are things worse than death.”
Niko reached up between Cobalt’s arms, grabbing each of his biceps in turn to break the hold Cobalt had on him. “No. There isn’t,” Niko said, his voice hard. “Dead is dead, no coming back. Everything else you can recover from, you can get better, get healed, get stronger. You can make it back. They can’t do anything to me I won’t fight my way back from. And more importantly, you can’t do anything that bad to me. You know I give you consent for whatever you need to do.” He stopped, wondering if maybe that was it. Cobalt was concerned about Niko’s consent. He held his head up and spoke clearly and calmly. “I, Niko Spruce, hereby give consent to Cobalt Sincloud to perform whatever necessary
sexual or physical assault on me deemed necessary to the maintenance of our covers for the purposes of this case.” Niko paused, studying Cobalt’s mildly confused face. “There. It’s official now. I’ve given you my permission no matter what happens.”
Cobalt released him and pressed a hand to his forehead, brushing back hair that did whatever it wanted anyway. He sighed heavily. “That is not how consent works,” Cobalt muttered, but Niko ignored him. Gathering himself, he stood to his full height and squared his jaw. “I am giving you this chance to stay back. I will wear the earring and go in alone. That way whatever happens is on me alone. You can watch and instruct me from afar.”
Niko glared at him. “This is my case, Sincloud. I don’t know what you’re thinking, but you’re only a consultant with the MCPD. You have no authority to make any arrests here, so what the fuck do you plan on doing in there when you find the Woods without me?”
Cobalt fell silent, his expression suddenly closed. His eyes were dark, his jaw tight. He said nothing but stared at Niko, and Niko’s anger trilled inside him. The Soul Stone in his chest reverberated with words Niko couldn’t understand, singing a song he couldn’t follow, but it stopped him speaking. He wanted to ask if this was why Cobalt had given him his Soul Stone. Because he thought he could convince Niko not to go? The idea stung, but the influence of the Stone stopped him saying any of it aloud.
“I do not want to hurt you, Niko,” Cobalt said, very quietly.
But the anger was still in Niko, the pride and the stubbornness. “It’s your fucking job to hurt me, and you’ll do your job so I can do mine. I told you, I can recover from anything,” he said, pushing passed Cobalt. He stopped at the door to look back at Cobalt. There was a steady thought in his eyes, like a banner held up for Niko to read, only Niko was illiterate. “Are we doing this together or not?”
Cobalt held his position, perhaps willing Niko to change his mind, perhaps considering whether or not to try and Sing to him, to make him stay. Niko gritted his teeth, as though waiting for it. But Cobalt never tried. And somehow Niko knew he wouldn’t.