by Kayleigh Sky
The next moment cold air hit Rune’s hot cock, and a groan tore from his throat. Zev’s fiery tongue lapped him from bottom to tip and swirled the crown like a lollipop. He closed his eyes as the faint tickle of a draft caressed his skin. Strange. Why was that strange? Unease like a clamorous bell rang inside him, but an explosion of light burst in his brain the minute Zev swallowed him down to the root.
“Fuck.”
He clenched his fists in Zev’s hair, the soft strands tangling in his fingers, while Zev yanked on his pants and got them halfway to his knees. The cold air hit his balls a second before Zev cupped them in a hot palm. He hissed, and Zev squeezed, adding pain to his pleasure. Rune’s nerves vibrated, goosebumps popping out on his skin, knees shaking.
“Fuck,” he whispered. About to blow now, he pushed Zev away. “I won’t last.”
Zev struggled to his feet, grinning and sweaty in the cold.
Something worrisome teased Rune’s brain, but thin as a wisp it floated away again.
Now Zev stepped closer, and Rune hooked his arm around Zev’s neck. Sliding his lips across Zev’s, he delighted in the soft tickle, the heat as Zev opened to him, enticing him in.
Spice hit his senses, intoxicating and smoky. So warm and wet and soft.
He groaned, sliding his tongue against Zev’s, swallowing the moans that met him. Zev’s lean body pressed against his, his cock burning like molten steel through his pants. He rocked against Rune’s hip. Muscle rippled under Rune’s palms, and Zev’s hands dug into his flesh.
The sound of their moans echoed and bounced off the walls.
As Rune strained to get a breath, bright dots danced along the edges of his consciousness.
With a gasp, he pulled away, grabbed a fistful of Zev’s hair, and yanked his head back. Zev’s throat thrummed with the beat of his pounding heart. Hot blood flowed tantalizingly close to Rune’s fangs.
He nipped, and Zev froze.
Growling, he grazed Zev’s skin with his fangs, the pulse under his lips, already fast, racing like lightning now. The scent of… blood… was strong and sweet and wove through Rune’s brain like a drug, stealing his will to resist. And Zev… did nothing. He eased in against Rune’s body and collapsed, giving in to him.
Rune kissed the strong neck, Zev’s jaw, the corner of his mouth. “So sweet, my friend.”
He pushed Zev away and took his hand. “Come into the cave.”
Zev smiled, his breath shallow and quick, unresisting as Rune dragged him into the cave and removed his clothes. After he stripped his own off, he stood up against Zev’s body, skin to skin, breath to breath, matching Zev’s smile with his own. He cupped Zev’s ass, and Zev wound Rune’s hair in his fingers and murmured, “Happy birthday.”
“My favorite present.”
Zev hummed in his throat. “Not your map?”
“Close, but yours wins.”
He squeezed Zev’s ass and kissed him. “Come on. I brought a blanket.”
He’d crammed it into his bag with his lights and a flask of water he handed to Zev, taking the flask back when he was done drinking.
The pond in front of him lay as smooth as a mirror. Wisps of mist floated off its surface. Its water was warm, the air scented with moon lace.
Rune laid the blanket near the shore and gazed back at Zev. His cock stood at half-mast, still fat and delicious looking though. Rune sank to his knees and gave Zev a slow lick. The warm flesh jerked against his lips. He grabbed the base and popped the crown into his mouth.
“Oh, fuck,” Zev muttered, digging his fingers into Rune’s shoulder. “Yessss.”
Rune drowned in sensation as he suckled the head of Zev’s cock, saliva flooding his mouth at the delicious flavor. He popped off and planted kisses down the length, tickled Zev’s balls, and slid the surfaces of his teeth back up to the top before swallowing him down again. The weight of flesh in his mouth dragged at his jaw. He swallowed, and Zev whimpered and tugged on his hair. He sat back on his heels and looked up.
Zev let out a gusty laugh. “Fuck.”
“Uh huh,” he said.
He pulled Zev down and pushed against his chest until he lay on the blanket. A tickle of air ghosted across Rune’s back, and he twisted toward the entrance.
“What?” Zev asked.
“There’s a breeze. I’ve never felt that before.”
“Maybe there is a tunnel in here somewhere.”
The wall on the other side of the lake was ragged and shadowy.
Maybe…
But Zev was pulling him down, stroking his arms and shoulders, while Rune nudged Zev’s legs apart and lowered himself onto heat and slick skin. Blistering as the sun on the surface, a glowing radiance he confused with happiness. My friend… my love…
So why the sorrow?
Rune bent his face away, hiding the burn in his eyes. Zev’s caresses lit him afire, and the pounding of his heart stuttered.
Zev gasped and hugged him as the ground rolled and… stilled.
Rune raised his head. “Another one.”
“There’s been dozens. Small ones though.”
“In Kolnadia too.”
Zev smiled. “I thought you were rocking my world.”
“Haha. It’s my birthday. You’re supposed to rock mine.”
Zev squeezed Rune’s hips in his thighs and wrapped his arms around his shoulders. “Fuck me.”
“My pleasure,” Rune murmured.
As he cradled Zev’s head in the crook of one arm, he reached back to stroke his warm thigh. The leg pushed against his arm as Zev opened wider and arched his back. The thrust of his pelvis burned Rune’s belly.
“Good?”
“Getting there,” Zev whispered.
Rune chuckled and slid a finger into Zev’s crack, pulling a long shudder from the body underneath him.
“I have a surprise for you too.”
“I hope it involves your cock.”
Rune laughed. “In a way.”
He pushed one of Zev’s legs up high and licked a quick swath across his hot hole before he dragged his bag over and dug inside. His fingers brushed cool plastic, and he pulled out a tubular object. “Lube.”
Zev struggled onto his elbows. “Where’d you get that?”
“A guy in Kolnadia was selling them. I snagged three. Better than oil.”
Zev lay back down with a wink. “Prove it.”
Rune was happy to. His sorrow of a moment ago melted into wistfulness—something like homesickness, tender and sweet. Not fated, but eternal anyway. The love of my heart.
He dropped the lube and pushed a slick finger into Zev’s hole. Muscles grabbed on, tight as a hug, pulling him deeper. He growled, eyeing the arch of Zev’s neck, and his fangs slid down. Hunger for Zev’s blood surged through him. But what good would that do? Vampire couldn’t live off vampire unless they were fated.
“Harder,” Zev growled.
He added another finger and slammed back in. Hisses joined Zev’s growls. He twisted his wrist.
Zev bit his lip and dug his fingers into Rune’s biceps hard enough to bruise. “Stop. Fuck me now.”
Rune yanked his fingers free, drizzled more lube into Zev’s crack, and pointed his cock at Zev’s hole… waiting for him to sink into utter, boiling bliss.
He rolled his hips and pushed the crown of his cock into Zev’s body. Every nerve inside him sang. Yessss. He closed his eyes and imagined flames licking around his dick, flaring inside him but not burning. He slid in deeper, and the fire consumed his belly and melted his bones.
Zev clawed his back. “Oh fuck… God…”
Rune bottomed out and ground himself against Zev’s ass. The friction danced over his whole body, and he sizzled from toes to fingertips. The echo of Zev’s “Oh fuck… Oh God,” bounced off the cave walls.
Laying his weight on his palms, Rune pounded Zev like a battering ram. Sweat ran down his face, and his hair stuck to his neck and back. His lungs and dick burned. He thrust faster, slammed into
Zev’s body harder until the electricity in his spine set off burning sparks. Fireworks filled the darkness.
“Come,” he snarled. “Come.”
On his order, Zev spurted, and Rune fell over the edge with him, tumbling into fire and ruin.
His thoughts shattered, scattering into the dark. Only the clasp of Zev’s arms around him and his whispered, “Shit,” brought him back. Dimly, he sensed a rumble rising through rock. He pulled out of Zev’s body and held on as the ground shook, and something cracked behind them. A moment later though, everything was still again, except…
A draft. Cold air blowing against him. He scrambled up and spun. The dark was barely illuminated, but a ghostly glow wavered on the other side of the pond. A new tunnel. The wall had opened. Zev stood beside him now, pushing the blanket at him until Rune took it and wiped the lube off his dick before he pulled his pants back on.
“We should go,” said Zev.
But that glow was like a pile of gold luring Rune over. “Not yet. I won’t be long, but I need to look. That’s the tunnel, the one on the map.”
“It can’t be. It wasn’t there a minute ago.”
Zev was buttoning his shirt with shaky fingers.
“That’s the right spot on the map. Maybe an earthquake closed it and this one opened it back up.”
Taking the lamp he’d packed in his bag with him, Rune headed down the slope. Zev followed with the other lamp. “Don’t get your hopes up, Rune. You aren’t going to find a lost city behind that wall. Or the Adini treasure.”
Rune laughed. “There is no treasure. I just want to see.”
“You want to prove something to the King.”
Rune stopped at the ledge that led around the pond and turned back. “Prove what?”
“That you have your own dreams maybe.”
His smile pulled at his face. “I have my duty, and I accept that. Telling the King I wanted to apprentice with Protis gave him a reason to compromise on me doing something else I love. Map-making is respectable to him. I won’t be puttering around in the common plaza, I get something I want, and I don’t shame my family. Now come on.”
He stepped onto the ledge and shuffled to the other side of the lake. The wedge where the tunnel was oozed a strange golden color. The closer he got to it, the less it looked like a light though. It didn’t illuminate anything. Is that… paint?
“How can there be light?” Zev asked. “We aren’t that close to the surface.”
“I don’t know. A shaft or an air hole maybe?”
The shale on the other side of the pond was rough and crunched under their feet. As they reached the cleft in the rock, the yellow color receded. Strange. Rune brushed the edge of rock and took a step closer.
Zev grabbed him. “You can’t squeeze through that. You’ll get stuck.”
The mouth of the cleft was narrow and rock bit into the space like teeth. In back though, the yellow color pulsed, more like a light now.
“I won’t go far,” Rune said.
Stretching his lamp out in front of him, he inched in. The tunnel curved away, its walls crusted with a white-colored dust.
Another draft brushed past him, and the air smelled musty and damp. Water dripped ahead, soft and rhythmic.
He eased another foot ahead, and a jolt underground knocked him face first into the opposite wall. Another sharp shudder threw him back. He smacked his head, and stars flashed in his eyes.
“Rune!”
“I’m okay.”
Zev appeared at his side and dragged him out of the cleft. He looked over his shoulder as shadow fell and the yellow light dimmed and disappeared.
Dammit.
4
The Upheaval
Water lapped gently at the shore of the pond, but the blanket and Rune’s bag lay where he’d dropped them.
“Just forget it,” said Zev. “Stick to tunnels that won’t close up on you.”
Rune winked. “How will I know?”
“You’re crazy.”
That quieted him. He shrugged and shoved the blanket back into his bag, fastened it, and looked up.
Zev stood not a foot away, almost nose to nose. “You have a passionate heart,” he murmured.
Rune shrugged. “I’m the King’s servant.”
“I am yours. No matter where you go.”
A shiver ran over him. He hadn’t told Zev about his struggle with his vow. Did Zev know?
Forcing a smile, he leaned forward and kissed Zev’s mouth. “Let’s eat back in the city.”
Zev nodded.
The park was vacant, but the plaza was still busy. A few of the merchants were sweeping up broken glass, but people still sat outside, eating and drinking and playing games. Zev found a table with a checkerboard on it, and Rune sat down across from him.
“I don’t want to forget what we saw. I’m going back again.”
“The light went out.”
“Not all the way, and I don’t mean right now anyway. Let’s eat and play a game.”
Zev nodded. “Okay. Set the board up, and I’ll get us some tea.”
He stood, and Rune collected the pieces.
A few vampires dipped their chins and bent low. Rune dipped his in return then let his gaze trail the shops after they’d gone on.
At the end of the row was Protis’s studio. It extended farther into the rock than the others and was as hot as an oven inside. The heat gusted from a shaft that plunged deep into the earth toward the core. It was one of many shafts that warmed the area, but the only one inside Celestine, and Protis used it for his glass blowing.
Rune glanced at the eatery Zev had gone into. The entryway was still empty, so he set his bag on the table and hurried down the row of shops.
Protis’s door was a fancy wood one with a small metal grill at eye level. The latch was locked, and Rune knocked.
“Protis!”
At Rune’s call, the glass blower emerged from the shadows and grinned. “Prince.” He opened the door. “Fancy you being here. Have you been unchained?”
Rune sighed and pushed past him. “I am not your apprentice.”
“So… still chained.”
“Did you lose any pieces?”
“A few. My current one.”
Rune winced. “Sorry.”
Protis shrugged. “Most everything is tied down or wrapped up. Idiot humans.”
“You don’t know it’s them.”
“I lived with them.”
Protis sighed, picked up a basket with pieces of glass inside it, and strode to the back of the shop.
Rune followed, buffeted by waves of heat.
“Were you invited to my dilmenia?”
“No. A dilmenia is not for commoners. The King is not happy with me anyway.”
“I don’t know how he found out.”
Protis grinned. “Qudim is a good king, and I honor him. I also fear him. Like any vampire with enemies, he has his spies. One day, you will have yours.”
That last had a tone of distaste to it, and Rune flushed hotter than Protis’s oven. “We’re all born to something.”
Protis looked sad. “I thought you were born to this.”
So had Rune. The odd feeling that his dream life had begun to blur into his real life swelled in his head to the point of making him dizzy. He swayed…
It was just the heat, but he reached for the edge of the table and knocked his bracelet against it.
“Where’d you get that?”
Suddenly, Protis was in front of him, frowning at his wrist. Rune lifted his arm, clasping the bracelet in his other hand.
“My mother. Why?”
“It’s a spell-catcher.”
Rune snorted a laugh. “A spell-catcher? Well, I could use some good luck.”
“Play with fate and you get burned. You’d best throw it in the oven first.”
Rune sobered and let his fangs drop. “It was a gift.”
“Forgive me, Prince.” Protis pointed at the bracelet. “A spell-catche
r consumes good luck and holds it prisoner.”
Another laugh worked its way into Rune’s throat. “I’ve never heard of this.”
“It’s ancient. From the oldest families.”
Rune squinted. The Crinnians were related to the Gennarahs, the oldest family only behind the Seneras. Older even than the… Nezzarams.
Never take it off.
“You will feed the King your blood tonight and flaunt the God who gave you your free will. Whose luck do you think that will capture? Yours? Or another’s?”
The skin under the bracelet began to burn at the thought of giving his wrist to Qudim. His vow.
“I don’t believe in sorcery.”
Never take it off.
“I wish you happiness, Prince.”
“Why are you saying that like you’ll never see me again?”
“You will be a king. I am a commoner.”
“You’re my friend,” Rune said.
Protis smiled. “I am that without fail.”
He opened his arms, and Rune stepped into his embrace. A moment later, Protis released him with a pat on the back. “Go on now and let me clean up here.”
“See you, Protis.”
He returned to the plaza where Zev sat waiting with his elbow on the table and his cheek on his palm.
“Nice of you to join me,” Zev murmured.
“I was checking on Protis.”
“Everything okay?”
“He lost a couple pieces.”
Zev’s gaze dropped to the checkerboard. “Yet this was still on the table.”
“Maybe somebody put it back. Why does one building fall and another stand?”
“Luck.”
Rune hid the chill that ran through his body and gazed at the board. He moved a piece and took a swallow of his tea. Zev slid one of his pieces closer to Rune’s and bit into a pie. They ate and played until the clock chimed four, then Rune retrieved the treats he’d ordered for Jessa, and Zev walked him across the plaza.
At the steps leading to the pier, Rune stopped and stared down at the lake. His boat was there, strangely still. Not a ripple stirred the water’s surface.
“Qudim has spies,” he said.
Zev smiled and tipped his head. “I would.”
Would Zev be a better king?