STORY EXCERPT

Kelan Rei, king of Emryn and lord of the Seral Domes, stood at the window of his private bedchamber and stared out over the capital city of Winterreach. His gaze was captured by the slow drift of flakes as they fell, dancing before his eyes like mystical faeries come to lure him to their hidden kingdom. If only he could follow them and leave all the troubles and betrayals behind that seemed to beset him at every turn these days. It hadn’t yet been a full week since his cousin, Fenworth Rei, had been tried and executed for conspiring with the Angkeshi to assassinate Kelan’s wife, Lyra, and he was still coming to grips with that fact.

Poor Lyra, she’d gotten a raw deal all around. Oh, he’d tried to be a good husband, but she had known from the very beginning that he didn’t love her, couldn’t love her. He wasn’t sure if she’d known exactly where his heart resided, but she had been more than aware that it wasn’t with her. They’d married for reasons of state, of course. She was the daughter of a duke, niece of a marquis. Her bloodline was pure and unbroken for generations, the perfect wife for a king.

She had been a wonderful queen, too, dedicated to her people, and a loving and caring mother to their only son, Aric. It had not seemed to bother her that Kelan felt nothing more than a kind of distant affection for her, at least, not on the surface. What she thought of, dreamed of, in the dark reaches of the night, no one knew, certainly not her husband. And now she was gone. He still couldn’t believe it.

“Are you all right?” The voice coming out of the darkness behind him startled him, though he immediately recognized it. He turned, taking in the sight of his brother-in-law hovering in the doorway. Teris Bas Rillian was Lyra’s older brother, and the man that Kelan had fallen in love with the first time he’d laid eyes on him. Unfortunately, that had also been the day he’d become formally betrothed to Teris’s sister. Had there ever been a more ironic or pathetic fate? Not that that had really been a consideration. A king had to produce heirs, and that couldn’t be done if he was bonded to another male.

He managed a slight smile at Teris’s question before turning his gaze back to the snow-covered city that lay stretched out beneath him. “Yes. I’m fine.” He heard Teris’s footsteps growing closer. The man came to a halt beside him, and Kelan could feel Teris’s eyes on him. He knew Teris was studying him to see how he was holding up under all of the strain. He ignored the look, as he had been doing for the past several days. It seemed as if someone was always hovering nearby, watching to see if their king would collapse beneath the blows that just kept raining down on his head. But Kelan Rei had the blood of warrior kings in his veins. He would not bend, and he would not break. But he would mourn. Goddess, yes, he would mourn for so many things he’d lost, not least being his trust in the basic goodness of his fellow man.

“I know how much it disturbed you to discover that Fenworth betrayed you,” Teris said softly.

Kelan let out a short laugh, but there was no humor in the sound. “Yes, well, I’ve learned to deal with these disturbances. They seem to be happening with stunning regularity these days.”

“You’ve lost your wife, the mother of your son, and been betrayed by a family member. It’s okay that it has affected you. It’s okay to be angry. It’s more than okay to be sad.”

“I’m fine.”

“You know you don’t have to pretend with me, Kelan. I know you. This wasn’t just some soldier or servant. It was your cousin. It’s right and normal that you should be hurt by what he did. You’ve known him since you were children, played with him, had lessons with him.” Teris’s hand came to rest on his shoulder, and its warmth helped thaw some of the ice that had taken hold of him since he’d learned the truth about Lyra’s death. His shoulders slumped forward.

“I just feel so numb right now,” Kelan confessed. “I think, no, I know I should feel rage and a need for revenge, but I don’t seem to feel much of anything.”

Teris stepped nearer, and more of the heat from his body seeped into Kelan’s. His own body responded, betraying him as always when he was in the presence of this man. He hadn’t acted upon it yet, but the desire to turn to Teris for comfort had become harder and harder to resist. When Lyra had been alive, both he and Teris had done nothing that would have hurt her or betrayed their bonding vows, though the need had been there. It had shone in Teris’s eyes when they had met Kelan’s in unguarded moments. It had shimmered in the air whenever the two men found themselves alone with one another. It had invaded Kelan’s dreams, erotic scenes of the two men bathing together in a hidden stream, lying together on a bank of sweet-smelling grass, kissing passionately between the widespread arms of a shimmering oak. And now that Lyra was gone, it was more difficult than ever to keep his distance from Teris.

ADULT EXCERPT

Teris was in heaven. He couldn’t believe that it was finally happening. Kelan was in his bed, naked, and responding to Teris with all the passion and ardor he’d dreamed of for so long. Kelan’s body was warm and hard as it pressed into his own, and his mouth was the sweetest thing Teris had ever tasted.

Impatient for more, he rolled so that he was on top and Kelan’s body was stretched out beneath him. His mouth moved, grazing down Kelan’s face and neck and dropping hot little kisses and bites across the expanse of Kelan’s chest and abdomen. He had one goal in mind, and he was eager to reach it. He scooted down lower on the bed, until his face was directly above Kelan’s cock. Goddess, it was a stirring sight. Hard and long, it had a slight bend to it that Teris found intriguing. The shaft was pale, but the head darkened to a deeper, purplish color. The nest of curls that surrounded the base was a deep brown and felt silky soft when he moved his hand to curl around the base of the shaft.

He stroked up, slowly, watching closely as his hand reached the plum-shaped head. His thumb stroked across the underside, and Kelan groaned and arched up. “Goddess, that feels good, Teris. Do it again.” Teris eagerly complied, watching as the shaft hardened even more and a small pearl of cum glistened in the slit at the top. Bending his head, he stuck out his tongue and delicately lapped up the salty-sweet offering.

Kelan moaned, and Teris paused to gaze up into Kelan’s face. His eyes were closed, and his teeth had caught his bottom lip in a tight clasp as though trying to hold back the betraying sounds of pleasure. He rose up to kneel between Kelan’s legs, wanting to see his lover, needing to study and learn every fraction of skin, every line of muscle and sinew. Kelan was gorgeous. Deceptively slender when clothed, in his glorious nudity, Kelan’s body gave proof that this was a king who did more than sit on a throne and dictate to his subjects.

Kelan’s body was hard and well-muscled, though not the bulky muscle of the warriors and Guardians. Rather it was the slender, sinewy build of a runner or an acrobat. He was strong, but not overtly so. His chest and belly were hairless, with nothing to hinder the viewer from tracing every muscled line. Teris’s gaze moved lower, taking in each molded curve of thigh and calf. Then he looked back at Kelan’s cock, still surrounded by his own hand. He was darker than Kelan, and the contrast between the paleness of Kelan’s shaft and his fingers was erotically enthralling.

Teris tightened his hand and pulled upward, drawing another ragged moan from Kelan’s lips. He smiled and did it again, watching as the muscles in Kelan’s stomach tightened with each tug. He leaned forward to catch another bead of cum that leaked from the shaft head, drawing it into his mouth to savor its flavor. Then he bent and engulfed the head of the cock in his mouth, sucking on it and relishing Kelan’s harshly indrawn gasp. He spent several minutes devoted to learning what Kelan liked. He wanted to taste everything, to touch everywhere. He licked and kissed his way down the hard rod, burying his face in the curls at the base and inhaling, taking in the musky odor of Kelan’s arousal. His mouth traveled lower, exploring the wrinkled sac, pulling the balls into his mouth and suckling them, enjoying the gasps and moans coming from above him.

He teased and tormented Kelan over and over, bringing him to the brink of orgasm several times before backing off. Soon Kelan was begging and pleading, crying for release. Teris could stand it no longer. He flipped Kelan over and reached over to grab the bottle of tunis oil. When he’d coated his hands and cock with the slick liquid, he rubbed his fingers between the rounded curves of Kelan’s ass, seeking and finding his anal opening. He pressed inside, his finger sliding into the tight channel. He paused to make sure Kelan was all right.

“Farking hell, don’t stop,” gasped the king.

Reassured, Teris added a second finger to the first, moving both deeper into Kelan’s body. He stroked in and out several times, widening the tight hole to make it easier to get his cock inside. Kelan responded to the touch, pressing his ass back against Teris’s hand each time he stroked inside. At last Teris could stand it no longer.

“I have to fuck you,” he whispered.