* * *
“Can we leave yet?” Felix groaned, dragging a hand through his hair as they watched yet another troupe of musicians play yet another tune. The feast had dragged on for long hours, and truthfully Leo was more than ready to leave as well. However, tradition decreed that he stay at least until any visiting royalty had departed, and although most of the guests had left, Sophia’s parents had so far shown no signs of going anywhere.
“That depends. Do you really want me to insult King Andros by leaving his daughter’s wedding feast before he does?”
Felix’s face fell, but a second later a grin appeared on his face. “Oh, but leaving’s only an insult if you do it. Me? I can come and go as I please. I’m just the guard. No reason for the king to be offended if I go for a walk and never come back. It’syouthat’s stuck here, Your Majesty. Although”—he nodded at the doorway and when Leo turned, he saw King Andros and Queen Ysabelfinallytaking their leave, with Mattias and Sophia following— “perhaps not. No risk of offending anyone now. So, can we leave yet so you can take me to bed? Or have you had too much wine to be of any use to me tonight?”
“You’re a brat,” Leo said with a huff.
“That’s me,” Felix agreed cheerfully. “I probably need someone to peel me out of these very well-fitted trousers, put me over their knee, and spank my arse red. And by someone, I mean you.” He leaned back in his seat and ran a hand up and down the length of his thigh suggestively.
Those trousers really were criminally tight.
“Youdoneed someone to teach you a lesson,” Leo said, his blood heating as Felix pressed the heel of his hand against his cock and let out a quiet moan. It was an obvious tease, and more than Leo could bear. “Upstairs, now,” he growled, low and urgent. “Strip and wait for me on the bed. And Flick? Get the crop out.”
“Yes,sire,” Felix said breathlessly, eyes wide.
He didn’tquitebolt out of the room, but it was a close thing, and Leo barely managed to wait a minute before making his excuses and following him.
* * *
“You didn’t go easy,” Felix mumbled into the pillow, his eyes closed. He was naked, legs splayed wide, and he looked utterly ruined.
It suited him.
“No,” Leo agreed, smoothing arnica cream over the delicious array of stripes crisscrossing his boy’s arse, “I didn’t.”
“And you fucked mehard,” Felix continued, arching into Leo’s touch when he ran his thumbs up either side of his spine.
“Are you complaining?” Leo asked, knowing very well that he wasn’t.
“Not in the least.” Felix sighed happily. “But you need to lie down and hold me now. I’m a poor, delicate creature and I deserve to be coddled.”
Leo snorted, but he lay back down on the bed, and Felix wasted no time sprawling across his chest, face pressed against the curve of Leo’s shoulder. “Better?” he asked softly, tangling his fingers in Felix’s messy mop and kissing the top of his head.
“Mm-hmm,” Felix hummed, his weight a solid, comforting presence that Leo could never get enough of.
Leo wrapped an arm around Felix’s back, holding him in place. He listened to the crackle of the fireplace and Felix’s steady breathing, and he thought about Mattias and how happy he’d looked today exchanging his vows. He thought about the fact that he had a son now, an heir, and wasn’t required to produce another one.
And he thought about his charming, irrepressible lover, the man who matched wits with him and refused to be intimidated, and who told him when he was being an arse, but who also rubbed his shoulders after a stressful day and indulged—no,encouraged—Leo’s bedroom antics.
And he thought about the fact that as king, there was nothing stopping him from making their union binding, if he wished to do so.
“Flick?”
Felix gave a disgruntled huff and lifted his head, blinking sleepily in the candlelight and blowing upward at a stray lock of hair. “Mmm?”
Leo smoothed the hair back. “What would you think about marrying me?”
Felix opened his eyes and stared for a long second, then rolled to one side and propped himself up on one elbow. “Are you asking because you just had the best sex of your life and you’re bathing in the afterglow, or is this a serious question?”
It wasn’t quite the response Leo had anticipated, but in fairness, he supposed Felix hadn’t been expecting him to ask. “It’s a serious question.”
“I’d say it’s impossible.” Felix’s voice held a note of wistfulness, though, and Leo, encouraged, sat up and leaned back against the headboard.
“It’s not, though. I could issue a royal decree. Kings have done it before in other kingdoms.”
Felix bit his lip. “You’d do that?”
