Zorvut’s face flushed with heat at that, and he glanced away. “Of course I do,” he muttered, feeling all at once embarrassed and strangely proud. “None of this would have happened if we didn’t care for each other.”
A smug grin had spread across her face as he spoke, and he wondered how it had come to this, that his baby sister was the one teasing him, the warlord, for being married.
“Gross,” was all she said, and Zorvut couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of it. “Well, that’s all I wanted to talk to you about. I’ll let you get back to whatever important business you have, and I’ll keep you updated once I have any news.”
“Thank you,” he repeated, but she had already stood and was halfway out of the tent. He watched the tent flap swing closed behind her for a long moment, running their conversation over in his mind, until finally he too stood up with a sigh. He still had much to do today, meetings with generals and merchants, not to mention dealing with moving Taegan to the northern tower, and still his wounds ached in protest every time he moved. Soon, maybe, he could rest, but he wouldn’t hold his breath.
13
Taegan
After almost a full day of uninterrupted sleep, Taegan was feeling far better than he expected to. He had slept away much of the time he had been in captivity, but something about sleeping in an actual bed with no threat of danger looming over him was so much more restful. The burn on his arm still stung but was healing without issue. And he still felt weak—and looked it, too, he thought upon seeing the gauntness of his face in the mirror as he dressed. But all things considered, he thought he was doing quite well.
Zorvut, though—he could feel the poor half-orc’s exhaustion in the back of his mind all day, a constant and steady stream of yearning to rest but knowing he could not. Taegan knew that times were tenuous and Zorvut could not afford to shirk his new responsibilities for even a day to take a break, but still it pained him to feel how tired his husband was from the very moment he woke up.
After Zorvut had left that morning, Taegan idly bathed and dressed before gathering the things he thought they’d like to take with them to their new lodgings. He had no personal belongings here, of course, and Zorvut only had a handful. Most of what they had was already in the tent when they arrived—it made Taegan’s skin crawl to think of them as Hrul’s belongings, but that was what they were—or had been provided to them over the course of the last two days. There wasn’t much he thought they would need to take, but he gathered up some blankets, the clothes some of the other elves had given him, Zorvut’s clothes, and a few books he had been able to scavenge. Then he bundled them up, and waited for Zorvut to return.
It was late in the afternoon when the tent flap swung open and Zorvut stepped inside, Taegan looking up from where he had been sitting on the bed with a book. There had not been much else to do, and a grin spread across his face at the sight of his husband.
“Welcome back,” he said, getting to his feet. Zorvut smiled at him, reaching out to take his hand. The steady trickle of weariness in the back of his head seemed to fade a bit as they embraced, and Zorvut held onto him from a long moment before finally pulling away to look down at him.
“Ready?” he asked, and Taegan nodded. “I’ll take you there.”
They left the tent hand in hand, and although Taegan was quite aware of the two elven soldiers following them at a polite distance, it felt almost like a leisurely stroll through the city the way they would often walk together through the castle grounds and gardens in Aefraya. Not quite, but almost.
“This is where we’ll stay,” Zorvut said, pointing toward a tall building as they approached. It was a stone tower, a bit narrow and no more than three stories from what Taegan could tell, plain and unassuming. “This used to be where the warlord or some other honored guest would stay whenever they were in Drol Kuggradh, although I think Hrul had been using it more as a meeting place most recently. Since I don’t plan on roving much, I’m going to have it modified somewhat to work better as a permanent home, but it’ll still do for now.”
“As long as it’s got a bath, I can’t complain,” Taegan teased, and Zorvut smirked down at him.
“I had one brought in just for you,” he murmured, squeezing his shoulder. “Only the best for my prince.”
The soft tone of Zorvut’s words in juxtaposition with the strong musculature of his body pressed against Taegan made him hard almost instantly; it had been long enough that it didn’t take much, but today he was feeling much more capable of that sort of physical activity compared to how lethargic he had been yesterday. Taegan knew his desire must have come loud and clear through the bond but still he glanced away coyly, studying the stone tower for a moment longer before looking back up at Zorvut.
“Let me show you inside,” Zorvut said softly, the familiar heat of his gaze setting Taegan’s whole body alight. He nodded quickly, and Zorvut led him to the doorway of the tower.
They stepped inside, but the moment the door had closed behind them, Zorvut pulled him into his arms, lifting him up to kiss him hard on the mouth as Taegan’s hands fumbled with the laces of his shirt. Arousal arced between them from the bond, building up rapidly to an irresistible ache between his legs that he could feel readily mirrored from Zorvut.
“Is this okay?” Zorvut asked, breaking the kiss abruptly to look down at him. “I don’t want to—I know you weren’t feeling well. Are you sure this is alright?”
“Yes,” Taegan said, nodding firmly. “Yes, I’m sure.” He tilted his head up once more expectantly, and with a slight chuckle Zorvut kissed him again. Taegan’s hands pushed under Zorvut’s shirt, feeling the hard muscle underneath, gingerly brushing around the places he could feel were tender and healing, tracing along the soft mound of his nipples until they grew hard under his touch. He whimpered as Zorvut mirrored the movement, his hands exploring under Taegan’s shirt and leaving trails of warm, tingling pleasure along his skin where he touched.
“I need to be inside you,” Zorvut gasped as he pulled Taegan’s shirt off him, pushing him up against the stone wall just inside the tower. Taegan barely took in any of their surroundings—stone walls, a hallway, maybe a table in the corner?—but all he could focus on was the heat radiating from every inch of his skin that Zorvut touched and the insistent need pulsing from the back of his head in time with his pounding heart.
“Please,” Taegan whimpered, nodding quickly. He unlaced his breeches and Zorvut pulled them down in one quick, easy motion. His cock sprang free but Zorvut’s hands went straight for his ass, spreading him apart and running his fingers along Taegan’s hole already wet with slick. He moaned as Zorvut pushed a finger inside of him, moving slowly but intently. It had been so long since they were last together, making the sensation somehow familiar yet new all at once. He clung desperately to Zorvut’s neck, his arms quivering, but the half-orc had him held firmly in one arm with his back pressed to the wall, and with his legs wrapped around Zorvut’s waist he could feel his rock-hard erection pressed against him even through the cloth of Zorvut’s breeches that still separated them.
“You’re so tight,” Zorvut murmured as he worked his fingers in and out of Taegan, eliciting a string of soft moans and gasps from him as he did. “Gods, you’re going to feel so good around me.” A second finger pressed inside him, and Taegan’s head tipped back against the stone wall as a soft keen escaped his lips.
“Please,” he gasped, but he couldn’t bring himself to formulate any words beyond that. “Please, Zorvut, please.”
Zorvut worked him open for a moment longer, but the desire and pleasure building up between them proved to be too much to resist. He pulled his hand away, leaving Taegan empty only for a moment as he unlaced his own breeches, and pressed the head of his cock into Taegan’s entrance.
They both gasped as his cock slid in, stretching Taegan wide and opening his body up for what felt like the first time all over again. The fullness of him, familiar as it was, overwhelmed him quickly and he found himself pressing his face into Zorvut’s shoulder and digging his fingernails frantically into his back.
“Slow,” he begged, his whole body burning with heat. “You’re so big—please—go slow.”
“I will,” Zorvut murmured. Taegan could feel him nod, and one of his hands came up to stroke Taegan’s hair in a comforting gesture. “I won’t hurt you.”
His hips moved slowly at first as Taegan’s muscles and nerves reacclimated to the massive cock inside him, but even through the discomfort Taegan could feel the familiar building tension in his own cock with every careful thrust.
