“Yes,” Volkmar panted, voice rough, words flooding from his mouth apparently without thought. “Nngh, you feel so good—fuck, right there, right there—yes—yes—!” His head tipped back, his channel tightened and pulsed around Adrissu’s cock. His cock jumped and strained against Adrissu’s hand stroking him rapidly, and he came with a cry, seed spurting onto his belly.
Adrissu groaned, giving only another few thrusts before his orgasm erupted through his body. For a long moment the only thing he could feel was Volkmar’s warmth around him, the scent of his mate and their sex flooding his senses. Nothing else existed but their bodies entwined with each other.
“I love you,” he panted against Volkmar’s skin. “I love you. You’re mine. I love you.”
He could feel Volkmar’s heart hammering against his chest, his ribs expanding and contracting with rapid, hard breaths. After a moment his hands trailed idly through Adrissu’s hair, fingernails scraping against his scalp and sending soft tingles shooting along the length of his spine.
“I love you too,” he whispered. Adrissu tightened his hold around Volkmar’s waist, uncaring of the mess he was making, as he pressed their bodies closer together. “I’m yours.”
Their life continued idly and comfortably this way. When they returned to Polimnos after their leisure trip to Gennemont, Volkmar slept in Adrissu’s room each night. His room still held most of his things—and Volkmar loved trinkets, so he had many things—and he still spent large portions of his day there. But each night he came to Adrissu’s bed, and that was all that mattered.
The human clearly enjoyed being “kept”, as he would often tease Adrissu, since it meant a constant supply of new clothes and baubles and things to occupy his time. He wanted to try everything there was to do, and Adrissu was only too eager to give him anything he wanted. He was interested in painting, so Adrissu bought him all manner of canvases and brushes and oil paints. Then he wanted to learn to play music, so Adrissu paid for lessons for him to sing and play the lute. He wanted to learn to swim, so they went down to the beach every day for nearly three months. He had never received a formal education, so he read through the vast majority of Adrissu’s books, before working through new ones he bought from traveling merchants and the local bookshop: everything from history to philosophy to pulp romance booklets.
He lived a life of utter leisure, wanting for nothing. Compared to their last life together, the time they spent together was utterly decadent.
The only thing that ever bothered Adrissu was that the topic of Volkmar’s past life and his own true nature never came up. Not that either subject would come up in normal conversation, but every time Adrissu considered broaching the topic, something stopped him. The words would die far before they left his throat, his chest constricting with fear, or something like it. And the longer they went without it coming up, the harder it was to even consider talking about.
In the end, it was easier to let things continue as they were. After everything with Ruan, Adrissu thought, maybe they deserved something easy and comfortable this time around. And everything with Volkmar felt comfortable now, so why change anything? He deserved this, didn’t he?
And so nothing changed. Polimnos continued to grow, the position of Lord Representative changed hands to Benil Branwood’s grandson, and Adrissu’s duties as the headmaster shifted and grew along with the academy; but his relationship with Volkmar was even and smooth for years on end. Sometimes he wondered how much Volkmar and Ruan had in common, considering how often Adrissu and Ruan had butted heads in their briefer time together; but any time he doubted that they were the same, he would see glimmers of his past life in Volkmar—the things he found amusing, the cadence of his voice when it trembled with emotion, his stubborn pride that sometimes bordered on vanity. He never doubted for long.
Volkmar was thirty-eight before doubt crept in and stayed.
Chapter Eighteen
Volkmarwasthirty-eight,softeraround the middle with laugh lines and crow’s feet eking out their domain along his face, and Adrissu was no different than from the day they met. The evidence of the passage of time only made itself known in the human’s form, which Volkmar often complained about—sometimes teasingly, sometimes less so. It only amused Adrissu; after all, it was no surprise to him.
It had been a long time since Adrissu had taken his true form—at least a year, probably more. He rarely did so anymore, since now even his mate did not know. But he was not meant to be condensed down into his tiny elven form for so long, and the yearning to spread his wings and fly steadily increased over time, until eventually he could no longer deny himself.
It was midsummer and the night was warm as he slipped out of bed well past midnight. Volkmar lay asleep beside him, and he could feel Vesper’s eyes on him as he walked out of their bedroom.
“Back soon,” he thought toward her, and in the center of his chest he felt her acknowledgement. A slight rustle broke the silence, as she coiled up more firmly in the little nest she often made for herself in the corner—Volkmar would regularly leave clothes on the floor for her to hide beneath before laundry day, and tonight she was tucked under a light cotton robe.
He made his way down to the ground floor, carefully skipping the step that always creaked under his weight. The trap door hadn’t been opened in a long while, so he magically silenced the groan of long-unused hinges, before taking a step and relishing the cold whistle of air against him as he plummeted.
He burst forth from his elven form as he fell, the wind snapping against his open wings, equal parts painful and satisfying. Groaning in pleasure, he stretched his long-dormant muscles first in the comfort of his lair, stale and dusty as it was. But he had not come down here to tidy up his lair—he came down here tofly. So once the braziers were lit with his burning breath, he soared out through the cliffs of Polimnos and out onto the ocean.
Even the spray of the waves almost felt warm against his scales as he flew, nearly silent as he glided mere inches above the surface of the water. His black scales disguised him against the black water, but he was sure that all his teeth showing in a wide grin would give him away if there were anyone so far out on the water. It had been so long,toolong. He’d have to make a point to get out more often.
Adrissu flew aimlessly for a long while, just enjoying the chance to spread his wings: the simple, instinctual pleasure of doing what his body was made to do. It had been hours by the time the cliffs of Polimnos came back into view. When he clambered back through the narrow passageway that led to his lair beneath the cliffs, his whole body was buzzing with a relaxed sort of joy that he had only ever felt after long flights like this. It took a moment for him to become aware of a different sensation in the center of his chest—Vesper, sleepy but worried. He nudged at her awareness—what’s wrong?
Woke up. Looked for you, the answer came, wordless but unmistakable.Sleep now.
Adrissu huffed in slight irritation, embers fluttering in the air around his mouth. He paced the length of his lair, considering what it might mean. But if Volkmar was asleep again now, he could pass it off as simply going for a nighttime walk, a passing restlessness. It was not entirely a lie.
With several heavy beats of his wings, he flew up through the tunnel that led to the tower; just as the passageway grew too narrow for him to flap his wings again, he shunted himself back into his elven form, letting the momentum and one last surge of magic carry him the rest of the way. His fingers found the rungs of the short ladder that he kept attached to the trap door for this very purpose, and he climbed back up as quietly as he could manage.
The room was dark, and as he remained motionless, listening, the tower seemed silent. Slowly, he closed the door at his feet and made his way back up the stairs, skipping the creaky step and listening intently for any sign that Volkmar was awake.
The door to his bedroom was closed, where he had left it slightly ajar, but standing there he did not hear any noise coming from within. Hopefully Volkmar was still asleep.
The handle clicked as he opened the door, but otherwise he padded in silently. He could see the shape of Volkmar under a light sheet, curled away from him. The human’s breathing was slow and steady, even as Adrissu slipped back into bed. But his senses were sharper than either humans or elves—Volkmar was pretending to sleep, he thought, carefully controlling his breath as he listened for Adrissu.
He did not know what it meant. He rolled over and wrapped one arm around the human, pressing his face into Volkmar’s long hair and breathing in deeply. Volkmar tensed under his arm, but slowly relaxed. Adrissu held him, awake, until his measured breaths slowed into the true pattern of sleep.
“I heard you leave last night.”
The words were more an accusation than anything. When he had woken the next morning and Volkmar hadn’t said anything, Adrissu had hoped that would be the end of it, but evidently that was not the case. Adrissu stifled a sigh, glancing up at Volkmar standing on the stairs, who was looking down at him with his mouth pressed into a tight line and the beginnings of tension between his brows. Adrissu wiped his hands, setting aside the herbs he had been preparing.
