“Maybe, yes. Unless you can think of anything else that would generate a large income very quickly,” said Eric with a wince. He hadn’t the faintest how to do that.
Ix was silent for a moment. “You don’t want to stay here?”
“What?”
“You mentioned moving to your aunt’s, or to the countryside. You don’t want to stay here?” Ix gestured around him.
Eric looked at him, bewildered. “I can’t impose on you indefinitely.”
“Why not?” Ix turned to him with fire in his eyes and Eric realized they were having a different conversation to the one he’d thought they were having. This wasn’t about money problems at all.
“Because–” And now that Eric had to give a reason, he couldn’t think of a single good one. “Because it’s not done. And you’ll be harboring the son of a traitor. People will talk.”
“People already talk about me,” said Ixthan pointedly, and Eric winced. That was true enough; he’d heard enough gossip over the years that if he didn’t know Ix, he’d think he was a nine-foot monster who ravished maidens and tortured small animals, and was biding his time to brutally assassinate his human brother.
Worrying at a stray thread at his sleeve, Eric tried to take the idea seriously. It would solve a lot of his problems surprisingly easily. No more wondering whether the neighbors were spying on them. No wondering how he could afford the house upkeep. He wouldn’t even have to deal with the small headache of flipping the coin on whether he could afford a cab to the palace or make the walk from the house each day. He’d be here for Court activities he would be required to attend as the new Earl, and what closer eye could the king keep on him than under hisown palace roof? And yet, part of Eric still resisted. It was too easy, surely?
Ix truly did know Eric too well, because just as Eric started to squirm away from the intensity of his eye contact, Ix reached out to grab his chin. “Eric. Don’t get any stupid ideas. You’ll stay here, in my rooms. Unless you wish to leave, to exile yourself to Marrawshire.”
“I couldn’t pay you rent,” mumbled Eric awkwardly. “I think your father’s sanctions…” He trailed off under the force of Ix’s incredulous stare.
“Did I demand you pay me? Why are you so hellsbent on going destitute?” snapped Ixthan.
“I’m not, I just, I just…” Eric was starting to get a headache. People were depending on him. Petra and Aunt Gerry most importantly, and the earldom too after that but he’d upset Ix by making it about money again. It was just so heavy at the front of his mind he was having difficulty seeing past it. “I just want to do things the right way.”
It was futile saying these things to Ix. Just by being half-demon, Ix started life being considered an abomination. There was nothing Ix could ever do for people to think he was ‘doing things the right way’, and so he never saw the point in bowing to it.
“Fine. If your pride means you can’t accept without paying, then you can pay me in lieu.” Ix’s lip curled. “I’ll house you and feed you and clothe you and in return, I own you.”
Eric didn’t even know what expression he was making, only that his face tried to twitch in three different ways at once. He couldn’t hide any of it from Ix if he’d wanted to, not when Ix’s hand still gripped his jaw.
I own you.The words rang in his ears over and over. Eric could feel heat burning off the back of his neck and his throat closing up tight, his heart pounding, but somewhere amongstthe wash of shame was a mean streak of desire, coursing through his chest and lower.
“I –” He croaked, and then stopped. Suddenly, his tongue seemed to fill his entire mouth, thick and clumsy. He blinked, and suddenly Ix’s face was right next to his, his thick dark lashes caressing the side of his cheek.
“Oh, you like the sound of that?” asked Ix, his voice dangerously low.
Eric could smell him again, that sweet vanilla and musk, bringing him back to the memory of this morning. A low groan escaped him before he could stifle it.
“Eric. Say yes. And thank you.”
Eric exhaled it. “Yes. And – thank you.”
“Good boy.” Pulling him forward by the chin, Ix pressed their mouths together.
Something in Eric’s mind melted at those words. He practically climbed into Ix’s lap, desperate to touch as much of him as possible, panted as Ix alternated between rough kisses and hard bites until his lips felt swollen and stinging.
This would have been even better if Ix’s teeth were still sharp.The thought only fleetingly crossed Eric’s mind until Ix moved, pressing a smattering of kisses across his jaw down to his neck, and then bit down on the meat between his neck and shoulder. Eric jolted as if he’d been stabbed. Ix did it again. The pain of the bite, the wet warmth of Ix’s tongue laving over it afterwards, the gritty drag of stubble across Eric’s tender skin as Ix moved downwards and across his collarbones sent heat through Eric’s body.
Ix rolled them so that Eric was flat on his back, the bulk of Ix’s body between his legs. Ix’s hands trailed down Eric’s chest, his thumbs circling Eric’s nipples when he found them through the shirt before he lowered his head and sucked on a nipple rightthrough the fabric. Eric cried out, arching up into it, the friction of the cloth and the heat of Ix’s mouth a heady combination.
Ix was in no rush. He played with Eric’s nipples, moving back and forth between them. Whichever one wasn’t in his mouth, he pinched between his fingers, until the pain and the pleasure was so intertwined Eric could scarcely tell the difference. By the time Ix finally, finally, kissed his way down Eric’s stomach, Eric’s cock was so hard that it sprang free the moment Ix pulled his underclothes down.
The heat of Ix’s mouth around his cock made Eric gasp. It had been a while since he’d been with anyone else, he’d almost forgotten what this felt like. Ix stayed at the tip, a gentle pressure that was infuriating. So good and yet not enough.
“Ix, please,” said Eric, his hips thrusting up in a plea for more, his hands going down to grip Ix’s shoulders.
“We can’t have this.” Ix pulled up, getting off the sofa. What? Eric instinctively started to sit up but Ix placed a hand on his chest, pressing him back down. “Stay.”
