Eric saw Ix’s face, surprised but delighted, for just a moment before he felt a hot gush on his face.Ix, he thought wildly. He might have said it aloud too, he couldn’t tell. Eric moaned again, open-mouthed and incoherent; Ix got the hint, slid his cock into Eric’s waiting mouth. He worked his aching throat, swallowing down Ix’s pleasure like a dying man desperate for water.
He whined when Ix pulled away again and suddenly his vision – still blurry – was filled with Ix’s amused face. “Enough. I’m done. You’re done.”
At some point, Ix must have untied him, rolled him over, and wiped his face clean but Eric barely recalled it. He exhaled, slumping forward as Ix pulled him to the edge of the desk so Eric could brace his forehead against Ix’s shoulder. Somehow, out of everything they’d just done, Ix using his arm around Eric’s waist to tuck him against Ix’s side felt the most intimate. Eric found himself blushing uncontrollably, his cheek hot against Ix’s skin.
“I hope–” Eric’s voice came out like gravel, a reminder of how vocal he had been just now. He stopped to clear his throat. “I hope you don’t treat all your encounters like that.”
“I imagine my reputation would be very different if I did,” said Ix with a huff.
That was true. Eric had to mull it over. Ix’s reputation came swathed in scandal, but of the most delightfully gossipworthysort rather than the malicious or dangerous kind. Eric had heard talk of him being with men and women both. Sometimes, people would mention names to him in the hopes that Eric might confirm them as a close confidant of the prince. Eric never did, even though he’d often enough seen the evidence with his own eyes in the mornings.
Normally, rumors about sleeping with women would be bad enough, whereas rumors about sleeping with men would ruin a noble’s reputation. But when it came to Ix, people seemed to look the other way when it came to the men. ‘If he was going to be a philandering degenerate of a rake, at least he could ensure there were no illegitimate demonic spawn’ seemed to be a common take.
And in none of these rumors had Eric ever heard whisper that he was a violent or cruel lover. He craned his head around to peer at the long scratches down his back and buttocks, visible even against the blotched red of his ass. The sight of his made him shiver. If Ix had his usual hands, the scratches would have been even worse.
“So it’s just me you mistreat then,” said Eric.
“Did you not enjoy yourself?” Ix cupped a hand around Eric’s ass and squeezed once, hard.
Eric hissed, the pain sending a hot flush to the base of his gut. He pressed his forehead against Ix’s shoulder. He couldn’t meet Ix’s eyes right now, too embarrassed at how much it affected him.
“Earl Marrawshire, your prince asked you a question,” said Ix with a drawl, squeezing Eric’s other buttock even harder than the first. His arm around Eric’s back kept in place as Eric gasped and bucked in pain.
“Fuck! Fuck, Ix. Yes! Is that what you want to hear? Yes, I enjoyed it!” He was shaking, caught somewhere between mortification and arousal, rubbing his soft cock against Ix’s hipuncontrollably. It was too much. Not just the sex, but that it was Ix. He’d never done this with someone else before, not with the engagement to Lydia hanging over his head. It would have been unfair to her. And if he had slunk off to establishments that catered to this kind of entertainment and watched,justwatched – well, even that had not happened for a while.
And Ix had somehow known and given this to him without him asking for it. Eric had suppressed not just this but all of his thoughts about Ix for so long. He didn’t know how to deal with it all.
“If you keep doing that, I shall have to fuck you again,” said Ix, idly brushing his fingertips against Eric’s sensitive asshole. Gods, that really was too much.
Eric breathed, made himself still with some effort until he was collapsed fully on Ix. His body was so tempted but he didn’t think he’d survive another round of that right now. His words came out muffled from being mashed against Ix’s skin. “How are you so coherent? You’re meant to be the invalid.”
“I have better stamina than you.”
Eric didn’t have enough energy to punch him, so he just groaned. “Urgh, didn’t anyone tell you that gloating is uncouth?”
“You have,” Ix pointed out. “Many times, over the years. Mayhaps you’re an inadequate teacher.”
For some reason, this calmed Eric down. This felt familiar at least. Their back and forth, as cutting with words as with their swords. He breathed in the smell of Ix and sweat, let himself relax a little. Ix noticed too, his hand carding softly through the tufty curls at the base of Eric’s head.
“How did you know? About the whole…” Eric waved his hand vaguely, hoping that Ix would understand without him having to find the words.
“About your depraved preference for being mauled in bed?” Ix pulled back just enough to make sure Eric could see hisamusement. Eric wasn’t sure what expression was on his face, but Ix being able to see him at all felt like a particular form of torture. “Eric, please. You’re the only person who enjoys getting stabbed in a duel.”
“I do not!” Eric said instinctively. “No one likes getting stabbed, that would be ridiculous. It’s only that if it does happen, it’s usually near the end of a bout when I’ve tried my best. The wound is like… proof of my effort.”
That did sound stupid now he’d said it aloud. There was just something satisfying about the pain as a release after being pent up for a long time and – oh. That was what Ix meant.
“Well,” mumbled Eric, and then gave up. Ix could win this round.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“TELL ME WHATyou were trying to accomplish with that spell of yours,” said Eric. His voice was still hoarse, but they were both pretending they didn’t hear it. It was the question he should have asked, back when Ix had first started working on this spell. If Eric had not been so preoccupied with his father, a man he hadn’t spoken to in years before he’d been arrested, he would have asked, he was sure of it.
They had ended up in a pile on the sofa. Their knees knocked together even though there was no reason they needed to sit that close together. It had felt strangely unsettling to be naked so Eric was mostly dressed, but Ix had barely bothered to pull his breeches on. The knowledge that he had no underwear on was unfairly distracting. Eric had to forcibly pull his thoughts away from wondering what Ixthan’s normal cock looked like. He could barely handle the shape it was now, he was not sure how much more it might affect him.
Ix had the gall to look as though Eric was the one who might keel over at any moment even though he was the one missing whole body parts. He sighed, his eyes firmly on the mirror. “It’s meant to be a portal to the demon world. We had a reasonableunderstanding of how to summon demons over in this direction, but there isn’t anything on how to send a demon back.”
“Wait. What happens in an exorcism then?” Eric asked. He’d heard of notable cases of demons possessing people where their mages or the Allegreian temple priests had managed to expel the demon. He had always assumed they’d just sent the demon back to wherever it came from.
