Ix peeled himself free with a groan. His cock had returned to its previous, albeit still impressive, size. He helped Eric disentangle his limbs, snorting as Eric wobbled as he tried to put weight on his legs. Oh gods, Eric was going to have to go into seclusion, he wasn’t going to be able to hide how everything hurtandeverything felt like a stab of pleasure.
They staggered three steps sidewards to the bed, half falling onto the cool sheets together. Ix pushed the sweat-soaked hair out of Eric’s eyes so Eric could see his grin, wide enough that his sharp, sharp teeth were showing. “Why would I use magic to clean us up when you have a perfectly functioning mouth?”
Godsfuckingdamn him. Eric closed his eyes. The thought of it was unbearable. He was too tired for this and yet his cock was attempting to show interest again. He needed better retorts. He needed a way to stop his mind from turning into mush whenever Ix said something provokingly flirtatious. He needed to get his mouth all over Ix’s body but also he needed a moment before any of his limbs worked.
“You can have that point,” murmured Eric begrudgingly. It was possibly the first time in this nonexistent game of pointsthat Eric held in his mind where he had willingly given Ixthan a point. A shadow fell over his eyes; he opened his eyes again.
There he was. Ix. Still grinning. Reaching out to pull Eric close even though they were both a mess, and well, if that was not the most apt summary of their entire time together, Eric could not think of a better one.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
WHEN ERIC WENTback to the estate managers, it was Ned, the ‘& Sons’ half of Williams & Sons who greeted him, which was a small comfort. He didn’t particularly want to have this conversation at all, but the thought of writing it down in a letter and having some concrete proof of it was worse and if he had to speak to one of the two about it, Ned was preferable to his father.
And to Ned’s credit, he only let his pleasantly polite face slip into surprise for a moment when Eric explained that he wanted to convert the family manor into a brothel.
“I think it will take a little time to organize but logistically it should be no more complicated than setting up a hotel or a restaurant, milord,” said Ned after a long moment’s thoughtful silence. He was taking it remarkably well. Eric should probably look into how much it was costing him to have the Williams on retainer and suggest a bonus.
“Yes, exactly, just like a hotel!” said Eric with some relief. He had already avoided telling Ned any details of the proposed demonic nature of the activities; he didn’t want to give the man a conniption. “Prince Ixthan will be covering the initial costs, but don’t let him just throw endless money at it. I want to stayapprised of how much I owe him at any point. If I know anything about him, he’ll want to cover the walls with gold flake or some such nonsense.”
“Of course, milord. We shall be sparing with the gold flake. And speaking of the Prince...” Ned Williams suddenly looked very contrite. “We’re so very sorry, we should have let you know that the prince covered the amount to the Allegreian Temple when he approached us to find out how much it was.” Ramsay must have let them know that Eric hadn’t been aware.
“No, I can guess, he implied he’d already spoken to me about it,” said Eric. He could imagine exactly the casual way Ix had gone about it, making it seem like such a small thing. He might be a prince but he still lived on a monthly stipend from the crown. Eric had no idea where he’d had that amount of gold stashed, or if he’d asked the Treasury for it – at which point the king would have heard – and he wasn’t sure he wanted to know.
Eric sighed to himself. No, he did want to know, he’d made the mistake of telling Ix he didn’t want to know about something already.
“He did but nevertheless we work on your behalf so we must take responsibility,” said Ned with some relief. “I shall look into the details of this at once and keep you informed of the amount.”
They moved onto other affairs then. Most of the farmers and tenants had responded quickly, wanting security for their livelihoods, so Eric was grateful for that. Ned wanted to arrange for someone to travel up to the country house to see the state of affairs at the house, and Eric let him know that Petra might go up herself, as well as warn him that she might want to do something drastic with the gardens.
“Milord. What–” Ned Williams stopped explaining the letters from the bailiffs, pointed at Eric’s chest and backed away.
Eric looked down at where a faint light was glowing, only noticeable now that the room was dark. He reached inside hisshirt to fish out the amber pendant. He knew it protected him from magic, but there wasn’t any in the room with him, not unless Ned was secretly a demon. “It’s an enchanted necklace from Prince Ixthan with protection charms, don’t worry. It’s meant to – well, I don’t know actually, I’ve not seen it do this before.”
“Are we in danger, milord?” asked Ned, looking around. The office was empty aside from the two of them, with only the faint scratch of quill pens from their clerks in the other room and the occasional noise of passersby outside the window.
“Good question. I do not believe so.” Eric decided not to mention the hundred tiny demons he might have set loose in the city.
“Eric!”
Both of them jumped. That was Ix’s voice, slightly muffled as if through a wall, but clearly emanating from the crystal. Eric touched the pendant tentatively. “Ix? Is that you?”
“Who else would it be?” Ix sounded more grumpy than angry or scared.
“I don’t know, I wasn’t expecting anyone’s voice in a stone!” snapped Eric. Honestly, he needed to start prying into Ix’s spell inventions just to prevent finding himself knee deep in a dozen enchantments that Ix expected him to know about.
“Where are you?”
“At Williams & Sons, I told you. What’s wrong?”
“What’s taking so long?”
Looking at the time, Eric frowned. It was past lunchtime, but that was to be expected, he had carved out several hours for this meeting. Why was Ix acting like a – oh. It struck him. Ix was acting like a jilted lover. Gods. He flicked a quick look at Ned, who thankfully understood immediately, and left the room.
Eric lowered his voice anyway, easier now he understood there was no emergency. “Making arrangements for the cityhouse. And the country house. Petra’s thinking of moving up, did I tell you?”
“You did not.” And now Ix sounded like a sulky child.
“Well I probably shouldn’t have, it’s her news to tell. I don’t even know if it’s decided. If she mentions it tonight, act surprised.”
