Galiva gives me a long-suffering look, and I smother my grin. No doubt the promise of that letter is driving her up the wall, but Arlon’s right. We’ve got a spell to cast first.
“Third time’s the charm, right?” I say as I reach down to discreetly adjust my caged cock through my trousers. Gods know I don’t mind the process of making it, but even I’m getting tired of this spell after two failed attempts.
“Are you ready to start it, Dom?” Arlon asks.
The question makes a knot of unease tighten in my gut. Sending spells are damnably hard to make, even more so when I can’t seem to remember what I ate for breakfast, let alone the poem I’m supposed to recite. Ever since the Eastern Tower, I feel like I’ve been fighting against a fog that’s wrapped around my thoughts. My lack of sleep isn’t helping, and even though I dozed, I still don’t feel like I really rested.
I can’t help but wonder ifIwas the one who fucked the spell up the last couple of times.
I shake the thought away as I say, “Yes, sir.”
Arlon offers me a string of uncharged focuses, and I drape them around my neck, letting them rest under my shirt alongside my own strands.
“I picked a poem that might be a little easier to remember today,” Arlon says.
I give myself another shake, but I regret it immediately as it shifts the plug in me. I shiver, biting back a groan before I say, “I’m ready, sir.”
Arlon leans back in his chair with a grin before he starts to recite:
“The fire that smolders behind your eyes
Is nothing to the heat betwixt your thighs.
Your wanton sex drips with molten need,
An inferno I will douse with my river ofseed.”
For a second, I’m too stunned to speak. That’s poetry?! I thought poems were supposed to be flowery, and subtle, and metaphorical, but good gods, there was nothing subtle aboutanyof that.
Galiva snorts at my reaction, and for the first time in what feels like weeks, Arlon laughs. I’ve missed that sound, and a warmth settles inside of me, right next to the heat of embarrassment.
“One more time?” I chuckle, having already forgotten it in my surprise.
Arlon dutifully repeats it back, though this time, I’m a little more prepared. I pay attention to every word, though I can’t do anything to keep my face from heating all over again. It’s not a long poem, but it doesn’t need to be for the spell to work. All I have to do is make sure I repeat it word for word to the next person. And then it’s up to them to continue this game of messenger until it gets back to Arlon.
“One more time?” I say, just to be safe.
Arlon repeats it back again, but it’s like there’s a drain in my head that can’t be plugged. The words seem to slip away the second I try to recall them. Something of my frustration must show, because Arlon says, “Repeat it back to me.”
“The fire smoldering in your eyes is nothing compared to the heat betwixt your thighs -”
“It has to be word for word, sweet boy,” Arlon says, and I fight back a scowl. I’m so tired of this finicky fucking spell.
“One more time,” I say, determined, but Arlon looks me over, the good humor fading from his face.
He gets to his feet, and my heart sinks as he gently lifts the uncharged focuses from around my neck. He takes them over to Galiva, draping them around her neck.
“Do you remember it, Gal?” he asks as he tucks the strand under her shirt.
Galiva casts me a guarded look before she turns to Arlon. “The fire that smolders behind your eyes is nothing to the heat betwixt your thighs. Your wanton sex drips with molten need, an inferno I will douse with my river of seed.”
“Once more,” Arlon says as his thumb brushes her chin. Galiva shivers, her brown eyes glazing over as she recites it again, word for word.
Arlon grins in approval before he says, “Why don’t you start the spell, then? Olbric should be ready to meet you.”
Galiva’s eyelids flutter as she pulls her focus back from wherever Arlon just shot it. “Yes, sir,” she says, clearing her throat. She casts me one last look, and I watch her leave with a sinking feeling, because I think I know what’s coming next.
Arlon sinks back into his chair with a sigh. “Why didn’t you stop, Dom?”
