I moaned against him, flicking my tongue against his slick opening, ravenous.And no, I hadn't been thinking about this during meetings, but I certainly would be now.Every time we met with some arrogant arkathi from another creche, I'd think about having Araxis here on this table.I'd think about drinking him down, his fingers tangled in my hair, his body trembling against me.
Araxis made a sharp, startled sound, like he was about to come, but instead of spasming against me, he went very still as I lapped the liquid dripping down his slit.He pushed me slightly, so that he held my mouth just off of him – and a second later, I heard it too.The indistinct sounds of conversation moving up the hallway just beyond the thin door.
His eyes were endless black as he looked down at me, my lips swollen, my mouth gleaming wet.His purple tongue flicked out, traced his lower lip, thoughtful.Still, his fingers were tangled in my hair.
"We can go back to our room," I murmured, tipping my mouth against the smooth skin of his thigh."If this feels too public."
He said nothing.His fingers spasmed against my scalp, his chest rising and falling rapidly, fluttering.
"Or," I continued, low, "I can keep going, if you'd like that.Some people like the risk of being caught.It can be hot."Beneath my hands, his thighs quivered, just a little – the echo of the low, sensuous purr deep in his chest.
"And you – you're a show-off," Araxis said, breathy.
I skimmed my teeth along his inner thigh, biting gently."It doesn't matter what I want.You'retaking whatyouwant.So… what doyouwant?"
Araxis blinked once, very slowly, as he looked down at me kneeling before him like a supplicant.I licked my lips, watching as he tracked the motion."You can keep going," he breathed finally, voices still humming just beyond the door."But – only if you get your cock out.I want to watch you touch yourself."
Heat twisted hard in my abdomen, my heart suddenly in my throat in the most delicious way.I released his thighs and untied my waistband with shaking fingers – I didn't understand how hedidthis to me,whyI reacted this way to him, but it was like every word out of his mouth, every time he touched me, was brand new, a world unto itself – and groaned, low, as I tugged the waist of my pants down, freeing my hard length.I reached one hand and ghosted a touch along Araxis's slit as he made a sound I could only describe as awhimper– needy, raw, surprised – before curling that hand around my length and starting to stroke.
And, look, I know how to put on a show, but I really didn't have it in me just then, my skin buzzing with heat and want as I slid my mouth against Araxis's slick entrance, my hand stuttering over my own cock which waswaytoo eager for having barely been touched.Araxis was gasping for breath as he hauled on my hair, tugging me hard against him; his hips spasmed against me, riding my face as he held me in place, as if there was anywhere else I'd rather be.And then, with a sharp cry – one that absolutely would carry to whoever was in the hallway, in tone if not in content – he came in a gush of slick, dripping down my chin and pooling on the dark table beneath him.
I groaned, hoarse, as he released my head and I rocked back, still idly stroking myself, my touch light and hesitant.Fuck, I was close; I'd told him I could practically come just from getting him off, and it was true.Araxis stared at me, half-lidded, all heat and want as he pushed me back with one foot, shifting my weight so that he could get a better look.Those pretty black eyes fluttered shut for a moment as his cock released from his body, his head tipping back as a soft moan loosed from his long, pale throat.
Outside, the voices had gone particularly quiet.I fought against the smirk threatening to catch my swollen mouth – and won, because the moment Araxis opened his eyes, lips parted as he stared at me, breathing hard, all I could think about was how fucking hot he was and how justlookingat him made my cock jump in my grip.
"Did you want to –" He paused, breath hitching as he got lost somewhere in the way my wrist was twisting as I casually jerked myself off, "Did you – want to see how I touched myself when I was thinking of you late at night?"
I actually had to close my eyes and squeeze my cock, sucking in a hard breath."Yes, I want to see that," I rasped as my eyes fluttered back open.
One of Araxis's pale hands – the one that had been controlling my head so easily – hauled up the hem of his shirt, exposing his long expanse of torso, before it drifted down to his glistening pink cock."And would you –" He came up short as his fingers wrapped around his length, andfuckI couldn't blame him: watching those lovely white fingers wrap around the tapered length of his dick, pink with fuchsia ridges, already slick in his palm, was enough to make me stop breathing.
"You know I'll do anything you ask," I said."Anything.I'm yours."I watched him start to stroke himself, tentative, and matched the pace, loosening my grip so that I didn't come immediately before I'd had a chance to take in the show.
"Would you – You could – If you like, you can… come on me."He was already flushed pink, but that offer brought two high spots of red to his cheekbones, his skin gleaming with iridescence, and at once he averted his gaze, wrenching it across the room, like he couldn't look at me now that he'd said it.His hand stilled on his cock, and he ducked his head, as if embarrassed.
"OfcourseI can do that," I said.Then, because I hated seeing him uncertain, "Araxis, look at me.Andkeep up.We're on a timeline here."
A surprised trill broke free from his throat, his black stare darting back to me before it dropped to watch me twisting my own cock.Slowly, he started stroking himself again, glistening and slick; I could hear my own pulse against my eardrums, my own ragged breath coming from my mouth."Did you –fuck," I smothered the little moan that tore from my mouth as Araxis's fist grew wetter, the sounds sloppier, "Did you learn about that in your – educational materials?"
His cheekbones were gleaming as he nodded, a tiny jerk of his chin."It's like –tisqen."The movement of his hand was uneven, stuttering along his gleaming length."Like being marked.Oh, my treasure – please, I'm close."And I knew he was because he'd lapsed into abayan, his voice sharp and pleading, the subvocal bright beneath his words.
It's like being marked.Fuck.Fuck.I pushed myself up, planting a knee on one side of his thigh as I leaned over that perfect expanse of torso, tightening my grip as his hand stuttered below me, wet and frantic – and then his hand was on my cock as well, slippery with his own slick, and a groan choked out of me as I came in a crashing wave of electric pleasure.Ribbons of come landed across the white skin of his stomach, and Araxis surged up to catch my mouth with his, biting at my lower lip with his sharp teeth.I dropped my hand down, fisting his dick.I stroked once, twice, and then he cried out against me, coming in a gush of liquid that dripped through my fingers and coated my palm.
"Holy fuckinggod," I muttered against his mouth."Just – how.What –"
He made a soft, pleased sound against me, kissing me again and again.Lifting his hands to catch my face, licking into my mouth and humming with pleasure."Very efficient," he murmured."Or so I thought."
I laughed then and shoved myself off of him.I glanced at my wristband and winced."That depends," I said, eyeing him as he laid before me, debauched, on the table in a puddle of his own come, with mine rapidly cooling on his skin."How quickly do you think we can get cleaned up and get, uh,thiscleaned up?"
Araxis, pleased, only shrugged and insisted he was confident we could manage.Thankfully, by the time we'd hastily wiped down the table and ourselves and just as we were hauling on fresh clothes before making a mad dash to the school – could we do the whole distance in two minutes?I was skeptical – there was a message waiting on Araxis's wristband from Thodin who said he had gone with Celravi to fetch the children so that we could have some moretime alone.
I wheezed with laughter at the look on Araxis's face, which sat somewhere between horror and gratification, and then convinced him to shower with me before we headed out for some sword-dancing.And by the time we dropped into bed that evening, we'd forgotten all about the shit Xitera was about to throw at us.
Elethenn had said, just that morning, that Xitera always exacted its price.I hadn't understood then, still believing that, if Araxis and I were together, if weworkedtogether, we could solve any problem that came our way.Surely, I could charm my way out of most situations.If that failed, we could strategize; if that failed, we had Araxis's blades and his deadly competence, and whatever the fuck happened with me when I snapped.We'd be okay, I was sure of it.
That night, though, my nightmares found me, although I didn't dream of Seraphim or Andiri or Grigor.Instead, I dreamt of Tamcer Temahura in a pool of blood, half of his face obliterated in a bloody concave hole; I dreamt of standing above him with blood dripping down from my split knuckles while Nizanin stood at one side, touching my elbow with ice-cold fingers as they murmured,You see?You, too, are enamoured of violence.What a wretched and glorious thing you are.What horrors will you yet create, we all wonder.
Chapter22
