Page 60 of Forge the Blade

Sevastyan stroked Rei’s face. His boy had that blankness in his eyes that spoke to acceptance overriding an undercurrent of shock. Not surprise exactly, but a deep quake within Rei’s world.

Rei lifted his hand, then dropped it. He was reverting to his hardcore training, not the softer rules of their own internal world. By those rules, the privilege of touching a slave’s master had to be given in each interaction.

“Finish your work,” Sevastyan said. He cupped Rei’s cheek and kissed Rei’s forehead, then drew back and emptied his pockets on the coffee table beside the computer Rei was using. His phones, his IDs, his weapons.

He kissed Rei again. “Watch these for me.”

Rei pointed to the phone that was linked to Ellisandre.

“Ellisandre,” Sevastyan explained. He picked up the phone and typed in the code to unlock it. Rei watched his fingers, memorizing the sequence. “If they call, answer.”

Rei bent his head in acknowledgement. Sevastyan stood. His gut felt wrong. Something was left undone. What he was about to do to Lisa was the right choice. Holding it over Lisa’s head when it would eventually have to happen was cruel. Making Rei watch also felt cruel, to both Lisa and Rei.

Sevastyan dropped back to one knee in front of his slave. “Rei.”

Rei’s eyelashes fluttered. His face was still a mask.

“What am I doing wrong?”

Rei blinked once, slowly. “I’m still yours. When all this is over, I’m still yours, right?”

“Yes,” Sevastyan said.

Rei nodded, a little tension leaving his body.

“I’ll come back, when I’ve finished.”

Rei met Sevastyan’s eyes with perfect acceptance. A fear in Sevastyan’s heart released. He let his fingers slide from Rei’s cheek and stepped away, back towards the bedroom.

Lisa was where he had left him on the bed, naked except for the harness and the bandage on his thigh and the wrap around his ankle and foot. Their eyes met. Sevastyan’s fingers went to the buttons on his shirt. He stripped efficiently, folding his clothes and setting them aside as he went. Lisa never looked away.

Hours before he’d been in this bed, being taken by Ellisandre, and now he was going to take Lisa. For different reasons. Under different circumstances. The room registered in his senses as a separate place, as if his very presence mixing with Lisa’s moved time and space. His hands didn’t feel like his own. They were moving and doing and he was somewhere behind them, watching.

Lisa deserved better. This wasn’t just a fuck. This wasn’t a mission for his mother where he went away in his head and used his body to get through the night. This was . . . a man who was choosing to give up his pride, his body, and his status as a human. He was willing to gamble that the sacrifice was worth the justice Sevastyan was fighting to bring to life.

That sacrifice deserved to be witnessed. Honored. Remembered. Sevastyan’s hands trembled as he coiled his belt on top of his folded pants. Present was the last thing he wanted to be. Fucking Lisa after watching the man shatter in the small space between the wall and a toilet was far from what he desired to add to his ledger on top of all his other sins.

“You killed him,” Lisa said from behind Sevastyan. His voice was low and dark.

“Dirk, you mean?” Sevastyan said.

“Yes.”

“I killed him.” Sevastyan turned.

Lisa was sitting up, his back to the headboard, one knee drawn up, the other leg extended, favoring his injuries. His thighs were splayed, displaying his sex, unaroused and soft against his inner leg. He gazed at Sevastyan, taking in the full height and breath of him.

“Good,” Lisa said. He lifted his chin. “He made Rei bleed.”

And suddenly the space between Sevastyan and the bed disappeared. He put one knee up on the edge. “He made you bleed as well.”

Lisa tilted his head to the side. “And you. Which is worse?”

“Rei,” Sevastyan answered. He eased both knees onto the bed, moving towards the other man.

Lisa stared straight into Sevastyan’s eyes as Sevastyan drew close. He wasn’t going to make this easy. Rei’s eyes had always dropped unless ordered not to, giving Sevastyan space to collect himself if needed, draping a mantle of privacy over Sevastyan’s dominance. Lisa offered no such quarter. Every bit of Sevastyan’s authority was naked.

“I’m not going to get hard,” Lisa said. “You might as well order me to roll over now.”