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The constant state of flux was painfully exhausting.
By the fae, he didn’t know what to think, let alone how he was supposed to feel about it. Yes, the male was stunning, and every cell in Orrin’s body longed to be near him. At the same time, they seemed so ill-suited to each other that he couldn’t help but wonder if fate had made a mistake.
He should have been used to males going to any lengths to ensure his safety. While rare that the situation called for it, his Guard wouldn’t hesitate to defend him by whatever means necessary. Violence was a brutal and unfortunate part of being born of royal blood, but he would still rather avoid it when he could.
Entering the suite, he shrugged out of his robes and draped the garment over the back of a chair in the common area. “Make yourself comfortable. I’m just going to change.”
The words were barely out of his mouth when he found himself dressed in a pair of black flannel bottoms and a matching hooded sweatshirt several sizes too large. Pink and white fuzzy socks adorned his feet, and his long hair was braided over one shoulder.
“I…um…thank you.”
He had never in his life worn anything so casual, not even to bed. He kind of liked it, though. The material was soft, warm, and comfortable, and the socks were a lot more fun than his boring tan slippers.
“You seem perplexed,” Erus observed.
Orrin shook his head as tugged on the hem of the sweatshirt. “I don’t know about this.”
“Do you not like it?”
“I do,” he admitted. “I’m not sure it suits me, though.”
Settling into the corner of the sofa, Erus grinned. “Trust me, it does. You look cute.”
Puppies and children were cute. Paper hearts and artfully decorated cupcakes were cute. People like Wren were cute.
Regal. Commanding. Assured. Restrained. Poised. The title of prince came with a lot of adjectives attached to it, and none of them even came close to cute.
“Would you feel better if I changed as well?” Without waiting for an answer, Erus replaced his suit and tie with a pair of blue and black checkered pants.
And nothing else.
By the fae, he had never seen so many rippling muscles on a person before, not even his Guardians. Smooth, sun-kissed skin stretched across a broad, defined chest, and every one of his abdominal muscles were separated by deep grooves.
Unselfconscious, he leaned back against the cushions and stretched his long legs out in front of him. The movement put him closer to the glow of the table lamp, causing the light to reflect off the silver barbells gleaming from his erect nipples.
Obviously, Orrin knew such piercings existed, but he had never seen one in person before. As such, he had assumed he had no opinion on the matter beyond knowing it wasn’t something he wanted done to his own body. Seeing them on Erus, however, he had a lot of thoughts about the little pieces of steel, most of them inappropriate and some downright indecent.
His breath caught in his chest, and he swallowed thickly when moisture flooded his mouth. His pulse raced, his stomach fluttered, and his cock twitched with interest as desire came flooding back to him. Though impolite to stare, he couldn’t look away, and his blatant eye-fucking didn’t go unnoticed, either.
A cocky smirk curved one side of Erus’ mouth. Lifting his hand from his lap, he crooked his index finger. “Come sit with me, asteraki.”
His body obeyed before his brain could make sense of the command, let alone decide whether to agree or not. He shuffled across the burgundy carpet toward the sofa, but when he started to sit, Erus grabbed him by the hand and pulled him onto his lap instead. Orrin’s hands landed on the male’s bare chest, and his legs splayed so that he straddled Erus’ powerful thighs.
Oddly, the undignified position did precisely zero to lessen his body’s traitorous reaction.
Resting one hand on his hip, Erus reached up with the other to tug at the end of his braid. “Talk to me. What are you thinking?”
With so many thoughts spiraling inside his mind, he plucked out of the jumble at random and blurted it out. “Can you not kill people?”
The cocksure smile faded, and his mate frowned as his eyebrows drew together, wrinkling the skin over the bridge of his nose. “I haven’t killed anyone today.”
Orrin didn’t miss the time qualifier, but he decided to ignore it. “You were going to kill my Guard.”
Erus shrugged. “They failed to protect something precious to me.”
The words, as well as the confidence in which they were spoken, made him feel all warm and floaty. Then he remembered they were literally discussing murder and forced himself to focus.
“Did you honestly expect them to be a match for a god?”
