Loyalty and War Read online

  Valis shrugged and reached over to squeeze Tavros’s hand to let him know he appreciated his support and care. “It did hurt, yes. But I also know why he demanded it. And I agree with him, so I’m not as bothered by it as I would be otherwise. Besides, I have plenty of things to do between now and when we go after him.”

  “You’re intent on a rescue mission?” Tavros asked. “You know that’s a suicide run…”

  “Not if we’re smart about it.” He sighed and toyed with his pencil. “And not if we’re more prepared than our enemy. They won’t be expecting us to launch a direct attack on their stronghold. They will be expecting us to fall into their traps, to waste time with their nests. I plan on going straight for the heart, free my father, and everything else will fall as it falls.”

  After a moment of loaded silence, Tavros sighed and leaned forward to rest his chin on Valis’s shoulder. Valis glanced over and could see the change of subject coming before Tavros even opened his mouth. “What kind of list are you making?”

  “A supply list,” Valis said. Truth be told, he was glad for the minor subject change, because speaking about that aspect of the rescue mission had started setting off precognitive explosions in his guts. He turned his head and kissed Tavros’s chin, the tip of his nose, and then his plush lips, silently thanking him for knowing just what Valis needed. “As I told Father, I will be smart about it. And part of that is early, thorough planning. We need to make sure we’ll have everything we need, and as much food as we’re able to carry, while still being able to travel at a good pace.”

  His husband frowned as he studied Valis’s face. “When did you plan on leaving?”

  Shrugging, Valis jotted down another item onto his list and blew a puff of breath up to get a lock of hair out of his face. It didn’t work. “I’m not sure yet. It depends on when the priests allow us to go. I’m hoping they’ll let this be our first mission as Aesriphos.”

  Something in Tavros relaxed, and he sagged a little, closing his eyes when Valis reached over and carded his fingers through his shaggy black hair. He did it again just to revel in the softness as it pulled through his fingers. “I’m not going into this half-assed, Tav. I promise you that.” He leaned close so they shared breath. “And I promise you another thing: I won’t leave without you.”

  Tavros growled and nipped Valis’s lower lip. “You’d damned well better not.”

  Grinning, Valis gave him a quick kiss and turned to note another item on his list. “Never, Tav. Never.”

  Tavros went quiet for a while as Valis started organizing his list into columns on another sheet of paper based on item type like food, clothing, money, and other necessities, and studied the result. There were things he was missing, but this list would get him pretty far if he started buying things today. He could squirrel them away with the Kalutakeni tribe where they had their caravan parked on the opposite side of Cadoras lake from the island. He also needed to commission a few wagons because the Kalutakeni would have to leave theirs behind due to the snow and necessary speed of travel.

  That brought on another thought. He had to alert the Kalutakeni and mercenaries about his plans, and give them money to purchase their own supplies, making sure not to bother with excess food until he had a definite departure date.

  The entire plan started formulating in Valis’s mind until his head spun with all the things he needed to have in place. And hopefully he would need it all in place in short order because he wouldn’t stop until the priests allowed him to go.

  “Love…”

  Valis sighed and turned in his chair to hold Tavros’s hands. He’d been ignoring Tavros for a good hour before this conversation started and going off in his own mind again wasn’t fair to him. “I’m sorry, Tav.”

  Tavros squeezed his hands and brought them up to kiss his palms. “You realize we have to go through the proper channels, right? It may take months before we’re allowed to go anywhere. They may not sanction a rescue mission but send us elsewhere where we may be needed.”

  Valis’s stomach instantly soured. “No. I have to rescue Father. I promised, and no one will make me break it.”

  He’d stressed those two words so vehemently that Tavros’s eyes widened. “We’ll do our best, okay?”

  Sighing, Valis softened and closed his eyes. “I’m sorry. It’s just—”

  “I get it, Valis.” Tavros cupped Valis’s face in both hands and leaned their foreheads together as he stroked his thumbs over Valis’s cheekbones. “I get it. And I will do everything in my power to help you keep those promises. But we need to be realistic about this, and we need to do it according to protocol. Can you do that for me? Can you take a step back, take a deep breath, and focus your energy on getting this sanctioned the right way, instead of browbeating the clergy into letting us go?”

  The last sentence made Valis chuckle. “Well, I wasn’t planning on browbeating anyone, but now that you mention it…”

  “Don’t you dare,” Tavros growled. He punctuated it by lightly biting the apple of Valis’s cheek. “Don’t you even think about it.”

  With a devilish grin, Valis leaned in and stole another kiss. “Got anything to re-route my thoughts, husband? I may need persuading.”

  Tavros shivered and the possessive growl that emanated from his throat made Valis’s insides liquefy. “Get naked and get on that bed. Now.”

  If nothing else, getting his ass plowed would help distract Valis enough that he could let go for a while, and just be. He slowly stood from the chair, making sure the tent in his pants brushed against Tavros’s chin, and turned to stalk toward the bed. He took his time removing his belt and tunic, slowly dragging the hem up his torso, doing his best to tease and torture.

  When he slowly untied the drawstring, Tavros growled again. When Valis glanced behind him, his husband was already naked and stroking his impressive, gorgeous cock while staring at Valis’s ass.

  “If you don’t get those off right now, I swear to the Nine I will shred them.”

  Valis grinned and hooked his thumbs into the band at his back and inch by teasing inch, worked the pants over his hips as they swayed from side to side in a sensuous rhythm. “I think you’re bluffing,” Valis rasped. “I think you like the show.”

  Tavros’s eyes darkened until they were almost black. He stalked forward like Valis was prey and dropped to his knees. He didn’t shred the uniform pants, but he jerked them down and dropped them to flutter down to Valis’s ankles. And before Valis could form another thought, his husband roughly grabbed both ass cheeks in his hands and stuffed his face between them.

  His hot, wet tongue lapped at his anus twice before he nuzzled in closer and scraped his teeth across the puckered flesh. And with that rough graze, Valis’s knees almost gave out on him.

  He dropped forward, planted his hands on the end of the bed and stuck his ass out, shoving it against Tavros’s face with a deep, guttural moan. His knees shook, threatening to send him to the floor, but he fought. Tavros still had a firm grip on his ass, and his tongue had moved from languid lapping from his perineum to his lower back with firmer licks centered on his hole, to short, sharp jabs that had Valis’s anus clenching and releasing, trying to suck him in.

  “Tav… Tav, please… Please!”

  Tavros’s throaty chuckle vibrated his tongue as it wriggled against his pucker. Fuck. If he kept that up, Valis might come and he didn’t want that to happen. Not just yet, anyway.

  Tavros finally worked his tongue past the ring of muscle. He swirled and twisted it until Valis rocked, humping his face with a steady keening whine streaming from his throat. He didn’t even recognize himself anymore. All he was was sensation and sound.

  Tavros released one cheek as he pulled back and smacked his ass. “On the bed.” The order came with another swat at Valis’s ass, making the flesh burn in the best of ways.

  With his knees still shaking, Valis crawled up toward the head of the bed, making his ass sway with each shift of his legs. The bed dipped
behind him, and Valis shivered as he felt the heat of Tavros’s body cover his back. His hot breath puffed over his spine, trailing up from his lower back to his shoulder blades, leaving his sweaty skin chilled in his wake.

  When his mouth reached Valis’s ear, his husky whisper made Valis’s cock leak. “Face down. Grab the edge of the mattress. Arch that beautiful back for me.”

  Valis didn’t comply fast enough. With a gentle but commanding hand on the back of Valis’s neck, Tavros pushed him until his cheek was flat against the mattress. Valis’s hands grabbed the edge on reflex and gripped the sheets in his fists.

  “That’s it. So beautiful, Valis.” Tavros’s rough, gravelly praise had Valis’s balls retracting tight against his body, drawing another moan from him.

  Tavros’s hands squeezed both of Valis’s shoulders before slowly trailing down Valis’s back, then again to follow the profusion of gooseflesh he left in his wake. “Fuck, Valis…”

  The metallic sound of the jar lid opening echoed through the room, breaking the tense silence filled with only their panted breaths. And this was everything. The buildup was almost more erotic than the act itself, and Tavros was drawing it out just how Valis loved it when they had time for more than a quick fuck.

  But slow and sensuous could only last so long. Tavros’s lubed finger circled Valis’s anus, signaling the near end of the torture. After a few passes of that finger, massaging Valis’s prostate with each withdrawal, he added a second and started pumping faster. When he added the third, Valis arched his neck and let out a harsh groan, spreading his knees wider on the bed as he humped back onto those fingers. “More. Tav…”

  Tavros scissored his fingers open as wide as they would go within the tight ring of Valis’s ass and drew them out with a wet sound. Almost immediately after, his slick cock pressed to the ring and pushed in.

  After that, it was all sensation. Tavros thrust in deep, his balls slapping against Valis’s perineum. Unable to help himself, Valis pushed up onto his hands and knees and as Tavros thrust forward, Valis shoved his ass back to meet him. Every grunt out of Tavros’s throat spurred Valis on until he fucked himself on Tavros’s dick like a madman.

  Tavros leaned down and licked the sweat from between Valis’s shoulder blades, trailing his tongue up to bite the back of Valis’s neck before using his ponytail to pull him up. He wrapped his arms around Valis’s chest and took over, fucking into Valis at a furious pace that pegged his prostate in ways that made Valis see stars.

  “Fuck… Fuck! Kiss me, Valis. Gods, I need you.”

  Valis turned his head and Tavros gripped his chin, twisting him just that much farther until their lips met in hungry, tongue-dueling kisses that stole Valis’s breath.

  He jerked his head away with a feral growl but kept his hold on Valis’s jaw. His hips slammed into Valis’s ass and he stilled, gripping Valis’s hip with his free hand to keep him still. “Are you going to browbeat those poor priests?”

  Valis whimpered at his demand. “No! Please, Gods, don’t stop fucking me!”

  “Promise me, Valis.”

  “I promise!”

  “What are you going to do?”

  Valis was half crazed out of his mind with lust. It took him a moment to let the question sink in. It didn’t work. “Huh?”

  “Instead of browbeating the priests, what are you going to do?”

  Whining, Valis ground his ass against Tavros’s pelvis. “Follow protocol as best I can.”

  Tavros hummed as he slowly withdrew and pushed back in at a glacial pace that drove Valis mad. “I think you might be humoring me, so I’ll let you come.”

  Valis wriggled his ass, making Tavros hiss. “I promise I’m not. But I also promise I’ll flip you over and take what I want from you if you don’t fuck me right now, Tav.”

  His husband grinned and slammed forward, sending Valis to his hands and knees again with a cry of ecstasy. He clutched at the bedsheets, fighting to hold on to his sanity as Tavros drove them both closer to oblivion.

  Valis’s orgasm took him by surprise in a blinding flash that whited out his vision. His arms gave out, and Tavros followed him down onto the bed, fucking him through it, chasing his own climax. Valis whined, his hole overstimulated, but then Tavros roared as he came and collapsed over Valis’s back, shaking and shuddering and mumbling nonsense as he petted Valis’s sides with gentle, trembling hands.

  They stayed like that until their breathing evened out, and Tavros carefully pulled out to flop onto his back beside Valis. “Okay. I believe you.”

  Laughing, Valis turned and scooted over, burying his face in Tavros’s throat. “I’m so glad.”

  “So, did I dickstract you well enough?”

  Valis choked on his snort and muffled his laugh against Tavros’s sweat-damp skin. “Dickstract, huh? Yeah. I guess you did fairly well. We might have to try harder tonight though.”

  “Mmm… but you’re back to training in the predawn hours, and I don’t want you to accidentally kill one of your students… or yourself.”

  “You’ll just have to protect them and me,” Valis murmured. “I’m sure you’ll be up for the job after plowing my ass through the mattress.”

  “Doubtful. Very doubtful.” Tavros pressed a kiss to the top of Valis’s head and sighed, his breath warming Valis’s scalp. “Maybe directly after dinner so we’re not both half-dead during training.”

  “We might be able to make that work.” Groaning, Valis shifted on the bed and grimaced. “Okay. Bath time and then we need to change the bedding. I’m sticky, the sheets are gross, and we need to get into Cadoras for supplies, and talk to the Kalutakeni and mercenaries.”

  Tavros sat up and perked a brow at him. “Why the talk?”

  Valis sat up, too, and shrugged. “If there’s a chance we’re given permission to leave for this mission, I want to let them know. Because they both factor heavily into my plans. It wouldn’t be right to spring it on them with little time for them to prepare.”

  “And if you’re not given permission?”

  Valis stared at him like he’d gone mad. “I said I wouldn’t browbeat, Tav. I never said anything about backing down.”

  His husband let out this deep, long-suffering sigh and hung his head. “I was afraid you’d say that. You’re going to make them all miserable until you get your way.”

  “Nope.” Valis slid off the bed and headed toward the lavatory, turning to look over his shoulder when he made it to the door. “I plan on using cunning, logic, and perseverance. Now, get in here and bathe with me. We still have things to do today.”

  “Like?”

  Bending down, Valis turned on the tap for the tub and sighed. “I need to put you, Seza and Zhasina through the training you missed this morning, tend to Rasera, go to Cadoras for supplies, talk to the Kalutakeni and mercenaries, visit Papa, have a chat with Brother Bachris, get in some physical training—”

  “Shit, Valis… you can’t fit all of that into a single day? At least not in what we have left.”

  Valis tested the water and slipped into the tub, reaching for Tavros who stood there with both hands firmly on his hips. Though, after a moment, he broke and let Valis help him into the steadily rising water.

  “I’ll fit in what I can,” he promised. “We’ll just have to prioritize. Now, enough about that. I want to spend some quiet time with you while I can now that we’re thoroughly sated. We don’t get many moments like these.”

  “No,” Tavros whispered. He pulled Valis to him and held him close. “No, we don’t.”

  “Think you can find a way to make the most of it?” Valis teased.

  Tavros pressed a warm kiss into his neck and reached for the wash cloth and soap he left on the edge of the tub. “Well, I had planned on showing my husband just how cherished he is with a thorough washing, and then maybe brush his hair out until it’s dry and my darling husband is comatose.”

  Valis shivered. Having Tavros brush his hair was one of the fastest ways of getting Valis calm
, and Tavros had started using that tactic to get him to sleep some nights. It was both sensual and relaxing in a way that turned Valis into a boneless heap that Tavros could simply scoop up and pour into bed.

  “You know,” Valis murmured, “that might not be conducive to getting anything done for the rest of the day.”

  “Or, you could take a nap after, and actually be refreshed for the rest of the day,” Tavros said against his ear as he drew the soapy cloth down the length of Valis’s back. “You’ve been so stressed, love. You need to take some time for yourself.”

  Smiling, Valis leaned back just enough to capture Tavros’s lips and rest their foreheads together. The rest of the day would go as it would. He would make it into Cadoras for shopping, take gold to the Kalutakeni and mercenaries for their own supplies, visit more with his papa, and have a chat with Brother Bachris. If there was any time left, he could deal with everything else when it happened.

  Right now, his husband wanted to take care of him.

  And Valis, for all his talk of priorities, would always put his husband’s love and care at the top of every list.

  Chapter Eight

  With a little effort and a lot of running around like a chicken with its head cut off, Valis managed to make it to the monastery’s vault and retrieve a massive amount of gold with only a few raised eyebrows. Then he dragged Tavros to the mercenaries inside Cadoras walls, and the Kalutakeni caravan on the other side of the lake bordering the city and drop off hefty bags of gold with the help of their (very happy to get out of the stables for a ride) horses. And since their horses were so happy for a ride, Valis kept them out and used them to carry loads of non-perishable supplies to the caravan for safe keeping now that he’d received permission from their leaders, Vodis and Venabi.

  Once they finished, Valis spent time with his black Kalutakeni stallion, Rasera. And once he put his horse back into the stable master’s care, he and Tavros headed back into the monastery with roaring stomachs. A glance at one of the wall clocks they passed showed it was dinnertime. Valis’s stomach gurgled again, and he rubbed it.