The Slave (Free Men, #1) (Completed)

Part 13

                 

Time passed. Within a month I could paddle the length of the swimming pool unaided, and Kai's Thirskan had come along in leaps and bounds, as had his reading in his own language. Indeed, I found myself growing jealous of the time Master devoted to him in the evenings, my place having been relegated to that of observer, or houseboy. I resented tidying Master's chamber and turning down his bed while he read to Kai, or Kai read to him. I would throw myself into his arms the moment they were done, demanding his full attention. Master would dismiss Kai, and I would comport myself shamelessly, reminding him that in this most fundamental of ways, he only had me.

Kai was still skittish around him when it came to matters of sex, although Master had been true to his word and hadn't pushed Kai for anything. The way he flinched when Master touched his arm or petted his hair—growing out of its shorn state and still at the awkward stage when it was more fuzz than anything, and beyond my ability to ever make truly presentable—made the green-eyed monster dwelling in my breast growl with anger, that he would snub small gestures which I would gladly have welcomed in his stead.

When it came to me, however, Kai had become a different animal. His emerald eyes blazed with anger every time Master dismissed him for the evening and I remained behind, and when I returned to his chamber—for I now slept there six nights out of seven—he would pin me aggressively against the mattress and jerk my sensitised cock until I came in painful spurts, as though my ejaculate were some sort of proof I cared more for him than I did the man who owned us.

In truth, I was growing to care for them both. How there was room in my heart for Kai alongside our master, I did not know, and the thought perturbed me. Was I so shallow in my affections, so quick to forsake the first man I had ever loved? And yet I never felt my feelings for Master diminish.

"It pains you, doesn't it, when I send you away."

We were in Master's chamber, at the close of another evening spent like so many before. I was already straddled across Master's lap, Kai having been dismissed for the night, but Master's words surprised me, and I lifted my head to see Kai standing in the doorway.

Kai grunted, and I smiled. He was surly when it came to this, still reluctant to admit all the things he desired.

"Stay."

It was an order, and Kai recognised it as such. Closing the door against the draught coming in from the darkened corridor beyond, he approached us.

"You may sit in this chair."

Master rose to make way for him, lifting me effortlessly and placing me on the end of his bed.

"Face the bed."

Kai turned the chair away from the hearth, facing it towards us. Reluctantly, he sat.

Master turned to me, blocking my view of Kai. A question mark furrowed my brow, but he clasped my face and kissed it away, then kissed lower, down the bridge of my nose until our mouths met.

I reclined on the bed as Master climbed over me, covering my body with his. His brilliant green robes—the same green as Kai's eyes, I had thought when I first saw them—fell over us both, leaving his broad chest exposed. I took advantage, rolling his nipples between my thumbs and index fingers, pulling them with a gentle pinch. Master groaned, his head drooping, and I sucked one into my mouth, teasing the erect nub with my teeth.

He sat on his haunches between my legs and clasped my head against his chest, my long hair falling over his thighs as I sucked and worried his nipple until it stood proud and red from the curve of his pectorals. Master released me to shrug off his robes, and I took them and threw them to the floor. From Kai's position, I doubted he could see more than Master's turned back and the soles of my feet, and not a sound came from where he sat and watched.