Wild Magic Two: The Dark of the Sun- a M/M shifter fantasy romance

2- By Your Leave

CAIN—

Watching the Emperor flirt with Edon made me want to spit at his feet again. The poor kid was flustered, and while he was usually shy and quiet, seeing him near silent and so unsure made me want to slap the man who was so obviously enjoying teasing him. But I refrained, and before long they were gone. I followed at a distance for a while, but soon branched off when Edon was safe in the front dining hall. I wasn't technically working, but I had been curious about the newcomers, and now regretted that immediately.

Especially because the man's taste still clung to my lips and it took all of my willpower not to lick them.

Because the fucker had kissed me. Without even a "by your leave."

I wanted to be angrier, to be as furious as I knew I should be. But the man was far too stunning for me to be angry at tasting him. His eyes a bright, sparkling hazel with only a few streaks of brown to break up the green, full lips just begging to be teased with my teeth, and a thin, sinewy body that was just sturdy enough he wouldn't break from a hard, stiff fucking. His golden red hair hung in a thick braid down his back, adorned with little golden bells and diamonds, and much of his skin was bare due to the thin, nearly translucent robes he wore.

Gods, he was sex on two legs. I wanted to bend him over the nearest surface I could, witnesses and all, and shut him up. Show him how much better his mouth would be put to use with my prick shoved to the hilt, wetting it to open his tight hole up easier.

But of course that was all fantasy. Because if a man like him stooped to bedding someone like me, it would be just that: a hard fuck and a quick goodbye.

It wasn't as if I wanted more than that. I couldn't have more than that. Never again. Not that I ever really had more... but even the glance I'd been given into what I desired so much had broken me.

And made me vow to every named and unnamed god that I would never again let another in my heart.

I had made those vows as I lay in Dasan and Nibley's cozy, one room cabin in the forest outside of the castle, my body broken and dying, my mind distorted, and my soul shredded. I'd stupidly given everything, body, heart and soul, to a man who had used me, then tried to take my life for the measly pittance he would receive from selling the pelt of a wild mage.

Since then I had never given even a bit of myself to anyone. I kept all at arm's-length, to keep myself safe, and I had lived just fine that way.

I couldn't even give in to the obvious purely sexual offers from the Emperor. Because I had sworn not to give even my body to another.

I would never break that vow.

When I reached the edge of the keep, my nose raised to the midday air, I was startled out of my reveries by the sultry, airy voice of one of the only people I could stand being around for more than a few minutes at a time. She had told me many times she considered me a friend, but I didn't allow myself friends, so I had stayed quiet each time she declared that, hoping she never noticed my lack of reply.

Lady Sera's soft, angular face was surrounded by naturally sun-streaked brown hair, hanging down her back in thick waves. Her emerald green dress tightened around her thin waist, and somehow accentuated her small chest, hiding the lack of curves she had there. She was only a few inches shorter than me, but I outweighed her by at least a hundred pounds. She was all thin curves and feminine sparkles.

I was told her sense of style set the pace for many women in the kingdom. Each time I saw her, she wore a new dress, a new headpiece or some necklace or another that seemed as if it was made for her thin, elegant neck alone. I wasn't a man who paid attention to things like women's fashion, but even someone like me could tell she was well dressed and wore her fashion as if that was what she was born to do.