08-02-2022, 01:56 AM
(This post was last modified: 08-08-2023, 07:13 PM by Jay Carpenter.)
A million questions swirled but none of them formed on the tongue. He wanted to scream and beg at the same time. Daryen was about to change the entire shape of the western hemisphere. This treaty would give the Seanchan free access to all of Arad Doman. It was a matter of bloody time before they demoted Daryen to king-regent then trapped into full-on slave. They wanted nothing but to get their hands on him and chain him up to the Empress’ feet. What a pretty prize he would make! An Asha’man king dog! This treaty may as well be a suicide note.
Throwing the furniture across the room wouldn’t come close to dispelling the kind of desperate anger that burned from within. Instead, he just waited in silence, looking through a veil of blood that nobody else seemed to care about. When Ventri lowered Daryen’s shirts and turned aside to fold them gently on a table, Jai swooped into the opening. He sunk to his knees and grabbed the king’s hand, squeezing Daryen’s fingers like a child to a parent.
“Please don’t do this. You’re throwing away everything. You’re forfeiting your life. Please,” he said with more ache than he felt for the loss of his real brothers.
A touch on the head and Daryen asked Ventri to leave them.
Daryen left the dais and tugged Jai to his feet. Despite being the taller of them, Jai seemed to shrink before his brother-king.
“I’m not forfeiting anything,” he said. His gaze was confident and unyielding, but Jai couldn’t see the truth behind them. Everything he felt, all the ache in his gut, he knew was mirrored inside Daryen. Yet just as the emotions blurred between their bond, a sense of calm slowly seeped back.
“How are you so calm?” he asked.
Daryen’s grip was an anchor on Jai’s shoulders, and the storm within began to weaken in his arms. His own fist ached when it released the hilt of the sword he didn’t even know he had grasped. The anchor shifted and Daryen’s voice enveloped his whole world.
“Because I am surrounded by those who love me and who will never let anything happen to me,” he said. After a moment, fresh air flushed Jai’s chest as the buttons of his jacket were opened. A hand trailed down the ridge of his otherwise numb scar. The only reason he felt it at all was because Daryen’s palm was wider than the streak. Jai was motionless in the calm anticipation that washed into him, lulled by the overwhelming power of his brother’s bond. Then the buttons on his trousers opened and a moment later, Jai gasped. A passionate kiss followed and he was absolutely overcome with safety and desire.
“You taste like the sea,” Daryen said.
Jai smiled around his lover's lips, “that’s because I was in the sea,” and the world fell out from under him.
They could not pull one another to the bed fast enough, and the mattress crushed beneath their shared weight. The scent of sandalwood washed his head drunk, but it was an intoxication of oneness. He wasn’t alone when he was with Daryen: he was accepted and loved and understood. It was in that power alone he could give himself completely away. Jai turned, grabbing the pillows with pleasure and pain and moaned.
[Dialogue written by me]
Throwing the furniture across the room wouldn’t come close to dispelling the kind of desperate anger that burned from within. Instead, he just waited in silence, looking through a veil of blood that nobody else seemed to care about. When Ventri lowered Daryen’s shirts and turned aside to fold them gently on a table, Jai swooped into the opening. He sunk to his knees and grabbed the king’s hand, squeezing Daryen’s fingers like a child to a parent.
“Please don’t do this. You’re throwing away everything. You’re forfeiting your life. Please,” he said with more ache than he felt for the loss of his real brothers.
A touch on the head and Daryen asked Ventri to leave them.
Daryen left the dais and tugged Jai to his feet. Despite being the taller of them, Jai seemed to shrink before his brother-king.
“I’m not forfeiting anything,” he said. His gaze was confident and unyielding, but Jai couldn’t see the truth behind them. Everything he felt, all the ache in his gut, he knew was mirrored inside Daryen. Yet just as the emotions blurred between their bond, a sense of calm slowly seeped back.
“How are you so calm?” he asked.
Daryen’s grip was an anchor on Jai’s shoulders, and the storm within began to weaken in his arms. His own fist ached when it released the hilt of the sword he didn’t even know he had grasped. The anchor shifted and Daryen’s voice enveloped his whole world.
“Because I am surrounded by those who love me and who will never let anything happen to me,” he said. After a moment, fresh air flushed Jai’s chest as the buttons of his jacket were opened. A hand trailed down the ridge of his otherwise numb scar. The only reason he felt it at all was because Daryen’s palm was wider than the streak. Jai was motionless in the calm anticipation that washed into him, lulled by the overwhelming power of his brother’s bond. Then the buttons on his trousers opened and a moment later, Jai gasped. A passionate kiss followed and he was absolutely overcome with safety and desire.
“You taste like the sea,” Daryen said.
Jai smiled around his lover's lips, “that’s because I was in the sea,” and the world fell out from under him.
They could not pull one another to the bed fast enough, and the mattress crushed beneath their shared weight. The scent of sandalwood washed his head drunk, but it was an intoxication of oneness. He wasn’t alone when he was with Daryen: he was accepted and loved and understood. It was in that power alone he could give himself completely away. Jai turned, grabbing the pillows with pleasure and pain and moaned.
[Dialogue written by me]
Only darkness shows you the light.