“Where are you going?”
“To get you something that’ll pump you full of electrolytes.”
“That’s the only thing you’ll be pumping me full of from here on out,” Rin promised darkly.
Kel paused by the door, tipping his head. “For tonight, yes.”
“Asshole!” If there was something nearby he could throw, he would have. Instead, he slumped down on the bed, tossing his arm over his eyes when he was immediately greeted by his own reflection showcased all over Kelevra’s mirrored ceiling. “Damn mirrors.”
He should be furious that he’d been brought here against his will, but he couldn’t muster that familiar spark of anger, too drained from the day. Finding out about the betrothal, sex, his talk with his brother, sparring, then more sex…Yeah, it made sense he was too exhausted to bother with wrathfulness at the moment. Maybe tomorrow.
It beat having to crawl back to his dorm at the Academy and explain to his roommate Daylen why he couldn’t feel his legs.
This had been irresponsible.
His brother was partially to blame.
It didn’t take a genius to guess that he’d told Kelevra about the tuition costs, or that he’d left Rin alone at Friction shortly thereafter, completely at the Imperial Prince’s mercy—which they both knew he didn’t possess. Tomorrow, once he’d recovered, he was going to give his brother a piece of his mind.
Maybe even punch him for real this time. He dabbed lightly at his busted lip, wincing. Yeah, it wasn’t like it would hurt them now that he’d already ended up like this. When he grinned, not even the pain of having his broken skin stretching was enough to wipe the expression off his face.
“Thinking about making good on that threat earlier?” Kelevra returned, a serving tray in hand. He placed it on the end table and pulled Rin up into a sitting positon, ignoring his mild struggles. There was a ceramic jade teapot and a matching mug, and he poured in steaming contents from the pot, blowing on it a few times before holding it out to Rin.
He stared at it and then up at the Imperial. “Is it drugged?”
“Does it need to be?”
“I’ll behave,” Rin grumbled, snatching the mug. He sipped at it, testing the temperature, an earthly flavor greeting his tongue. “What is this?”
“Aura tea,” Kelevra said. “It’ll help replenish your system.” He disappeared into the bathroom next, the sound of running water coming a moment later.
Rin drank the tea—because it was delicious, and he was thirsty, not because he’d been told to—but braced himself when Kelevra returned with the water still running in the background. “I’m not going in there.”
“I love watching you guess what’s coming,” Kel smirked, grabbing a large gray t-shirt from the top dresser drawer. He tossed it over his shoulder and turned back. “I can carry you, or you can enter of your own volition. The choice is yours. The fact I’m even giving you options at all is generous of me.”
He was going to kill his brother the next time he saw him. Turning himself into the brunt of a joke with Daylen and the guys was starting to seem more appealing than his current predicament.
“Seriously, I really can’t anymore.” Rin was hoping the Imperial Prince would act out of character for once and listen. He didn’t care about Rin, he just wanted what he wanted when he wanted it. That was another reason this would never work between the two of them, no matter how good the orgasms were.
No matter how on the nose those comments Kelevra had made about him being able to be himself had gotten to him. He hadn’t meant them anyway. It’d just been heat-of-the-moment bullshit. Kel had been talking with his dick, plain and simple, and Rin needed to remember that.
“I’ve only been your betrothed for a day,” Rin continued when Kel didn’t say anything, “and I passed out. This is too much for me.” He almost added that Kelevra was too much for him, but that would be a blatant lie, and with his all-seeing fucking eye, there was a great chance the Imperial Prince would pick up on that.
As far as stimulus went, Kelevra actually provided the exact kind of twisted cocktail Rin needed to escape his headspace and let loose. Things between them were rough and electric and all-consuming. But it wasn’t real and it wouldn’t last. Rin was a shiny new toy, and as soon as he lost his luster, Kel would toss him like he did everything else he no longer felt compelled to keep.
“Plus,” he added, “I have to check out the crime scenes for the case, which involves me walking. I can’t afford not to be able to move.”
Kelevra’s gaze zoned in on him like a laser. “How many times do you think I’ll have to dick you down to cripple you with my cock?”
Rin recognized that expression. His brother got it sometimes. “Hell no. We are not about to find out. Get those thoughts out of your pervy head.”
“I wouldn’t break you permanently,” Kel mused, but Rin let out a sound of warning.
“Iwilltoss this hot tea at you.” It’d be worth it too. For a few seconds, anyway.
Kelevra sighed. “I’m running the bath. The warm water will help with the aches.”
“Not falling for it.” Rin could picture it now, walking in there expecting to have a nice relaxing soak, only for Kel to bend him over the edge of the tub and force himself inside.
