“I’ll have you however I like” was Vanya’s mild reply, amusement in his voice, in his eyes. The arrogance in that statement should’ve turned Soren off, but it left him feeling hot beneath Vanya’s gaze, as if the pool they were in was filled with warm water, not cold.
Vanya’s touch, though, that continued with intent, and it made Soren’s nerves burn, made him gasp and arch into the teasing pressure. When Vanya reached for the soap tray and dipped his fingers into a jar of viscous oil, Soren couldn’t suppress a shiver of anticipation.
Vanya pressed a hand to one of his thighs, pulling his leg up and outward. Water lapped low around him, but Soren barely noticed as fingers stroked down the sensitive skin behind his balls to his hole. Vanya circled his finger there before slowly pushing in. Soren tipped his head back against the tile, mouth dropping open on a groan at the intrusion.
“Has anyone taken you like this before?” Vanya asked, sounding absently curious as he moved his finger within Soren’s body, those dark eyes pinning Soren where he lay better than anything else could at the moment.
Soren swallowed around his tongue, trying to remember how to think. “I grew up in barracks.”
Vanya pushed a second finger into him, sooner than he would’ve preferred, the burn from the stretch making Soren hiss a little. “That wasn’t an answer.”
Soren squirmed on Vanya’s fingers, glaring up at him. “Yes.”
He was no virgin, if that was what Vanya had hoped for. Soren found comfort in the arms of his fellow wardens sometimes, and he found release in brothels when he needed to. Being a warden was lonely business, and companionship was typically bought for a night when on the road. Soren knew what he liked and what he didn’t.
Vanya seemed to want to find out, his touch sure and demanding as he opened up Soren on his fingers and then his cock. When he first pushed inside, Soren let out a strangled moan, fingers scrabbling at slippery tile. Vanya’s hands on his hips gripped him like a vise, firm and unyielding as he took Soren, sliding in and filling him up like that’s where the prince belonged.
It was a fleeting thought that was immediately driven out of his head when Vanya rolled his hips, grinding in deeper before pulling out only to thrust back inside him withintent. Soren’s teeth clacked together with the force of Vanya’s next thrust, water splashing against both of them as Vanya set about fucking him hard enough Soren couldn’t string a single word together in any language he knew.
All he knew was the hot drag of Vanya’s thick cock inside him, the heat snaking up his spine, his own hand on his cock, stroking in time to Vanya’s thrusts. All of it anchored him in his body, forcing him to ride a wave of pleasure that he had no desire to fight. When he came, his shout echoed overloud against the walls of the bathhouse, and Vanya leaned down to steal the rest of his voice with a hard kiss.
He was still hard inside Soren, and Soren slid his hand between them, fingers parting around where they were joined. He lifted his head up, ignoring the water sliding down his neck as he chased after Vanya’s mouth.
“Put your back into it, princeling,” Soren murmured, looking up at Vanya through his lashes, the hazy aftermath of release settling in his skin.
Vanya’s laughter at his words was low and thick, without any artifice that would have come with an audience. It was just the two of them here, the worlds they came from momentarily set aside. “If that’s what you want, warden.”
Andoh, for a prince, Vanya followed that orderwell. He pushed Soren’s legs up toward his chest, and Soren gripped his shoulders, holding on, as Vanya fucked him hard and deep, chasing his own release. Soren had already come once, oversensitive in a way he couldn’t quite ignore. He dragged his fingernails over Vanya’s warm skin, holding on tight as Vanya did as Soren wanted, and put his back into it.
He choked on a cry as Vanya somehow got deeper, unable to jerk away from the teeth-shivering feel of being held down and fucked by someone who no longer cared about Soren’s pleasure, only their own. When Vanya came with a shout, buried deep in Soren’s body, Soren held him close as they both shuddered through his release.
Soren closed his eyes, breathing shallowly, skin hot and buzzing. His cock was half-hard again from Vanya’s ministrations, but he was in no hurry to find release again. Vanya pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth, and Soren turned his head into it.
They kissed softly, the ache of what they’d done finally starting to settle into Soren’s body. He became aware of a tiredness edging everything, a slow, languid feel to his body and thoughts that came from sex as much as a comedown from the stimulants he’d taken to stay awake over the last few days.
Vanya pulled out with a sigh, hands stroking Soren’s hips and stomach. “Let me wash you.”
Soren closed his eyes against the sunlit glow of the stained glass windows high above, the taste of honey long since gone from his lips, but something sweeter remained. Something he knew he couldn’t keep, shouldn’t have tasted in the first place, but it was too late for that.
“Whatever pleases you, princeling.”
Soren could feel the ghost of Vanya’s touch long after their time spent in the bathhouse.
Eleven
SOREN
“So, you are the warden who rescued our prince.”
The trade tongue was spoken with a light Solarian accent. Soren turned his head to stare at the young woman walking toward him on the garden path. She was beautiful, with long brown hair held back from her face by a glittering net of gold threaded through with diamonds and pearls. The jeweled strands swayed against the loose waves of her styled hair that cascaded over one shoulder.
Her gown was similar in fashion to all the others Soren had seen throughout the celebration: layers of voile that flowed from a high waist, colorful and intricate embroidery tracing the neckline, and sheer sleeves caught at the wrists by dozens of golden bracelets. She wore more jewelry than many of the other nobles who had been paraded past him to submit their thanks for his actions.
Soren was keen enough to know most of the people expressing themselves as relieved most likely weren’t. The Imperial family seemed not to care, and he hadn’t spoken to Vanya since he’d been officially introduced at the start of the feast. They’d parted ways shortly after, with Vanya leaving Soren for the necessity of mingling to prove he was alive with the political and social elite of Bellingham.
Of which the young woman most certainly was a part of, if Soren was to go by the expensive jewels weighing her down.
“I am,” Soren finally said, inclining his head in her direction. Wardens bowed to no one, but polite acknowledgment was allowed.
