Talk was cheap—Silver had proven as much with all his carefully crafted lies. But actions?
“Do you mean that?” The pop of a cap signaled to Nuri that the Emperor had just opened het medium sized bottle of lube, the other thing he’d taken from the desk. “If you really want to stop, I will, but only because it’s you. If you were a stranger, like you want to pretend to be, I wouldn’t even entertain the notion. Once I’ve brought someone up here, I’m in charge. They don’t get a say in what does or doesn’t happen.”
Nuri swallowed as Silver squeezed the bottle, not doubt lubing his fingers. They didn’t even need it. Because he was a Swift, he produced more than enough precome to safely wet his partner’s passage, so long as he opened him up first.
“If you were as confident as you claim, you wouldn’t need to resort to scare tactics,” Nuri tried, and failed, to goad him.
“You know better than that. You’re flushed, and your nipples and dick are hard. Taking away one of your senses, adding a bit of mystery, turned you on even more.”
“There’s more than enough mystery between us, majesty, wouldn’t you agree?”
Silver didn’t reply right away, but his answer came a moment later when he shoved Nuri down and flipped him onto his stomach without warning.
“If Ignite was a war planet instead of a corporate one,” the Emperor told him, hand tracing down the curve of Nuri’s spine, slicking lube in its wake, “I would have made you my general. You’re capable and quick-witted, and you have this way of getting people to follow your orders without second thought. Do you know what they say about you at the office?”
He realized why Silver had gotten the lube. Everywhere he touched began to tingle and heat, the sensation causing Nuri to fidget.
Of course he knew what they said at Rein Inc. It would be next to impossible for Nuri to have avoided all the whispers when he passed through the halls. He’d walked in on more than one conversation about him before, but everyone always shut their mouths as soon as they noticed he was there.
There wasn’t really a need, since it usually wasn’t meant as an insult. More an observation than anything. Nuri was prim and proper and held himself to a certain standard. He used a cool tone and selected his words carefully to get his point across whenever he interacted with a Rien Inc. employee. He had to. Silver’s volatile state of being was well known at the company, even if they’d convinced the general public he was a charming ruler, and to counteract that, Nuri had needed to be the level-headed one. If ever someone was too afraid to bring a problem to the CEO’s door, they went to Nuri for help.
He’d lost count of how many company crises had been avoided for that very reason. He was damn good at his job. No one would ever be able to put up with it all the way he had.
Shit.
Nate had been right.
Nuri also loved it.
It’d been simple enough to imagine quitting because he’d focused on novelties like finally getting to sleep in, and taking vacations whenever he pleased. But now that he was thinking about it through a larger scope, he’d miss the structure of it all. He’d miss dressing in crisp suits, and handling problems, and feeling like he had a purpose.
He supposed he’d assumed he could seek that out elsewhere eventually, once lounging around at home became dull, but in reality, he knew he wouldn’t have last more than a couple of weeks at best before having nothing to do drove him crazy. Not to mention the guilt he’d feel if he sat around twiddling his thumbs while Nate and Neve both went off to do their jobs like the adults they now were.
Silver’s hand cupped his right ass cheek then, pulling him back into the present. “Everyone knows you’re the only one who can manage me, Narek.”
“That’s not a good enough reason to convince me to stay.” He thought of Eli’s statement from earlier. It was true. People counted on him to keep the Emperor in line, maybe even more so than he’d realized.
But what he was saying was true as well.
“I shouldn’t have to light myself on fire just to keep others warm,” Nuri said.
“Just for tonight then,” Silver sounded…sad. “Burn brightly for me one last time. I’ll help you.” He pressed a finger against Nuri’s entrance and entered him slowly.
Nuri gasped. “It feels weird.”
His insides heated as the lube was pushed in deep and rubbed against his walls. When his hole fluttered around that intruding digit, he thought for sure Silver would add another—he’d always been quick with this part, eager to fill him and stretch him open—so when the Emperor pulled out instead, he found himself frowning.
The mattress dipped as Silver shifted, and Nuri was tempted to remove the blindfold. “What are you—”
A gust of air blew against his backside and he sucked in a sharp breath.
There was no way the Emperor was about to—
Silver parted his cheeks and then licked from his taint to his hole with the flat of his tongue. Ignoring the strangled sounds Nuri made, he repeated the motion, and then settled more comfortably between his thighs and traced that tight ring of muscle teasingly.
“You do not eat out these strangers,” Nuri accused, grabbing onto the pillow and pulling it closer so he’d have something to muffle his cries with as Silver’s tongue speared into him and wiggled around, seeking out—He convulsed when the Emperor found his prostate.
“You aren’t a stranger, Nuri,” Silver pulled back just enough to say in a breathy tone. “You’re a part of me. No. I know you better than I know myself. For instance, I know you meant for this to be a punishment, to torture me with one last taste before you leave me forever, but I’m grateful all the same.”
