“I’m a person, Silver. You can’t own me.” It was rare for him to use the Emperor’s name, but at this point, Nuri figured that was the least of his worries.
“And yet,” he straightened, “I do.”
So long as Silver continued to believe that, there was nothing Nuri could say to convince him otherwise and he knew it.
* * *
“I’m sorry I can’t come with you to the airport,” Nuri said solemnly. He was standing in the foyer, using the banister at the foot of the stairs to keep himself upright—and not because of his ankle either. It’d only been an hour since his conversation with the Emperor and his ass still smarted whenever he moved.
“I understand,” Nate told him with a smile. “I’m just glad you’re okay.” He clucked his tongue at the bandage around Nuri’s foot. “Could have been way worse.”
“I was lucky.” He almost gave himself away and rolled his eyes after saying that. Lucky. Yeah, right.
“The Emperor told me this morning at breakfast that you’re going to come visit next week? Really?” the hope in his voice was glaringly obvious, a mirror of the way Neve had sounded the other day over communications.
“Yes.” Nuri needed to remember this the next time he pushed back against Silver’s possessive claims. He’d lost this first round anyway, the next few days belonged to the Emperor anyway. At least if he behaved, he’d get to keep his promise to his siblings. If for no other reason than that, giving into Silver for now would be worth it. “I’ll be there. No matter what.”
“Great.” Nate scratched the back of his neck, suddenly awkward. “Cause I’ve really missed you, and so has Neve. You’ve never even seen what our lives are like on Vitality, or met any of our friends…It feels like we live—”
“On entirely separate planets?” Nuri teased if only to wipe that embarrassed look off of Nate’s face. It worked too, because his brother laughed.
“Whatever. You know what I’m trying to say, and now that I’ve said it,” he bent and picked up his backpack from the ground, swinging the strap over his shoulder, “I’ve got to head out. Falc is waiting in the car already and, not going to lie, that guy kind of scares me a little. Is he always so…stiff?”
“Pretty much.” Nuri grabbed him and forced him into a hug. “Call me when you get there.”
“Will do.” Nate stepped away from him but paused by the door. “Keep your promise about visiting.”
“I will,” Nuri replied. “You heard it straight from Silver. There’s nothing that’s going to keep me from coming.”
“Yeah,” he nodded, mulling that over. “I guess you’re right. He did tell me he was serious and he wouldn’t change his mind and try to hog you anymore.”
“He what?”
“Nothing. I’ll call you.” Without another word, Nate sprinted out the door, leaving Nuri hanging off the end of the banister, frowning after him.
“Master Narek?” One of the maids, Glinda, appeared from around the corner then and presented a silver tray with a single tube of ointment on it. “His majesty ordered me to give this to you. He suggests you apply it now to give it enough time to work before…” she cleared her throat, “Apologizes, Master Narek, but he demanded I say it…”
“It’s all right, Glinda, go ahead.”
“Before tonight’s mating commences,” she finished, and if the reddening of her cheeks were any indication, it was clear she hated hearing it out loud every bit as much as Nuri did.
Nuri groaned and took the tube of sun cream off the tray. “To save the both of us from further embarrassment lets agree to never speak of this again. Shall we?”
“Yes,” she bowed low, her relief palpable. “Thank you, Master Narek.”
Nuri turned the tube over in his hand and sighed.
What had he gotten himself into?
Chapter 17:
Half of the week passed in a blur of repetition. During the day, they worked alongside one another in the study. Sometimes Silver left for a meeting that couldn’t be rescheduled, but he was never gone for long, and Nuri never offered to go with him.
Not because he didn’t want to get out of the house.
Because he could barely walk half the time.
At night, Silver was like a different person. The cold, indifferent CEO vanished the second the sun went down, replaced by a man with an ungodly libido and a hard hand. He kept Nuri up close to sunrise half the time, forcing him to come several times over, ignoring his pleas for breaks in between sessions.
