Sevastyan’s chest rumbled and his tongue licked across Rei’s mouth. Rei parted his lips, sharing the chocolate inside. They kissed through the thick cake, chocolate smearing across both of their lips and cheeks. Sevastyan gripped Rei by the jaw and his hair with both hands and licked the mess from his face. He leaned back and surveyed his work, still holding Rei in place. Rei’s chest moved up and down as he panted, meeting Sevastyan’s eyes. It was moments like this when he forgot burn scars were considered unsightly. Sevastyan always looked at him like Rei was his wonder. Sevastyan turned Rei’s face side to side, checking for more chocolate. Then he licked his own lips, eyes still on Rei.
Rei lunged forward, slipping through Sevastyan’s grasp and ran his tongue over Sevastyan’s cheek where there was a streak of cake. The man’s stubble rasped against his tongue. Rei sucked the remnants of chocolate down and searched for more, his hands clutching at Sevastyan’s shoulders.
There was only so much they could eat. On tired feet, they cleaned up the leftover food and put it in the fridge in the large kitchen down the hallway to the right. Sevastyan made them both drink another bottle of water, and then they showered together, almost too tired to speak.
“Tomorrow”—Sevastyan dropped face first onto the bed of white sheets and beige blankets—“I’ll show you everything. Tomorrow, you cut Anton out of our network.”
Rei stiffened. “Cut him out?”
Sevastyan’s eyes darkened and looked away. “When the Merchari fall, it will not be at his hand.”
Rei’s heart clenched in his chest. Sevastyan was going to do it. He was turning on Anton.
Rei climbed onto the mattress. Sevastyan raised his arm. Rei slid beneath it and let himself be dragged under Sevastyan’s broad chest and heavy legs. For a long time, Sevastyan didn’t let go, or even seem to breathe. Rei soothed his hands over Sevastyan’s ribs. If Sevastyan wanted to sleep on him all night, he’d take it. He understood.
Sevastyan
Sevastyan woke in the dark. His body hurt from the travel, from the lack of sleep for the last several days, from the thoughts that had followed him into his dreams. The things he had done were probably written in sacred script on his bones so that the gods of the afterlife would not accept him, even in death. The sands of the desert would reject his flesh, leaving him exposed and never at peace. Passerby would see his frame and be driven to repeat his name, tethering his soul to the mortal realm in ever more chaotic versions of his tattered ghost.
He covered his eyes with his palm. Beside him, Rei slept curled up, one knee drawn toward his chest and his back against Sevastyan ribs. His body was a small ball of tepid warmth. He should be warmer. They both should have been. But the life was running out of them.
Time was running out. Not because there was any deadline or threat, but because they were . . .
They were burning away.
Sevastyan blinked hard against his palm, forcing back tears he didn’t dare release. He’d hoped, once, to give Rei the world. But the most he had done in all the wasted years was give Jun back to the world.
He and Rei remained at the bottom of the pit, but Sevastyan still held the power of choice. Choices that choked him. Splits in timelines that terrified him. He needed a prophecy of Odin to guide his feet, but all he had was a heart that had chosen wrong as many times as it had chosen right.
Men often thought they could reason their way to the culmination of their desire. But human beings were the web weavers of their own worlds and not creatures of cold logic. The stories they wove changed shape with every retelling and every listener. One had to dance and sway to an invisible beat, not follow a road with signs and plans.
Sevastyan’s stomach clenched. His bones throbbed. He turned on his side, curling his body around Rei’s.
“Sev.” Rei’s hand moved, clutching at Sevastyan’s arm.
Tears escaped. They ran down his face and into Rei’s hair. “Little one.”
Rei arched back, cuddling closer, his other hand coming up to tangle with Sevastyan’s. “Is it time?”
“No.” Sevastyan pressed his forehead to the back of Rei’s head. “It’s early.”
Sevastyan pushed away the whispers of the future, and pressed his lips against Rei’s hair.
Someday, I’ll stop failing you.
Sevastyan
An hour or so later, Sevastyan stroked his hand down Rei’s back and kissed his forehead until the smaller man stirred. Rei kissed Sevastyan back on his chest and stretched against the length of Sevastyan’s body.
“Master?”
“Time to get up, beautiful.”
Rei blinked and rubbed his face. There was just enough light coming in that shapes and shadows were visible. All color remained muted to shades of gray.
Sevastyan sat up and checked the drawer. Rei slid out of bed and disappeared into the en-suite bathroom. The toilet flushed a moment later and Rei returned, shivering slightly. He crawled up on the bed and laid himself over Sevastyan’s thighs, turning his head toward Sevastyan and pulling a pillow under his chest.
The curve of his back over Sevastyan’s legs was beautiful. Sevastyan ran his hand over Rei’s ribs and down his buttocks to his thighs. Rei breathed out, relaxing beneath the touch.
