“Yes, yes,” I whispered, my eyes locked on the bare wall. “I cannot reach them without pain.”
“Then lie still and let me.”
The backs of his fingers skimmed my collarbone. A soft gasp fluttered over my dry lips. The ties came undone painfully slowly, each feathery brush of his hand making my stones feel heavier. He gave the neckline a tug. “Nah, not enough room. We need to take it off.”
“Yes, yes,” I replied again, wishing I had more coverings. Pushing up to sit, we eased the shirt free. Our gazes touched momentarily. There was no mistaking the desire in his cobalt eyes as his sight moved down over my chest, my stiff manhood hidden under a knot of blanket. I peeked down at the fur covering his pectorals and stomach. “I am much different than you.”
“Aye, Chirp, that you are. You’re like a fine-boned bird, beautiful red feathers, bright green eyes, lithe, and able to soar high, whereas I’m like a miserable old rock bear.”
“I have spoken to bears. Well,abear,” I replayed as he motioned for me to lie back down. I nestled into the mattress, the pillow cradling my left cheek, as he popped the cork on the vial. “He was most irritable as well, but he had been wounded earlier in the season, and the wound had not healed properly.”
An aroma rich with crushed cloves, black pepper, and tundra sage. All common ingredients for relief of pain but never had I tried mixing them together.
“Then I guess that fits me to a tee. Grumpy about an old wound that’ll never heal.” He sat down behind me, the bed sinking under his weight, and placed a hand on my shoulder. I winced at the initial touch, not so much in pain, but inanticipation of a firmer grip. “This is going to make your skin warm, might make you a little sleepy as well. The apothecary said it’s got some wild whip grass ground into it to ease the patient into a more relaxed state. So if you get to feeling groggy, just let sleep take you.”
“Yes, thank you.” I found I did not wish to sleep more, not yet, not when he was about to—
Oh. That was glorious. His slippery fingers began to move. The liniment began to soak into my skin, through it, down into the tense muscles. Asdren began kneading the area with great care, working the warming oil deep into my shoulder.
“You doing okay, Chirp? Tell me if it’s too much.” His voice was like soft butter. I began to melt into the bedding more, my body and mind gentling as he massaged a path from my shoulder up the side of my neck.
“Goddess yes, I am fine. That is so wonderful.” I sighed.
“Good, good.” His hand was rough, the fingertips calloused, yet the feeling was divine. “You look at ease.”
“Oh, Asdren, I am. What you are doing is wonderful. Your touch is so nice. So, so nice.”
He shifted behind me, turning more so that he could lift my right arm with exquisite tenderness. The subtle heat from the oil eased the motion. There was little ache at all now. I groaned deeply as he ran a slick hand down the underside of my arm, taking a moment or two to work the poultice into my armpit.
“Red as a summer sunset your hair is,” he murmured. “Such a fire it is against your pale skin.”
“You are a poet. Literate. I wish I could read big tales of daring and romance.”
“I’m sure you could. Maybe you just need one of the brothers of the stone lore to help you untangle the letters when they dance about on the page.”
“How could they help?”
“I don’t know if they can. Don’t count your gems before they’re mined but asking never cost anything. They’re the most learned souls under the soil and atop it if I’m not being too proud of my people.”
I thought about that for a moment as he worked his magic with those strong fingers.
“I will ask a stone lore brother when I see one,” I vowed. Imagine how much better an outrider I could be if my reading skills were vastly improved! I would not feel like an illiterate bandit’s whelp. Pasil would be so proud. Oh. Pasil. I’d not thought of him for such a long time. What an odd thing. Before this mission, he was on my mind constantly. Now days had rushed by and I’d not given him much thought. How unfeeling of me. I hoped he was well. He and Teryn both. Thinking about them together hardly hurt now. Which made me wonder if what I had been feeling for him had been deep, true love or just a passing fancy. Perhaps that was something else I could ask one of the dwarven monks.
“Well done then.” He gently let my arm down, nudging me to lie on my belly. My hard cock made it uncomfortable. Hoping he was too involved in pouring more medicine into his palm, I slid a hand under me to shift my prick to the side. Touching it made me grunt.
“You got issues down there, lad?”
I stiffened instantly, hand on my cock. “No, just…no.”
“No shame in it if you do. We’re men. We get hard when other men touch us in an intimate way. If you want me to stop—”
“No! Please, it is fine. Please do not stop,” I murmured into the pillow.
He blew out a long breath. “Chirp, I think maybe I should for now. You’re way too tempting, and I’m not in a good place inside my head to take a new lover, especially one as pliable asyou. Hell, no, that ain’t the right word. Just…” He left the bed in a rush.
Lover?
I yanked my hand away from my prick. Unsure of what to say or what I had done, I lay still as a fawn in the tall grass, wondering if I should speak or simply pretend to be sleeping. The ache in my shoulder had shifted to my balls.
