Page 98 of The Summer Pass

“I didn’t come here to talk about him,” Vanu said after a moment, shaking himself. “I came to see if you wanted … ” He stopped, looking embarrassed. “Truth is,” he said aloud, “since last night, I can’t stop thinking about how I’d like to suck your cock again.”

“Oh, good,” said Lill fervently.

He wanted to say something that would make Vanu feel better about wanting it; the embarrassment seemed so unlike him, so unnecessary.

“I’ve been hoping you would. The way you did it before, in Umtúshta, it was so special. I felt so loved.”

Vanu picked up Lill’s good hand and kissed it—his knuckles, his palm—pressed it against his cheek. His heart felt overfull. He’d been told he was good at sex often enough, but never quite like that. He knew Lill had done it on purpose, to reassure him, to cast out the evil of his memories.

He leaned over Lill and kissed him again on the mouth, the throat, every patch of bare skin his lips could touch. He prowled down the bed, tossing the blanket aside, leaving Lill in nothing but the shirt he’d slept in, his slim, white legs bare. Vanu would have liked to strip him completely naked—he thought about undressing Lill almost as much as he thought about what he’d do once he’d got him undressed—but he was still wary of Lill’s injured arm. He contented himself with pushing Lill’s shirt up over his hips and stomach, drinking in the sight of his pink, full cock.

He glanced up into Lill’s face, and there was that look of tense happiness that was so familiar—but it was different somehow. There was a steady trust in Lill’s eyes that felt too much, as if it tipped another measure into Vanu’s already overflowing heart. He ducked down between Lill’s thighs, spread invitingly for him, and filled his mouth with Lill’s cock.

He sucked Lill with the concentration he might have given to a duel. Lill writhed under him, beautiful legs splaying everywhere, and made blissful sobbing sounds. He put his hand on the back of Vanu’s head, and Vanu let it stay there, fingers scrunching in his hair—something he never, as a rule, allowed when he was sucking someone off. Lill was different.

Vanu’s own hands were full of Lill’s firm little ass, but when a particularly low, throaty moan came out of Lill’s mouth, Vanu had to shift quite suddenly to get his right hand free. He nuzzled and licked to slow down the pace while he got his trousers open and his hand around his own cock. He stroked himself slowly, almost absently, absorbed in what he was doing to Lill.

“Vanu!”

That was all the warning he had before Lill came, arching under him like a strung bow. He swallowed Lill’s seed and then, to his surprise, found himself being pushed up and back, Lill’s foot braced against his shoulder.

He let himself be tipped over onto the bed, offering no resistance at all—because if he’d offered any, Lill might not have been able to shift him. Lill was on top of him then, slim hand curling around Vanu’s cock, dark eyes fixed avidly on Vanu’s face.

Vanu lay back, draped across the bed, and let his eyes slip half shut. Lill matched his strokes with deft fingers, watching him as if he needed to memorize every detail.

“You’re so beautiful,” Lill murmured.

The words, or the way Lill said them, seemed to twist something inside Vanu, and he came, quicker than he expected, with a soft cry that he barely recognized for his own voice.

Chapter 33

Three Kisses

Vanu lay and looked up into Lill’s face for a long, still minute. Lill was sitting back on Vanu’s bare thighs, his gaze still intent. He was already doing what he’d said he would do, making a project of learning to be Vanu’s lover the way he’d learned to be an assassin. It was daunting.

“You’re a bit of a mess,” Lill observed, lifting his sticky hand from Vanu’s belly.

“Uh-huh.”

Lill climbed to his feet. “I’ll clean you up.”

He went about it like he was erasing his traces on a mission. He would have retied Vanu’s hair if Vanu hadn’t got to his feet to take it out of reach.

“Got to rest your arm—can’t keep using that hand for things,” he said sternly, and tidied up his hair himself.

Everyone who had been at the feast the night before was only now getting up and breakfasting in the great hall. When Vanu and Lill came down, it was a subdued group compared to last night, with lots of evidence of hangovers. All of the old Umtúshta household was sitting together on benches at one of the hall’s long tables, not bothering with the Sukiyan couches.

“Lill!” Barda exclaimed when they entered. He winced and rubbed his forehead. “Earth’s tits, my head hurts. Do I have to call you Your Highness now?”

“No, of course not,” said Lill, swatting Barda.

“He’s not—you know—his mother isn’t the prince’s wife,” Firuduna explained tactfully. “Does your head hurt too, Lill? Drinking plenty of water helps.”

“No, I’m fine. I didn’t overindulge.”

“But still!” Barda insisted. “He’s the king’s nephew. You’re being awfully cool about it too, Lill. Not that we’d expect any less from you.”

Lill shrugged. “It isn’t as if I thought my father was a peasant. I was born at Suna. I knew he was someone from the royal court.”