Page 103 of The Concubine King
The god groaned his approval, the hand in his hair becoming clenching.Ethyr dipped lower, getting another long, pleased moan.Eliciting noises of pleasure from a god tingled proud satisfaction up his spine, but better was the feeling of being filled from both ends.This was what he wanted: to be so full there was no room for thought or memory or anything other than cocks grinding in and out of him.
Then Varuut’s next thrust hit a spot that hollowed out his stomach and made stars burst behind his eyes.He choked on Gallus and either for fear of being bitten or concern for Ethyr, Gallus pulled himself out of his mouth.Ethyr barely registered it, gasping into the floor.
“Oh,” Varuut said with satisfied calm.“There it is.”Each pitch that filled him struck that same spot, and Ethyr lost his every sense to delirious ecstasy.The burning in his hips took over every inch of his body, curling his toes and rending his thoughts into minuscule pieces that scattered across the floor of his sanity.Varuut went harder, merciless, holding Ethyr’s hips in place while she railed against him.
Ethyr thought it was Gallus’s arms that he dug his nails into, but truly he didn’t know.Nothing existed beyond the sensation of being hit there, there, there, and the overwhelming pleasure that strangled every nerve in his body to a suffocation that was euphoric.He could feel it building and yet there was nothing to build, no higher point he could reach in his throes of ecstasy.He was only thrumming, throbbing pleasure.
It overtook him in violent, shuddering waves, swelling from the confines of his body and spilling out.When Varuut released his hips he sank to the floor with a spent groan, chest heaving.It took another minute for the black vision and sparks to fade, and even once it did he still felt dizzy.
Gallus leaned over him and rained soft kisses onto his face.“Tired out?”he asked.Ethyr nodded, not opening his eyes.Gallus chuckled, combing his fingers through his hair.Someone laid a blanket over him.Close by, Ethyr could hear the conspicuous sounds of Catocus fucking Ainder.Gallus lifted Ethyr’s head to rest in his lap and exhaustion stole the rest of the night.
The room was quiet.Gallus’s lap had been replaced with a cushion, the blanket remained draped over him, but the room was empty of life.Most of the candles had died out.Dawn spilled through the windows, but they were too high to offer more than gray, ambient light at the floor.
Ethyr’s swallow raked down a dry throat.He pushed himself up, arms still weak, and grabbed the water pitcher off the table to gulp straight from its contents, then dropped his arms into his lap.
His ass burned.Every shift of weight hurt somewhere new.He looked around the room.It felt so big and cold when it was empty.There was no light, no laughter, no quiet sounds of movement or their affectionate, jabbing jests to each other.But what did it matter?Even when he was among them, he wasn’t really part of it, he wasn’t one of them.He wasn’t any less alone.
His stomach growled.The feast on the table was hardly touched.He pulled a cold slice of roasted meat from a plate and ate it with slow vacuity, staring forward.The world blurred and heat stung his eyes.He didn’t stop chewing as the tears fell, letting them soak his cheeks and pool in the crevices of his lips, trickling into his mouth when he ate the last bite and tasting the salt alongside the meat.
He gathered his scattered clothing and dressed, shaking under his own weight and wincing when he stretched too far.He dried his face and drank some more water.He just needed a hot bath.A hot bath and a warm meal, that’s what he told himself.He’d feel better then.He ignored the pit in his stomach that knew otherwise, shoved the gnawing ache in his chest away, and braced himself to face Poyut and walk through the temple.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Ethyr lay on his bed, holding the spinner Poyut had given him and twirling it lazily to and fro.
Frantic knocking on his door bolted him upright.It didn’t stop or slow.
“What?”he snapped, sliding off the bed and jerking open the door.“What is it?”
The attendant standing there pulled their fist short of hitting him and threw themselves into a deep bow.“Your Divinity, I’m sorry to bother you—Poyut and the Guard Master are at each other’s throats.They’re going to kill each other.”
“What?”
“We didn’t know who else to get.Please come quickly.”
“Well where are they!?”
“The advisor’s study.”
Ethyr shoved past them and darted down the hall.Even on the stairs, he could hear the loud tangle of their voices, shouting over each other.He ran faster.
“Maybe stop pettily arraigning me and focus on your own job!”
“My job is to protect the king from threats,especiallyif they’ve wormed their way into the palace!”
Poyut and Lyrian stood chest-to-chest in the middle of the room.Though the latter had an extra head of height on Poyut, her bristling stance gave her a proportionate hostility.The hand on the hilt of her sword helped; Lyrian didn’t have his scabbard at all.
“What are you doing?”Ethyr demanded, and was glad his voice separated the two and turned them toward him.
Poyut threw a daggered glare at Lyrian before striding over to Ethyr.“He dismissed Gionan from service,” she told him sharply.
Ethyr blinked.Looked over her shoulder to Lyrian.
“He is the one who spread disparaging rumors about our relationship,” Lyrian said, his words holding the same cut as Poyut’s.
Poyut spun to face him.“You have no proof of that!You had no right to make that decision!”
“On the contrary, all domestic personnel within the palace are under the advisor’s authority.This has nothing to do with you.The only one I need to explain myself to is the king.”He raised his eyebrows, staring down his nose at her expectantly.She turned to Ethyr.
