Page 96 of The Concubine King
Ethyr shook his head, looking down at the table again.The city of Mahyria stood in almost the exact middle of the continent, placed on the corner of the river where it veered east and emptied into the ocean.Below the river was the huge expanse of the Walklands.Dots of towns scattered throughout it, mostly along the slivers of river tributaries.Below them, to the east, Bulmyr.It was a city almost as large as the capital, according to the map.
“I don’t see why it matters whether I know or not,” he said cautiously.“I don’t know governance, I don’t know finance, I barely know the kingdom.”
“You can learn all those things,” Lyrian said confidently.
“Haven’t you heard?”Ethyr joked.“I’m a stupid peasant incapable of learning.”
Lyrian didn’t laugh.“You continue to devalue your worth, despite having more value than anyone in the kingdom.”
Ethyr's cheeks set ablaze at that.“I’ve already made you my advisor, Lyrian; you don’t need to flatter me.”
The man’s playful smile did nothing to calm Ethyr’s heart.“You deserve the flattery, My King.”
Ethyr couldn’t return the smile.Lyrian held his gaze with casual ease, as though Ethyr wasn’t struggling just to keep his knees straight.
Lyrian turned on his heel and went back to his desk, sitting unconcerned in his seat and lifting a paper.“Well it’s no matter, you’re here now and I have time now, so let’s go over what we can.”
“Go over?”Ethyr asked, mind still reeling.
Lyrian looked up, amused.“All the important news and happenings, Your Divinity.”
“Oh.Yes.Right.”He forced his knees to unlock and bring him to the desk.
Something compelled him past the chair situated at its front and around the side.
Lyrian glanced at him, setting the paper down.“I wouldn’t have you waste your time reading, I can relay it all to you more succinctly.None of this is necessary to see.”
“No?”Ethyr trailed his fingers over the swath of papers covering the desk as he pressed close to Lyrian’s chair.The man turned to him in surprise, locking eyes with guarded suspicion.
“Your Divinity?”
Ethyr bit his lip hard, as though he could physically restrain himself with pain, but it didn’t stop his hand brushing across Lyrian’s shoulder, sliding behind his neck.
“Are you attracted to me?”Ethyr murmured.
He didn’t respond for a long, painful moment, still staring up at Ethyr as though he could read the thoughts behind his eyes.
“You’re very attractive, yes,” he finally conceded.His voice was frustratingly steady.
“That’s not what I asked,” Ethyr reproached.He straddled Lyrian’s lap, sliding between the desk and the man’s torso to rest his weight on it.Lyrian leaned back in his chair, hands going instinctively to Ethyr’s thighs.He didn’t push him off, and though he never broke eye contact, Ethyr noticed his hard swallow.He slid his other arm over Lyrian’s shoulder, looping both around his neck.“Would you fuck me?”he whispered.
Lyrian gave a sharp exhale followed by a breathless laugh.Instead of answering, his fingers dug into Ethyr’s thighs and yanked him closer, and Ethyr found Lyrian’s lips with his own.
His mouth was hot, and wet, and he didn’t skip a beat in matching Ethyr’s open mouth and tongue.He pressed into Lyrian’s torso, not caring where that put his weight or what he felt against it.Lyrian was warm, and solid, and it was gratifying to wrap his arms around someone who reciprocated so eagerly.Ethyr’s body, his heart, ached to be close to another being, to feel skin against his skin, to have his desires driven out of him, to have his one worth validated.He clenched his fingers in Lyrian’s hair and dragged his other hand down his chest to find what was stiff beneath him.
“Sir, have you seen—”
Ethyr whipped around.Lyrian’s attendant stood gaping in the doorway.His pounding heart choked the tiny bit of breath he had left from his lungs, stopping even an attempt at explanation.
She closed her mouth and averted her eyes.“I’m so sorry, sir, I didn’t… the door was open.”
“Thank you, Satya,” Lyrian said with such casual calm no one would have thought he’d been caught doing what he was doing.“Perhaps you’ll close it?”
“Of course, sir.My apologies, sir.”She ducked her head and fled from the room, closing the door behind her.
Ethyr swallowed the remnants of Lyrian’s saliva and pressed a hand to his face, trying to catch his breath.It took a lot longer to return than his shame and self-awareness.What was he doing?
He stumbled off Lyrian’s lap, catching himself on the desk.“I’m so sorry, I–I don’t… I have no idea… what I’m—I–” He shook his head, not able to think over the blood rushing in his ears and the heat, different from the heat that had just filled him, lacing every nerve of his body.
