Page 130 of Sword & Sacrifice

The memory suddenly released its grip on them and spit them out onto the forest floor together. The fires had continued to spread while they were occupied, now raging around them in an unstoppable inferno. Valerian pushed himself to his feet as he watched the flames consume the white tree, encouraging them to grow higher, hotter, to destroy the invader in his mind.

Still lying dazed on the ground, Alistair suddenly screamed, drawing Valerian’s attention. Flames licked up the mage’s arms, burned away his long white hair. The smell of charred flesh filled the air as he burned alive. The leaves on the ground caught fire beneath him. With one final choked cry, his body seized and then suddenly went limp. The fires continued to destroy what remained, even his ice blue eyes melting into death.

Val waited to wake up. To be in control again now that he’d defeated Alistair. He closed his eyes and tilted his head back, basking in the warmth of his own destruction.

Nothing happened. He simply stood in the clearing as his mind burned around him.

A laugh spilled out of him, desperate and choked. “Guess I went too far,” he muttered as he turned in a slow circle. The fire had spread throughout his mind until every tree in sight was burning. His whole life turning to ash in front of his eyes.

Well, if I’m going to die, I’m not going to sit around and wait to burn. Valerian would rather die in the arms of someone he loved, and if he was lucky, he could slip so deeply into that love that he could forget what was happening.

It didn’t take him long to find the tree he wanted. Penn stood in the bathroom at Causley Estate, skin gloriously bare. His bright blue eyes narrowed in mischief as he beckoned Val to him.

Val ignored the growing flames and walked right through the bark. The heat eased to comfortable warmth. The pain disappeared from his mind completely as he smiled down at his lover. His hands settled on Penn’s hips, warm and clean from their recent bath.

Penn’s arms wrapped around his neck, pulling Val closer. “You’re going to keep me up all night, aren’t you?”

“That’s the plan,” Val replied, his voice rumbling with a laugh. He dipped his head to kiss Penn, long and lingering, savoring the sweet taste of him as if it might be his last.

Penn’s tongue dipped between Val’s lips, eagerly deepening the kiss. His fingers tangled in Val’s hair, pulling him closer, as if he wanted to meld them into one being.

Val felt empty now that Penn no longer filled him, but the ache of his cock was more insistent. He wanted to be inside Penn again, to feel every part of his lover surrounding him. He backed Penn against the bed, and they collapsed onto the silk sheets with a laugh.

“Our hair is still wet,” Penn protested even as he peppered kisses along Val’s cheek and down his neck. “We’ll ruin the pillows.”

“I’m sure our host can afford more,” Val replied, running his hands down Penn’s chest, tweaking a nipple with his fingers. That earned him a gratifying groan, and he lowered his head, taking the nipple into his mouth to toy with it, teasing Penn with teeth and tongue.

Penn arched up against him, a low moan escaping his throat. “I see you’re eager to take the lead again,” he said, voice husky with desire. “It was fun while it lasted.”

“You can fuck me as often as you want in the future,” Val promised him, trailing kisses down Penn’s stomach. His lover shifted and writhed beneath him, as tormented by the light caress of lips as he was from the nip of teeth. “Maybe even the next round, if you’re up for it.” A lie, since Val planned to so thoroughly ravage Penn that he wouldn’t have the energy for anything but to beg for more.

Penn snorted, clearly understanding Val’s real intent. But he didn’t protest. He simply pushed Val’s head lower, toward his cock. After their session in the bath, he wasn’t quite ready to go again, but Valerian was happy to assist.

Valerian licked a long line over Penn’s shaft, thrilled to watch it swell and grow. It’d been a few weeks since Valerian had last taken Penn, but his fingers entered him easily, as if his body remembered Val, had been waiting for him. Still, he took his time carefully stretching him while he lavished Penn’s cock with licks and kisses, until it eagerly stood at attention, fluid already dripping from the tip.

“Are you going to keep teasing me,” Penn demanded, his voice low and sultry. “Or are you going to fuck me like you promised?”

“I,” Valerian began, positioning the head of his cock at Penn’s entrance, “am going to make very sweet, passionate love to you.”

Penn laughed. “For you, that almost sounds bor-ing.” The second syllable came out in a low groan as Val slid inside him.

“Oh, I’ll make it fun,” Valerian replied, kissing the sensitive spot below Penn’s ear.

Penn’s fingers returned to Valerian’s hair, tugging him down for a kiss. Their tongues tangled, fast and frantic, even as Valerian kept his promise, gliding in and out of Penn at a glacial pace.

Penn’s legs wrapped around Val’s waist, and he tightened his hold, trying to urge Valerian faster, but he had been waiting to come together again for too long. He wanted this moment to last for eternity.

At the back of his mind, he could feel the heat of the spreading fire. Knew that his ‘eternity’ wouldn’t be long at all.

When he finally climaxed, it wasn’t the usual rush or fall. It was a slow tumble into a trusted embrace.

Val rolled over and pulled Penn to him, tucking him close to his side. Penn’s arm spread over his chest, one of his legs tucked between Val’s. They should get up, clean themselves off, before either going for another round or falling asleep. But Val couldn’t let Penn go in that moment, as if he’d known that night would be their last time together.

“My mother died when I was five years old,” Valerian said, his voice low and his eyes locked on the ceiling. “Afterwards, a nobleman took me in to be his son’s playmate. At least, that’s what he claimed. I didn’t know my actual role until the first time a tutor whipped me after Maksim acted out.”

Penn’s quiet, steady breaths were his only reply. This memory of him couldn’t react to something Val had never told him.

And since he would get no judgement, no reaction, Valerian rambled on about every scar, every heartbreak, until his voice became hoarse and his words tasted like smoke. Then he said the one thing he really wanted to tell Penn, even though he knew he would receive no reply. “I love you.”