Chapter Thirteen
Derrick had waited just inside the passage doorway to see if someone would come for the kerchief, and his patience was rewarded after just under an hour had passed. Through the crack in the door, he saw a shadow fall across the slight opening and heard the rustle of a dress. He flung open the door, startling old Magda, one of the Leerian cooks, as she was folding the kerchief and pushing it inside the bosom of her dress.
She turned to run, but Derrick easily caught her arm and pulled her inside the cool passageway, murmuring softly to her to calm her down. “Don’t be frightened. I’m Tygerian, but I’m not one of the guards. You know me, don’t you, Magda? I work in the laundry. And I’m the one who put out Rhaegar’s kerchief.” He peered down into her still alarmed face. “I know you recognize that name. He told you to watch for it and get a message to him, didn’t he?”
The old Leerian woman glared up at him, still suspicious. “I don’t know what you mean, sir. I saw a bit of pretty cloth and I take. I mean no harm.”
“I know you didn’t. I’m really not trying to get you in any trouble, I promise you. And the only reason I stopped you was to tell you that I need Rhaegar to come as quickly as he can. It’s an emergency. Can you remember that? Emergency. Please tell him to hurry.”
Magda glared up at him and gave the slightest hint of a nod. Derrick released her arm and gave it a little pat. “I didn’t mean to frighten you. I’m sorry if I did.”
With a thinning of her lips and another slight nod, she was on her way, scurrying back through the gardens and through the kitchen’s back door. Derrick had done all he could to get help. Now he would have to wait a few hours and see if Rhaegar came. If he didn’t, then he and Blake would make the next trip through the passageways to the doors that led through the gates and outside the palace grounds. He and his brothers had used the passage for years to go out in the evenings after an unreasonably early curfew their parents imposed, until Blake caught Anarr and had the door to the outside bricked over. It was the reason Vannos had to disguise himself the night he left the palace to go to a party given by his so-called friend and wound up being kidnapped. Derrick had been off at training when it happened, but his omak had told him the story many times now, and it still amazed him that his brother Vannos, the mildest one of all of them, had done something so wild and out of character.
He went upstairs to find his omak and heard the loud voices coming from Blake’s room as soon as he got close to the hidden doorway. Since the door was behind a tapestry, he opened it slowly, careful not to make a sound, so he could hear what was going on. The first voice he heard was his father’s.
“No, I don’t think it’s a ‘good idea’ to take the child while he’s sleeping. Are you crazy?”
Octavion’s oily voice was murmuring something then that he couldn’t quite make out, and another voice joined in. “Your Majesty, we need to perform the operation as soon as possible.”
“That’s not today,” Davos said sharply and there was a little silence. “If he feels stronger, I’ll talk to him again in the morning and make my decision. Until then, get out.”
“But isn’t there something I can do for you, Your Majesty?” Octavion replied. His voice sounded close, as if he’d moved to stand beside Blake’s bed.
“If there is, I’ll let you know.”
After enduring a series of ingratiating voices assuring the king that they would be awaiting word from him, Derrick finally heard the sound of the door closing, and wondered if Davos was still in the room or had he left with the others? Taking a deep breath, he took a chance and stepped out from behind the tapestry.
Davos, who had been sitting on the bed beside Blake and holding tightly to his hand, got quickly to his feet and reached for his weapon. When he saw who it was, he relaxed a bit, though his hand was still on the dagger strapped to his side.
“What are you doing, skulking around in the passageways?” he said, his tone sounding weary and sour as always when he spoke to Derrick. “Why are you never doing any actual work, like for instance, the job I gave you?”
“I’m through for the day,” Derrick replied and plopped down on the other side of the bed. He glanced down at his omak’s flushed face and smoothed the hair off his forehead. “What’s happened?”
“He fainted. He had a big afternoon. He insulted my ministers to within an inch of their lives and then he started in on me.”
Derrick smiled gently down at him. “Sounds about right.” He pulled the blanket up a bit higher on Blake’s chest.
“Why isn’t he waking up?”
“Sheer stubbornness, I suspect. The doctors examined him thoroughly and said he was fine. Only sleeping now. He was…upset before he passed out.”
“Because you want him to have an abortion?”
Davos glanced up sharply at him. “No decision has been made. We were merely discussing it. The ministers were pushing for it, though, yes.”
“And you were considering it?”
Davos was becoming angry, the color rising high in his cheeks. “Of course, I was! They said he could die if he has this child.”
“He said the risk isn’t that great. That the doctors could look up the old records.”
“And you believed that? It’s been many cycles since a human male gave birth to one of our children. There may not even be records anymore. He still keeps insisting he wants to take that chance.”
“But surely that’s his decision to make.”
“No, it isn’t!” Davos shouted, getting to his feet. “He’s mine! My captive. My bed slave, and I make the decisions regarding him! And that’s an end to it!” He stormed toward the door and stopped with his hand on the door knob. “When he wakes up, tell him to find me. We need to talk.”
“Wait,” Derrick said, standing up beside Blake and gathering his courage. “Father, listen to me, please.”
The king whirled around and gave him a deadly glare. “I’m not your father. Don’t keep indulging him in these ridiculous fantasies of his, or I’ll have you removed from the palace.”
“But they’re not fantasies. We arrived here from the Never Never and our home is Tygeria, but it’s a different Tygeria than yours. In an alternate universe, I think. When we came through here in this one, you were…absorbed…by this other King Davos. But I know my father is still inside there.”
“If you truly believe that, you’re just as deluded and confused as he is.” He turned and left the room, leaving Derrick staring after him. A warm hand clasped his and he looked down at the bed in surprise to find Blake wearily opening his eyes.
“You’re wasting your time, sweetheart. I’ve been telling him that since almost as soon as we arrived and he won’t believe it. Save your breath.”
“But what are you going to do?”
“Talk to him again, I guess. Try to convince him to at least try to find the old medical records. I’m not suicidal, Derrick. If he can’t find them, or they’re incomplete or whatever, I’ll agree to end the pregnancy. If that happens…” he stopped talking, his eyes getting watery with tears and he gripped Derrick’s hand hard. “I may have already lost one child. I’m worried sick about Larz and the not knowing is killing me. If the worst happens and they can’t help me here and I can’t get home, then I guess I’ll have to face it somehow.”
“He said he wanted to talk to you after you woke up.”
“I know; I heard him. I’ve been awake since I heard you come in, but I’m not ready quite yet, so I pretended to be asleep. Maybe I’ll wait until morning.”
“I don’t think he’ll let you.”
“He will if he thinks I’m resting.” Blake glanced over at him and shook his head. “I know he’s been hard on you. But he’s been good to me. In his way.”
“The trouble is, it’s always his way, isn’t it? Even at home. He thought he knew how to live my life better than I did. And he chased us into that black hole, and started this whole chain of events. If we never get home…if anything happens to you…it will be his fault and I’ll never forgive him for it.”
“Never’s a long time, baby. And yes, I know he can be overbearing, but your father loves you and he wanted what was best for you.”
“And he decided he knew what that was.”
“Derrick, Rhaegar is a pirate. He’s a charming, handsome rogue, I’ll give you that, but he wasn’t what I wanted for you either.”
Derrick gave him a sharp look and he smiled. “Until I saw the two of you together. Saw how he is with you, and how you are when you’re with him, and it made me change my mind. To be fair, your father hasn’t had the chance to see that yet.”
“So let’s give him a chance,” said a deep, warm voice from the passageway. Blake and Derrick both jumped and Derrick sprang to his feet and pulled back the tapestry to find Rhaegar and his men lounging against the secret doorway. Derrick threw his arms around his neck and just held on for a few moments. Rhaegar seemed a bit surprised to find his arms full of the young Tygerian, but he recovered quickly, and bent his head to find Derrick’s lips in a searing kiss that went on until one of Rhaegar’s men nudged him forcibly from behind.
“Captain, do you think you could finish that a little later? We’re kind of in the middle of the high king’s rooms right now.”
Rhaegar broke off the kiss with a little growl and a bite on Derrick’s bottom lip, then put him firmly aside. “Gods, what you do to me. All right, we’re here. Where’s the emergency?”
“But how did you get here so fast?”
“We ain’t never left,” Smeet said, poking his head around the corner. “We was still here when Magda brought us the message. Magda was the wife of our old second mate, Georg, the one that died with the Luvian flu. She been giving us food for a while now, since I remembered she worked here on Tveir for the king. Then today when it started to snow outside, she caught us on the way out from seeing you and told us we could stay for the night and leave first thing in the morning.”
Rhaegar nodded. “New snow shows tracks better than after it’s been trampled on a while. But are you all right? Has something happened?”
“You might say that,” Derrick told him. “My omak is pregnant.”
All four of the men turned to goggle at Blake with wide open eyes. Blake frowned at them. “Well, don’t act so surprised. How did you think Derrick got here? The stork didn’t bring him.”
“The what?” Smeet whispered to the man next to him.
“Quiet you two,” Rhaegar said and turned his attention back to Blake. “Congratulations, sir. But how is this such an emergency? Surely the king will be pleased.”
“On the contrary, the king is not pleased, and his ministers are losing their minds. They don’t want any little half-humans running around, and they say if I don’t have an abortion the king may be in some trouble with his people, who don’t like the idea of him being with me in the first place.”
“Ah, I see. So what do you want us to do?”
“Get me out of here until I can think about what to do next.”
“What he’s not telling you,” Derrick said, “is that they want to force him to have an abortion. The king may go along with it because of how dangerous it is for him to have the baby here on Tveir. It hasn’t happened with a human male in a long time, but it could kill both him and the child.”
“Well then,” Rhaegar said. “We need to get out of here as fast as we can. Derrick, help him pack up a bag and let’s get moving.”
“Blake!” Davos’s voice came drifting in from the next room. “Is that you? Who are you talking to? Is that boy still in there?” Before Derrick could move or cry out, the door between Blake’s bedroom and Davos’s opened suddenly and Davos stood framed in the doorway. His gaze traveled incredulously over the pirates and landed back on Blake as his eyebrows rose. With a bellow of rage, he pulled his dagger and leaped into the room.
****
“You!” Davos roared as he grabbed Rhaegar and hit him so hard across the face that he fell to the floor. Rhaegar’s men tried to help, but Davos threw them back against the wall and pulled his dagger above his head to bring it down on Rhaegar.
Derrick yelled, “No!” and wrapped his two hands around Davos’s arm, grimly struggling to stop him. Davos was a huge man, and in a towering fury, but Derrick was almost as large, with the added desperation of fear fueling his strength. Davos turned on Derrick, as Rhaegar struggled back to his feet, trying to push him off and getting more and more furious as Derrick proved impossible to dislodge. Finally, he dropped the dagger in disgust when he couldn’t get rid of Derrick and used both hands to fling the boy across the room. He was making a sound that wasn’t even words anymore and his face was red with rage. He whirled around to face Rhaegar, who had finally managed to stagger back up to his feet. By this time, the other pirates had surged forward to help their captain too, with Smeet jumping on Davos’s back and clinging to him like a monkey.
Davos reached over his head and seized the old pirate, throwing him down on the floor where he landed with a thump and lay still. Rhaegar took the opening to bring his fist in with an uppercut that hit Davos hard, catching him on the chin, but the king shook his head like a wounded animal, and grabbed for the fireplace poker that was hanging beside him on the wall. He began to swing it around his head like a sword, as Rhaegar and his men fell back away from it. Davos advanced on them, grimly smiling but had taken only a few steps forward when Blake threw his body at his knees from beside him, taking him by surprise and causing him to stumble sideways toward the fireplace. Derrick grabbed the outstretched poker and though Davos tried to push him off it, Rhaegar got hold of it too and together they yanked Davos down and onto the floor.
The men stood ringed around him as he lay there, each of them wary as a cat for a moment, heaving for breath, until Blake realized Davos wasn’t getting up. He fell down beside him with a little cry and rolled him over to his back, gasping in horror at the blood running down his face. Blake had pushed him off balance with his wild dive, and Davos had fallen on the edge of the hearth, cutting his head and knocking him unconscious.
Rhaegar knelt beside him and felt for his pulse. It was strong and just a bit unsteady. “He’s all right,” he told a frantic Blake. “Just knocked out. But we have to tie and gag him before he comes to. Smeet, you and Bosley get those sheets off that bed and tear them into strips and start tying his ankles and wrists. Derrick, tend to your omak. We may have company in a moment. He made a lot of noise.”
“No,” Blake said, his voice sounding a little unsteady but still strong and determined. “There’s no one else on this wing, and he sent Octavion away earlier. He doesn’t have the guards around him all the time like he did at home. If no one has come to check by now, then they aren’t coming.” He glanced back down at Davos. “But you’re sure he all right? He doesn’t need a doctor?”
“Yes, I think he is, but you can fuss over him while we tie him up. Then we need to get out of here. He’ll be all right till morning—maybe a little uncomfortable, but that can’t be helped.”
Blake glanced up from beside him, his gaze fiercely bright. “No, we’re not leaving him.”
Derrick put a hand on his arm. “Omak, be reasonable.”
“No, I said. If I leave him now, I’ll never see him again, and he’ll never have a chance to forgive me. If we find a way home, he has to come with us.”
“But omak…”
“Derrick, he told you I belonged to him. He belongs to me too, just as much. I need him, like you need Rhaegar.”
“But part of him is from this world. We can’t just hijack him out of it.”
Blake shook his head stubbornly. “He’s coming.”
Rhaegar huffed in irritation, but he knew—without stopping to consider how he knew—that arguing with the man was a waste of good breath. He tried again anyway, because he at least admitted to himself that he was intractable and perverse. “Just exactly how do you propose we get him out of here? I think the guards might notice if we dragged their king out the front doors, tied up and unconscious.”
Smeet, who had come over with his long strips of sheet and had begun tying Davos’s wrists, glanced up and grinned. “They might at that, Captain. How are we gonna get him out?”
“What about my laundry cart,” Derrick said. “I could put him inside and pile the covers from his bed on top of him. I can say he spilled wine on it if anyone asks. That way I can take him down in the servants’ lifts, and later we can use the furs to keep warm. When I get him down, I’ll meet you in a passageway by the back door, the one hidden behind the bushes in the back. We’ll take him out of the palace that way. The door’s barred, but only on the inside. Omak, you know the way. You can take the rest of them down and get it open and I’ll meet you there.”
“And then what?” Rhaegar asked, turning toward him. “We can’t very well drag him through the streets.”
“If we go out the back, we won’t go through the city. The palace backs up to the forest about a half a mile back. We should be able to use the cart to take him that far. There’s high wall, but we should be able to climb it and take him across. Then when he comes to, we’ll make him walk the rest of the way.”
Smeet shuffled his feet uneasily and Rhaegar glanced over at him. “What is it? You don’t like the plan?”
“It’s not as I don’t like it, Captain. It’s just that I’ve heard stories about that woods behind the castle, up there on the mountain. There’s a reason they built that wall. It wasn’t to keep people out—it was to keep what’s in there in! People say them woods is cursed by the first people who lived here. All kinds of tombs up there, just like the one we been staying in.”
“Well, so what? The dead can’t hurt you, Smeet. I’m much more afraid of these Tygerian soldiers catching up to us. I’ll take my chances with the dead ones. Besides, we haven’t had any trouble so far. There are twelve of us altogether, once we send for the others in Magda’s cellar. That makes fourteen men with Derrick and Blake. Surely enough to take care of any problems we run into.”
“Aye, but these woods is different, they say.” His voice dropped to a whisper. “Them are haunted. And they say there’s all manner of strange, wild animals in there too, since people are afraid to go in there to hunt anymore.”
“Who are all these people who talk so much?”
“Just the servants, Captain. In the kitchens with Magda. She told me most of it. But they all agreed it’s true.”
“Uh-huh. I see. So people stay away from the woods up there? Is that what you’re saying?”
“Yes, sir. People say that’s why the palace is here on this hill, away from the city.”
“Because everybody stays away from the woods.”
“They do, Captain.”
“Perfect,” he said. “Then that’s exactly where we need to go.”
****
When Davos first began the climb back up to consciousness, he couldn’t understand what was happening to him. He was aware of being crumpled up on his side and bounced and jolted around almost violently. He struggled to get his eyes open and wondered why the air was so hot and stale and he couldn’t get a proper breath. Then came another hard jolt and he must have passed out again.
Sometime later, when he became aware again, he realized he was slumped against a tree in the forest, with his wrists and ankles tightly tied and a cloth stuffed inside his mouth. He began to fight savagely against his bonds and spit out the cloth so he could roar his rage. A man’s voice came from right behind him.
“He’s waking up, Captain! And from the sound of it, he ain’t too happy!”
The pirate captain stuck his head around the tree to look down at him. Though his head was still pounding, Davos made a real effort to get his bound hands up to wrap them around the fucking pirate’s neck, but a sharp pull on his own throat made him fall back against the tree.
The old pirate who had jumped on him peered down at him this time, holding the end of a rope attached firmly to Davos’s neck. “This here is a knot that will only get tighter if you struggle against it, sir, and when I pull on it. Now, we have you good and proper tied up, and you can’t get away. We’ve taken you out of the palace and nobody can hear you yell this far away from it, so you need to calm down. No one wants to hurt you.”
Davos growled at him and turned his attention back to the pirate he hated above the rest. Rhaegar had walked casually around him to lean against the tree across from him. He wasn’t sure why he despised this particular pirate so much, but he only knew he did. Rhaegar. The two syllables fell like hot coals on his tongue.
“What if I just shift into my tyger and kill you all?” Davos said, his voice low and menacing, more a growl than actual words.
The pirate captain folded his arms over his chest and seemed to consider it. “Now you could do that, and in fact, you seem close to a shift right now. But before you do, remember that we have Blake and Derrick with us too. Derrick would have to shift into his tyger to save us, and then the two of you would have to fight, and when two tygers fight, it’s to the death. Besides all that, whoever won would probably eat the rest of us anyway. And since that would probably be you, you have to consider how it would feel to come back to yourself and realize you’d not only killed your own son, but eaten Blake and your unborn child too.”
Davos gave a wordless roar again and struggled to get up, only to be sharply yanked backward by his throat again, so that he choked and spluttered for a moment or two and couldn’t draw in a decent breath.
“Loosen it, Smeet! Damn it, he can’t breathe.” Davos glared up and saw Blake coming to stand nervously over him, but just out of reach. Faithless whore! Backstabbing traitor! Davos wanted to get his hands on him and crush him, beat him to a pulp and utterly deny the fact that seeing him eased a little of the tension in his chest. He’d been afraid the pirates might have hurt him and the child, and how stupid was that? Blake had lied to him and set all this up! Had this been his plan all along? To kidnap him for some kind of ransom? Or was it revenge and they planned to kill him, despite what they’d said? Davos snarled at Blake and ground out a particularly nasty insult in Tygerian that didn’t translate too well. Blake must have understood it anyway, though, or understood the tone, at least, because he flushed a dull red and turned his face away.
The Tygerian boy, Derrick, came to stand beside Blake and leaned over, speaking a soft-sounding form of Tygerian to Davos. The words had no sharp edges and he used a strange inflection. “I never thought I’d say this, but I’m ashamed of you. He brought you with us because he loves you, and he wants to be with you. He couldn’t bear to leave you behind.”
“He’s a fucking liar and so are you! Pirate filth!” Davos spit out the words, trying hard to kick the boy with his bound feet.
Derrick avoided him easily. “He’s your mate and your nobyo. A word that used to mean something to you. Now stop yelling or we’ll have to gag you again and this time I’ll tie the rag in so you can’t spit it out.”
Davos narrowed his eyes at him, but he decided he’d wait his chance to make them all pay. His absence must have been discovered by now. Soon his men would come looking for him and when they freed him, he’d kill them all. Blake too. Or maybe he wouldn’t kill him, but keep him chained to his bed like some kind of exotic pet. Then he could fuck him whenever he wanted, and beat him daily too. He conveniently decided not to think about the child. It was probably some kind of trick anyway. Blake was still staring at him with big, sad eyes. Planning to tell him more lies, no doubt. Davos hardened his heart to him.
“Davos, won’t you please listen to me? Just for a moment?”
He glared at Blake, then turned his head away without saying a word, but slid a sideways look back at him, just to enjoy the tears welling up in those damn blue eyes of his.
Blake blew out a sigh and came a step closer. Rhaegar pulled him back, and Davos gave the pirate a look that promised him a difficult and bloody death.
“Stay back a few steps, Blake. He could kick you from where you were standing.”
“He wouldn’t do that, would you, Davos? You’ve never hurt me in all our time together. I’m coming over there to look at the cut on your head. It bled a lot and scared me, but I don’t think it’s serious, even though it knocked you out. I just want to look, okay?”
“Go ahead, sir,” Smeet said, tightening his grip on the rope again and making Davos wheeze. “I’ve got him good and tight.”
“No, Smeet, stop! He won’t hurt me.”
Smeet mumbled something under his breath, but Blake came closer and knelt right down next to him, loosening the knot around his throat and touching his head with cool fingers. The idiots had tied his hands in front of him, so he could have easily grabbed Blake and snapped his little neck before Smeet could stop him with his rope. But the idea was abhorrent to him. He wasn’t sure why, but it was most irritating. He allowed Blake to fuss over him, even apply a new bandage, along with a little soothing salve he took from his pocket. Blake saw him noticing it, and explained. “I brought it with us. It’s to stop infection.”
Davos wanted water too, but was too stubborn to ask for it. Somehow Blake knew though, and pulled out a small bottle from his pack and held it to his lips. Davos pushed it away with his bound hands until Blake put the bottle into them. Only then did he take a long drink, but he still refused to look directly at Blake, because he knew Blake wanted him to.
Rhaegar pulled Blake away after a few more moments and stared down at Davos. “We’ll be leaving soon, and you’ll be walking up this mountain. Don’t try anything stupid.”
Davos gave a short, bitter laugh. “Like something you’d do? Like kidnapping the king, perhaps? Do you have any idea what the penalty is for that?”
“No, and I don’t want to know.” He looked at the path leading into the woods behind him. “We’ll be going up there. Right to the top. They say your people are afraid of it.”
Davos was startled and he couldn’t stop it from showing in his face. “What? Where are we?”
“In the woods behind the palace.”
“Why would you want to go there? No one goes there. It’s the Vlavichnia Kava. It’s a dead place and you’ll get yourselves killed.”
****
Blake hadn’t known how these woods would be—not exactly. Davos had called this place the Vlavichnia Kava—Blake thought perhaps he had misunderstood the Tygerian words, but Derrick confirmed its meaning for him. “Vlavichnia means spiteful, wicked. Savage. And kava is a small forest. So, something like the ‘Savage Woods’ would be the way I’d translate it,” Derrick had said. “Father said no one came here. That it’s a dead place. They’re very superstitious here on Tveir, apparently.”
Blake looked around cautiously. It had begun snowing again, the fat flakes coming down faster and faster until Blake, in the middle of the line of men as they navigated the trail up the mountain, could barely make out the shape of Rhaegar, who was in the lead. He grasped for Derrick’s hand, as much for comfort as to keep him close.
“Or maybe they know something we don’t.”
The last time Blake had been actually inside that other part of the dark forest that covered most of this planet, he’d been alone, half-frozen and half out of his mind with fear. It was frightening but still only an old forest. This one, however, felt different. They saw a dark canopy of trees ahead of them, where the shadows were thicker beneath the trees.
The trees, here, though not overly tall, were like thick pillars in a dark endless hall, well apart from each other, but with their branches extended to form an arch over the trail. Their ancient roots twisted and gnarled along the ground and the ground was blanketed in thick, green moss. A few feathery ferns had curled up to sleep beneath the trees, and the snow, though nearly like a blizzard just yards away, hadn’t yet reached this area beneath the old trees. Only a thin layer of frost had clung to the branches and lay like pale gray dust on the tops of the ferns when they first entered the woods. It was a scene that, if he’d seen it in a book, he would have called it beautiful.
But now it was snowing in earnest, and somewhere a bird was calling, like a mournful ghost, though the sound was muffled. The moons that had risen high above, were thin crescents shedding an eerie, clear white light, splashing down on the snow and making the trees cast long, sinister shadows on the path. A shiver of something ran down his spine. Fear? Dread? Whatever it was had wrapped itself around him tightly enough that he was finding it hard to breathe. He reached out blindly for Derrick’s hand, and Derrick took it in his big, warm one without a word, his eyes continually scanning the shadows under the trees. So, he felt it too then? This feeling like something was watching them from the thick green shadows that surrounded them. Something ancient and evil, slouching down out of sight, hiding itself to watch them at its leisure.
He glanced behind him at Davos, being led by Smeet by that damn makeshift rope around his neck. He thought perhaps Smeet was enjoying his role as captor just a bit too much. Rhaegar had already warned him to keep his distance for fear that Davos would snatch him up, regardless of his rope and snap his neck like a brittle stick.
Blake kept his gaze on Davos longingly, wishing he could go and walk next to him, have him put his arm around him and tell him everything would be all right. But Davos only glared back at him, furious at the indignity of being tied and led through the trees.
Ahead of them, Rhaegar came to a halt and looked around. “This looks like as good a place as any to stop for the night. “It’s getting too dark to see the trail. Bosley, you and Quig get some wood to start a fire. Derrick, break out those furs from your pack. All you men break out the blankets you have that Magda gave us. And the vegetables too. We can put them in the coals and cook them for our supper.”
“We’ll need water,” Blake said. “Davos finished the only bottle I had.”
“Smeet has a little pot in his pack. We can melt the snow with that and throw in some Lycan tea leaves. It’ll help to warm us up.”
Derrick found a branch on the ground with leaves still attached to it. He began to use it to sweep away the slight dusting of snow so he could spread one of the furs on the ground and then made Blake sit down on it and wrap himself in it. They tied Davos to a tree near the fire, and retied his ankles, though it took two of them to hold him down to do it. By the time they’d finished, Smeet had choked him near to death and Blake had jumped back up to his feet in a fury.
“Rhaegar, you’re letting Smeet hurt him, and I won’t stand for it.”
“Well, Your Highness, just what do you propose I do about it? If he gets free, he’ll kill all of us, and you’re the one who insisted he come along!”
“Leave him to me. I’ll take charge of him.”
Davos shot a baleful glance in his direction and Blake sighed and sat back down.
Rhaegar began bustling around the little camp, starting a fire with some dry stuff he found in the hollow of the big tree Blake was leaning against and judiciously adding the damp wood so it would stay lit. When he finally had it going to his satisfaction, he drew out the vegetables, which were fat brown lumps that Derrick assured Blake were delicious. Blake looked at them dubiously, but he wasn’t hungry anyway, his stomach still churning with stress over the occurrences of the last few hours. Some tea would be nice though, not for the taste which would probably be vile, but just to warm him up from the inside. There was an icy knot in his chest that grew larger each time Davos sent a hostile look his way.
An hour or so later, Derrick brought him a metal cup with some of the hot water and teas leaves, along with a piece of the tatmas, as Rhaegar called them. It was soft and hot, with a mild flavor not unlike a potato, so he ate a little of it. Davos had his head down, not looking at anyone. Smeet had tied the lead rope to a tree. Blake got up with his fur and went over to the fire.
“Can you give me another piece of the tatmas and some more of the tea?” he asked, holding out his cup to Derrick. He held up his robe with one hand and balanced his tea and the piece of vegetable with the other and made his careful way over to Davos, who raised his head warily and snarled at him.
“You can be mad all you want, but you need to eat something. I’m going to sit next to you and give you this cup. Don’t throw it at me, okay?”
Davos gave him a low warning growl. Sitting by the fireside, Rhaegar overheard them and shook his head. “He’ll eat when he gets hungry enough. You should worry about yourself. He’s still pretty angry.”
Ignoring both the growling and Rhaegar’s warning, Blake plopped down beside Davos, though Derrick gasped in alarm and started toward them. Rhaegar pulled him back down. “Leave him alone. He says the king won’t hurt him. Let’s hope he’s right.”
Derrick settled back down reluctantly, still watching his parents closely. Blake smiled at him. “It’s fine, Derrick. Your father won’t hurt me.” He opened his furs to spread half of them over Davos’s legs as Davos watched him with raised brows. He laced the cup in his bound hands and hoped he wouldn’t fling it in his face. He didn’t, but Blake thought it might have been a close thing from the look in his eyes and the way his mouth worked and twitched.
Finally, Blake broke off a small piece of the tatmas and held it to his lips. He flinched backward then, though, and jerked his head away.
Blake leaned in close and whispered to him. “Please let me give it to you. You’ll need your strength for that escape I know you’re planning.”
Davos turned his head back sharply, his eyes registering surprise. “You joke about it? If I escape, I’ll kill you all.”
“No, you won’t, darling. Look, I’m sorry about all of this, but you’d never have come with me willingly, and I couldn’t leave you behind.”
“That would be my choice, and not yours to make.”
“Yes, and I would suffer for the rest of my life. And you would too, because even though you’re being a stubborn ass about all of this, you know I’m your mate. Love for the Tygerians is forever, and you love me. I know you do, so don’t even bother to deny it.”
He made a harsh scoffing sound, but Blake continued staring directly into his eyes. “You wouldn’t be giving anything up, you know. Well, Tveir isn’t there in my world, that I know of, but Tygeria is fine—untouched by the Alliance. The war is over, like I told you before and you won. You and our son Mikos totally run this entire sector of the galaxy. We have five other sons too, besides Mikos. There’s Vannos and Annar, who are twins; Derrick, of course; and then the two youngest, Larz and Nicarr. They all need you to come back to Tygeria with me. They love you.”
“Love,” Davos said in a mocking tone, sneering back at him. “That’s a made-up story for gullible idiots.”
“Why do you say that? Are you saying love doesn’t exist? That it doesn’t last forever?”
“That’s what I said.”
“Then what’s forever for anyway? I don’t believe that’s how you feel. I think you’re angry at me, but I know you love me. I know it. And I’m going to sleep here beside you tonight to remind you, and we can help keep each other warm.” Blake snuggled closer to his shoulder as Davos stared down at him in amazed disbelief.
“What are you doing?”
“Getting comfortable. Drink your tea, sweetheart, and then let’s try to sleep.” The same bird he’d heard earlier called loudly somewhere fairly close by and Blake jumped in alarm and carefully scanned the surrounding woods, but saw nothing except the shadows and the mists. He shuddered and pressed even closer to his husband. “I don’t like this place.”
“You should have thought of that before you planned your great escape. You could have been in the palace in your bed right now.”
“Yes, waiting for Octavion to kill my child in the morning?”
Davos stared straight ahead, his face grim. “I hadn’t made any decision yet. I told you.”
“I think you had. I saw it on your face.”
“The doctors said you’d die without it.”
“But not on Tygeria. Not at home. They know what to do for me there. I just need you to believe what I’m telling you and take me home. It’s what I’m trying to do on my own, but Rhaegar doesn’t have a plan yet.”
“A plan for what?”
“To steal a ship and take us home.”
Davos looked at him like he’d truly lost his mind. “Steal a ship? Does he think it so easy? Even if that bunch of ragtag pirates managed to somehow steal one of our ships—a big if, you understand—you’d be shot down before you left our atmosphere.”
“Maybe not,” Blake said, frowning. “And if we did, then at least I’d die trying to get home.”
“Which would be a huge consolation to anyone who cares for you, I’m sure!”
Blake looked up at him and scooted closer. “Like you? Are you willing to admit you love me and that you’d be upset if something happened to me? Or if I managed to make it back home?”
“Home,” he said disparagingly. “More wild fantasies. Don’t try to pull me into them with you.”
Blake leaned in even closer and laid his cheek against Davos’s arm. “Would that be so bad? I don’t know how to convince you I’m telling the truth. I need to get back to my other children and now we have this new life to bring in the world. Aren’t you excited about that?”
Davos refused to keep looking at him, staring off into the woods ahead of him. After a moment, Blake sighed. “I don’t know what to do or what to say to convince you I’m telling the truth. I’m so tired.”
“Then go to sleep. Maybe I won’t kill you before morning.”
“I’d really appreciate that,” Blake said, yawning. Davos’s body blocked some of the wind and the tree blocked a little of it too. It was still cold, but Davos’s warmth was gradually seeping into him. Blake laid his hand on his stomach, and sent up a silent, but fierce and fervent prayer to his God and closed his eyes to try to sleep.
****
Rhaegar finished banking the fire and turned to crawl under the blankets he’d heaped over Derrick. Their bundle of blankets was a little removed from the others, because he was pretty sure he wouldn’t be able to keep his hands off Derrick for much longer. The young man in question was curled up on his side, almost asleep, but Rhaegar was going to wake him up and then get him warm, in that approximate order.
The second he lifted the blanket, Derrick’s sweet scent billowed out and surrounded him, and Rhaegar sank down beside him, reaching for him. But before he could make his move, Derrick turned over, grabbed Rhaegar’s shirt front and tugged him down to fall on his back. Then he pulled him underneath him and started kissing Rhaegar, which was so enjoyable, Rhaegar relaxed and let him do whatever he wanted. He knew he could move him if he needed to, though Derrick was a big boy—almost as big as his father—but he was enjoying him too much to try to stop him just yet.
In fact, he could end this and get down to business any time he wanted to, but as Derrick ground his mouth against Rhaegar’s, what he was doing seemed to be a most appealing option. After another moment or two, though, he wanted inside him and rolled him over to his back.
That’s when he fluttered his eyelashes at Rhaegar. “Please don’t hurt me,” he said softly, and Rhaegar stopped what he was doing immediately, and looked down at him in alarm, his mouth dropping open. “Derrick, no. I’d never…”
He put his hand over Rhaegar’s mouth and winked. His whimper sounded almost real.
“Pirate King, don’t force me,” he purred at me seductively. “That is, unless you really want to…” He put his hand over the bulge in Rhaegar’s trousers, grinned at him and whispered, “This is my favorite fantasy.”
“Oh, is it? But your fathers are right there. They’ll hear us.”
“Please…” he begged, licking Rhaegar’s jaw.
Rhaegar liked the idea of being the aggressor, so long as Derrick knew it was only as real as he wanted it to be. “You know I’d never really hurt you or force you,” he murmured to him in his ear. “Not ever. I want that understood.”
He smiled and widened those incredible amber eyes. “That’s what makes it fun.”
Rhaegar unbuckled his belt and Derrick watched him, his hands on Rhaegar’s shoulders, his sweet breath coming a little faster. He was making little whimpering sounds that were driving Rhaegar crazy. Rhaegar pulled Derrick’s pants and underwear down at the same time, too impatient to go slow or take things easy. He wasn’t rough, but a little more forceful than he would have normally been. He leaned forward and fished out his own cock from his trousers. If this was the way Derrick wanted it… there was no denying what it did to Rhaegar. He pushed Derrick’s face into his groin. “Taste me,” he growled, and Derrick gasped and gave his twitching cock a little lick—a promise of things to come, and a terrible tease to a man as far gone as Rhaegar was.
Rhaegar didn’t have to continue holding Derrick’s head in place. He leaned up and moved down to Rhaegar’s scrotum and what he did there caused real tears to stream down Rhaegar’s face. His hard cock bobbed and batted at Derrick’s face and Derrick caught it and engulfed it with his mouth. Rhaegar was never sure afterward how he held back his scream, but he was pretty sure he tore something vital, as he tried to hold it in. His hands shaking, Rhaegar put them on Derrick’s head, not forcing him, but simply carding his fingers through his silky hair.
Derrick licked the head of Rhaegar’s cock, all around the glans, tasting it and continuing his teasing. He thrust his hips forward a little and his dick slid into the back of Derrick’s mouth. He choked, but Rhaegar growled at him, trying to get back in the spirit of the game they were playing. “Go on. Take it for me.”
Derrick nodded frantically and teased the vein underneath Rhaegar’s shaft with his tongue, following it all the way down and then back up to lap around the head again. Rhaegar’s hands tightened in his hair and he was moaning low words of encouragement to him. Derrick pushed his trousers down over his hips, cupped his balls and teased his perineum, raking his nails gently across it. Rhaegar bit his lips to keep from crying out and thrust harder into his throat, losing a bit of control. Derrick took him all, only gagging a little, but gamely trying to please Rhaegar. Continuing to suck him in a hard rhythm, Derrick suddenly stuck a finger up Rhaegar’s tight hole and jerked hard; another low growl came from Rhaegar’s throat and almost turned into a howl. That particular hole had ever only been exit only for Rhaegar, though he had to admit the teasing felt way better than he’d ever expected. Rhaegar’s pre-cum spilled copiously across Derrick’s tongue, but before he made him come, Rhaegar pushed him off and straddled his waist again, looking down at him and trying to catch his breath.
The beautiful bastard grinned up at him and Rhaegar bent to kiss him hungrily, unable to stop himself. His trouser legs were still around his hips, so Rhaegar contorted himself under the blankets to get them off, rewarded by a fit of laughter from Derrick.
“Are you laughing at me, princeling? I may have to punish you for that.”
He smiled up at Rhaegar languidly. “Yes, please,” he said softly. Rhaegar gave his cock a few strokes and watched Derrick’s eyes light up. He was hard as a rock too and sat up to pull his shirt over his head. Good. Rhaegar wanted access to all that gorgeous skin.
He spread his thighs and Rhaegar growled and took him up on his invitation, bending his legs and pushing them up to rest on his forearms. Derrick didn’t even seem to try to stop the whimpers that came from his throat. Rhaegar, having had some practice with his own tongue, soon had him bucking and arching his back. He cried out and Rhaegar covered his lips and muffled his cries with his mouth.
“You’re so damn beautiful,” he murmured to Derrick, staring down at him. “When I saw you the first time on that ship, I couldn’t believe it. And then I touched you. I thought the top of my head would come off.”
Rhaegar dropped another soft kiss on his lips and trailed kisses down his throat. Impatiently, he thrust his hips up, wanting to move things along, making his cock bounce around, which was a sight Rhaegar could look at for a long time. “Slow down, baby,” he said. “We have all night.”
He moaned and pulled Rhaegar’s head down for another kiss, running his fingers through Rhaegar’s long hair. “You’re so handsome.”
“You’re not so bad yourself.”
He sighed heavily. “If only you weren’t such a cock tease.”
Rhaegar’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise. “Oh, is that what I am? Technically, I think a person is only a cock tease if they refuse to put out. And my intentions are pure in that regard.”
He stretched his hands over his head and humped playfully a couple of times. “Prove it,” he said, pulling his knees back farther and holding on, winked at him.
Rhaegar was watching him hungrily. He fumbled in his trousers pocket beside him for the little vial of oil he’d put there, planning on this eventuality. He stroked Derrick’s cock with his oily fingers, then rubbed those same fingers on his entrance and slipped them inside him to get him ready. He took his time, even though Derrick was whimpering and thrusting his hips and begging him softly. By this time, Rhaegar had little hope that what they were doing wasn’t being overheard, but he was way too far gone to care. Finally, he was ready and Rhaegar nudged into him. He pushed his hips hard and grazed his prostate, then thrust against that spot again and again.
Rhaegar wanted to fill him up, mark him as his, which was crazy, but he stopped worrying about it as the feelings inside him soared higher and higher and the pleasure became more and more intense, leaving him unable to even think.
He began thrusting up and grinding his hips into Rhaegar, and before he could stop it, he was spilling helplessly, pushing hard against Derrick and biting his neck, maybe not hard enough to draw blood, but enough to make sure he’d wear Rhaegar’s marks on him a while. He was a little embarrassed to finish so fast, but it had been a long time and soon his hips strained as his hot ejaculate filled Derrick most satisfyingly. After a moment Rhaegar collapsed down on top of him, and his mouth moved to Derrick’s neck, where he sucked up a mark and then he fell off beside him, trying to breathe while the fireworks still shot off in his brain.