Black Magic (34 page)

After a few minutes of silence, Brekk tossed him a smirk and said, "You look well-rested. Your paladin seemed in good spirits this morning."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Koray asked irritably. "I have not even seen the man and he certainly is not mi …" He trailed off, words forgotten, as the subject of their conversation strode into the great hall surrounded by paladins, knights, and alchemists. Anticipation curled through his blood, settled hot in his chest, making his heart race. Koray did not think he would be able to tear his eyes away from Sorin if a demon crashed through the ceiling. Sorin laughed at something the alchemist nearest him said, skimming the room out of habit—and stopped when his eyes fell upon Koray, locking gazes.

"Not yours, indeed," Brekk murmured.

Koray did not bother to look at him as he said, "Be quiet."

Brekk laughed as he said, "I am silence itself."

"Not a single one of you knows the meaning of that word," Koray retorted and slowly stood up as Sorin strode across the room toward him. "So I see you've managed to stay out of trouble for an entire morning, My Lord High Paladin. Wonders never cease."

"There are a few hours of the morning left, yet, My Lord High Necromancer," Sorin said lightly. "Might I have a word?"

Koray's brow rose. "I take it back—if you are being polite then you must have caused some sort of trouble." But he gathered his robes and left the high table to follow Sorin out of the hall and back to his—their—bed chamber. The sound of the door closing seemed shockingly loud.

"Feeling better?" Sorin asked quietly as he began stripping off his armor. At least it was his light armor, which he could put on and take off himself, rather than the full, heavy armor that required at least one other man to help him.

"I will feel better when we finally have done with this conversation," Koray said.

"Ah," Sorin said, sounding sad. "I had hoped I would be able to make amends for my behavior, but I respect that maybe it simply is not possible."

Koray rounded on him, scowling. "You have said that before—make amends. But every time …"
You seem about to kiss me
. "You change your mind. It's like you want nothing to do with me, can't bear to … to be too close to me. It seems pretty clear to me, paladin, that you are the one who is finished here."

"You said I never gave you a choice," Sorin said harshly.

"What?" Koray asked. "I never said any such thing!"

"Yes, you did!" Sorin snapped, eyes dark. "I remember every single word you said to me. You said: You never listen to anyone, you just assume that what you want lines up with everyone else, that you could never be wrong."

Koray wanted to throw something at him and then beat his own head against a wall. "You—Paladin, you are going to be the death of me! I was referring to your attitude on demons, you half-wit. That you were so stubbornly set against them you would not listen to any idea that went against your beliefs. How in the world did you leap from demons to us?"

Sorin's mouth opened, then closed, and then he finally said, "I was never certain you wanted any part of 'us'. I always had to press you into anything; I was starting to wonder if you just endured it, if it was just one more thing you put up with until the Goddess granted you permission to leave. You never seemed to want to be here, to be … to be with me. When I saw you in the cabin …"

"You're the great and mighty High Paladin who can have anyone he wants at any time," Koray said. "You're the one who was going to get bored with me and cast me aside, and then what was I supposed to do? I would have been forced to return to my wanderings, quickly forgotten by the High Paladin and everyone else in the castle."

"Why would you think—I don't—it’s not about—" Sorin broke off, then just shook his head and stared. When he spoke again, his voice was quiet, somber. "Koray, how could I ever grow bored with you? I cannot even figure you out. I have not stopped thinking about you and all that I threw away after that entire stupid encounter in the cabin. I know I acted like a wretch, but I am trying to fix it. It just did not seem that you wanted anything to do with me."

Koray stared back, then looked away, hiding his shaking hands in the sleeves of his robe. "My behavior was no better. I'm too used to … keeping to myself. I'm sorry." Gathering up every scrap of courage he possessed, wishing suddenly for a demon attack or something because that would be so much easier to face, he closed the space between them and looked up. "Also, you're an idiot. I've never had a lover in my life. What am I supposed to do when I suddenly find myself wanting to be stuck with you, My Lord High Paladin?"

Sorin smiled at him—really smiled, like he hadn't for entirely too long—and Koray felt another coil of tension unwind. "Thank the Goddess—or curse her, depending on your perspective, I suppose."

"Oh, be quiet," Koray said and used what remained of his carefully gathered courage to lean up and press his lips to Sorin's. He suffered a brief, sharp moment of panic when it seemed like Sorin wouldn't—

But then Sorin's warm, familiar hands sank into his hair, cupped his head, and Sorin was kissing him like a man determined to storm a castle and take no prisoners. Koray shuddered and clung to his tunic, kissing back as well as he knew.

Sorin's hands slid down through his hair, along his back, then firm arms wrapped around Koray's waist and hauled him up and closer. Koray gasped at the movement, and Sorin took full advantage of the opportunity to press the kiss deeper still. He'd held Koray any number of times, but they had all been tame by comparison. Koray had never been so painfully aware of one person: the warmth of Sorin's skin, the softness of his hair, the long planes of hard muscle beneath layers of wool and linen. He smelled like sweat and leather and metal.

Fingers pressed hard into his skin, hot even through layers of heavy fabric. Koray shivered and held Sorin tighter, body thrumming with nerves: excitement, relief, a twinge of fear of the unknown that could not really compete with the joy of being exactly where he wanted to be.

Sorin drew back slowly, nibbling at Koray's lips as though savoring them. "Are you certain, Koray?"

"Shut up before one of us says something stupid and this takes even longer," Koray said, and it was easier the second time to initiate a kiss. The way Sorin groaned, fingers digging even harder into his skin. Koray suspected he might actually get used to initiating.

He froze, surprised and disappointed, when Sorin set him on his feet again. Before he could complain, however, Sorin was stripping, casting his clothes carelessly aside. Koray had seen him naked many times; it was hard not to when they shared a room and usually the same bath water. It was different, however, when he was allowed to stare, absorb the well-toned body, the places where sun-kissed skin had not yet been entirely faded by winter, the patches of skin the sun never saw. Every scratch and scar was laid bare, the hardened body of a lifelong soldier. Koray tried not to stare at the most obvious bit of Sorin, but it was rather hard to avoid. He nearly rolled his eyes at himself and dragged his gaze back up to Sorin's face, his own hot.

It burned even hotter when he took in the look on Sorin's face. He thought he knew how Sorin looked when he wanted Koray, the way his eyes went hot right before he hauled Koray close and kissed him breathless. Apparently all those looks had been Sorin holding back, because the look currently on his face seared Koray to the bone. It made him painfully aware he wanted everything that look promised even if he only hazily understood the details of the matter.

He was also very aware, suddenly, that he was still dressed. Ignoring a sudden wave of anxiety, Koray began to work on his own clothes. His fingers slipped and fumbled with the fastening, however, and his face burned with frustration and humiliation.

Then Sorin stepped in close, startling him, and used the moment of surprise to push Koray's hands out of the way and take care of the bothersome clothes himself. Koray looked up to say he could manage just fine, but the words were cut off by a kiss. He sighed softly into Sorin's mouth, fingers reached up to cling to Sorin's wonderfully broad shoulders, wondering how in the name of the Goddess he had thought he would ever be able to go the rest of his life without his paladin.

Cool air washed over him as Sorin shoved his robe open. Koray drew back, letting his arms fall so Sorin could push it off him entirely. He pulled off Koray's tunic and under tunic and added them to the growing pile on the floor. Resting a hand on Koray's chest, he bent to take another kiss, mouth hot, lips slightly chapped, exploring Koray's mouth with his tongue as though intent upon memorizing it.

He barely noticed they were moving until the backs of his thighs hit the bed and he went tumbling down upon it. He scowled in annoyance as he landed awkwardly on his hair, causing it to pull painfully. He sat up enough to sweep it out of his way and then lay back down. Sorin's eyes burned even hotter and his cock twitched. "You're beautiful," he said, voice husky.

Koray rolled his eyes because he most certainly was not. He was stick thin and badly scarred and entirely too hostile in demeanor, and nothing at all like Sorin, who was truly breathtaking. "You've taken too many knocks to the head."

"Most of them inflicted by a particular walking staff," Sorin agreed cheerfully as he pulled away Koray's hose, leaving him entirely bare. Koray flushed and looked away, but helplessly shifted his gaze back as Sorin slowly climbed atop him. He shuddered, hands fluttering as he struggled suddenly with where to put them. Sorin distracted him by lifting a handful of Koray's hair to his face and breathing in the scent of it as if there was something special about soap-scented hair.

Koray rolled his eyes again because honestly. "Is my hair going to be some sort of obsession with you?"

Sorin snorted. "Going to be some sort of obsession? My Lord High Necromancer, your hair has been an obsession since I first saw it. I've wanted to see it exactly like this, spread out across my bed and your naked skin, for a very long time."

"You haven't known me a very long time," Koray said.

"Be quiet," Sorin said and let go of Koray's hair to brace his hands on either side of Koray's head before bending to kiss him. Koray once more struggled with where to place his hands, but as Sorin shifted, pressed closer, the new and overwhelming sensation of their cocks sliding together made Koray gasp and cling reflexively to Sorin's shoulders.

If there was anything safer to cling to than Sorin's shoulders, Koray had never encountered it. He doubted he ever would. Sorin's mouth slipped away to press kisses to his skin, trailing along his jaw then dipping to explore his throat, lapping at patches of skin with his tongue. It gave Koray a sudden flurry of ideas about what to do with his own tongue someday, but right then he did not have the wherewithal to act upon those desires.

He settled for shyly exploring what bits of Sorin he could reach with his hands, squeezing tight muscles he would never tire of admiring, tracing scars that were smooth and puckered by turn. When his hands reached Sorin's lower back, he hesitated, but a sharp bite to his shoulder startled a moan out of him and provoked him into grabbing onto the ass he had secretly admired whenever a rare chance to do so arose.

Sorin thrust against him, making Koray moan and whimper and move with him, skin gleaming with sweat. How in the name of the Goddess had he gone so long without feeling such things? He groaned when Sorin's mouth shifted to his chest, nipping and licking and sucking in ways that Koray never would have thought of but desperately wanted to try in his turn.

Then Sorin abruptly pulled back, leaning in briefly to drop an oddly tender kiss on Koray's mouth, but Koray's reply was lost in a ragged moan of surprise when Sorin's deft, calloused fingers wrapped lightly around his cock. His hips move of their own volition, eager for more of that wonderful touch. "S-Sorin—"

"Beautiful," Sorin murmured, and Koray wanted to protest it again, but he simply did not have the ability to do so. All his breath, his every thought, was stolen by Sorin's touch, the flames in his eyes. Koray trembled, body coiled too tight with tension. Sorin let go of him and Koray whimpered in protest. The way Sorin skimmed his hands over Koray's body was no compensation, merely an infuriating tease, though he extracted another long moan when his hands dipped to Koray's inner thighs, fingers teasing more, touching in that torturous way before he gently spread Koray's legs and settled between them.

He dropped a kiss that seemed somehow playful on Koray's chest, then looked up through gold lashes. "You are beautiful, so stop arguing with me."

"Stop talking," Koray retorted, digging his nails into Sorin's back, urging him close. With a soft laugh, Sorin gave the silently demanded kiss. It was entirely too brief, but Koray could scarcely protest when Sorin resumed his attempts to put his mouth to as much of Koray's skin as he possibly could, seeming to lavish extra attention on every scar he encountered.

Koray got another hungry look through Sorin's lashes, his only warning before Sorin's mouth wrapped around his cock. He cried out, mind going white-hot, every thought burned away by a sensation he had not even known existed until that moment. He knew what it was like to come in his own hand, lonely and unsatisfied, half-imagining things he only barely understood and knew he would never experience.

Not once, even in his deepest, most hopeless fantasies, had he imagine a moment when he would burly his hands in a man's hair and thrust desperately into his mouth, spilling down his throat as he shuddered against sweat-damp sheets. Part of him still could not believe it, nor that the man bringing unknown fantasies to life was Sorin.

Koray lay panting as Sorin slowly pulled away, licking him clean before trailing wet, lazy kisses back up to Koray's mouth. His entire body shook when he realized he was tasting himself in Sorin's mouth. His nails bit into Sorin's skin again, but if Sorin noticed or cared he gave no indication save to kiss harder, deeper, leaving Koray's lips throbbing with an ache he half-hoped never faded. "You—" he broke off, not really certain what to say.