Divided (44 page)

Having the lights around them, rather than in front of them,
enhanced the scene immensely.  Finally, Kilik managed to work a gasp out of his
still parted lips.  Kilik seemed to fit into this place, as Calis had imagined
he would.  Rather than waiting for words, Calis grabbed Kilik by the waist and
pulled him into another kiss.

Kilik returned it, and their lips remained locked on one
another for some time.  The passion built inside of Calis’s chest, but he
remained steadfastly diligent, and when Kilik was ready—they pulled apart. 
“This is beautiful, Calis,” Kilik choked.

“I thought you might like it.  I used to come to this forest
a lot as a boy, and one sun I stumbled across this.  I was out extraordinarily
late that moon and got chastised pretty severely, but I’d say it was worth
it—especially now.” Calis said with a rather meaningful look in Kilik’s
direction.

Naturally, Kilik blushed instantly and then glared towards
the ground as if it had upset him.  Calis laughed at the visual.  “It’s
amazing.  I’ve never seen anything like this place.”

“I wanted to bring you here,” Calis said, suddenly feeling
incredibly unsure of himself.  “I know you are… not entirely comfortable with
me.  I know I am a Tsrali, and that makes me hard for you to trust—I don’t
blame you for that.  But, Kilik, lately you’re all I’ve thought about…”

Surprisingly, Kilik took a rather brazen step towards
Calis.  His eyes were blazing with newfound bravery.  This place seemed to have
somehow removed one of the many barriers that guarded who he was.  “I trust you
more than you know,” he whispered.  Kilik was very small, and his height only
reached just below Calis’s eyes.

They stared at one another, though, and Calis felt like he
must have been shorter.  The intensity in those blue eyes was overpowering, and
in the sunless air—with the occasional sound of some nocturnal bird—the tension
felt magnified.  The subtle draw that pulled Calis to Kilik at every breath
felt as though it was stronger than the force that held Calis to the ground. 

Very slowly, very gradually, Calis raised his hand to cup
Kilik’s cheek in it.  Then, just as slowly, he pulled the boy’s head up just
enough so that their lips found one another again.  The moment was fleeting,
and the brush of their lips was nothing more than a breath of a moment—but the
heat exchanged, the tension as their skin brushed, brought Calis’s heart to a
pound. 

Kilik smiled a bit of a lopsided smile, and then stepped
back with grace and poise that Calis knew he’d never be able to step away
with.  “Do you swim here?” the blue-eyed lynx asked.  The heat of the moon,
which Calis had forgotten in light of his own feelings, was warm enough to
merit the question.

“I have before,” he confessed.  “Though, normally if I want
to swim—there is a place just beyond the hills we saw at the exit of Telandus.”

Kilik thought about this for a moment, and even though the
words didn’t seem to require much, the way his eyes glowed with immersion was
positively captivating.  How could someone make thinking look so intriguing? 
“I want to now,” Kilik ventured sheepishly.

Calis laughed.  He was not about to deny the very person
he’d brought out here whatever he wanted.  “Then, do so, love.”

Gingerly, Kilik lifted the soft linen shirt over his head,
and Calis wished he’d looked away just a moment before the shirt was entirely
removed.  Calis wasn’t sure that he’d ever seen the boy without a blanket or
shirt covering his upper body.  The definition of it was astounding.  Kilik was
very little, and that left very little room for muscle, but the bits he did
have were so refined in shape that Calis had to clamp his mouth shut to stifle
his gasp.

The olive tone of Kilik’s skin was uniform throughout his
entire upper body—which wouldn’t have been true for most of Telandus.  The
majority of the citizens in Telandus developed shades of darker skin above
their clothes, while their covered areas remained pale.  Kilik’s entire body
was naturally tanned, though, and it showed in the radiance of the lights.  Then,
though, a very light area of purple caught Calis’s eye.  “Your back is still
bruised?” he said warily.

Kilik sighed and then turned to face Calis with a look of
skepticism.  “You already gave your brother a death trap amulet for me—how
about you let me enjoy this without acting like my long lost mother?  The
bruise is a new one.”

Calis grumbled quietly at the implication, but he said
little else.  After all, Kilik did enough where a small bruise on his back was
likely.  The odds that it was the same one were slight, after all.  And why
would Kilik lie about it? 

Because if possible, he would take every ounce of pain in
the universe and take it all upon himself—without so much as a complaint.

Calis would worry about that when they returned to Telandus—if
they returned to Telandus and he didn’t decide that he would steal Kilik away
from that wretched city forever. 

Without wasting another moment, Kilik removed his boots and
leapt into the water.  As he did everything else, the dive was impeccably
graceful.  He resurfaced a few moments later with an amused grin.  “The water
looks like its glowing,” he said.  It did, Calis realized, the entire pond
seemed to be glowing around Kilik.

Removing his belt, Calis placed his sword on the ground. 
There was a very attractive, very shirtless, male in the pond before him—and he
wasn’t about to stand outside it like a fool.  He removed his own blue shirt
and boots without much effort and touched the water briefly.  “I really hadn’t
thought of swimming when I brought you out here,” Calis said idly.

“What had you thought?” Kilik challenged.  His blue eyes
looked like a child’s, and Calis realized that his worries seemed to have left
him for a little while. 

Not wanting to go into what he’d considered them doing,
Calis leapt into the water without an answer.  The water was just cool enough
to be pleasant, while not leaving him with the sensation of freezing.  Rather
than returning to the surface immediately, he grabbed Kilik’s leg and pulled
the boy beneath the water.  As Kilik’s body was submerged, Calis ran his hand
up the front of Kilik’s chest.

The skin felt as tight and smooth as it appeared, and Calis
could feel his body throbbing with want.  All of his body felt like the base of
a drum that was being played deeply and rapidly.  The two of them pulled above
the water, and Kilik let out a gasp.  “Why did you do that?” he hissed. 
Though, as his eyes were still playful, Calis got the impression that the
question was not meant to be answered.

As Calis pretended to think of his answer very seriously,
Kilik gritted his teeth and then moved his hands to Calis’s shoulder and shoved
down as hard as he could.  His strength was surprising, and impressive, and
Calis felt his head sink below the water.  Instead of fighting to get back to
the top, he grabbed Kilik’s small waist and brought the boy to his chest in a
sort of grappling hug. 

Immediately, their roles were reversed, and Kilik was
fighting frantically to free himself from Calis’s grip.  Calis held the young
man for a little while longer, though, and then he dug his head into the
crevice of Kilik’s neck and blew just enough air out through his lips to create
bubbles about the area.

This increased Kilik’s efforts, and he managed to scramble
away and resurface above the water.  The look on his face when Calis pulled
himself above water could be described in no way other than pouting.  “You are
not going to get the upper hand, Kilik,” Calis assured cheerfully. 

To Calis’s dismay, rather than coming towards him again,
Kilik moved backwards and put enough force behind a wave of water to slam into
Calis’s face.  The blond frowned with annoyance as he shook the water out of
his eyes.  Kilik was smiling again, and Calis could not manage to feel rightly
annoyed when he stared into the likes of that smile.

The time after this elapsed itself into the two of them
taking cheap shots at one another, trying desperately to submerge the other in
a way that meant submission.  As neither of them seemed willing to admit any
sort of defeat, the battle dragged on.  Calis was scarcely aware of the passing
time, as every moment that went by seemed to improve his mood.  He could have
remained there, fighting with Kilik in the water, for eternity. 

At last, though, Kilik surfaced looking more than a little
exhausted.  He panted heavily, working to keep his body above the water. 
Exhaustion had set into Calis’s body as well, so he took the moment to
recuperate.  For a few moments, they remained in silence, slowly regaining
their breath—and Calis wondered if Kilik intended to attack him again.  At this
point, he wouldn’t have put anything past the vigilante. 

He didn’t wait, though, instead he moved forward so that
part of his body was touching Kilik’s, and their faces were no more than a
breath apart.  In fact, Calis could feel Kilik’s heavy panting on his lips, and
his head spun.  “I thought you were composed, Kilik.  But it would appear that
you have a bit of a child in you.”

“And you don’t, Prince Charming?” Kilik shot back.  To be
fair, Calis had been just as involved in the water battle as Kilik had, and he
had enjoyed every moment of it.  A smile broke across his face at the
allegation.

Not needing to answer that, Calis very slowly brought his
fingers up one of Kilik’s arms, then his neck, which was slippery with water,
until his hand was on Kilik’s cheek again.  The soaked skin and damp hair
seemed to make Kilik even more desirable.  “You are worried that I’ll figure
something out and start hating you, and yet, the more I find out about you—the
more I find myself desperate to be with you,” Calis said gently.

Kilik’s brow furrowed for a moment, though the words
obviously distracted him enough from his thoughts.  “Always dramatic,” Kilik
finally muttered. 

Unable to control his longing any further, Calis tilted is
head forward to grab Kilik’s damp lips in a kiss.  The slippery sensation made
Calis grin against the feel of the unwaveringly smooth lips.  His tongue moved
to the top of Kilik’s mouth, sweeping the entirety of it before Calis pulled
back with a laugh.  “You’re laughing after kissing me,” Kilik mused, “I am
insulted, your highness.”

“Oh, I’m sure you are,” Calis said woefully.  The glow of
the water reflected so radiantly off Kilik’s body that Calis wasn’t sure just
how much longer his willpower could hold back his pulsing hunger.

He leaned forward again, not wanting to be bothered to do
so, but Kilik pulled back with an impish grin and submerged himself
underwater. 
Bloody tease. 
Calis smirked as he dove under himself, as
he wasn’t going to be denied.

Catching Kilik by the arms, Calis whirled him underneath the
water and pulled the small form to him.  Their bodies pressed into one another,
and every curve of Kilik’s body seemed to fit into Calis’s.  The feeling was
bizarre, and then, without bothering to go up for air, Calis pushed his lips to
Kilik’s.

There was certainly no lack of romantic atmosphere, but
Calis did prefer the feel of Kilik’s lips without the constant fluctuation of
the water.  Still, the new environment provided a different means of feeling
Kilik.  Calis’s fingers ran up the crevice of the boy’s back like a ravenous
serpent.  One of Kilik’s hands came to rest against Calis’s shoulder, and
somehow their bodies ended up in a twisted tangle of limbs.

Without air flow between either of them, Calis had to break
the kiss sooner than he wanted.  He brought Kilik up for air diligently,
though, and they both gasped for it as if they had been moments from death. 
“I’m getting out,” Calis said with a flourish.  “If I keep this up, then I’m
sure to drown myself.”

A small, effervescent laughter escaped Kilik’s throat, and
he nodded his head in agreement.  Calis pulled himself out of the water first,
feeling a slight chill as the water dripped from his skin.  He glanced briefly
to his shirt, but he was certain that he’d need to be drier to put that back
on.

When he turned his head to look at Kilik, who was standing,
looking just a little chilled himself, out of the water—he noticed the way the
boy’s head was inclined downwards.  Kilik’s eyes were not on Calis’s face, but
rather, his chest.  Rather than calling Kilik on the misdemeanor, Calis found a
grin stretching across his face as he stood silently with a quirked eyebrow.

In a matter of moments, Kilik’s head snapped up and a heated
flush came over his cheeks.  “I wasn’t…” Kilik whimpered.

“Oh,” Calis purred, “I think you were.”  He took a rather
threatening step towards Kilik, as his eyes took in every piece of him.  Such a
small person, who seemed to possess every trait that Calis had ever imagined
could make a person good. 

Without pausing to think about where it might go, Calis
moved forward, pulling Kilik’s small, wet body towards him.  His lips
immediately seized Kilik’s own, pressing against them, sucking, and biting. 
His fingers moved avidly over Kilik’s back again, this time, able to feel every
bit of smoothness that the bronze skin had to offer.  Kilik really was little,
Calis noted, as his fingers moved over the basic curvature of the boy’s spine. 
Calis brought his young lover closer still, so that their bodies found one
another in the way that they had underneath the water.  They pressed against
one another, and Calis could feel Kilik against every part of him.  His own
head pounded as his lips expertly worked their way all along Kilik’s complacent
mouth. 

Calis’s tongue swept the length of the small mouth a few
times before Kilik finally let out a soft moan and pushed back so that their
tongues met again in a battle for control.  Kilik’s arms found their way around
Calis’s neck again, and Calis removed the hand that he’d had on Kilik’s face
down to his neck.  He used the other to pull the boy closer by the small of his
back, slowly running his fingers beneath Kilik’s waist, over the curve of his
body, to pull the boy’s leg forward.