Hallowed Bond (Chronicles of Ylandre Book 2) (8 page)

He stifled a chuckle when the pair bumped into each other while setting the table for

the evening meal. Instead of pulling apart to continue whatever they were doing, they hesitated a moment too long just to look at each other with obvious appreciation and longing. Why, you’d think they didn’t daily partake of each other’s company the way they were behaving, Hirlen thought with amusement.

He looked up from the book he’d been pretending to read when Dylen came over to sit on the couch. Riodan had gone downstairs and out to the yard to look for a shirt among the laundry that had been hung out that morning to dry. Hirlen regarded his son knowingly and was gratified to see the slow blush that colored his cheeks.

“That wristlet seems to be your favorite piece of late,” he remarked. “You hardly ever take it off.”

Dylen glanced at his wrist then pulled his sleeve down to cover the gold and leather band with its heartsfire clasp.

“It pleases him when I wear it,” he said.

“He is such a dear lad,” Hirlen murmured. “I’m glad you and he have found each other. I so enjoy seeing you happy, Dy.”

Dylen faintly smiled. “For however long it lasts.”

“Still pessimistic I see.”

“You know full well why. Would you rather I blundered headlong into this affair without considering the probable outcome?”

“
Possible
outcome,” Hirlen corrected. “You can’t know how it will end. Now I agree the chances of success given his future profession are not promising. But it doesn’t hinge on that alone. Much will depend on your determination to make it work. And I do mean both of you.”

“I understand,
Adda
, and I assure you I’m not leaving matters to chance. But I prefer to be prepared for the worst. I don’t believe Riodan will break my heart if that’s what you think I fear. He’s one of the most considerate and honorable Deira I’ve ever known. But I am afraid that when he enters the diplomatic corps, our relationship will become a liability to him and, well…” He sighed. “That may force us to part whether we wish it or not.”

“And you think you can steel yourself against the hurt?”

“Enough to pick up the pieces and move on, yes,” Dylen admitted. “But for now, I am savoring what we have so don’t worry about me. While we have each other, I intend to make the most of it. I do like being happy,
Adda
. It’s having to give it up eventually that I find troublesome.”

Hirlen shook his head. “Only you would couch it in those terms.”

Dylen grinned. “By the way, what is this Tarqin mentioned last night about you retiring?”

“Oh, I‘ve been thinking about it,” Hirlen admitted. “My holiday was so restful I find myself yearning for more time to do as I wish. I’ve set aside a goodly bit already so I won’t be a burden to you, Dy.”

“You are not a burden!” Dylen protested.

“And I intend never to become one,” Hirlen firmly said. “I know you have been saving much as well, and I applaud your prudence. But do it for yourself. You’ll never know when you may need every little piece you earn. Especially if the fates favor you and you wind up leaving the fraternity.”

Dylen held up a hand. “Let’s not go there. I distrust false hopes. Will you tell Zarael

yourself?

“Of course. He deserves that courtesy after all these years. And he always treated me well even when I had to absent myself frequently during your growing years. But I doubt I’ll be much missed by anyone. Why, I haven’t gone to the Seralye every day this past year.”

“You will be missed,
Adda
, and you know it,” Dylen good-naturedly chided him.

“There are very few
hethare
left at the Seralye who remember the old days and all the gossip and intrigues of those times. I wouldn’t be surprised were Zarael to offer his services once more for the taproom parties should guests call for someone who can regale them with stories of years gone by. Retire by all means if you truly desire it, but don’t think you’ll be easily forgotten.”

As he finished speaking, Riodan walked over and joined them.

“Are you truly retiring, Teris-
dyhar
?” he asked.

“I’m seriously thinking about it,” Hirlen replied. “I should like to visit friends, too.

Many of them did not settle down in Rikara after leaving the Seralye but went to live with their children in other fiefs. Eventually, I may do so, too.”

Dylen looked at him startled. “Without me? You would leave me behind,
Adda
?”

“Only for a while,” Hirlen said soothingly. “You could join me should you choose to leave our profession.”

“He could?” Riodan blurted. He reddened when father and son stared at him. “I mean I was surprised that you had even considered the thought, Teris-
dyhar
. Dy has always made it seem that he will remain a
hethar
into his later years. That is, he has never given me ho– I mean any indication that he could leave it much earlier.”

His slip did not go unnoticed. Dylen reached for his hand and wove their fingers together. “If I haven’t spoken of it, it’s because I have never given thought to the possibility, that’s all.”

Riodan looked down at their clasped hands. “But you will think about it now?” he murmured.

Dylen pursed his lips. He looked a shade reproachfully at his father. “I will think about it, of course,” he finally said. “Ah, here’s Tarqin with supper. Let us eat,
Adda
, else we’ll both be late for work.”

When Riodan went ahead to help Tarqin set the food on the table, Dylen gave his father a somewhat severe look.

“What ails you?” the elder Teris asked.

Dylen tartly said, “What did I just say about false hopes?”

“Is Riodan’s hope so ill-founded?”

“
Adda
—”

“He doesn’t harbors false hopes nor did I offer it. We simply spoke of possibilities.

Nothing is set in stone, Dy, not even the best laid plans.”

Hirlen raised a finger to his lips when they came within earshot of Riodan. Dylen snorted but said no more on the subject.

Chapter Seven

The last of the sun’s rays cast a red-gold glow upon the two lithe forms on the bed.

Soon the lamps would need to be lit to banish the approaching evening’s shadows. But Riodan took no notice of the passing time and waning light, too rapt was he in his love play with Dylen.

Riodan groaned helplessly as his ecstasy slowly mounted. He clutched at the pillow under his head, his back arching sinuously in sympathetic response to the unhurried yet unrelenting draw on his shaft. Saints above, Dylen could be such a tease! How long was he going to keep him in this maddening state of pleasurable tension?

He had been serviced thusly before in the alleyways of Sidona’s capital of Nivare and the rented rooms of the city’s prostitutes; and once in the elegant bedchamber of a friend of his father’s when said friend’s son importuned him after a dinner party. He’d fled that bedchamber when his would-be seducer made it clear he wanted more than just a taste of him.

In every case, he’d been well sated. But none came close to the near cataclysmic bliss he daily experienced at Dylen’s hands.

It was not only skill that made it so, though there was no denying that Dylen was very skillful. For the first time, he was in love, and it was the Deir he loved who now pleasured him and this lent every encounter with Dylen an intense intimacy Riodan had not previously known.

His belly tightened, and his toes curled as he was repeatedly enveloped in wet warmth, moist lips wrapped snugly around his tumescent flesh. Again and again, Dylen took him in nigh to the base of his member, maintaining a steady pace that kept Riodan just teetering on the edge of the precipice, occasionally releasing him when he seemed about to burst to run his tongue along the length of his shaft.

“Dy…”

“Hmm?”

“Please!”

Dylen chuckled around his mouthful of hot flesh. The sound and sensation alone nearly overwhelmed Riodan. His hips lifted in reflexive need.

Without warning, Dylen obliged him and quickened his pace. The heretofore gradually loosening coil of pleasure within Riodan abruptly came undone, and he cried out as delicate ribbons of milky seed spewed from his shaft. He shivered deliciously as Dylen all but drank him down. Afterward, he could only weakly settle into the circle of Dylen’s arms.

Such profound changes in so short a time
, he thought. Take his daily routine for instance.

Each night, he was roused from light sleep when the mattress dipped as Dylen slipped into bed after his evening at the Seralye. He then slid back into slumber snuggled against his lover. Each morning, he awakened to the sight of Dylen’s beauteous face and

form at his side. He would quietly rise, draw on a robe and slip out of the room for a mug of milk tea. If he had morning classes, he ate breakfast alone and headed for the University, always briefly rousing Dylen with a morning kiss before he left the house.

When he got back after classes, he spent what remained of the afternoon with Dylen until it was time for the
hethar
to leave for work.

On weekends, he could wait for Dylen to wake up an hour or so later. After breakfast, they spent the day together—going to the market to replenish the larder, helping Hirlen tend his tiny garden in the back of the house, discreetly sampling the city’s various offerings or just curling up on the parlor couch to read a good book or mend clothing. Then it was supper and time for Dylen to ready himself for the evening. Riodan would doze in bed until Dylen returned, and the cycle would start all over again.

Riodan savored the routine for the sense of belonging it gave him. He truly felt like one half of a couple. Indeed, he found he did not even give much thought to whether Dylen had provided more than simple company for any of the Seralye’s patrons. Perhaps he had become so used to that aspect of Dylen’s profession during his lengthy residency with the Terises that it no longer had the power to affect him deeply save for the occasional worry for Dylen’s safety and well-being.

He lifted his head from its cozy berth on Dylen’s shoulder to gaze at his lover with a lazy smile. Dylen smiled back.

“I trust you have no cause for complaint,” he quipped.

Riodan snorted. “Only an ingrate would. I do hope that I shall one day be even half as skillful as you if only to equal the pleasure you give me.”

“But you do give me as much pleasure, Rio,” Dylen protested. “I take joy in the way you offer yourself so willingly.”

“Oh? Then perhaps I should ask that you do the same!”

Silence fell abruptly, and the smile slowly faded from Dylen’s mouth. Riodan frowned.

“What is it?” he asked. “What did I say wrong?”

Dylen bit his lip. “I’m sorry if I have failed to content you,” he murmured.

Riodan stared at him. “What do you mean?”

“I know you wish to take things further and that it irks you that I can’t accommodate your wish just yet.”

“Oh,
that
.” Riodan shrugged. “Well, yes, I am surprised at your reluctance to couple with me. One would think with all your experience you would have no inhibitions about it left. I mean, it’s natural for me to hesitate when you teach me something new; I’m no seasoned lover. But you are and more besides.”

“All the experience in Aisen can’t make certain acts more palatable,” Dylen countered. “I’m so sorry, Rio, but I can’t grant your wish just yet.”

Riodan huffed. “What is it about buggering me that you dislike?” he blurted, his frustration overtaking his usual aversion to crude language. “Do I have to pay for the privilege as well?”

It was Dylen’s turn to stare. “You want
me
to take y
ou
?”

His reaction was initially lost on Riodan. “Wasn’t that what I asked you to do that night at the Seralye?” he pointed out a little tartly. An instant later, however, he started and asked, “You thought I wanted to take you?”

“Don’t you?”

“Well, eventually, of course,” Riodan admitted. “But my first time, I would much prefer to be led.” He regarded Dylen curiously. “Is it because I’m inexperienced that you don’t wish to yield? Do you fear that I’ll hurt you?”

The
hethar
shook his head. “It has naught to do with your lack of skill. I could guide you well enough to ensure that you don’t hurt me overmuch.”

“Then what stops you?”

Dylen sighed and lay back. Riodan watched him, wondering at his uncharacteristic lack of assurance.

“Most of my patrons prefer that I take them,” Dylen suddenly said. “Many are the heads of their families or business holdings and, more oft than not, it is they who sire their heirs and hold the purse strings. Allowing another Deir to dominate them sexually is a means of letting go.”

“It relaxes them?” Riodan ventured half incredulously.

Dylen faintly smiled. “Strange as that might sound, yes. However, there are Deira who want the opposite. Who wish to control and dominate. Some possess that privilege and seldom give it up even for the space of a tumble. But more do not and thus seek it elsewhere. Such patrons never yield, only take, and they make it very clear that they are in control.”

Riodan’s eyes widened in sudden comprehension. “You associate yielding yourself with subjugation.”

Dylen hesitated then nodded. “I am constrained to do so if it is what a patron desires,” he haltingly explained. “And my pride is much salved by the considerable fee I can command for it. But, outside of my profession, I have never consented to play the mare. It isn’t that I think it demeaning, mind you. It’s just that I prefer not to. What I mean is I have little choice when I’m at work. So I’d rather not bring home that sense of-of having no say in the matter. Away from the Seralye, I am my own person, and none can demand of me what I have ever surrendered only for the highest of prices. Oh plague take my tongue! That sounded horrible! Forgive me if I offended you, Rio. Please believe me, it has naught to do with you and—”

Riodan lifted his hand to cover Dylen’s mouth and halt the flow of explanations and apologies. He smoothed a finger over Dylen’s lower lip.

“I’m glad you told me this. I don’t wish to make you do anything that would discomfort you.” He followed the stroke of his finger with the caress of his lips. After a slow, lingering kiss, he murmured, “I won’t deny that I would dearly love to take you.