A Rose Among the Ruins Read online

  “Make love with me again,” he murmured.

  A sharp rap startled them, their eyes meeting in growing panic as each tried to remember if he had locked the door. They had their answer when the heavy door swung open.

  “Kanath!” Rynes called as he walked inside in the way of longtime friends who know they are welcome unless the door is locked. The sight that met his gaze was something he would never have expected to see: his two best friends, in bed, together, obviously naked, obviously…. His mind shied away from the thought of what must surely be happening beneath the bedsheets. “What the hell is going on?” he demanded, long-ingrained attitudes rearing their vicious heads.

  Kanath's shoulders slumped, his head dropping to Rhicer's neck as if he could somehow hide from Rynes' question.

  Rhicer did not bother with the curses that rose in his throat. Cursing the situation was pointless. Cursing Rynes' importune arrival would only alienate their friend further than he already was. If they had any hope of continuing their lives as they had the past month, they had to gain his cooperation.

  “Shut the door and we'll explain,” he ordered softly, his arms encircling Kanath protectively as he waited to see how Rynes would react.

  Explain? Rynes was quite sure no amount of explanation could change the evidence before his eyes or his reaction to it, but these were his friends—his closest friends, men he had trusted with his life more times than he could count—and he would do them the courtesy of hearing them out. He shut and locked the door and turned back to the bed where neither man showed any inclination to move apart. “I'm listening.”

  Rhicer stood in the shadows of the fallen arches of an old building they intended to convert to a stable and mews, time and energy permitting, watching Kanath tie the rosebud to Taen's leg. A smile crossed his face as he watched his lover's graceful movements. He did not think he would ever tire of watching the other man. When Kanath had completed his task and released his falcon, Rhicer stepped up behind him, encircling him with gentle, loving arms. “Happy?” he asked softly.

  “Very,” Kanath replied, leaning back against his lover. He looked around the plot of land they had claimed for their own, high in the mountains, away from any who would bother them. As they had settled in their new home, they had laughed together over the ruins that surrounded their little hut and the rosebush that sprang up among them. Kanath swore the bush had not been there when he first found the cabin, but they had decided not to question it. “Best decision I ever made,” he added.

  Rhicer laughed at that. “When we first drank the potion, I thought our lives were ruined.”

  “And now?” Kanath asked, though he knew the answer. He reached behind him and pulled Rhicer’s head forward for a light kiss.

  “Now, I’m glad that you never got over your light-fingered ways.”

  Kanath chuckled. “Why is that?”

  “Because,” Rhicer explained in a conspiratorial whisper, “if you hadn't filched that love potion, we wouldn't be here together now. And that is too terrible a thought to contemplate.”

  Kanath's smile widened and his laughter broke from him in merry waves. It had taken many days and much loving for him to believe Rhicer truly meant that, but his doubts had faded as they made their plans and traveled to their new home. “Take me to bed and prove it,” he challenged.

  With a lighthearted grin, Rhicer grabbed Kanath's hand, pulling him toward their home. Kanath laughed joyously at the freedom to be together as they crossed the threshold. Their abode was simple still, just the one room, but they had managed to make it a place of their own. Their pots and dishes lined the shelves, their bedrolls intermingled over a pallet of straw, just as their lives had become one.

  Rhicer caught Kanath against him tightly, lowering the lighter body of his lover onto the blankets. He had intended to spend the afternoon building a bed frame, but now that the opportunity had presented itself, he would rather spend the time making love. Kanath’s legs parted willingly, wrapping around him as his weight pressed the brunet into the straw.

  Stroking the blond’s hair, Kanath pretended to ponder the situation for a moment. “I think it’s your turn to be on top,” he declared after a moment.

  “Keeping track?” Rhicer teased.

  “I wouldn’t want you to feel left out,” Kanath retorted playfully. In truth, he did not care how they loved, just so long as they did, but his own early fears about losing himself to Rhicer’s dominance had left him with a need to make sure the reverse was true as well, even though he knew Rhicer did not see it that way at all.

  “All I need—all I ever need—is to know that you love me,” Rhicer swore, his hands moving over the lithely muscled body. “Nothing else matters but that.”

  It was the truth. Having known the joy of Kanath making love to him, Rhicer had never pressed his lover to switch roles. Eventually, though, Kanath had asked, saying he wanted to know the pleasure Rhicer obviously found in their joining. It had been a long, tender communion, the first of many. Rhicer did not complain about Kanath’s desire to keep their relationship balanced, but that did not figure on his list of concerns. Still, with his lover beneath him, beginning to writhe invitingly, Rhicer was not about to counter Kanath’s suggestion.

  Together, they squirmed their way out of their clothes, not wanting to be parted for a moment, even if it would have facilitated their disrobing. Contact mattered more than speed, and the thought of separating for even a moment held no appeal when they had feared to be separated forever. Soon enough, they lay together with no barriers left, hair-dusted chest brushing smooth skin as their lips met and held, that union as vital as the eventual joining of their bodies.

  They rolled across the straw pallet, moving this way and that as they worked to arouse each other’s passions to fiery heights. Lips nipped, tongues licked, hands caressed every inch of bare flesh they could find, lingering over sensitive spots, making new ones by their mere presence, until both men were dripping with their need.

  Kanath rolled to his stomach, pushing up onto his knees as he rocked back against Rhicer’s groin in blatant invitation. Rhicer did not reach for the oil, however. Instead, he lowered his head, catching the bucking hips in his hand, and licked a wet stripe from Kanath’s pendulous sac all the way to the base of his spine and back down again, stopping when he reached the roseate opening that would soon stretch to receive him.

  He heard Kanath’s gasp of surprise, but he did not pause, his tongue swiping repeatedly across the sensitive flesh until his attentions won a long, low moan from his frantic lover. He had often wondered about loving Kanath this way, but he had never dared. Now, however, in their own home, safe from all prying eyes and ears, he took that liberty, licking at the tight hole until it clenched and then slowly unfurled for him. Tightening his grip on Kanath’s hips, he rolled his tongue and worked it inside the guardian ring, waiting with bated breath for his lover’s reaction.

  Kanath’s breath rushed out in a muted wail, his body bucking wildly. “More,” he begged. “By all the gods, Rhicer, do that again!”

  Rhicer obliged, thrusting his tongue in and out of the tight portal the way he would soon do with his cock. He was tempted to reach between his legs and stroke his aching shaft, but if he did, he feared he would release too soon, and he had no intention of finding joy anywhere but inside Kanath’s tight arse.

  Instead, he reached between Kanath’s legs, stroking the erection he found there in time with the penetration of his tongue. “Too… much!” Kanath groaned, trying to pull away before Rhicer made him climax, but his lover’s grip was implacable. With a harsh wail, he climaxed, his seed covering his lover’s hand and the blankets below them.

  Rhicer did not pause in his attentions, milking Kanath’s cock until it stopped twitching, then continuing to work it until it began to fill again. Rocking back on his heels, he reached for the oil with his other hand, coating his fingers so he could finish the happy task of preparing his lover to take him Slipping two fingers inside
easily, he crooked them until he found the spot that made Kanath cry out, begging wildly.

  With Kanath’s thrashing as encouragement, Rhicer increased the pace, plundering the willing passage until Kanath was sobbing with his need. His own desire mounting exponentially with each pass of his fingers across his lover’s bundle of nerves, with each hoarse plea, Rhicer finally pulled back, flipping Kanath onto his back. Whatever configuration of limbs they used as they built their desire, they always made love face to face. Always. They needed to see each other’s eyes, to meet each other’s mouths, to have that reassurance that they were not simply fucking but instead recommitting their lives and their hearts to each other.

  Kanath lifted his legs to Rhicer’s shoulders, rocking his hips onto his lover’s thighs so he was completely open to the shaft that bored into him, taking him, claiming him. Loving him. It only took a moment for the hard cock to slide home, filling his body with its length and girth, filling his heart with a love that defied definition or explanation, but simply was. A love society could not snuff out. A love he would never hide again. He cried out his rapture, eyes closing as he felt Rhicer bend over him, folding him nearly in two as the blond sought his lips. Kanath offered them willingly, avidly, the final connection that set his soul soaring, his release burning through him, spilling out on his belly between them as Rhicer’s anointed his eager sheath.

  Rhicer shifted, letting Kanath’s legs settle around his waist as he continued to rock into his lover’s passage, his erection slowly shrinking. He did not pull out right away, though. He never did, maintaining the connection between them as long as he could. Kanath’s inner muscles squeezed him tightly as if loath to let him slip free. Finally, though, his cock slipped out, too lax to continue the connection. He rolled to the side, pulling Kanath with him so they lay facing each other, their lips still brushing tenderly as they came down from the high of making love.

  “This can’t be wrong,” Kanath said after a moment. “No matter what we were taught, no matter what the court believes, I know this can’t be the evil we were taught to believe.”

  “It isn’t,” Rhicer agreed, “but neither is it a battle we can fight alone. As much as I miss Rynes, and even Emyl, we would never have a life together there, even a hidden one, and I will not give you up. Not for anything.”

  “Nor I you,” Kanath swore. “But if a time comes when we can go back….”

  “If that time comes, Rynes will find a way to let us know,” Rhicer assured his lover. “And if it does, then we will go back, secure in our love and our place, but I will not risk your life, our lives, unless we know it is safe. ’Tis better to live here alone but together than to face separation or worse.”

  “I love you, Rhicer.”

  “And I love you. Now sleep. Taen will bring what news Rynes can contrive to send eventually, but for now, we have our own lives to lead.”

  Kanath nodded, his eyes closed, his head fitting perfectly into the crook of Rhicer’s shoulder. As he drifted off, the thought occurred to him that their affair had started with them sleeping very much like this, with the exception of the conspicuous absence of any clothing to separate them. He only hoped his dreams tonight were as vivid as they were then, because this time, Rhicer would be there in the morning to help him make them a reality.

  The screech of a falcon drew Rynes' attention. “Taen!” he exclaimed excitedly, stretching out his arm for the regal bird. “What news do you bring me, old girl?”

  As if she understood the question perfectly, the raptor extended her right leg.

  A smile broke out on Rynes' face as he saw what she carried. Carefully, he unwrapped the string that held the rosebud to the bird's claw. “Good news, then,” he murmured with satisfaction, stroking the falcon's feathers gently. “Let's get you a treat before you head off home.”

  A pang of regret took him at that thought. Home, for Taen and for his friends, was no longer the king's keep, perhaps no longer even Ageselm. Three weeks ago, he had stood with them in the misty light of dawn and said goodbye, knowing he would probably never see them again. It tore at him that he had not been able to help them, to protect them from the forces that would have ripped them apart if they had stayed.

  He had listened to them, the day he found them in bed together. A part of him had wanted to reject their words, but he had been unable to repudiate the obvious love that radiated from them as they explained about the potion that had bound them, will they or nil they, about how they had sought to break the spell unsuccessfully. They had been candid with him about their initial reluctance, even revulsion, but what had struck him most was how carefully they had chosen their words, glancing at each other surreptitiously the entire time, as if to ensure that they were not hurting each other with thoughtless speech. That solicitude had done more to convince him of the true depth of feeling between them than anything they said aloud.

  “So what happens now?” Rynes had asked finally.

  “That depends on you,” Rhicer replied, his voice tight with concern. “Will you keep our secret?”

  Rynes had been shocked at the question before he realized just how precarious a life his friends were living, even without anyone knowing. “Of course,” he promised them, his conviction ringing in his voice. He did not claim to understand what they felt for each other, but it was clear to him that this was not a simple affair, not a matter of lust overriding their good sense. As alien as it seemed to him, they loved each other enough to defy all reason, all convention.

  It had not been as straightforward as keeping their secret, though. However innocently and unintentionally, the king had slowly made their lives impossible. Rhicer had explained about their sovereign's desire to see him married, saying, too, that the old excuses—Eldvese, the war, his duties—no longer seemed to register with the love-struck monarch. Rynes had seen the same matchmaking desire directed toward himself and other members of the court, but he had not been particularly bothered by the notion, the idea of having someone to come home to attractive enough to lull him into acceptance. “I don't know what to tell him. I can't tell him the truth, yet I can't sit back and do nothing while he arranges my marriage to one lady or another. If he forced me to go through with it, I would be caught between making a mockery of my wedding vows and forsaking a love I never expected to find but now hold more dear to me than anything else.”

  Kanath had rejected that notion out of hand, his vehemence astonishing Rynes. He was used to thinking of the younger man simply as Rhicer's lieutenant, but the fierceness of his expression reminded Rynes that Kanath was no mere cipher. He had no answer to give them, but he knew in that moment that he would help them in any way he could. At first, helping them had been simple: keep their secret.

  He had not even minded being their confidant, the only one to whom they could talk about their situation and their feelings for each other. They had respected his sensibilities enough not to give him details he did not want to hear. He might have accepted that they loved each other irrevocably, and even accepted that their love found physical expression, but he definitely did not want to hear about it. Seeing them once had been far more detail than he ever desired to know. Whatever else he was, and he was many things, he had never been a voyeur.

  As the days had passed and their impatience with the situation grew, though, Rynes' role had become more complicated. Their disappearances began to be noticed and questions began to be asked. He warned them to be more careful, but they did not seem to register his concerns. Then his liege had approached him one day.

  “I am worried about Rhicer,” the monarch had begun. “He has not been himself since my wedding.”

  Rynes knew exactly how true that was, though the change had started even before that, but the king had been too busy to notice. He could not tell his sovereign that, though. Instead, he shrugged noncommittally, hoping to let it go at that. King Emyl was too tenacious, however.

  “I want to know what is going on,” he had continued. “Has he confided in y
ou at all?”

  Rynes was torn. Rhicer had confided in him, more than once, but they were not secrets Rynes could share with anyone, and not only because they were not his secrets to share. Revealing what he knew could well see his friends outcast or even killed. Yet to lie to his king….

  In the end, the enormity of the consequences outweighed his discomfort with lying to King Emyl and he had prevaricated, trying to avoid an outright lie. “I am sure there is nothing wrong,” he replied. “Rhicer would have told us if there was.”

  That much was true. As far as the blond captain was concerned, nothing was wrong at all, except for the prohibitions that forbade him to be open about his love for Kanath. The king, however, was not convinced.

  “I want you to follow him,” the monarch ordered. “Find out where he goes when he disappears and why.”

  “Sire!” Rynes protested, realizing this was an order he would never be able to follow. “You act as if Rhicer were some outlaw, a criminal bent on… I know not what. He is your trusted captain. Why would you ask me to spy on him this way?”

  “Because something is wrong, Rynes,” Emyl repeated, “and he will not let me help him any other way.”