Polinues Marines, the would be mage.

Title: Polinues Marines, the would be mage.

Chapter Title & No.: #19. The truth of the matter.

Author: Darkling Willow

Pairing: Non.

Rating: NC - 17
Abuse, Anal, Angst, BDSM, Bi, B-Mod, Bond, Death, D/s, H/C, HJ, Humil, Language, M/F, M/M, Minor, N/C, OC, Oral, Preg, Rim, Spank, Violence, Voy, VS, WD, WIP.

Archive: Originals - misc. > Slash-male/male
Feedback: Yes thank you very much. An author can only improve with criticism. Please rate if you do not want to leave a review.

Disclaimer: This is an original work of fiction. Any resemblance of places and characters to actual persons, living or dead, and places is purely coincidental.
The Author holds exclusive rights to this work. Unauthorized duplication is prohibited.

Authors Notes: The name of the world is pronounced Therla-een. I = ee
I want to apologize to my wonderful devoted readers, for not having updated in so long.
But now I’m a chapter ahead of myself, so hopefully I’ll keep it that way, and update more regularly. Thank you again for your patience.
For review replies, comments and thank you's go to: http://www2.adult-fanfiction.org/forum/index.php/topic/14530-polinues-marines-the-would-be-mage/

Summary: Leyjen makes a stupid drunken mistake, and pays the price.

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Chapter 19. The truth of the matter.

Leyjen sighed, and closed the door to his room, easing the latch into place, the screams from the twins’ playroom echoing down the halls.
He had not even reached his desk when Hiram began pounding on his door, demanding,
“Leyjen! Leyjen! Please, help us! We can’t stop him! They’re going to kill each other.”

Leyjen grabbed a pillow off his easy chair and screamed into it, as hard as he could, before he took a few measured breaths and opened the door again.
The castle reverberated with a high pitched scream, and manic laughter.

Hiram looked like she was in her thirties. She didn’t look anything like the eighteen winters old she really was.
Leyjen felt sorry for her, he really did, but he didn’t really want to deal with the twins, not when there were twelve nursemaids to do the job.
Not that any one of the young maids where fit for the job.

Leyjen had decided on the first day back that the only person qualified for the job of handling the twins when they were in the same house, was a dragon tamer.
But unfortunately, those were extremely rare in Therlaine, since dragon’s didn’t exist.

With a strained smile Leyjen walked ahead of Hiram around the corner and towards the playroom, the voices of the twins echoing madly against the cold stone.
As they passed the doors to Polinues’ private sitting room, there came a loud crash from the playroom, and a roar as if from a violent storm. The double doors to the playroom tore off their hinges, crashing against the wall opposite, and Arlathi came rolling head over heels out of the room, with a highpitched shriek of fright.

Leyjen started running as Hiram froze in her steps, and Polinues came stomping out of the room, arms raised above his head, and his strangely deep voice chanting in the flowing language of magick.
Leyjen took a head long dive at the child, the spell rushed out from his hands, and a standing armour down the hall exploded into pieces.

“Are you insane!” Leyjen screamed at the boy underneath him, which was answered with a kick in the gut.

“Leave me alone! I’m going to kill that bastard!” Polinues roared, crawling to his feet, and taking off after his twin, who was running, howling, towards the grand stairs, and the safety of their mother’s skirts.

Leyjen grabbed Polinues’ belt and hauled him off down the hall way, the opposite direction.
Polinues screamed and kicked all the way down to the basement of the castle, where Leyjen entered the laundry rooms and tossed the boy into a large tub of cold water.
Polinues came up sputtering and gasping, the laundry girls tittering into their washing.

“Are you crazy! Are you trying to drown me?” Polinues screamed, his whole body shaking so bad he couldn’t even climb out of the vat.

“No, I’m cooling you off. Have you completely lost your mind? Using magick like that, here! And on your brother! And where the hell did you learn that spell?” Leyjen tried his best to sound angry, but the look of the bedraggled boy was just too funny.
Leyjen fished him out and knelt infront of him, peeling his soaked clothes off.

“The sonic thingy? I don’t know. I just thought about blowing him away, and it came to me.” Polinues’ teeth chattered, as Leyjen rubbed his skin hard with a coarse towel one of the laundry girls had given him.

“Really? No. I didn’t mean that one. The second one, the one I made you fumble. You do realize it was a kill spell, don’t you?”
Polinues stared back into the amber eyes, and the cold look made Leyjen shiver.

“I knew exactly what I was doing, Leyjen. I was only going to kill half of him. An arm and a leg, maybe.”
Polinues said in a low voice, his eye dimmed, his face set in stone.

“Wrong spell, Polinues. If you only meant to maim him, you could have used a number of other spells. That one kills. Once you’ve uttered it, the victim is dead. No if’s, and’s or but’s about it. It’s just dead.”
Leyjen shook the boy slightly, anger seething in his voice, but Polinues still stared back with that cold look.

“Fine then. I want him dead.” Polinues hissed, pulling away from Leyjen and stomping out of the washing rooms, he disappeared up the servant stairs.

Leyjen followed after a few minutes but when he entered the second floor, he saw the naked Polinues lead Thelaura into his dressing room, so he left them alone.
This was gearing up to be a very long, three week vacation, and they had only been home for two days.
Tomorrow would be Polinues’ and Arlathi’s birthday, with a big party and many guests.
After that Leyjen would be stuck with the job of seperating the two boys, since the Lady of the house had given birth a week earlier, to the fourth younger daughter of the house.
And on top of it all, Belnsair was due home tomorrow as well.


Leyjen slipped inside his room, yawning so hard his jaw popped, his eyes half closed with sleep, the warm buzz of alcohol still pleasantly strumming at his nerves.
The birthday party had been a smashing success, for everyone except for the nursemaids and Leyjen, who were in charge of taking care of the children as per usual.

Polinues had been so hyped up on sugarcakes and attention that he was writhing in his skin, so much that Leyjen had been forced to physically hold Polinues down in his bed until the sugar wore off, and the boy settled down for the night.
After Polinues had duped Leyjen twice, and been half way down the grand stairs when Leyjen caught him, the teen had climbed into bed with him and not moved until he was certain Polinues was asleep. Leyjen had fallen asleep for a couple of hours in Polinues’ bed, after reading some five odd bedtime stories for the boy and polishing off two bottles of honey beer while he did so.

Now the white moon shone brightly outside his window, the blue moon new, a dark disk in the middle of the brightness of its sister.

He pulled his tunic over his head, when a soft knock on his door startled him.
He opened the door a crack, Hiram smiling crookedly at him from the hallway.

“Hi.” She whispered, Leyjen smelled the fruit wine on her breath, her eyes sparkling in the moonlight.

“Hi. What are you doing here?” Leyjen whispered back, letting go of the door as Hiram pushed into the room, closing the door silently behind her.

“Something stupid, if Thelaura is correct.” Hiram giggled drunkenly, and Leyjen reached for the doorknob,

“You’re drunk, so yeah, I think Thelaura is right.”

Hiram grabbed his wrist and pulled, twisting him around and pinning him against the door and her body.
Leyjen whimpered, swallowing a moan.

Hiram was tall, for a girl, almost as tall as he was, and more than a decade of working at the household had made her about as strong as him as well.
Leyjen’s eyes went round with surprise when Hiram grabbed his head between her warm hands and pressed plump lips against his, teeth tugging at the ring in his bottom lip, sparks flying through his head.
Leyjen instinctively kissed the girl back, and hesitantly laid his hands around her waist, Hiram pressing her hips against Leyjen’s groin.
Her tongue teased against his lips, and Leyjen parted them to let the young woman inside, Hiram tasted of fruit wine and peach cobbler, her tongue tracing every corner of his mouth hungrily.

Hiram grabbed his wrists without breaking their kiss, and placed his hands on her breasts, pulling the laces of her blouse apart.
Leyjen panted, the blood in his body rushing southbound, as he watched her pull the blouse over her head, nothing between his hands and her breasts other than a thin muslin, sleeveless chemise.

Hiram was a beautiful girl, all of soft curves and pleasing angles, and Leyjen was pleasantly surprised that he was rapidly becoming aroused by her.
Hiram pulled him away from the door, and lead him to the bed, her skirt falling to the floor somewhere along the way, and when Leyjen fell down on the bed, his trousers were already down to his thighs.
He blushed when Hiram looked down at him and made a quiet sound of appreciation, before she climbed into the bed beside him, and lay down on her back.

“Come here.” She whispered, pulling off her thin chemise, Leyjen staring at her with hunger, her soft skin gleaming in the darkness, a shock of dark curls between her thighs.

Leyjen climbed over her, kissing her breasts timidly, tracing her neck to her lips, whispering into her soft mouth,
“I’m no good at this. I’ve never done this before.”

Hiram moaned, Leyjen thought it was in approval rather than disappointment, the young woman affirming his suspicion when she cupped his cheek lovingly and whispered back,
“Don’t worry, I’ll teach you.” As she gently pulled his hand down to touch her between the thighs.

Leyjen closed his eyes, allowing her to guide him, the feeling foreign but not at all unpleasant, as he clumsily followed her lead.
Hiram was already flushed with excitement, had been when she had entered his room, so quickly she pulled him ontop of her, guiding him inside.
Leyjen struggled to find a comfortable position, but Hiram gently eased him into it, her hips bucking against him, begging for friction.
Leyjen moved, the feeling wasn’t unpleasant, a tight wet heat, but there was something missing, something he liked far better.

He hid his face in the crook of her neck, sharp teeth nibbling at fragrant skin, her scent of daisies and fresh laundry, her voice moaning into his ear with every breath.
Leyjen found a good hard pace that Hiram didn’t object to, his back arching over her, her hands running around his waist, shoulders and neck, and Hiram kissed him again.
Leyjen pulled one of her thighs up to gain better access, making the woman mewl under him, a familiar tightness beginning in his groin.

“I don’t have much left.” Leyjen whispered, feeling more than seeing the disappointment in Hiram’s body.
Leyjen stopped, to Hiram’s loud objections, and rolled off her.
“Come on, on top. I can last longer that way.” Leyjen smiled sweetly, the drunken sparkle in Hiram’s eyes replaced by hunger.
Quickly she climbed ontop of him, sitting down on his cock, telling him how to move when he asked.

Leyjen stared up at the woman, her soft breasts bouncing with every thrust of her hips, her strong thighs gripping his hips tightly, the wet heat around him tight and delicious. Yet there was something that he missed.
Leyjen forced his mind away from the thought, focused completely on the woman ontop of him.
Her hips moved with a fluid motion, Leyjen could tell this wasn’t her first time, far from it, and he liked it.
Slowly her movements became harder, more demanding, and a faint flush began spreading out from her chest.
Her scent got heavier and heavier, and gripping her hips tightly, Leyjen began to thrust harder to meet her.
Hiram arched her back, with a long drawn out moan, Leyjen felt her clench around him, and with a few more thrusts he spilled himself inside of her, growling softly into her breasts, as she fell down over him.

She kissed his forehead, his eyelids and the tip of his nose, Leyjen hardly able to keep his eyes open.

“I should get back to my room. Thank you, Leyjen, that was good.”

“You don’t have to leave. You can stay here, if you like.” Leyjen whispered back, kissing her lips, soft chaste kisses, and Hiram smiled at him.

She snuggled down under the covers, and Leyjen tried to match her smile.
He found that he couldn’t, not genuinely, because he still felt unsatisfied, unfinished somehow. With that thought he fell asleep, resting on his stomach, beside the girl.

Leyjen started awake, his eyes taking a few moments to adjust to the darkness.
Hiram was still in his bed, snoring softly, one arm thrown above her head, the other resting on Leyjen’s butt cheek.
Looking around the room he couldn’t find what had woken him, he rose up on his elbows, a flash of movement, a shadow deeper than the shadows stirred in the far corner, and Leyjen crawled out of bed as fast as he dared.

He pulled his linen trousers on quickly, advancing on the shadow, whispering hoarsely,
“Amraeen? Is that you?”

He reached the corner, the secret door open, but the stairs behind it was empty. Leyjen hurried down into the darkness, the way still clear in his memory.
As he scuttled into the wash rooms, quiet and empty, the drying sheets like ghosts hanging from the ceiling, a shadow flitted across the open door, and Leyjen followed, still whispering,
“Amraeen?”

Peering out into the dark courtyard Leyjen saw no movement, not even the sentries. A small flicker of light appeared in the window of the farthest cottage, the one he had shared with his mother, a lone candle stood behind the grimy glass.

None of the workers at the estate had been willing to move into the cottage after Leyjen’s mother had died, and Wrailan Marines had given up on trying to force someone to move in.
Even new arrivals at the castle refused to live there, Wrailan suspected that most of his staff told the new people about the tragic and mysterious death of Shirnin and therefore the cottage remained empty.
Wrailan had ordered it torn down at one point, but none of his workers had complied with him, so Wrailan had eventually relented, hoping the cottage would fall down on its own.

The cottage was empty, the furniture covered in cobwebs and dust, the door hanging on one hinge.
Leyjen eased through the gap between door and jamb, his bare back pressed against the cold stone of the cottage.
Amraeen stood infront of the cold hearth, one hand gripping the shelf above so hard his fingernails were digging into the wood, jaws clenched tight.

“Amraeen. You came.” Leyjen sighed, advancing with his arms out, but stopped short a few feet away, there was a coldness around Amraeen that he had not felt before, for some reason it frightened him.

Amraeen didn’t look up, his voice cold and measured,
“I have spoken with your father. He sent me to deliver a message. I have told him what you told me last time we met, and he sent me to tell you that you did well. He suspected that the Vampyr knew about you, but not that they had made contact with you. He says you should be careful, keep an eye out for any Vampire spies. If they find you, you must convince them that you will murder Polinues, when the time is right. You must make them believe that you are on their side. But at the same time, you must protect Polinues with everything that you have. Your father says you could try to cast some sort of protection spells on him, or glamour spells to hide him from the Vampires.”

Leyjen stood quiet in the middle of the floor, listening, eyes on Amraeen’s back, the Vampyr’s muscles taut, trembling under the dark silk of his shirt, as he paced around the rotting kitchen table, resting a shaking hand on the broken back of a chair, eyeing the teen out of the corner of his eye.

The darkness between them was charged, the strain tightening Leyjen’s chest, he moved slowly around the table and before he could stop himself asked,
“What’s the matter?”

With a growl Amraeen turned around and slapped Leyjen so hard the teen stumbled back a couple of paces.
Leyjen moaned in pain, cupping his cheek, and looked up, prepared to attack back, but Amraeen’s ocean blue eyes stopped him dead in his tracks.
They were filled with tears.

“There is a woman in your bed!” Amraeen hissed, his dimpled chin trembling as he struggled to keep his tears in, his whole body shaking with the effort.

Leyjen was too stunned to answer, instead he said,
“You’re crying.”

“No! I don’t cry. I despise weakness. Tears are weakness.” Amraeen turned away from him, a supressed sob tearing through his chest.

Leyjen moved around him, invading the Vampyr’s personal space, his voice low and calm,
“I know there was a girl in my bed. It was only Hiram. I’ve known her since I was a little boy, and I’ve liked her just as long. She came to my bed…”

Amraeen cut him off, pushing him away violently,
“I don’t want to know! I don’t care!”

“Yes you care! You wouldn’t be so upset if you didn’t care! If you didn’t care you would have just waited for me, not gone off ahead of me.”

Leyjen cried out as the Vampyr slammed him against the wall, long fingers digging into his bare shoulders,
“Don’t tell me what I would and would not do.”

“If you don’t care then why are you acting like this?”

“I don’t care!” Amraeen cried out in a ragged voice as he pulled away from the teen and staggered back to the hearth, sobbing hard.

Leyjen stood still, watching him, he had never seen Amraeen like this before.

Amraeen’s voice was still a little shaky when he started talking again,
“I don’t cry. For anyone or anything. I last felt sadness seventeen years ago, when the people from Foggy Banks killed my consort, but I didn’t cry for him. But for you… For nearly three hundred years I haven’t shed a tear for anything… for anyone… But you… I cry. Because of you…”

Amraeen sobbed loudly, before he turned to face Leyjen again, throwing his arms into the air, crying out,
“For you, I cry!”

His azure eyes were swimming in tears, running in rivulets down his cheeks, and Leyjen felt his own heart break.

Reaching out he cupped Amraeen’s face between his hands and whispered, his voice thick with love and adoration,
“Helot ika praatlen brisner, ilithilin serom baakhom.” And kissed Amraeen gently.

Amraeen kissed him back for half a breath, then gasping he pulled away from the soft lips, whispering,
“Don’t say that and then kiss me.”

“Why not? I know what it means. I mean it. Just as much as you mean it.”

“No, you don’t. If you did, you wouldn’t kiss me. You wouldn’t even say it.”

“Yes, I would. Stop resisting me so much. Hereby I give myself to my lover, beloved is he for eternity.”

Amraeen chuckled softly into Leyjen’s mouth, kissing him almost shyly, shaking his head,
“That’s not what it means.”

Leyjen moaned, looking up, hands pressed against Amraeen’s chest,
“Then what does it mean? That’s the translation I got, and you won’t tell me what it means.”

“So, you didn’t translate it yourself?”

“No. Not that it matters. Tisék, one of the older novices speaks a little Senizjan and he translated it for me. After he slapped me so hard I got a black eye.”

Amraeen chuckled again, but his eyes shone with love not myrth, as he shook his head, brushing a hand over his face.
“The way you pronounce it, you probably deserved that slap.”

“Well, what does it mean then? Please tell me. I’m sick of this, I love you, I want to be with you. You drive me crazy with this game of giving in to me and then pushing me away. Tell me.”

Leyjen stared at Amraeen silently, the Vampyr pacing back and forth infront of the dead hearth, running his fingers through his hair, a soft smile on his lips.
He stopped, looking into Leyjen’s eyes, awkwardly tucking his thumbs into his belt, his voice low, almost shy,
“Those words are marriage vows. Between the Vampyr, they’re marriage vows.”

Leyjen stared at his lover for a few breathless moments, his heart uncertain what to do, time froze between them, and it felt like ages when Leyjen finally threw himself into Amraeen’s arms, and demanded,
“Say it again. Teach me how to say it!”

“Helot ika praatlen brisner, ilithilin serom baakhom.” Amraeen whispered into the full pink lips, Leyjen imitating him almost perfectly, and then molding his lips against Amraeen’s in a hungry kiss.
Amraeen parted his lips, letting the boy in, the two battling for control, both gasping for breath when they broke apart, forhead resting against forhead, butterfly kisses between words.

“Here is my most precious lover, soulmates are we for eternity.” Amraeen breathed into Leyjen’s mouth, sealing the vow with a kiss, tears flowing down Leyjen’s cheeks,

“Helot ika praatlen brisner, ilithilin serom baakhom. I love you, Amraeen.” He whispered back, his thin body shivering against Amraeen’s.

Amraeen plundered Leyjen’s mouth, hands groping soft flesh, tearing away at the high waisted linen trousers, Leyjen pulling open the silk shirt, pressing his chest against the Vampyr’s tight muscles.
Amraeen pulled the teen to the workbench under the window, pulling his own belt open with one hand, never breaking their kiss.

Leyjen nibbled at the discoloured neck, down to one nipple teasing it to hardness, moaning when Amraeen pushed his linen trousers to the floor and wrapped burning fingers around Leyjen’s cock, stroking it slowly.

The teen traced his tongue down Amraeen’s abdomen, pulling the leather trousers down to his thighs, flicking his tongue at the drops of precome pearling at the tip of Amraeen’s cock.
The Vampyr snarled as he gripped Leyjen’s hair and pushed the head of his cock against Leyjen’s pink lips, the teen opened up, moaning as he sank in as deep as Leyjen could take him.

Amraeen smiled hungrily as he pulled out, then thrust in again, Leyjen sucking him with the same hunger, clawing at Amraeen’s sides.
The Vampyr threw his head back, relishing the feeling of the tight wet mouth, driving himself to the edge of orgasm.
Leyjen whimpered when Amraeen pulled free of his mouth, and pulled him to his feet, smashing their lips together, pushing Leyjen up on the workbench.

Amraeen hummed, sinking his mouth over Leyjen’s cock, sucking hard enough to make Leyjen buck against him.
Holding the teen down with one hand, Amraeen dipped over him, while he pushed Leyjen’s feet up on the edge of the workbench, exposing his dripping entrance.
Leyjen growled deep in his chest when Amraeen twirled his tongue down below his sac and pushed against the pucker.
Leyjen hooked his arms behind his knees, lifing his legs into the air, moaning for more, Amraeen’s long fingers stroking his erection slowly, his tongue pushing into him, drawing slow circles around the crease before it pushed back in.
Amraeen drank in Leyjen’s taste, the heavy savour of opium going straight to his cock, the wanton moaning driving him wild.
Amraeen pushed two fingers into the eager opening, to the second knuckle, pulled them out and pushed all the way in, sucking his cock into his mouth, and wrapping long fingers around Leyjen’s neck, squeezing it gently.

Leyjen cried out, there was the feeling he had missed while he had been with Hiram, and he knew that this was all he ever wanted, what no woman could ever give him.

Pistoning his fingers into Leyjen’t tight ass, adding a third finger, Amraeen sucked at the head of his cock, flicking his tongue into the slit, humming hard as he sank down on the teen, feeling the familiar twitch around his fingers.
Amraeen looked up, his heart jumping at the fire in Leyjen’s amber eyes, the olive skin gleaming with sweat, his fangs glistening behind plump pink lips, the ethereal glow of his aura shimmering between them, his back arched high, a silent scream erupting from his chest as he came deep into Amareen’s mouth.

Amraeen milked every drop from him, Leyjen a shivering mass of limp muscles when the Vampyr rose to his feet and thrust his straining cock into the tight ass.
Leyjen clawed at the rippling chest above him, gasping in time with the brutal thrusts, Amraeen bending over him, sinking his tongue into Leyjen’s mouth, the teen bucking his hips and moaning at the taste.

With a wicked smile Leyjen broke the kiss, falling back on his elbows and whispered breathily,
“Fuck me.”

Amraeen could feel his fingernails break the skin, digging into Leyjen’s sides, his cock driving into the willing body hard and deep, the wild abandon in Leyjen’s eyes driving him on, begging for more. He bent over the boy again, making him wrap his arms around Amraeen’s shoulders, while he hooked his arms behind Leyjen’s knees and picked him up off the workbench, slamming into him deeper than before.
Leyjen couldn’t catch it in time and let out a loud moan that echoed out into the night.

After a few mintues a sound reached their ears, timid feet climbing the stone steps outside the door, the white moon casting a long shadow through the broken doorway. Amraeen slammed harder into Leyjen, he was beyond caring, his entire world reduced to the magical being in his arms.

Leyjen was panting heavily, pulling himself up higher to free one arm from Amraeen’s shoulders, he reached his other hand towards the doorway.
Amraeen sank his fangs into the straining shoulder as Leyjen spoke the words of a glamour spell in breathy moans, the sentry entering and looking around the cottage.
A
mraeen swallowed two moutfuls of Leyjen’s blood, looking up and over his shoulder at the bewildered sentry he came so hard that he staggered forwards, Leyjen landing hard on his back on the bench, and the sentry jumped.
Leyjen did not falter, the chanting spell weaving in the air, hiding them from the sentry’s eyes, but Leyjen was too exhausted to do it very well, for the poor man was shaking, staring right at the pair where they slouched over the workbench.

He had heard a noise, a moaning and groaning, but there was nothing in the old cottage except for moonlight and dust dancing in the air, making a whole lot of racket, the old workbench under the window seemed to rattle slightly.

Leyjen and Amraeen smothered their laughter in the crooks of each other’s necks, as the sentry exited in a hurry, pale as a sheet, yelling that "it was nothing! Just a cat!" at his partner whom had waited outside.

Amraeen brushed a sweat soaked lock of Leyjen’s hair behind his ear, kissing him gently, easing out of him.

“I think I should leave now.” Amraeen whispered, fluttering kisses over the flushed face.

“No! Please don’t. Come to my room. You can never come to my room at the Temples, but here there is nothing to stop you. Unless you can’t get to your coffin in time. How do you get there anyway? All the way to Tharsiri?”

“I don’t. I use your mother’s tomb here. There are four coffins in there, put there by your father for just this purpose… Well, not exactly this, but… you know what I mean.”

“Then you have plenty of time to go before sunrise. Please. I want you to come to my room. Make love to me. Let me drink from you.”

“What about the girl?” Amraeen pulled away from Leyjen’s adoring fingers, suddenly back to his coldness, pulling his trousers up, tucking himself away.

“If she hasn’t left already, I’ll send her away.” Leyjen jumped up and dressed in a hurry, the fire gone from his eyes, his shoulders hunched in defense.

Amraeen looked at him out of the corner of his eye, his hand beginning to reach out to comfort the teen, when Leyjen sighed painfully,
“I’m sorry, Amraeen. I didn’t mean to be unfaithful to you. I guess I just didn’t think of it that way. It was just something new and different, with someone I’ve liked since I was a little boy. I’m sorry.”

Amraeen hesitated.

This was weakness, this was exactly what had made him push away others in his past, this was exactly what had forced him to go into hiding when he was sixteen.

This was Leyjen.

Amraeen pulled the teen into his arms, kissing away the tears that glittered on his high cheekbones, whispering back,
“I forgive you. You never gave me any sort of a promise. Until now. This is the past. From now on I am yours. For eternity, Ilithil.”

“Please. Don’t call me that.”

“Why not?”

“My mother called my father that. Just use my name.”

“Leyjen. Ilithilin serom baakhom, how’s that?”

“Perfect. I am yours, Amraeen, you know that.”

Amraeen didn’t answer.
He picked up his belt, offering Leyjen his hand, and lead the teen back to the castle, up the secret passages to his room, and quietly they undressed each other, sinking down on the empty bed.