For Lord and Land

For Lord and Land
By: Delilah deSora
Part 2
Chapter 3

**

What a strange world I have been brought into! Power runs through my veins but I do not fully understand it. If only the Leviathan would have told me of all that taking his power would mean. But no, I will not mar such a gift by wishing for more. I am content to know that I have finally broken the chains of madness that held my love prisoner.

I know . . . I know that I can no longer return home but that also is a pain I am willing to endure. I am dead to my family. When my lifeblood fell upon the ocean the prince in me died. I have no ties now to my father’s kingdom though I still love my people dearly. I hope they will understand. I have never had a selfish moment in my life; surely they will forgive me this one.

I do not know what the future holds or what the consequences of my actions will be but I do not care. For right now Saraes and I are together. I can see his dreams for his own people in his eyes and I know that I did the right thing. He will be a strong Emperor. He will be a good one. Under his leadership his people will thrive and become strong. He will heal the harm his father did.

There may be a terrible price to pay for taking the Leviathan’s power in the future but I don’t care. I have already paid for my right to be at Saraes’s side with my blood and my life. What more could be asked of me? What can fate concoct that I can not stand against?

Nothing.

I do not know what the future holds. I do not care. All I know is this simple, happy time. I look forward to facing the long days ahead with my Emperor strong at my side.

-Milya Llyr
year 22 (by the new Ardae reckoning)


**

Dante sighed and quietly closed the ancient journal, settling it in his lap as he stared across the room to the slumbering form in his bed. Ardel lay buried under a pile of blankets only his long red hair peeking out from the nest of comfort. Dante looked back at the journal in his lap, his fingers tracing invisible patterns on its cover.

“And what if you knew what your decision meant for your descendants, Milya?” He whispered to the silent book, “Would you still have begged your brother to spill your blood for the Leviathan?”

“Are you angry with him?”

Dante started and looked up. Ardel’s back was to him but there had been no sleep in his voice. “I don’t know,” Dante replied truthfully, “I admire his devotion to Emperor Saraes but . . . that was his decision to make. Why should the rest of us be bound to it?”

Ardel shifted and rolled over. “Have you read Cassan’s first Leviathan’s journal yet?”

Dante shook his head negatively. “No.”

“It should be interesting. Cassan was the first of my line to be herald as a god. His father before him died of the madness. Saraes was his grandfather. He was worried because all the Aidan’s before him died in such a manner. Eventually he too began to fall into insanity and he ordered his own guard to take his life if he ever began to act against the interests of Ardae.

\"Fortunately it didn’t come to that for one of his pleasure slaves turned out to be one of Milya’s great-nephews and heir to the Leviathan\'s power. Together the two of them began to study the strange circumstances that seemed to bind them together. He had a truly great mind and it is through his own discoveries that much of what we know about the curse of the dragon\'s blood and the Leviathans. He even coined the term “Leviathan” after reading Milya’s journals. He urged his Leviathan to keep his own journal, to help those that would come after him deal with their new lives. He ordered that no Emperor was to read them for they were to be between Leviathans only.

“When he had sired two sons he feared for them and his Leviathan agreed to be bred. To his surprise the blood of the Leviathan did not pass from father to son, like our own power. To this day we still don’t know how it decides which Llyr to awaken in. It has been suggested that the Leviathan protectorate itself decides which Llyr would be best suited to serving the current Emperor. I do not know how much stock I put in that but it was a theory my father favored.”

Dante frowned. “You say you have never read these journals, then?”

Ardel shook his head. “No. No Emperor after Cassan has touched them. A few have been read chapters from them by their own Leviathans but we are forbidden from taking the information if it is not offered first.”

“But what if you need to know something?” Dante asked.

“Then we ask. It is not the information contained within them that we do not wish to transgress upon. It is the emotion. The thoughts that we wish to respect. There are some things that can only be shared by people who are suffering the same. Cassan was also worried that if we were allowed to read them the Leviathans would be afraid to put down their true thoughts and feelings. He thought it would be detrimental if that were to occur for future Leviathans would read the journals but not be able to connect with them for they would not express the fears that a new Leviathan must experience.”

“That was very wise of him.”

Ardel smiled wistfully. “He was a very wise man.”

Dante paged through the journal. “But how have they managed to stay in such good condition? This journal is over two thousand years old yet no pages are falling out and the prints has not faded.”

“It is not the original. All of Milya’s and River’s, Cassan\'s first Leviathan\'s, first two journals had to be restored. The rest of River’s journals had been written on a special paper that is resistant to time and all the other journals since then have been written on the same paper. You have a pile of it on your desk. When you have enough pages filled they will be taken and bound, far tighter than any other book produced anywhere in the world with the exception of the Emperor\'s own journals which are the same as yours.”

“How did you know Milya’s journals had been rewritten if you were not allowed to read them?” Dante inquired.

“I read about it. There are a few journals written by my ancestors that the heir must read before he becomes the Emperor. Saraes’s, Cassan’s, and others. I also had to read my own father’s journals so that I knew what had occurred during his reign and his impressions of those around him, though . . . I did not read his personal diaries, just his \"public\" ones.”

“Why not?” Dante asked.

Ardel shifted and looked away, his green eyes distant. “I was supposed to have done so after his death but . . . I find it too painful to do so.”

Dante turned his eyes towards the pool, taking solace in the still water. “I understand. I cannot imagine what it must be like to lose a father. I know that the Emperor take no Empress. That his heirs are from unions with consorts who then lose all rights to the child. It must have been hard, then, to lose the only parent you had.”

Ardel smiled sadly. “It was not so bad,” he whispered, “my world turned upside-down in a day. Things were happening so fast I did not have time to mourn my loss.”

“Perhaps,” Dante ventured, “you should read that diary now. I imagine it would help remind you of the good in your father.”

A strange darkness crossed Ardel’s face. “It is not the reminder of my father that I fear.”

“I don’t understand.” Dante said, leaning forward.

Ardel suddenly flung the cs ofs off of him and sat up. He wobbled when he tried to stand but caught himself before Dante could comment on the sudden weakness. “It is nothing.” Ardel said stiffly, gathering his scattered robes. “It must be late. I should be getting ready for court.”

Dante rose and captured the thin form in his arms, urging him back to bed. “Its early yet,” he statgestgesturing to the skylight, “see? The sun has only just risen and, unless things have changed since my last duty as palace guard, court won’t start until half the day has already been wiled away.”

Ardel sighed and relented, letting himself be urged back onto the large mattress.

“I am sorry if I upset you, my words were not meant to.” Dante murmured, turning to return to his seat at the desk.

A hand caught his robe, pulling him to a stop. It tugged him back and he froze.

Ardel laughed softly. “Surely you aren’t shy? I don’t recall such a flush on your cheeks when you were having your way with me last night.”

If there had been only a hint of color on his cheeks before Dante knew it must be a deep crimson by now. His hands fisted as he bit back the desire and humiliation that flooded through him at the Emperor’s words.

“I am sorry, my lord,” he said through clenched teeth, “it was wrong of me to do such things.”

He heard Ardel shift behind him, never loosening his grip on the back of the robe. “As I recall it was I who was urging you to do them. Did you not warn me that I was pushing your control?”

Dante shrugged. “It was wrong. I should not have lost control. It will never happen again, my lord.”

He stiffened as an arm snaked about his waist and another slid over his shoulder, pulling him back. Lips touched his neck and long red hair brushed the top of his chest, telling him that Ardel must have been kneeling on the bed to obtain such a height advantage over him. He bit back the groan that threatened to escape as a quick tongue flickered against the sensitive skin.

“I hope,” Ardel murmured against his throat between licks, “to prove you a liar, Leviathan.”

Dante didn’t have a chance to wonder at that for he suddenly found himself jerked backwards onto the bed. Before he could push himself up the Emperor flopped down onto him, driving the breath from his lungs. A lazy smile played over the pink lips as long fingers began picking at the ties that held his robe closed. Suddenly Ardel paused, his green eyes gone suspicious as he stared up.

“Perhaps,” the Emperor asked, tapping his lips thoughtfully, “I was mistaken in thinking you enjoyed your role last night? But no,” he mused, his eyes narrowing, “I think it was one you relished. It was certainly one you’ve played before or else you are a most talented man!”

The blush that had finally fled his cheeks returned and Dante turned his face away. “Yes,” he admitted, “it was a role I’ve played before.”

The lazy smiled returned to Ardel’s face. “And you enjoyed?”

Dante didn’t trust his voice so he nodded instead.

“Well then, I must admit, I am at a loss as to why you seem sorry for it. Hmm. Perhaps I shall tell you a secret?”

Dante gasped as Ardel crawled up his body, his lips carressing ear as he whispered. “I loved it.”

Ardel giggled at Dante’s groan and subtle shifting as certain parts of his body began to awaken. “But,” Ardel continued, pulling back to play with the black hair, “you say it was wrong. However, I was the one to push you into it. You apologized but I think perhaps that I am the one who should apologize for stripping your of your sensibilities,” those green eyes turned mischievous and Dante eyed the man above him suspiciously, “Therefore, when I get back, I must insist on receivjustjust punishment!”

Dante could only stare as a deep kiss was pressed to his lips before Ardel gave him what he could only describe as an evil grin and practically skipped from the room.

**

His mother’s words ran circles in his head, stealing any sleep Cian may have been entitled to, so he found himself wandering the halls of his family’s home night after night like some ghost that had lost its way. That day had seen his brother entombed in the family crypt and the images of the ceremony still harrassed him as the roar of the ocean berated him, the smell of the sea assaulted his senses, and the sound of his family sleeping troubled sleep accused him of his lie.

No, he amended as he leaned against the balcony rail, Dorjan’s lie.

He shuddered. One of the lessons given to him by his order was how to concoct a lie. “Use as much truth as you can.” Had been the overriding message. “Don’t use a blatant falsehood, for it will only fail you. You must have some truth for people will not think to look past it to see the lie.”

How much of the tale he had been ordered to give was truth?

His mother’s tale of Llyrs burned to feed the Emperor rang so loudly in his ears he clutched his head with his hands, trying to keep those words from his mind.

“Cian?”

A hand touched his shoulder and he jerked away, knocking the other man back. He cursed under his breath when he recognized the long dark hair and wide eyes that stared up at him from the floor.

“My apologies, Sibley. You startled me.”

He helped the thin man up from where he had fallen. He was struck by the delicate hand in his with its long thin fingers that looked like they would break with the slightest pressure. He released the hand quickly, turning from his brother’s lover’s too sharp eyes.

“What are you doing up?” Cian asked, his voice perhaps sharper than was polite, “It’s late.”

If the scholar took any offense at his words he was too well bred to let it show. Instead he came to stand next to him, his bare arms crossing on the thin rail and his depthless eyes staring out over the night sea.

“I could not sleep.” His replied, his voice soft. “My mind is troubled and it disturbs my dreams so that I would rather stand here than be back in my bed. The same, I imagine, as you.”

Cian laughed humorlessly. “We are like two widows waiting for our sailor husbands to return even though they are years overdue.”

Sibley shrugged. “Someone must keep watch for how else would our loved one know where to return to?”

Cian shivered and remained silent.

They stood together, both lost in their own thoughts as they stared over the black sea. Wind blew from the land, beginning its long journey out to sea. Cian’s sharp eyes could make out the night birds circling down on the beach, hunting for the fish and other sea life that came ashore at night to lay their eggs. His eyes fell upon a pair of shadows entwined on the sand. He didn’t need to look at Sibley to know the man was watching the lovers as well.

“I’m sorry.” He murmured, knowing it would do no good to ease the scholar’s pain.

Sibley inclined his head ever so slightly in acknowledgement.

“What will you do now?” Cian asked.

“I do not know. Perhaps I will leave this place. It seems . . . empty of late.”

“My father would provide you with anything you would need. You would always have a room here and I am sure my father would always find a job for you.”

A very small smile touched Sibley’s lips. “He does hate the paperwork that comes with a job such as his, doesn’t he?”

Cian nodded. “It is not just that. You have ever been like a third son to him.”

Sibley sighed and shook his head. “Perhaps it would be best,” he murmured, “There is too much pain here and I know my presence will only remind your father of what he has lost.”

“Where would you go?”

Sibley’s eyes took a strange glint for a moment. “I do not know. Ardae perhaps.”

Cian stiffened. “Ardae?”

The scholar nodded. “I was thinking to soothe my pain by tracing Dante’s steps. He used to send me letters trying to explain it all to me but there were things that I think must been seen before they are truly understood. Perhaps I will see the red lands and walk the halls of the palace, just to try to reclaim some of what has been lost.”

“The knighthood employs scholars to help keep records but Dante always refused to send along the offers to you. He always said you would hate Ardae. I never understood why the two of you separated. We have long speculated a fight but you two always met on good terms.”

Sibley lifted his shoulders in a shrug. “It was not a fight. Well,” he smiled slightly again, “it resulted in one but that was not the cause.”

“Then what was it?” Cian inquired, turning to eye the angular face of his brother’s lover.

“I had a vision. In it he was with another person. Someone who needed him more than I did.”

“So you just let him go?” Cian asked incredulously.

“We would be apart for a long period of time and it would have been unfair to deny him pleasure if it should come his way. Besides, my visions have never bwronwrong. He seemed happy in it and it just felt . . . right between him and the other.”

Cian snorted. “It would seem this vision of yours was wrong for I know for a fact he never took a lover while he was up there.”

Again Cian noticed that strange glint. It was one he had seen before, he realized. One that appeared when Sibley was eyeing reports that were missing some critical bit of information or when he was on the verge of solving a puzzle.

“I had another vision,” Sibley said softly.

“You did?”

“Tonight.”

Cian swallowed and tried to still his trembling hands. “Really?”

Sibley made an affirmative sound. “I do not pretend to understand why these things invade my sleep but I know they are not dreams for they leave me disoriented and frantic upon waking. This one was no different but I cannot fathom it for my visions have never been wrong before and now to have one possibly be wrong and another be wrong before it even came to me? Something doesn’t seem right.”

“What was it of?”

Sibley’s eyes slid to study him and Cian forced himself to remain calm in the face of their inquisition. “I saw him,” the scholar said, his eyes unfocusing slightly as the memory played out in his mind, “he was dressed in blue and gold. The other was with him, the lover I have seen before. The one who needed him. They were lying together and appeared to me as Fire and Water incarnate. As I watched his fire lover left him, flickering easily from the stone room but Dante could not leave. As water is trapped in a stone fountain so to was he. All he could do was wait for the fire’s return and he was pained. Not by his lover but by his lonesome captivity. It made me weep.”

Cian’s hands clenched tightly on the iron railing, his eyes staring out at the sea as his brother’s lover\'s words danced through his head, merging with his mother’s tale and Dorjan’s lie. Sibley’s visions were erratic, sometimes showing exactly what was to happen but sometimes so entwined with metaphoric images one could scarcely tell what they were trying to portend until after the event had occurred.

Fire and water together. It was clear which stood for Dante but whereas Sibley couldn’t make out who was signified by fire Cian could well guess. The Emperor requires a particular Llyr. Is that not what he had been told? Was the Emperor not the fire god reborn?

And was the family crypt not made of stone? Stone from which a body robbed of life could never escape from?

Fire and Water lying together. Fire needing the Water.

“Flames . . . let me tell you of flames, Cian. Let me tell you of the rumors that fill the sleepless nights of a Llyr mother’s mind! Those the Emperor takes never return; this much we know is true. They say that the Llyr son is sacrificed to feed the fire god’s hunger. To give power to your beloved Emperor.”

Cian closed his eyes tightly, trying to deny his mother’s words as a cacophony of voices sounded in his head.

Sibley’s . . .

‘As I watched his fire lover left him, flickering easily from the stone room but Dante could not leave. As water is trapped in a stone pool so to was he. All he could do was wait for the fire’s return and he was pained.’


. . . his mother’s . . .

“So tell me, son of mine. Is it true? Did you stand there and watch as your brother was sacrificed?”

‘It made me weep.’

“Did you stand there? Did you hear his screams as they burned my son alive?”


. . . Dorjan’s . . .

‘Your brother is dead.’

. . . his teacher’s from long ago . . .

‘Remember, my knights to be, always weave truth into your lies. Never lie completely else your lie is destined to fail before it has even been given.’

‘He fell in . . . Fire.’

. . . and finally Dante’s high pitched voice as the eight year old stared up at him with the wide blue eyes of a child.

‘I’m not going to cry, Cian! I’m too old to cry. Besides, when I am bigger I’ll join the Knights too. Then we can go on all those adventures father told us about together!’

‘Protect him Cian. I know he is of age but he will always be a child to me. His head is full of fine ideas and he has not yet learned that he is mortal. Please put this poor mother’s mind to rest and promise you’ll keep on eye him and drag him out of any trouble he finds himself in.’

\'Cian?\'
\'What\'s going on? I hear shouting.\'
\'I have found him my lord. The one we’re looking for. The man that can breathe under water. The one that can control the ocean. The Llyr that the Emperor wishes to see.\'
\'Come on, Cian. I\'m not a Llyr.\'
\'Our mother is.\'

‘Your brother is dead.’

‘It made me weep.’

Tears ran freely down his face as it all became too much. With a sob Cian collapsed.

**

Dante couldn’t tell if he was relieved or disappointed when the Emperor returned, an annoyed look on his face and apparently obliviou his his earlier promise of punishment to be delivered. A horde of servants followed him and the two of them moved into his rooms to take lunch. He watched silently as Ardel tore a hunk of bread into smaller and smaller pieces, reducing it to a pile of crumbs barely fit for a mouse.

“Is something wrong?” He asked when it became apparent that Ardel was more than likely going to continue seething in silence.

Ardel made a disgusted sound and waved broadly in the air, a gesture that Dante was quickly beginning to recognize as a strange quirk of the Emperor’s personality. “It seems that a few provinces to the east are trying to return to their Ventae origins. There are rabble rousers in their councils whispering that they should take back their towns.”

Dante nodded. He had heard similar things of late in the halls of the fortress. “What are you going to do?”

“Go there, of course. The problem is that they think they are too far from my influence. Too far for me to hear their plans. I intend to prove that they are not too far from me by bringing myself to them. We shall see how loud they whisper while I am in their halls and watching their council.”
Da
Dante stiffened. “Go there?” he asked, “but . . . it takes a man nearly a week to get there at a hard ride. Surely it will take an entourage even longer.”

Ardel waved his hand again, signaling that he saw nothing amiss. “Much longer I would think. The wind season is picking up and we will be traveling straight into it.”

“How long will you stay?”

“I don’t know. Probably a few weeks. Long enough to make my presence known but not so long that it appears I am giving them special attention. I want them to know that my reach is long but I don’t want them to feel so threatened for their folly that they see their only recourse being a return to their old land.\"

“So you will be gone a month, perhaps more. Will you be alright? I know that the fires have abated but for how long? I have been reading and I know they return if not subdued regularly. If Emperors who have been cured for years can barely make such trips how will you?”

Ardel frowned, the silver sticks he used for eating poking at the food on his plate. “I do not know.” He admitted. “But there is nothing that can be done. I do not know how the knowledge of Kaze’s death is going to be received in Ventae. He was a son of their ruling family, though it no longer rules. Perhaps nothing will come of it or perhaps his people will rally against the man who killed one of their beloved princes. The Ventae don’t like me as it is for what my father did to their land in his own madness. If the salt and fowl in those provinces weren’t so important to our economy I would send someone else but they are important. Without the salt we couldn’t send meats to the areas that cannot support their own livestock. Without the foul we would have to turn Aquilae’s birds for their precious feathers. You of all people should know how your people feel about us coming in and slaughtering their birds. My hands are tied in this matter.”

Dante sighed and tapped his plate with his stick. “If only I could come with you.”

Ardel smiled. “Bored here already? Besides, as I recall that’s against the rules.”

Dante snorted. “You’re the Emperor. You make the rules don’t you? Surely there is something you can do! And of course I’m bored. There’s nothing for me to do! I’m used to traveling the length of the land! I’m used to always being on alert for danger! Sitting around here staring at old books and wondering when I’ll finally hear another human voice is driving me insane!”

Ardel’s eyes narrowed and Dante snapped his mouth shut, feeling foolish for losing his temper. The silver stick fell from the Emperor’s hand and Dante watched in trepidation as he stood and moved towards him. Long fingers tilted his face upwards and brushed his long hair from his eyes.

“My lord?” He asked, glad to have kept the quiver from his voice as the heat from Ardel’s body flowed over his.

“Your eyes,” Ardel murmured as his long fingers tracing the corners of his eyes, making Dante shiver, “they turn a strange grey when you are angry. Like a blue sky gone dark right before a thunderstorm.”

Dante flushed, unsure of how to answer such a comment.

Ardel dipped his head until their lips were but a breath apart. “I like it. It makes me nervous, though I don’t fear you any longer.” He whispered before closing the distance.

Dante couldn’t resist reaching up to clasp his hands about Ardel’s thin waist as the Emperor’s tongue teased his mouth. Ardel answered the movement by gathering his robes and coming up to kneel on the chair, a knee on either side of Dante’s thighs. It put his face lower than Dante’s and Dante suddenly found himself in control of the kiss as he leaned down into it, pressing Ardel back.

Ardel tore away from his lips, panting for breath. His lips were swollen and his eyes wide. Again the thin fingers came up to trace his eyes. “And now,” Ardel whispered, “now they are the deep blue of an ocean scene. Bottomless and vast. Will you let yourself go, Dante? Will you give me what I need? You know what I need, don’t you? What I desire?”

Dante nodded, pressing the delicate body against his. “Yes.”

“Tell me,” Ardel breathed, kissing the skin beneath his ear, “tell me what I need.”

A growl escaped him and his hands tightened, drawing a mew from the man in his lap. “To give up control. To be taken.”

Ardel laughed, the soft sound of wind in grass. “Yes. Everyone treats me like an idol. Like a creature that can only be stared at, never touched. I’m not a god, Dante. I am just a man. Show me. Drag me down from that pedestal that everyone places me on. Show me that I am human. Teach me what it is like to know someone trustworthy. You are trustworthy, aren’t you?”

Dante laughed. “Yes. If I were to betray you I would have sided with Kaze.”

Ardel nodded. “Then teach me. Teach me what it is like to be at the mercy of a higher power. Teach me this so I know what it is like, so I know what those who scramble to do as I say all day feel like. Teach me so I don’t lose sight of what I am. Teach me so I don’t start believe their nonsense about me being a god.”

“Teach you humility, you mean?” Dante asked teasingly.

Ardel pulled back, his green eyes full of forbidden desire. “Oh yes! Teach me that above all else!”

Dante experienced a resurgence of hesitation, of fear that this was wrong somehow. But Ardel’s words rang true in his mind. After all, who else would dare teach a god humility? Who better to teach a dragon to kneel than a leviathan?

He smiled and captured the back of the Emperor’s neck, drawing him forward roughly into a new kiss. Ardel practically dissolved into his ministrations, opening his mouth obediently to Dante’s invading tongue and mewing at the feel of Dante’s other hand coming down to cup the swell of his buttocks and rock his hips forward.

Finally Dante let him pull away, smiling down darkly at the pale form that peered up at him through loose red hair. He longed to ravish the fae creature in his lap but there was something that he needed to make clear. Something that couldn’t wait any longer. He caught the Emperor’s chin, tilting it up to make sure he had Ardel’s complete attention.

“If you every want to stop what we’re doing . . .”

Ardel reached up and silenced him with a finger and a smile. “I know.”

Dante returned the smile and captured Ardel’s hand in his own, pressing a kiss to the thin wrist. “Well then, it shall be as you wish . . . my lord.”

Ardel gasped as he was suddenly flung over Dante’s lap, his long red hair brushing the floor as his wrists were captured in one of his Leviathan’s large hands. He wriggled until his wristse pue pulled up higher on his back, forestalling any other movement. Robbed of any escape he lay still, staring at the stone floor and amazed how arousing the position was.

A sharp slap came, the leather of his pants absorbing the bite of the blow but still leaving enough force that he was rocked against his Leviathan’s firm thigh and sending a flush of humiliation to his cheeks.

“I do recall there being an issue of an apology.” Dante said, rearranging the over robe Ardel wore so that it wouldn’t fall where it would interfere.

Ardel grunted as a second blow came. “Apology?” he gasped out, “Emperors don’t apologize!”

Dante made a neutral sound and coaxed a cry out of the trapped Emperor as he repeatedly struck Ardel’s exposed ass. He could clearly feel Ardel’s arousal digging into his leg and it didn’t escape his attention that his lover’s legs were creeping father and farther apart as his breath became the labored pants of a man on edge.

With a wicked grin he ceased the spanking. Ardel’s head hung heavily as his shoulders heaved in the need for breath. Dante rested his hand on the waist of the leather pants, slowly drawing it down the center seam. Ardel cried out and writhed on his lap. He tsked and punished the man with another sharp slap, this one harder than the others. Ardel froze.

“None of that, now.” Dante chided. “Its too late to pretend you don’t like now, slut.”

Dante winced as the term slipped past his lips. He hadn’t meant to use it but to his surprise Ardel groaned and unconsciously rocked against him. His face smoothed into another grin. Apparently he’d found another man who liked being “talked” to during sex.

“Did you like that, hmm?” He asked, his hand continuing its journey down between the parted legs, “Do you like being reminded of what you look like spread like this?”

Ardel lay silent and Dante sighed, lifting his hand to deliver another sharp slap. That got a choked cry. “Well?” He demanded.

“Yessss!” Ardel hissed at him.

Dante laughed and brought his hand back to the juncture of the Emperor’s thighs, fondling the swollen balls nestled there beneath the leather. “Better.” He murmured as Ardel sobbed and tried to push back against his hand but failing without any leverage.

“I wonder,” he whispered, releasing the treasure and moving back up to rub the abused muscles, “how many spanks do you think it would take to make you come, Ardel?”

He felt the shudder that ran through the body on his lap. “Please don’t,” Ardel whispered, “Please don’t make me come like this.”

“Oh? And why not? I can tell you like it.”

A second tremble flowed through the body as Dante continued stroking the area he had struck only moments before.

“Because,” Ardel paused and Dante saw him lick his lips, “I want to feel you . . .” He fell silent.

Dante laughed. “You want me to fuck you? Is that it?”

Ardel closed his eyes and nodded. Dante peppered the trapped body with a few more spanks, just to amuse himself before finally releasing the thin wrists. “Strip and on the bed.” He ordered, leaning back in his chair as Ardel practically fell off his lap. He was relieved to see the green eyes still dark with desire and when Ardel removed the pants his cock was firm, it\'s tip glistening.

Dante watched as Ardel climbed up onto the bed. “Lie on your back and spread your legs.” He ordered.

There was no hesitation in the pale body as Ardel complied, drawing his knees up and out so Dante had a perfect view of the weeping member and dark entrance below it. Dante’s voice was deep and breathless as he gave his next order.

“Touch yourself.”

Ardel reached up to pull a long red lock of hair over his shoulder and stroked his fingers through it. He turned his face into the trapped lock and rubbed his cheek against it. Green eyes opened slightly to gage Dante’s reaction as he captured first one and then a second finger in his mouth and suckled on them. The wet fingers sld ovd over Ardel’s bottom lip to trace down his throat as he released the trapped hair. It slid away to join the rest of Ardel’s mane. The fingers slid away from his shoulders where they had mapped out the sharp ridge of his collarbone to trace around a pale pink nipple, the same color has his lips. The fingers danced around it for a moment and Ardel’s breathing suddenly sharpened. Dante was painfully aware of the hand running along Ardel’s right thigh but not touching the straining member.

The two fingers had converged on Ardel’s pert nipple, pinching hard enough to draw a keen of pleasure from the swollen mouth. The cry was pure ecstasy as the Emperor arched up into his own touch. After a few flicks from sharp fingernails the hand moved to torment its twin. For a moment Dante was captured by green eyes turned fevered before the fingers, which seemed to move of their own accord, repeated their torment.

Ardel thrashed for a moment, red hair slipping down to cover the tormented nipple and Dante nearly cursed as a shudder of pleasure ripped through the Emperor’s pale body and made his cock throb with the urge to take the man. He sat up a bit straighter, forcing his hands to grip the chair as Ardel began to torment his navel. Each finger took a turn to dip into the depression in a blatant parody of lovemaking before fanning over his thighs. Between the two hands Ardel’s member was hard and high.

“Dante . . .” Ardel breathed, green eyes begging.

Dante had to swallow twice before he found his voice. “Go on.”

There was no hesitation as Ardel’s left hand closed around the shaft and began feathering touches over it. He keened again, forced to use his right hand to keep from thrashing off the pile of pillows holding him up. He palmed the head of his penis and drew his hand down in a fist strongly against the rapidly coloring staff. In its wake was left a trail of wetness. The hand reached the bottom of the cock and fingers splayed to slip between and then grip the sacs that hung underneath.

Dante groaned and couldn’t stop himself from gripping his own erection. His lover licked dry lips and Ardel’s sharp eyes watched him closely. The hand backed up fisting tightly about the cock and pumping firmly twice. The legs widened, pressing themselves against the mattress on either side giving him a clear view of shaft, balls, and, most tantalizing of all, the Emperor’s entrance.

Ardel had obviously gone beyond the need for light teasing touches for he was violently thrusting himself up into his fist, his right hand braced against the mattress. “Da . . . Dante . . e pae panted.

“Do it.” Dante barked watching as the man thrust twice more before a shriek was torn out of him and he violently lurched upwards. His left hand ruthlessly milked the twitching flesh, as the Emperor thrashed back and forth. Finally the man collapsed back down, hand moving slowly over the trapped cock. His eyes were closed and red hair was damp with sweat.

Dante was speechless.

After a few moments Ardel opened his eyes and sought him out. They settled on him before moving lower to fix on his current state. A frown tugged at unmarred skin between thin red eyebrows.

“Dante?”

“I didn’t know you were left handed.” Dante replied, ignoring the blantant question.

Green eyes widened and Ardel suddenly choked on laughter. Pushing himself up he brushed absently at the white trail on his chest and stomach with a corner of the sheet before swaying over towards him and dropping down onto his knees between Dante’s knees. “You are either a strange man if that’s the first thing on your mind in your state or I am not as pleasing to look at as everyone says.”

Dante shook his head and gave in to the urge to bury his hands into that long hair. It was smooth and warm and he tangled it in his hands, careful not to harm any of the precious strands. His grip forced the Emperor’s face to tilt upwards. Leaning down he pressed his rough lips against the soft yielding ones beneath him. He thrust his tongue deep inside, thrilling at the warmth and wetness he found there. Pulling back he smiled and lessened his hold on the man. Ardel immediately leaned forward, parting his robe with impatient hands and slipping his cock into that warmth. Dante threw his head back and tried desperately not to tighten his hold.

His lover seemed to sense what he needed and began thrusting his cock deeper down his throat and then pulling back to suck hard on the head. After a few moments of this Dante pushed the smaller man back, making him blink in surprise. Standing quickly Dante tried to regain his control, but the fey creature kneeling beneath him with all that lovely red hair falling around his shoulders wasn’t helping.

“Sorry but we need to stop for a moment before I choke you.” He said, walking a few steps towards the bed to try to calm himself.

He heard a slight “Ah” from behind him before he was shoved onto the bed.

“What the . . .” He rolled and found himself straddled by the pale boy. Red hair fell around him like some exotic waterfall, shutting him off from anything that wasn’t Ardel. “What are you doing?” He asked.

The man above him gave him a disbelieving look before he reached back and Dante groaned in spite of himself as he was manhandled. He felt his cock lifted and then something deliciously hot was pressed over its head. He thrust up before he even realized what had happened. Ardel’s breath left his body in a shudder and Dante froze, half buried inside the man.

He suddenly chuckled. “You little demon!” He exclaimed, “I thought I was supposed to be in control.”

Ardel gave him a slitglarglare. “Only when you’re fit for it. Beside, you promised to fuck me.”

Dante opened his mouth to reply but Ardel cut him off by lunging back and down. His eyes went wide as his own breath was driven out of his body by his lover’s action. He grasped the thin arms on either side of his waist. He could feel the muscles there trembling.

“Ardel?”

The man tossed his head to clear them of all the hair and the two stared at each other for a minute. A scarlet tongue painted the pink lips. “I don’t think I have the strength to hold myself up. We should roll over.”

“Ah.” Pulling the man down against his chest, Dante gathered Ardel into his arms like a precious treasure before changing positions, careful not to pinch any of the red hair between them. He felt himself pull and slid inside of the smaller body and by the time he had gotten the boy in a position he liked the cock between them was hard and Ardel was trying to push him in deeper.

Gritting his teeth he leaned forward, placing a hand on either side of his lover’s head and braced himself. Green eyes stared up at him. “Fuck me, Dante.”

Dante’s blue eyes widened as three words snapped his control and he drove himself hard into the body beneath him. Ardel groaned, arching his back and smashing his arousal between their stomachs. Ardel felt unlike anyone Dante had ever felt before. He was incredibly tight but very easy to penetrate. Dante wondered idly if it was his own power that helped ease his entrance. Ardel did something with his hips and all thought was forced from Dante’s mind but the instinct to rut.

Occasionally a keen would form into a word and Dante would find his efforts redoubling as his lover begged for more stimulation. Sweat poured from his body to drip onto the writhing form beneath him. He knew his hands were going to leave bruises but he was mad with pleasure and he wanted the man under him.

After what seemed like an eternity legs wrapped around his waist, shoving him as deep as he could get into Ardel as the man arched and all sound left him. Something wet and warm traced over his chest and stomach but Dante was only vaguely aware of it over the feeling of his cock trapped deep within hot tunnel. His lips were sealed with Ardel’s and with a snarl he was shoved over the edge, coming viciously. With ever new burst he shoved his hips harder against the boy beneath, getting a whimper that would encourage him to do it again. Finally his strength left him and he collapsed down onto the bed.

Never aware that in that final moment of passion he had uttered a different man\'s name against Ardel\'s lips.