“Is it hard to have someone with you all the time?” Kajja asked. “What if you just want to read quietly or…whatever?”
“Oh, we’re not together every minute of every day,” Lyla assured her. “We have our own time to do things, but I always start to miss her if I’m in our cell alone for too long.”
Piret smiled at that.
“Not us. We do everything together,” Kass said brightly, digging an elbow into Hen’s ribs.
Hen swatted at him playfully, gaze still raking the passing clumps of workers, revelers, and householders in the street.
“Don’t worry, he’ll relax once we get to the Lantern. Their security is even good enough for Hen,” Kass pretended to whisper loudly enough for all to hear.
“I will not,” Hen lied with a grin he couldn’t quite help. “Kajja, how are you feeling after the firewater?”
She quickly took a last sip and made a face that said it was living up to its name in her throat. “Ugh, yeah, I’m good. Nice and warm.”
“That’s all you want,” Lyla insisted.
“Oh! There it is!” Kajja bounced up on her toes, pointing at the huge, limewashed facade of the Red Lantern. Its balconies were small but ornate cast iron, one or two of them holding people in various states of inebriation or undress. Nothing lewd but certainly suggestive, as was the aesthetic at the Lantern. The doorway was painted in a bright red pigment, and the lantern that hung in the front hall was made of costly paper dyed a distinctive, bloody color. The light spilled outward, drawing pleasure-seekers from all over the street.
The moment they were recognized, their party was shuffled into one of the big, well-appointed, and cozy back rooms, which, Hendrik now realized, must’ve been the inspiration for Kass’s sex pillow fantasy. The room was strewn with cushions and couches of all shapes and sizes, complete with a small bar for serving firewater and other delicacies, and with just the right amount of incense burning to make it smell inviting without being intoxicating.
Hen watched Kajja to be sure she wasn’t overwhelmed, suddenly remembering the first time they’d come here with some of the other, older guards and their charges at about her age. Though still wide-eyed, Kajja looked as animated and curious as he’d ever seen her, her gaze roaming the expensive wallpaper and fine fabrics with something like delighted approval. Lyla pulled her over to one of the couches, whispering something into her ear that elicited intense attention from Kajja.
Someone grabbed Hen’s ass, distracting him momentarily. He should’ve expected the silky-smooth voice that said into his ear, “There’s my favorite soldier boy.”
Hen looked over his shoulder to see Jak, gloriously shirtless but wearing a silken scarf that had probably cost more than half the room’s furnishings put together. He already had an arm around Kass’s waist, and when Hen caught his gaze, Kass leaned in to nibble at Jak’s ear.
Hen’s blood began to heat. It was a wonder it hadn’t already, considering that Jak always knew when they were coming and always made it a point to greet them. The anticipation was generally enough to get Hendrik at least half-hard by the time he was through the door. “Jak. Looking gorgeous, as always.”
Jak raised his dark, delicate eyebrows and smirked. “I heard you were coming—and with someone special. Don’t worry, we’ve got a beautiful line-up for her: looks, brains, sensitivity, youthful vigor, they’ve got it all. She’ll find the perfect boy to entertain her for the afternoon.”
Hen nodded and glanced back at Kajja, who was being attended to by a beautiful young girl with impressive breasts; they seemed to hold Kajja’s attention as well as anything. Hm, she’d said she wanted a boy, but…
Nope, not his problem. He was just here to be the muscle; Piret and Lyla had the rest, and thank the burning stone for that.
“We’ve got something for you, Hen,” Kass said.
Hendrik returned his attention to the beautiful young men hanging on each other and apparently desperate for his attention. He cleared his throat and managed to say, “What’s that?”
Kass and Jak glanced at each other and laughed, then kissed, open-mouthed. Kass’s tongue darted between their lips then into Jak’s mouth, and Jak slipped two fingers beneath Kass’s tunic, tracing the seam of his hose. “Come with us and find out,” Kass said a little breathlessly, when the kiss broke off.
Hen glanced back at Kajja quickly. A few lithe, age-appropriate boys surrounded their couch now, introducing themselves as Lyla and Piret watched approvingly. Hen had seen a few of them around the place, but most were new faces.
Then again, they usually made a direct line for Jak’s room once they were in the door, so there was that.
Satisfied that Kajja was comfortable, Hendrik nodded and followed Jak and Kass into the hall again, pausing to ask that someone let him know if Kajja asked for him. This promise extracted from the staff, he allowed himself to be pulled up the stairs, down the plush, absurdly rich carpet of the hall, and into what Jak called his little paradise.
His room was festooned with brightly dyed fabrics, like the scarf around his neck, so their tunics and tabards and leathers and underthings thrown about it seemed to add to the aesthetic rather than detract from it. Jak, quickly divested of his billowy pants and, as usual, not prone to underthings, made himself free to help Kass lose his hose. And then they both began peeling Hen, who had only managed to rid himself of his sword belt and tabard by the time they were both completely naked.
There was a kind of rush that existed here, outside of time and the City itself. Surrounded by pleasure and beauty, cocooned in soft fabrics and the sensation of warm skin against his own, stone and mountain fell away. No guards or charge or Sees or inheritances, just the moment and all its possibilities. Hen closed his eyes as Kass pulled his shirt over his head and flung it, while Jak unlaced the front of his pants and slid his warm, strong hand down the front of them to cup Hen’s prick. Hendrik swallowed a moan; Jak let out a hungry one, rubbing the length of him through his underclothes. “Think you can go twice, today?”
“I—not sure we’ll have time,” Hen muttered, hardly understanding the question.
Kass’s clever hands pulled Hen’s leather pants down over his ass. His hot lips met the back of Hen’s neck as he said, “Oh, he can go twice. At least.”
“Then it’s alright if the first one’s quick,” Jak said with a laugh, dropping the pants to the floor. He pulled at one of Hen’s boots, next.
“Hey.” But Hen chuckled, amused as always when the two of them started in on him. They were good together, Kass and Jak; they both wanted everyone around them to be as happy as they were. It was beautiful to watch them play, whether it was with him or each other.
Kass slid his hand into the back of Hen’s undershorts and cupped his ass, then squeezed, pressing his hard prick into the other one. “Mmm, you take as long or as short as you like to come the first time, Hen. But the second time…you gotta hold on until we’re done.”
“Done what?” Hen asked.
They laughed together at his happy confusion and finished peeling his layers quickly, gently, hot fingers and then hotter mouths kissing at the bare skin of his belly. They settled side by side in front of him, on their knees, Kass tonguing his navel, Jak’s hand sliding up his inner thigh and his lips working their way down to meet it. Their hair, Jak’s straight and shiny, Kass’s curly and feathery, brushed against his prick as it stood at attention, seeming to swell again with each touch of their fingers, lips, tongues.
As much as Hen liked to be the one on his knees, it made him dizzy when Kass got it in his head to toy with him. Absolutely, blisteringly, helplessly spinny. Jak might be a professional, but Kass knew every place to touch, every word to say, every little thing that could send Hen out of himself like that. And he was pulling it out right now, with Jak’s willing and ever-so-able help.
“Don’t move,” Kass said.
Hendrik tensed. His prick jumped in a way he could only see as comical in the moment. Ridiculous thing.
But Kass grinned up at him, then leaned his cheek into Hen’s dick, rubbing his soft, clean-shaven cheek against it. “I wish you could see yourself from down here, Hen. You’re fucking inspiring.”
Hen barked out a sudden laugh. “Sorry—” But actually, he wasn’t, because, “What?”
Kass’s grin was unstoppable, though. “I come up with the hottest ideas when I think about you, Hen. Just imagine how good my ideas get when I’ve got you where I want you.” He tilted his head, his pink tongue emerging to slide its way down the long shaft of Hen’s hard prick.
Jak gave a joyful laugh and went back to nibbling his way up the inside of Hen’s left thigh. Obediently, Hen parted his legs to allow better access.
