Come to Me (2 page)

"I … I can fine them?"

"Yes," Sorin said, hating himself all over again for the shadows that filled Koray's face anew. Why did he always feel so inadequate where Koray was concerned? Goddess above, some days he did not know why Koray continued to put up with him. "Fine them for being disrespectful, for sowing disorder, for whatever you can think of, really. They've no business behaving that way. You should have told me sooner, told someone. I will drain their purses and toss them in the moat!"

Koray's frown deepened, his shoulders hunching, voice low as he said, "I've only spoken to Neikirk about it. I don't think he knows about the fines either. We … he and I are not like you and Cerant. Clearly everyone is aware of that."

Sorin leaned in to kiss the top of his head. "I'm sorry. I should be teaching you all of this instead of assuming you've learned it or will grasp it as we go along. Though honesty compels me to admit Cerant would be a better teacher. I'll speak with him."

"I do not care most of the time. I am slowly figuring all of this ruling a country business out," Koray replied, resting his head against Sorin's chest, fingers curling into his tunic. "I just wish they would stop reminding me they were far better and more experienced paramours."

Sorin laughed—grunted when that got him smacked. "More experienced, maybe, but you are better by far." Koray looked as though he wanted to believe that, but could not. Sorin brushed his mouth with a soft kiss. "I am furious with myself for having been oblivious to all this nonsense going on right in front of me, but I do not need to have been privy to it to know you have probably been oblivious to something."

Koray jabbed him again. "I have listened very carefully, My Lord High Paladin, to every word they speak. I could repeat every word back to you precisely as they were said to me. I've missed nothing."

Fighting a smile, warm fondness unfurling in his chest, Sorin replied, "Necromancer, you have probably been so focused on the lurid tales they are spinning, you've failed to notice that at least half of them are trying to
seduce
you. I will eat my tunic if I am mistaken. They have been telling you of their prowess to tempt you into their beds."

"That's stupid," Koray replied flatly, staring at Sorin's chest, cheeks still burning.

Sorin smiled at the top of his head, threaded his fingers through the hair at his nape, and gently tugged Koray's head back. "Stupid?  I assure you it is quite the opposite, or have you forgotten that you are the primary reason necromancers are coming to be respected rather than reviled? That you are the first High Necromancer the kingdom has ever known. Everyone regards you as fearless, mysterious, and every day I have to discipline or terrorize soldiers who discuss your beauty a little too lewdly and loudly for my taste." He kissed Koray again, nuzzled against him, smiled fondly as he drew back. "You call the High Paladin a nitwit twenty times a day, but he still comes running every time you crook a finger because he is utterly besotted. You're the only lover I've managed to keep longer than a month. Of course they want to seduce you. They want a taste of what has me so enthralled."

"You
are
a nitwit," Koray muttered, face as red as the apples he loved to eat. He looked away, then slowly dragged his eyes back up. "I don't actually think you're stupid, you know."

Grinning, Sorin replied, "You think I'm a spoiled brat, entirely too accustomed to being in charge, and prone to acting before thinking. None of which is untrue, especially where you're concerned." He waggled his eyebrows. "But I like when you call me stupid."

"Because you've been hit upside the head too many—" Koray grunted as Sorin cut him off with another hard kiss. Sorin made a soft, pleased noise when Koray bit his bottom lip and shifted his hands to cradle Koray's face, deepening the kiss, sucking on Koray's tongue, enjoying every moan fed to him, loving the way those long fingers clung tightly to his tunic, the way all of Koray's shyness melted away once he stopped overthinking.

Sorin let go of Koray's face to wrap his arms around him and hoist him up. Koray grumbled momentarily, but it turned into approval when he was drawn back into another kiss, digging his fingers into Sorin's hair as he enjoyed the new angle.

He scowled anew when Sorin dropped him on the bed, only slightly mollified when Sorin crawled on top of him—and glared when Sorin sat back on his heels. "Why are we stopping?"

Sorin gave a slow grin. "What stories
exactly
have been told to you? What have you been asking Neikirk about?" He laughed when Koray turned red again. "You'll tell him but not the one you should be
doing
those things with? If you wanted to do them, that is."

Koray dropped his gaze to Sorin's chest, barely relaxing his clenched jaw enough to speak. "I don't care if
he
laughs at me."

Smile slipping way, Sorin replied, "I would never laugh at you, least of all for not being well-versed in the sexual antics of a bunch of spoiled brats who have never known what it's like to be starved and beaten their entire lives. If there's something you want, all you have to do is say." He leaned down and held Koray's face between his hands again, kissed him softly. "I'd jump off a cliff for you."

"Because you're stupid," Koray said. "Why anyone made you High Paladin is beyond me. All that heart and strength isn't good for much if you're too empty-headed to know what to do with it all."

Sorin's grin returned. "Insulting me is not going to distract me from this conversation. What stories have they been telling you?"

"It doesn't matter," Koray muttered. "I don't want to do— I want to hear about this stuff from you, not them. I hate the way they smile and smirk as they tell me everything they've done with you. The way they pat my arm or shoulder like I'm a sad little kitten."

"They've been touching you?" Sorin was going to kill them all, because it was one thing to harass him with their licentious stories, but to
touch
him when it so clearly made Koray uncomfortable … "I'm going to remove every last one of their damned fingers—" He broke off as Koray covered his mouth with one hand.

"Stop it, My Lord High Paladin. Patting my arm and my shoulder all day is nowhere near the realm of the kind of touching you do."

"That is not why I was angry." Sorin held him fast and rolled them so that Koray was sprawled atop him, long braid spilling over one shoulder to coil beside Sorin's head. He skimmed his hands down Koray's body, cupped his ass, and leaned up to press a brief, firm kiss to that addicting mouth. "I think we're both unhappily aware my jealousy is my least appealing trait. I was miserably resigned, in the garden, to the fact that someone else had made you realize you could do much better than me."

"Be quiet."

Sorin kissed him again. "I'm still waiting for you to tell me what stories were whispered to you."

"I'm not telling you because now you're going to be insufferable," Koray retorted, sitting up and bracing his hands on Sorin's chest.

"Mm," Sorin agreed cheerfully. "I can start guessing if you're not going to tell me. Lord K was fond of faux phalluses, especially the one made of jade." Sorin's grin widened as Koray's face flushed, and he captured Koray's hands as he smacked Sorin's chest. "Lady L likes to put her men in silky garments. Lady K prefers being tied up."

Koray jerked his hands free and thumped Sorin's chest again. "I'm going to tie you up and—" He broke off, face going so bright a red Sorin half-expected it to burst into flame.

Sorin grabbed Koray tightly when he tried to squirm away and flipped them again, capturing his wrists and pinning them to the bed.

"Let me go," Koray hissed, twisting and jerking futilely.

Sorin smiled, slow and hot, body thrumming with heat at this unexpected revelation. "Not until we discuss how much you obviously like the idea of tying me up." It would not have been his first, or even tenth, guess if someone had asked. He did enjoy surprises on occasion.

"I'm not discussing anything," Koray snapped.

"Yes, you are," Sorin said. He shifted his hold to pin both wrists in one hand, skating the other hand down Koray's body to press the heel of it to where Koray's cock was pushing against the weight of his robes. His smile widened when that renewed the flush to Koray's cheeks, made his eyes go hazy for a moment. Bending, he licked across Koray's mouth, nibbled at his bottom lip. "You like the idea. Why can't you admit it."

"Because it's strange," Koray finally bit out. "I know what it's like to be bound. You did it to me, once, if you'll recall. There's nothing fun about it."

"In those circumstances, no," Sorin replied, finally letting him go, bracing his hands on either side of Koray's head, and pressing fluttering kisses across his face. "But you tying me up here is completely different. You must realize that because you obviously like
something
about the idea. You wouldn't be the first to want to do it." He smiled at the scowl that earned. "You would be the first I'd allow to do it."

Koray went still at those words, fingers clamping down where they'd just reached up to cling to his tunic again. "What are you talking about? At least three—"

"Liars, all of them," Sorin replied and gave him a sharp kiss before sitting up. He raised his hands, fanning the fingers out. "I'm a soldier, and would be a pretty useless one without my hands. I can take a lot of abuse, but I prefer to be wearing armor and such when I do it. There's never been a soul in this castle I trusted enough to bind me. Nobles in general tend to be pretty cavalier about such things. They don't use their hands the way most of us do. What do they care if their wrists hurt for a few days?" He smiled, warmed clear through, at the anger that flickered across Koray's face. "Nevermind that I am High Paladin and could be called to fight at any given moment. You do not know wrath until you've had to abandon someone right when matters are … involved. Trusting one of them to immediately cut me loose? Without getting angry or resentful? No. I have never trusted anyone in the castle—the kingdom—that much."

He bent and gave Koray a long, slow kiss, then drew away just enough to say, "Until a certain bratty necromancer inserted himself in my life. If you want to tie me up, necromancer, that can be arranged." He kissed Koray again, grunting at the hands that fisted in his hair and held him close as Koray returned the kiss with fervor, left his lips feeling sore and well-used. "Another day, however, since I do not have the right bindings and I'm impatient to have you."

"You're impatient?" Koray groused, and honestly, the way his face seemed to have gone permanently red was more endearing than Sorin would
ever
tell him. "I'm the one who has been hearing these stories for days on end while you gallivant about the castle with your soldiers or race off to do battle and save demons."

Sorin laughed and gave another quick, biting kiss before climbing off him to undress. "I like when you get impatient."

"You like when I do anything," Koray retorted.

"Yes," Sorin agreed, smiling, casting his tunic aside before making quick work of the rest of his clothes while Koray did the same. He watched avidly as Koray unbound his hair and combed the heavy strands loose. "Though I think your hair is my real weakness. If you ever cut it, I shall cry endlessly for weeks."

Koray lifted his eyes to the ceiling. "As much as I like to see you suffer, paladin, I would never be that cruel. Even if I wanted to cut it, I do not think I'd be able to bring myself to do so."

Sorin's smile faded off. "You know—" He narrowed his eyes when Koray's fingers clapped over his mouth.

"Stop it," Koray said. "The matter is over. You have never said nor done anything that made me feel as though I had no choice. Stop dredging the matter up. If I ever want to cut my hair, I shall." He let his fingers fall away, eyes skittering off to stare at the wall. "I like that you like it. No one ever has—not like that. It's— I don't want to cut my hair. Now come to bed, paladin. I've had enough of all this confounded talking, and it's only a matter of time before a crisis draws us away again."

"Yes, My Lord High Necromancer." Sorin climbed into bed, pushed Koray into the blankets, and buried his hands in all that beautiful hair. He put his mouth to that long, fine throat, sucking up marks on soft, warm skin, spurred on by the way Koray shivered against him. "I swear if I ever again have to go a fortnight without doing more than kissing you I shall do something drastic."

Koray huffed, but the unimpressed expression he attempted failed beneath a pleased, boyish smile. "Less talking, or
I'll
do something drastic."

Letting go of Koray's hair, Sorin smoothed his hands along Koray's body, enjoying the fat and muscle that had filled him out, a far cry from the bonier, half-starved man Sorin had first met. Koray would always be lean and trim, sharp edges to go with his sharp tongue, but he was no longer unhealthy. Sorin dragged his tongue over one of Koray's nipples, then trailed lazy kisses across Koray's chest to worry the other nipple with his teeth. That provoked Koray to drag his wicked nails down Sorin's sides, which in turn just drove Sorin to tease harder, until Koray gave a stuttered gasp and tried to rut against him.

Sorin looked up, smiling as the flush on Koray's face slowly worked its way down his neck, at the lust-hazed look in his eyes. Bending back to his oh-so-pleasant task, he peppered wet, sucking kisses down Koray's body until he reached Koray's cock. Pulling back, he fisted it loosely, stroked it just enough to tease but not enough to satisfy. Koray moaned, snarled, writhed on the bed, hands flailing to smack any part of Sorin he could reach. "Paladin!"

Releasing his cock, Sorin shifted again, leaning down to run his mouth over the scars that covered Koray's body from shoulder to sharp hipbones. When Koray was swearing, panting, trembling with want, he drew back and flipped him over. Koray snarled, and Sorin smothered his own laughter in Koray's beautiful hair. When his urge to laugh had calmed, he swept Koray's hair out of the way to trail his mouth down Koray's spine, alternating sucking kisses with sharp bites. "I hate you," Koray gasped out, fingers twisting in the sheets, tremors running through him.