Hallowed Bond (Chronicles of Ylandre Book 2) (20 page)

“It took me years to recover from your treachery, Ambassador,” Dylen continued, his voice dripping with pain and scorn. “And now you think I can just set that aside and take you back as if my heart never broke and my soul didn’t wither from your denial of our friendship and your refusal to help
Adda
.” He smiled bitterly. “I think not.”

With a curt nod, he departed the balcony. Riodan listlessly turned around and, resting his elbows on the balustrade, buried his face in his hands. He wondered if he would ever manage to win Dylen’s friendship anew.

That would suffice. It would have to. He had forfeited his right to regain what had once been his alone and lost it for the least of reasons.

“Must I intervene, Rio?”

Startled, Riodan whirled about to find Rohyr at his side. The Ardan was regarding him with open compassion.

“I mean no offense, Rohyr, but why would you want to?” Riodan dully asked.

Rohyr’s eyes followed his brother as he made his way among the guests. “I wouldn’t bother if there was naught to work with,” he admitted. “But there
is
a spark of something and it’s high time Dylen knew some happiness.”

“I betrayed him,” Riodan raggedly said. “Wounded him terribly. He wants nothing to do with me.”

“So he claims,” Rohyr replied. “But, were that true, would he still keep the wristlet you gave him?” When Riodan responded with obvious disbelief, he added, “Beaten gold and woven leather with a heartstfire clasp.”

Riodan gaped at the accurate description. “You-you’ve seen it?”

The Ardan raised his left hand. “He never exposes his wrist when you are present.

What think you does he conceal from you?”

Hope flared in Riodan’s heart. But, a moment later, it dimmed, and he sighed and shook his head. “Dylen deserves far better than the likes of me,” he morosely said. “I let fear and ambition rule me and my choices.”

Rohyr shrugged. “An error in judgment.”

“An unforgivable one,” Riodan insisted. “It’s not a thing to take lightly.”

“It’s not,” Rohyr agreed. “But neither is it irredeemable. After all, are there any amongst us who have never made a like mistake?”

Riodan shrugged. “I would think you for one.”

Rohyr snorted. “You would think wrong. I allowed my choices to be dictated by what I thought was proper rather than what was right. Had I abided my own judgment I would have bound myself to Lassen long ago and not left the door open to a forced marriage that led me to shed the blood of my own kin.”

Riodan grimaced at the reminder of Rohyr’s first brush with matrimony. One that had nigh ended in disaster for king and country and led to death in the royal family.

“I didn’t fear the unrest that might have occurred had I wed him then,” Rohyr grimly admitted. “But I disliked having to deal with the unpleasantness I expected would follow.

And I thought that if I did my duty, it would ensure the peace and Ylandre would be safe.” His grey eyes glittered with pained remembrance.” Well, that certainly wasn’t how it turned out, was it? And the irony of it all is that Lassen had acquitted himself so well as my leman that few would have opposed his becoming my consort after all. Even amongst the nobility.” Rohyr sighed regretfully. “Think of the misery and rancor that could have been averted had I read the people’s sentiments correctly. Not to mention spared Uncle Imcael the grief of losing a son.”

The Ardan clapped an encouraging hand on Riodan’s shoulder. “You made a mistake, that’s true, but you can make amends for it. As for Dylen, he can claim all he wants that he no longer holds affection for you; his actions say otherwise. Fear rules him as well. But, as I said, it’s time he was happy. And you can make it so, Rio.
If
you are willing to fight for him.”

Riodan considered the suggestion. He turned his head to search for Dylen. Catching sight of his quarry at the other side of the hall, he regarded him for a long while. He looked back at Rohyr, his eyes agleam with renewed determination.

“I will fight for
us
.”

Chapter Sixteen

Lassen braced himself against the bath stall wall as Rohyr repeatedly drove into him from behind, filling his arse to the brim with every inward slide of his shaft. As if to further remind him of his ownership, Rohyr reached around and down between his legs to caress his thighs, smearing them with the semen that trickled out of Lassen’s sheath. A breath-stealing moment later he proceeded to stroke the delicate passage, his fingers easily sliding along and into the copiously lubricated opening.

Lassen gasped as the exquisite sensations mounted. But, just as he thought he would unravel, something dampened the sensual tension just enough to keep his impending orgasm from erupting. That sudden tempering intensified his need for release to an almost excruciating degree. Lassen wondered not for the last time at the way his inordinately gifted spouse could enter his consciousness and control his reaction to pleasuring and even delay the onset of sexual completion. Rohyr did not do it all the time but even once in a very long while was an experience of unparalleled bodily bliss.

“Roh, please!” he begged. “Finish this!”

“Not yet,” Rohyr demurred. “I want to stay in you a while longer.”

Lassen shakily chuckled. “You’ve been in me all night!”

Rohyr sealed his mouth to the side of Lassen’s throat and sucked hard on the sweet flesh. “Forgive me then,
ariad
, but nothing can compare with the bliss of being inside you. I find it addictive.”

Lassen cried out when Rohyr gripped his shaft and stroked it as well. The inability to come undone became even more acute.

Every thrust into him impelled his hips forward and drove his shaft into Rohyr’s possessive grip. And, all the while, Rohyr continued to finger him as well, tripling Lassen’s pleasure. In happy retaliation, Lassen pushed back as well as he could to take Rohyr’s shaft in as deeply as possible, deliberately clenching his muscles around the hard flesh to caress it from within.

So pleasurable a rhythm could be sustained only for so long even with the control imposed by one as iron-willed as Rohyr, and he finally released Lassen to the demands of his tightly wound body. Sobbing helplessly, Lassen climaxed, overwhelmed by nigh shattering pleasure coming at him from three different points. He struggled against the overwhelming rapture, refusing to be alone in it, and ground his buttocks backwards, thereby wrenched Rohyr’s mastery away. The Ardan smothered his cries against his consort’s back, holding Lassen’s bottom flush against his groin until he was done spending inside him.

With a satisfied groan, Rohyr uncoupled their bodies. He turned on the taps and warm water gushed from the bathing chute above them. Smirking at each other, they finally got on with the reason they were in the bath stall in the first place.

Snickering, Lassen lazily lathered Rohyr’s body, paying particular attention to the Ardan’s shaft.

“What is there to laugh about?” Rohyr mildly inquired as he likewise washed Lassen, cleansing him of the leavings of their previous exertions.

“’Tis just I find it amusing that, when it comes to us, bathing doesn’t always signal the end of a night’s rutting.” Lassen tugged suggestively on Rohyr’s shaft while he rinsed it. “I wager you’ve still got enough in you for another bout or two.”

Rohyr did not reply but leaned forward and nuzzled the side of Lassen’s neck before kissing his way to his throat. Lassen responded by tossing back his head, giving the Ardan full access to the smooth flesh. Rohyr chuckled against his throat.

“And who makes certain that I’ll be up for another bout or two?” he teased.

When they were done, they retreated to the bed once more. Rohyr drew the bed curtains then pulled Lassen down beside him to lie within his embrace. Snuggled against his king, Lassen contentedly sighed.

“Prudent of you to let Vyren sleep alone tonight,” Rohyr murmured.

Lassen snorted. “I seem to recall the suggestion came from you.” He raised his head and eyed Rohyr with mock severity. “Indeed, you insisted on it and scarcely gave me time to tuck him in.”

Rohyr shrugged. “I was tired of having to hold back for fear of waking him up. It’s been a while since I’ve heard you scream loud enough to awaken the entire Citadel.”

“I don’t scream—”

“And even longer since you’ve thrown discretion to the four winds and pleasured me as ardently as a wanton strung out on a love philter.”

“I beg your pardon—”

“And, Veres almighty, you can’t imagine how much I missed it.”

That effectively brought Lassen up short. He gazed anxiously at Rohyr.

“Why didn’t you say so? I would’ve seen to your needs forthwith had you told me.”

Rohyr grinned. “You
have
been seeing to my needs, Las. Don’t think you’ve neglected me. I only meant that I missed making love with you as riotously as we did before you birthed Vyren.”

Lassen regarded him thoughtfully. “You restrained yourself because you could see how caught up I was in his care,” he murmured. “I’m sorry, Roh.”

“For what? For being a doting father to our son?” Rohyr shook his head. “I’ve been as obsessed with Vyren’s care as you.”

“That’s not surprising given that he’s your heir as well as your firstborn.” Lassen gazed contritely at his spouse. “Perhaps there is naught to apologize for, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t try to improve on what we do have.” He pressed tender kisses to Rohyr’s mouth. “I’m glad Vyren is old enough to leave in Josel’s care most nights. Now I can attend to you as much as you wish.” He brought their lips together in a longer, more heated kiss. “And you needn’t restrain yourself any longer, my love. Tonight or any other night.”

“I shall hold you to that,” Rohyr said, breaking into a rakish grin.

Lassen softly laughed and laid his head on Rohyr’s shoulder again. “I didn’t think it possible for anyone to be so happy as we are. How I wish others could also know such joy.”

Rohyr ran his fingers through Lassen’s hair. “Are you thinking of anyone in particular?”

“You know I am,” came the muffled reply as Lassen nuzzled his shoulder.

“Dylen.”

“Don’t you wish that as well?”

“Of course.” Rohyr sighed. “But so long as he nurses his anger towards Riodan, I fear he will never have joy or peace. Much as he still despises what Riodan did, he hasn’t stopped caring for him either. I warrant he’s furious with himself for feeling thusly, and that only serves to deepen his resentment.”

“He wants to hate Riodan but finds that he can’t?”

“Worse. He feels himself forced to love against his very will.”

“And so his anger is further stoked.” Lassen blew his breath out. “To be so torn…

How terrible for him.” He frowned and looked at Rohyr. “What
did
Riodan do? Or are you forbidden to talk about it?”

Rohyr hesitated. “If there’s anyone to whom Dylen confides his deepest secrets other than myself, I think it’s you,” he slowly said. “But this strikes at his pride as much as it wounds his heart, and he is loathe to expose what he deems a weakness. You see, he’s ashamed of his failure to realize that Riodan probably couldn’t have acted otherwise and that if he’d had his wits about him at the time, he wouldn’t have been so surprised by Riodan’s duplicity. Or as disillusioned. And so he keeps the hurt to himself and holds the one person who has the greatest chance of healing it at bay. Ironically that person inflicted the hurt in the first place.” Rohyr exhaled in frustration. “It’s like a festering sore from which he can find no relief. And Riodan is faring no better. Each time Dylen refuses his overtures, he shrivels up a little more inside. If Dylen’s anger hardens his heart, Riodan’s guilt corrodes his soul.”

Lassen stared at him. “Tell me what you can,” he finally said. “You needn’t go into details if you don’t wish to betray Dylen’s confidence but tell me the bare bones at least. I want to help them. Veres knows they need some and soonest.”

He listened carefully to Rohyr’s spare account of his brother’s history with the young diplomat. When Rohyr was done, Lassen was rendered quite speechless.

“I knew something had gone wrong between them, but nothing so devastating,” he said at length. “Saints! I can’t imagine Riodan doing something as reprehensible as that.

And then for Dylen to blame himself for not anticipating so great a change in Riodan…”

He laughed mirthlessly. “You really
are
brothers. Only the two of you would hold yourselves responsible for what is beyond anyone’s ability to control!”

Rohyr looked away in some embarrassment. Lassen guessed he was remembering that terrible day when he’d blamed himself for not foreseeing the unforeseeable. It had nigh cost Lassen his life and all but guaranteed that the rest of Rohyr’s would be spent in misery. Lassen cupped his face and kissed him.

“Don’t, Roh,” he gently chided. “Dwelling on what might have been is fruitless. We won that fight and reaped the spoils of it. And now that we have secured our happiness, we can ensure the same for others.”

Rohyr smiled faintly. “Ensure? Are we deities to grant wishes and answer prayers?”

“Nay, but you have the power to set circumstances in motion that might bring them together once more. If not as lovers, then at least as friends.”

“You have so much confidence in me.”

“I have perfect reason to.”

“Why thank you,
ariad
.”

Lassen placed his clasped hands on Rohyr’s chest and rested his chin on them. He

looked hopefully at his spouse. Rohyr laughed and shook his head.

“Why do I feel that I must come up with a plan right now or lose your high esteem of my abilities?” he rhetorically asked.

Lassen huffed a chuckle. “But you do have something in mind, don’t you? Else you wouldn’t have delayed so long in deciding who to send to Asmara.”

Rohyr’s eyes widened then softened as he gazed at Lassen. He raised his hand and caressed Lassen’s cheek.

“How well you know me,” he murmured. “Small wonder I feel I can accomplish anything with you at my side. Yes, I did delay my decision for that reason. I was debating whether their having to work together on a mission might help things along. Dylen would never allow his personal prejudices to interfere with the performance of his obligations.