(The Marriage Groups)Elian (6 page)

Corbin was in love. He was in love and not ashamed to say it…

At least not to himself.

Saying it to someone else was an impossibility. He was sure Nevin and Gaige would have him sent away to the asylum if he told them he was in love with Elian. Elian, who he’d only just met that day, though he’d been watching the younger man for a while. Something else he could never tell his lovers. Corbin had been keeping a close eye on Elian since the first time he’d seen the younger man. He’d told himself it was because he was protecting what would be to him, Nevin, and Gaige, a very valuable asset, but he knew what the truth was. He’d been keeping a close eye on Elian because Elian belonged to him. Elian was his to protect, his to hold, his to make love to.

His to love.

Looking over at Nevin and Gaige, Corbin offered both men a pleased smile even as he felt Elian snuggle closer to him. He felt very special that he’d been the one chosen to protect Elian. Corbin had spent most of his life protecting people and had begun to be, not exactly bored, but more apathetic about his role as protector. With Elian, however, things were different. He wanted to protect Elian. Wanted to spend hours watching over the younger man. He wanted to hear Elian’s voice as he talked, and he wanted to feel the thick, round ass that was currently pressed down on his groin riding his cock.

Corbin pushed back the illicit thoughts, not wanting to scandalize Elian in the carriage as they traveled. Regardless of what had almost occurred before between them, Elian’s first time should not be in their carriage where the driver and footmen could hear him. Elian’s first time should be in their bed, surrounded by the succulent fragrance of lilies, vanilla, and orange honeysuckle. Things Corbin would be sure to always have burning in the room whenever they were in attendance.

Determined not to think about beds or the image of Elian’s naked body as he was fucked repeatedly by Nevin, Gaige, and himself, Corbin turned towards Nevin with a smirk.

“So, Nev, tell me. How many times did you scream while you were out there?” he teased. While Nevin was not a coward by any stretch of the imagination, he was well known for his battle cries. They were high-pitched and could burst the eardrums of anyone who didn’t know to move away from the king when he was in a fight. Corbin had been trying to get Nevin to tell him why the scream was necessary for years, but he’d only ever gotten a brush-off. Corbin wouldn’t stop until he found out what the big damn deal was, but until that happened, he would tease Nevin mercilessly about it.

“Only twice,” Nevin mumbled under his breath.

“Six times,” Gaige corrected him, shaking his head with a small smile on his face as if he couldn’t believe what Nevin had just said. Corbin watched them both carefully, making sure that they weren’t just trying to downplay things for Elian. When he saw that neither of them looked as if they were trying to cover something up, he chuckled.

“Six times? Only six? So I guess you’re getting used to fighting, huh?” Corbin joked with a low chuckle.

“Six times? Screaming? What?” Elian asked in confusion.

Corbin gave in to the urge that had been riding him since first pulling Elian into his arms and kissed the back of Elian’s head, inhaling the arousing scent wafting up from his hair. What the hell was wrong with him, why was he so… intoxicated with Elian? It made no sense to him at all. All he knew was that he couldn’t seem to stop touching him and wanting to have sex with him while Nevin and Gaige joined in. He knew that being attracted to his new husband wasn’t a bad thing, but the obsessive need that was riding his ass was unexpected and slightly annoying. With a disgusted mental sigh, Corbin settled back into the seat and pouted playfully when Elian slid from his lap onto the seat next to him.

As they passed through the country towards the palace, Corbin chatted with Nevin and Gaige, discreetly watching Elian out of the corner of his eye. Elian seemed to become more and more nervous, if the bouncing of his knee was any indication. Corbin didn’t know what he could do or say to help calm his new husband’s nerves. He wasn’t a coração and therefore had no idea what it felt like to be chosen to complete a marriage group. He had no idea what it felt like to know that one’s only purpose was to care for others, to breed for three other men. Whenever he tried to even think along those lines, his mind instantly rebelled against the notion of his being pregnant. More than just his mind actually, he felt his body contract and his stomach heave at the idea of him, a real man, being pregnant and delivering a child.

Of course, those thoughts made him feel sufficiently horrified. He wasn’t one of those people. He didn’t look down on coraçãos, truly he didn’t. He didn’t think they were beneath him at all because they’d been chosen by the God Andalusia to keep their race going. He respected them, he was in awe of them, he just couldn’t imagine himself, or any other warrior for that matter, giving birth to anyone. Warriors and soldiers were too… butch, too masculine, too strong, and too… manly to give birth. Most of the coraçãos he knew where like Elian: short, thin, waif-like, very beautiful—heartbreakingly so—sweet, compassionate, and demure. Those were the things that perfectly described a coração. Corbin would be one of the first to admit that he was not short, thin, waif-like, sweet, demure, or compassionate. He was attractive, this he knew, but beautiful was probably pushing it.

He rolled his eyes mentally at himself. He was a prutiz, thinking coraçãos were less than he because they gave birth. He let out a loud sigh as the carriage came to a stop in front of the gates of the palace. Perhaps he should talk to the palace’s doctor and see if there was anything he could do about fixing Corbin’s brain. He was married to a coração now; he couldn’t treat Elian like he was less than anyone else. Not only would it offend every coração he knew, but it would hurt Elian, and he didn’t want to do anything to hurt Elian. Not anything.

Corbin grinned at the gasp that came from Elian’s lips as he looked up at the palace as the gates opened. The large building stretched wide and long enough to contain six floors, twelve wings, over sixty bedrooms, sixty five restrooms, four libraries, and a hall where all of the servants slept. There were also three kitchens, a large pool housed indoors, tennis courts, an oversized garden, maze, inspiration gardens, six sitting rooms, a royal museum with eight offices, ten studies, and four ballrooms. Three nurseries, all side by side, three playrooms, a training room, and an attic completed the massive residence.

When he’d first shown up to the palace on the back of Nevin’s horse, Corbin had had the same reaction. The palace was beautiful in all its splendor, the grounds surrounding their home lush and full of fruit trees, flowers, and small ponds. Corbin always loved coming home. There was no greater feeling than riding into the gates of the palace and looking at the place he called home.

Many people would think that with the palace being so huge and the grounds being so expansive that Corbin and his husbands would feel a little like they were living in a mausoleum, but they couldn’t be further from the truth. The original Cannington family had made sure to fill the palace with warmth and love, things that stayed behind and trickled down through every generation. The rooms that the Royal Marriage Group shared were all close together, the walls painted a deep gold color, the baseboards and trim a piercing white, the carpets a soft, thick gold. These colors flowed through all of the rooms except for the bedroom.

The suite where the Royal Marriage Group slept had walls that were a deep dark cherry color, invoking feelings of passion, desire, and rest from all who stepped within its depths. The carpets were the same deep, dark cherry, the baseboards and the trim surrounding the room a walnut color, beautifully offsetting the vibrancy of the walls and the carpet. Sitting in the middle of the bedroom was a huge, king-sized four poster bed with red, sheer curtains surrounding it. The bed sat high in the middle of the room; four steps led up to the mattress. On the walls were photos of men engaged in various acts of copulation, the passionate words of the God Andalusia to his lovers engraved in the spaces between the frames.

Every time Corbin walked into the bedroom suite, he disrobed and ran his hands over his naked body. There was something about the room that enflamed his lust, filling his head with passion, desire, and yearning. If he was alone, he would lie on the plush carpet and stroke his hard erection until he reached his peak. If he were with either of his husbands, he would grab them and ravish them right there in the middle of the empty room. Gaige and Nevin had grown very used to Corbin’s antics in the room and now took it in stride, usually by disrobing as they got closer to the room, so as to not have their clothing ripped once they stepped inside.

Corbin couldn’t wait to get Elian inside that room.

As the carriage came to a halt, Corbin looked over at Elian to see the younger man nibbling on his bottom lip, wringing his hands together in his lap as he nervously glanced at Corbin, Nevin, Gaige, and the palace just outside of the window. Elian was like a skittish animal, though he looked as if he were trying desperately not to look like it, and Corbin had the urge to speak to him in soft, soothing tones, his hands lifted up in the gesture of peace and harmlessness as he attempted to coax Elian into the palace.

“Well, let’s go inside then,” Nevin stated in an almost commanding tone, and Corbin groaned softly at his insistence and lack of compassion for Elian’s fright.

“If you need to Eli, take all the time you need,” Gaige interjected with a soft smile towards Elian. Corbin’s jaw dropped open as he stared at Gaige. First Gaige smiled, then he laughed and then he gave Elian a nickname? Where was the brooding, silent, moody bastard Corbin and Nevin had married?

Ever since becoming engaged to and subsequently marrying Elian, Gaige’s hard and rough edges had begun to smooth out and this unknown, sweeter side of him started to come out. Corbin wasn’t too sure how he felt about that. He liked broody Gaige, but he had to admit that the softer side of Gaige was just as intoxicating to his senses.

Elian looked over at him, and Corbin smiled. “Yes, I agree, Elian. Take all the time you need. If you would like for us to sit here in the carriage for a moment while you get used to the fact that you’re married to us now and this is your new home, that’s what we’ll do. Nevin didn’t mean to be so callous. He is just anxious to have you in our home, taking your place as our coração. Eager to have you in our arms and in our bed,” he informed Elian.

Corbin watched as Elian looked over at Nevin, whose face had turned a delightful shade of red as he realized that he’d come across as a bit of an asshole. Nodding his head emphatically at Elian when their eyes met, Corbin grinned as Nevin stammered out a reply. “Y-yes. Corbin is correct. I didn’t mean to sound like an ass. I am just yearning to have you in our marriage bed, where you belong. I have waited for you for a long time—we all have—and now that you’re finally here, I find myself almost unable to control my reaction to your proximity to me,” Nevin explained. “Forgive me, please.”

Corbin watched as Elian once again looked around at the three of them before nodding his head at them all with a smile. Corbin breathed a sigh of relief—he would never admit it, even under penalty of death, but he’d been slightly afraid that Elian would change his mind about being their coração. Not that there would have been anything he could do about it for sixty months, the length of two Kartusian years, but it would have certainly made for a tense and awkward time.

“Let’s go inside so that you can show me around my new home,” Elian said with a slight tremble to his voice and a tremulous smile on his face.

While it wasn’t the enthusiastic response that Corbin had been hoping for, it was certainly better than the rejection he’d been expecting. Knowing that it would have to do, he took Elian’s hand and kissed the back of it before leading the way out of the carriage and looking up at the large structure before them.

“Elian Glinkobia-Cannington,” he turned to smile down at Elian and continued, “welcome home.”

Chapter Seven

Elian

E
LIAN
smiled tremulously over at Corbin before turning his gaze back and letting out a shaky breath. He could do this. He was born to do this. Nervousness warred with confidence within him and he let his eyes slide closed. Giving himself a small, internal pep talk, Elian opened his eyes and allowed Corbin to take his hand. Walking forward, he pasted a smile on his face as the palace staff walked out. He looked over the faces that watched him, feeling his limbs shake slightly. He could do this. He could be the Royal Coração.

“May I present to you, Elian Glinkobia-Cannington, the Royal Coração,” Nevin announced in a loud, booming voice. “It is my sincere hope that you will treat him with the same respect that you show me, Corbin, and Gaige. It is also my wish that you will honor him as befitting his station.”

Elian swallowed as he felt all eyes turn on him. His eyes scanned the faces of the servants who looked at him expectantly, and Elian struggled with what he was supposed to do in that moment. Thinking back over the schooling he’d obtained, Elian realized that none of his professors had ever prepared him for what he was supposed to do as the Royal Coração upon first meeting the royal staff. He looked up at Corbin and then over to Nevin, his gaze finally resting on Gaige’s impassive face. None of them looked at him, all of their gazes staying straight ahead, though Gaige and Corbin’s lips both twisted up into small smiles.

“Thank them for the welcome and bid them to return to their duties,” Nevin whispered out of the corner of his mouth and Elian nodded, though he was sure the other man couldn’t see him.

Turning back to the awaiting staff, Elian took a deep breath. “Thank you for your kind and very generous welcome. I look forward to serving as your Royal Coração and know that with your help, I will be able to help this monarchy be the greatest in history. Please return to your duties and thank you again for the welcome,” he said, hoping his tone conveyed graciousness and sincerity, even though he trembled inside.