Treasure (24 page)

If his parents were still alive, how would his father have handled it? Would he have been able to bear growing old while his wife and son remained young? Had they discussed it? How would
he
handle it, watching his lover age while he was helpless to prevent it and helpless to make that journey with him?

Whatever he might long for in the dead of night, it was best to remember all the reasons he should not have it.

The sound of movement on the lower deck drew him from his thoughts, made his gut clench, because Kin knew very well who it was. Every night they pretended to ignore each other, preferring their solitude—or at least pretending that was what they sought.

Kin watched Kyo as he walked toward the prow of the ship and leaned against the, looking out over the water lost in his own thoughts. As always, Kin wondered what Kyo thought about when he came topside every night. Kin had harassed the crew, but no one had any information to provide. They all said the same thing:  Kyo simply stood and stared out at sea.

Suddenly Kin could not take it anymore. To the depths with all his sensible reasons. He was tired of maintaining a polite distance when a month ago he had been moments from making Kyo come in his arms. Leaving the poop deck, he moved across the main deck as quietly as possible—a more or less futile effort, given the silence and lack of other people, but he tried anyway.

When he reached Kyo, Kin expected him to turn around and say something princely, but he did not move save for the way his shoulders tensed. "Can I help you, Captain?"

Well, there was the frigid tone if not the frigid words and only that slightly mocking 'Captain'. Kin realized he had not planned on what to say. "I was tired of my own thoughts," he said and was immediately annoyed with himself.

Kyo laughed softly, surprising him further. "Thoughts are tiresome, I agree."

Kin wondered what he would say if Kin admitted Kyo was the source of the thoughts he preferred to avoid. And that he did not want to avoid the thoughts so much as act out every single one of them. "Is that what brings you out here, night after night?"

"More or less," Kyo replied.

He still wouldn't turn around, and that was more than a little strange. Kin stepped closer and grabbed his shoulder, urging him to turn. When Kyo resisted, Kin pulled more firmly and gave him no choice in the matter.

Whatever he had expected, it was not to see tears drying on Kyo's cheeks. Kyo shoved him away and turned back around, voice cooler than ever when he said, "Leave me alone, Captain."

"No," Kin replied. He had absolutely no idea what he was doing, or what he was going to do, but he wasn't going to just walk away. He couldn't, even if he wanted to. Reaching out, he grabbed Kyo's shoulder to turn him around again and held fast when Kyo whipped around and tried to jerk away. When Kyo tried to shove at him, Kin caught his wrist, jerked him forward, and held him in place by sliding an arm around his waist.

Kyo glared at him, though the effect was largely lost given Kin could barely see him. "Unhand me."

Kin smirked. "No." Before Kyo could reply, Kin did exactly what he had been wanting to do for more than a month and took that tart, pretty mouth in a hard kiss. Kyo froze against him then tried to push away. Kin let go of his wrist to sink a hand into his hair, preventing Kyo from moving away. Kyo remained stiff against him a moment longer before abruptly melting against him, resistance vanishing as though it had never been there.

Making a rough, pleased noise, Kin just kissed harder, deeper, determined to memorize the mouth he had not stopped thinking about since he'd first tasted it. More addictive still was the way Kyo just went utterly pliant in his arms. Had anyone else ever seen Kyo this way?

The thought reminded him they were above deck where anyone could see—and he definitely did not want anyone else to see. Reluctantly drawing back, but only barely, Kin said, "I can help you escape your thoughts for a time, highness, if you want."

Kyo laughed. "Somehow I doubt that, Captain."

"I know a challenge when I hear one," Kin murmured in reply, and he brushed his lips softly across Kyo's before drawing back and, holding tightly to him, dragging Kyo across the ship and into his quarters.

He did not bother to light any lanterns, though he secretly hoped that he would have a chance to see Kyo in sunlight someday; perhaps after they landed on Sanhoshi. Sand was never a pleasant surface for fucking, but there were ways to avoid it.

Setting those thoughts aside for the time being, he drew Kyo close again and dove right back into kissing him. Kyo was warm and sweet, and the hesitant way his hands fluttered and then settled on Kin's shoulders was oddly endearing. It was not a word he was used to employing, but Kin could not seem to help it.

Kyo moaned, fingers gripping more tightly, and Kin loosened his own arms from Kyo's waist to lightly map his body—a difficult task given the cumbersome layers of elaborate robes. Suddenly impatient to have them gone, Kin withdrew, nipping at Kyo's jaw before putting his attention to the aggravating sash Kyo wore. "Must you dress so obnoxiously? We are on a ship. Who is here to be impressed with your knots?"

Smirking in amusement, Kyo pushed his hands aside, and with a few quick, deft motions the sash fell away. Annoyed it was apparently that easy, Kin kicked the sash out of the way and pulled the robe apart enough to slip his hands inside and slide them over soft, smooth skin. Kyo gasped and jerked, likely because Kin's hands were cold, but Kin simply dragged him back into another hungry kiss. Kyo's arms slid around his neck to tease at his hair—

How in the storms' names had he resisted this for so long? Day after day he had tried to pretend everything was back to normal, that he was smart enough not to go after what he would never be able to keep—to convince himself it was only because he was confined to a ship with nothing but work to occupy him and no chance of a break on the horizon.

And that might still have been true, but it wasn't boredom that made him think of things like afternoons spent naked on a beach. Banishing the errant thought again, Kin drew back and shoved the robes from Kyo's shoulders.

Moonlight gleamed on the pendant around Kyo's throat, and Kin froze when he saw it. Shock stole his breath away. His hand trembled as he reached out to lift it and run his thumb over the lighthouse he had not seen since he'd given the necklace away as a child. He frowned when he realized it had been altered. There was a gemstone of some sort at the place that was the source of the beams of light.

Dragging his eyes up, Kin breathed, "Koori."

He could feel Kyo's hand trembling as it covered his own over the pendant. "Kinni."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Kin demanded, pulling his hand free to grab Kyo's arms and pull him so close the pendant was pressed between them. "You knew this entire storming time!"

Kyo stared up at him, eyes little more than shadows, but his face so beautiful. "I didn't think you remembered. You don't have the dagger anymore."

Muttering a soft oath, Kin roughly let him go and stalked over to his desk and the cabinets built into the wall behind it. He pulled a key from his sash and unlocked one, retrieving the box in which he kept the jeweled dagger. He opened the box and removed it, unwinding the protective cloth that covered it. Striding back to Kyo, he shoved it at him. "It's not exactly a pendant to be worn around my neck."

Taking it, Kyo smiled faintly, pulling the dagger free of the hilt to admire the shine of steel in the moonlight. "I've had to replace the chain several times."

"You didn't want me to know," Kin said. "Before—you hid the necklace."

Kyo's hand slipped, and he swore softly, dropping the dagger when his thumb began to bleed from where the blade sliced it. Ignoring the dagger, Kin captured his hand and drew it to his mouth, sucking on the wound as his eyes locked on Kyo's. The way Kyo shivered reminded Kin that Kyo was naked, and he'd had plans. But first he wanted to know why Kyo had lied to him. "Why didn't you want me to know?"

"I didn't want to be the only one who remembered," Kyo said softly.

He was lying about something. Kin knew just from how easily that answer was given, but he let it go for the moment because he would much rather fuck Kyo than throttle him, however tempting an option that might have been. Jerking Kyo close again, Kin kissed him hard, determined to bruise those pretty lips and leave them throbbing. "You're a brat, Koori."

"So I am often told," Kyo replied.

Kin laughed and pushed Kyo down onto his bunk, wishing they were at his home in his much larger and far more comfortable bed. A ship was possibly one of the absolute worst places for fucking. That was not going to stop him, however. He climbed on top of Kyo, still not quite able to believe that Kyo was his Koori and had been the entire time.

Eventually, he was going to become angry, but he rather hoped it waited, for once. He bit back a groan as their cocks slid against each other, instead swallowing the soft whimper that escaped Kyo's mouth. He nipped Kyo's bottom lip then kissed him again. Hands sank into his hair, combed restlessly through it.

Pulling back, Kin looked down at the man before him, hot with want and unable to think of anything beyond getting Kyo to scream his name. Bending his head again, he put teeth to Kyo's throat, tasting his warm, slightly salty skin, such a contrast to the sweetness of his mouth. "Beautiful," he murmured. "That palace must be full of idiots for them to let you become a priest."

Kyo gave a ragged laugh that turned into a moan as Kin's mouth fastened over one of his nipples. He moved restlessly beneath Kin, clearly not certain what he should be doing. Kin chuckled against his skin, licking where he'd just been sucking. He murmured softly in approval when Kyo's hands slid across his skin. Kin worked his way slowly down Kyo's body, growing increasingly addicted with every patch of skin he kissed, licked, and bit. Stopping just short of Kyo's cock, he looked up again and was suddenly unable to look away from the dark eyes watching him so intently, so avidly.

It really struck him, then, like a blow to the face:  Kyo was Koori, and he was trusting Kin where he had trusted no one else. Kin did not like the way that spread like warmth through his chest. Rearing up, he buried the alarming gentleness trying to unfurl with a brutal kiss. The soft fingers gliding shyly across his skin became nails digging sharply into it, but Kyo met him full measure, kissing back with just as much heat and fierceness.

Tearing away, drawing unsteady breaths, Kin said, "It took you long enough to come to me, Koori."

"Was I worth the wait?" Kyo asked.

Kin bent to kiss him again, aching to be buried in him, to stake that claim. "Yes," he breathed against Kyo's skin, half-hoping the admission would go unheard—but the soft, sharp sigh of relief that Kyo released told him he was not that fortunate.

Sliding back down Kyo's body, Kin pinned Kyo's hips to the bed and licked the wet tip of his cock. As expected, Kyo bucked up into the touch, but Kin held him firmly in place and forced Kyo to take whatever Kin gave him.

He let go of one hip to fist Kyo's cock, stroking him off, eyes locked on Kyo's face as he finally shuddered and came. Beautiful. Kin found it difficult to draw breath, and he decided kissing Kyo was far more important anyway. He kissed Kyo hard, eating at his mouth, tongue plunging deep and fucking his mouth as thoroughly as he wanted to fuck Kyo's ass. Pulling away, he finally drew the breath he badly needed.

Letting go of Kyo's cock, Kin licked the come from his own fingers, eyes fastened on Kyo's the entire time. Kyo's mouth gaped open, the tip of his tongue peeking out, lips wet and swollen from Kin's kisses. No one, Kin thought fiercely. No one else was allowed ever to see Kyo that way. It was his promise around Kyo's throat, and so Kyo belonged to him.

"You—" Kyo broke off whatever he was going to say, swallowing.

Kin let it be, though he was curious. Reaching out, he pushed Kyo's hair from his face and combed his fingers lightly through it. "I wish your hair was still long," he admitted. "It was stunning, falling down to your thighs. I—" he broke off, the memory returning. "That morning in the temple, I thought you might be Koori. But you didn't say anything. I thought I was wrong."

"I thought you'd be angry."

"I want to be," Kin said. "I may yet be, but—" he broke off, swearing when Kyo abruptly reached out and tugged experimentally on the gold hoops piercing Kin's nipples.

"But?" Kyo challenged, smirking.

"Brat," Kin muttered. "Some priest."

Kyo laughed softly. "Being a priest doesn't mean my mind and hand cease to function, Kinni. I had to do something until—" He broke off, but it was too late. Kin didn't know what to say. He didn't know what to think or what to feel. He was absolutely certain he didn't deserve that level of devotion.

"You're a fool," he whispered into the hollow of Kyo's throat, bundling him close, suddenly afraid Kyo would vanish, and it would all prove to be a dream.

One of Kyo's hands slipped down to wrap around Kin's cock and stroke it—not nearly hard or fast enough, but the fact it was Kyo's hand was more than enough to send Kin over the edge. He dug his teeth into Kyo's shoulder to muffle his cry, and slumped on top of him as he finally calmed.

He shuddered, cock twitching again despite having just spent, as he watched Kyo emulate him in licking come from his fingers. "I think it's probably best for the kingdom that you kept to your hand and the thoughts in your head." And how he would love to know what those thoughts were, that Kyo used to stimulate himself, but Kin decided that was a question best saved for another day.

Kyo smiled in reply, but there was a touch of wariness to it. "When is your mind going to decide you shouldn't have done this?"

A fair question, and normally Kin would have already been back on deck trying to find someone to yell at until he could pretend it had never happened. "You're not getting out of keeping secrets that easily, Koori. I wish you had just told me."

Kyo opened his mouth, then closed it again—and abruptly tried to turn around and bury his head in the blankets. That was more than a little impossible when the bunk only just had enough room for one person, and Kin was still mostly on top of him. Whatever he had expected, it wasn't the return of Kyo's tears. "What's
wrong
?" Kin asked, struggling to sit up in a way he could hold Kyo's face in his hands.