Page 6 of Kept

“This isn’t politics,” I said, fear and frustration twisting through me. “It’s a trap.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Laurent—”

“We walk a tightrope today,” he said. “I need to know where Sithistra stands. I have to see it for myself, because I don’t trust Jordan of Twyl’s spies to tell me. The Brotherhood may still want Given dead. If that’s the case, I need to make them afraid to strike. On the other hand, it’s possible the Brotherhood has been neutered by Rolund’s death.” Laurent’s eyes gleamed. “We have to hope for that, Varick, because we may very well need the humans in the days ahead.”

I stared, absorbing his words. Slowly, I loosened my grip on his mantle. Laurent was a savvier political operative than I could ever dream of being. He’d been raised by a high priestess who survived by outmaneuvering an insane husband with unlimited power. “You would use the humans?”

“I might not have a choice.” His expression turned grim. “Eldenvalla was always the biggest of the three kingdoms, in both land and population. If even a fraction of the elves survived the quakes, they’re waiting for us behind the Thicket. The Deepnight disappears by the day. If Jordan is right—and I have no reason to think he’s wrong—the forest and the canopy are tied. If the Thicket falls, the demons will spill into all of Ter Isir.”

My gut clenched. My elven blood made me stronger than most. But Midian had still worn me down. The demon king had cracked my mind open like a melon and forced me to relive the horrors of Lar Keiren—and he’d done it all on his own.

What could a demon army do to an ungifted populace?

“Why didn’t you tell me this?” I asked Laurent.

His smile was soft as he reached up and stroked my beard. “Would you have listened? You hate humans.”

I grunted. “I hate this plan.”

“And you’ve just made my point.” He trailed his hand down to where my woolen gambeson peeked out from my breastplate. “I want you to wear your armor when you fuck me tonight. It reminds me of all those times you’d return from patrol and wake me with your tongue in my ass.”

“Fuck,” I muttered, most of the blood in my body pumping to my cock.

“Because you couldn’t wait. You needed me so bad”—his breath hitched as I slammed him hard against the wall—“that you ate my ass and fucked me in full armor.”

I shoved him again and bent my head, hovering my mouth just above his. “Will you get on your hands and knees for me?”

“Fuck, yes,” he breathed, rolling his hips.

“You’ll stick it out? Finger yourself and spread that slutty hole the way I like?”

“Whatever you want, baby.” He darted his tongue out, swiping my bottom lip. “Maybe I’ll ride your face.”

“You’ll ride my dick,” I corrected. “You’re good at that.” And this was dangerous. The blacksmith’s hammer was a steady beat mere steps away. Laurent and I couldn’t do this out in the open. We never crossed that line. But the line blurred now, and it was hard to remember why it existed at all.

I slanted my mouth across his and stroked my tongue deep. Just as quickly, I pulled back. “You taste like Given.”

“Mmm. She needed convincing to cross the Rift, too.” He hooked a leg around my calf and thrust his hips into mine, grinding our dicks together.

“And you used all your tricks to persuade her, I take it?”

“I used my mouth.”

“Your filthy mouth,” I muttered, then seized his jaw and kissed him again. He tasted of cinnamon and Given’s pussy, and I wanted both. The three of us hadn’t discussed how things were going to work between us. I expected discomfort. Growing pains. Laurent and I had shared women before, but never for long. There was a difference between stolen nights and a lifetime. But we’d had no opportunity for weighty conversations—not with the prophecy and the prospect of war lurking around every corner.

In training, vampires from the warrior class learned to focus only on the present. Dwelling on the past or longing for the future was at best futile and at worst a distraction that could lead to an arrow through the chest. Soldiers who kept their minds in the moment had a better chance of surviving.

I didn’t know what the future looked like, but I was determined to ensure Laurent and Given saw it. If I lived to see it, too, that would be a nice bonus. All I could do in the moment was keep them safe.

And I could fuck them. Safety. Sex. I could give them those things. The deep thinkers of the world claimed there was more to life, but I wasn’t so sure. It seemed to me that most people spent their time searching for one or the other.

Laurent groaned into my mouth. He slid his leg up the back of my thigh and yanked me harder against him. His hands were everywhere. Pulling at my cloak. Tugging on my hair. He dug his fingers into my nape as he sucked on my tongue.

I pressed him harder against the wall, giving him my full weight as I reached around and found his ass. I squeezed the firm muscle in both hands and rocked his hips into mine. I couldn’t feel as much of him as I wanted to with my armor between us. And I wanted to feel all of him. I wanted him naked and under me, his long legs tangled with mine. I wanted him on top of me, his smooth dick and balls warm against my stomach. I wanted him flipped over and begging, his perfect ass lifting to meet me. Wanted to push his round cheeks apart and see his perfect, waxed hole opening and closing. Watch it gasp like a hot, needy mouth desperate to swallow me.

I wanted to sink into his heat. Get wrapped up in him. Kept by him. Welcomed into his body, which was always a soul-shattering homecoming. For as long as I could remember, Laurent had been home. Maybe, if I thought about it hard enough, I could remember a time when I didn’t have him to come home to. But I didn’t think too hard about it, because I didn’t want to remember never having him.

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