Page 80 of Dead Crown
Jaki still kept his hand on his sword hilt as they walked down the snowy cobblestones. His posture would discourage anyone foolish and desperate enough to think about pickpocketing them on a main street during the day.
Havaska was gloomier than ever. Most of the people were thin, and a boy walking with his Mother had a runny nose. A bakery, which likely had small loaves for a high price, had a man with a sword standing by the front door to discourage troublemakers. A man with a stall sold vegetables that were small and in poor condition. A tavern had closed down, and when they passed a dark alley, Jaki spotted a man bent over a crate. Another with his trousers lowered pounded him from behind.
If one was desperate enough, they might turn to selling their ass on the street in the hopes of scraping up enoughmoney to buy food. Whorehouses likely weren’t taking any new employees.
Elswere was sure Mary lived on Bakern Street. He hadn’t seen her in years so she could have moved or died. If someone else lived in her home, her glasshouse for herbs could have been torn down. A new person would be shocked if Mages needed access to their backyard, and there could only be one reason for that.
Lumi had Jacqueline bundled up and in her sling, and he slipped his hand into Jaki’s free one as they walked.
“Are you really going to stay?” he whispered.
“Yes. I’m not abandoning you. You don’t think you’ll be kicked out or anything, right?”
Lumi gave a faint shrug. “Elswere surely hates me now. I’ll be a problem there.”
“No, you won’t, and he doesn’t hate you. I promise. He’s just…he’s ashamed and shocked. He didn’t even ask to see the Crown, and he doesn’t know how to cope. I’m sure he’s thinking he should have figured it out like I did despite your appearance. But no one else did, and his vision is terrible even though he insists he doesn’t need his spectacles. He’d rather squint and struggle with letters. I spoke to him this morning, and I’m sure he’ll feel better to a point after he’s had time. I know things are hard now, Lumi. They’ll grow easier.”
“You’re not going to leave me?”
“No,” said Jaki. “Is this why you wanted to walk? To stretch out our time together?”
“Yeah…” Lumi turned his hooded head away. “Everybody else left me. Even the Tivar I thought I knew before, although honestly, that person never really existed.”
Jaki paused them on the street and slung an arm around Lumi. How could he convince him he wasn’t going to be abandoned? “I promise, I’m not leaving you alone. You don’t have to stretch out our moments together. I shouldn’t have thesefeelings for you, but I do, and I don’t know how to make them go away. If you’re asking, you still want me too, and how am I supposed to say no?”
Lumi leaned into him to whisper. “Two brothers shouldn’t be together even if they’re half, and-”
“Fuck what everyone else thinks,” Jaki muttered against his hooded head.
They hadn’t seen Lumi at his most vulnerable or had the urge to protect him. Elira only knew why they had latched onto each other in such a way. Jaki had bitten his neck when they fucked, and plenty of cat fairies did. It was often an instinct and a way to mark the other.
At the mere imagining of doing it with Lumi right there and against him, Jaki’s fangs ached to do it again.
“Did that fucker ever bite you?” he asked, suddenly infuriated at the thought of Tivar marking Lumi.
“No. He never seemed to think of it.”
Not all cat fairies would bite. Jaki had a feeling it was more because Lumi had been a babymaker to Tivar and nothing else. Jaki took his chin to make him lift his head a little before he pushed his hood back enough to reveal some of his neck. Lumi flinched a little at the prick and leaned in as Jaki sank his fangs in.
He didn’t care that they were in the street or who saw it and thought they should get a room. He only wanted to mark what was his now. The bite eased the urge, although his cock thickened at the thought of doing more and marking Lumi another way so he’d never dare fear abandonment again.
Lumi’s hand slipped Jaki’s cloak to grab his side. It took effort for Jaki to ease himself out, and he tugged Lumi’s hood back into place. “I wouldn’t mark you out in the street unless I really wanted you.”
All he could see of his brother then was his chin and slightly parted lips. Thank Elira Jaki’s coat and cloak covered him because he had a raging erection. He took Lumi’s hand to tug him forward.
“Come on.” It was either walk or bite him again.
Lumi squeezed his hand much harder that time as they walked, and Jaki focused on trying to make his erection go down.
“Nobody’s ever marked me but you,” said Lumi.
“And if you think I’m walking off after that, you’re wrong,” said Jaki. “I’ll do it again and again unless you decide you can’t stand me.”
“I like this side of you. You were often kind of cold before.”
Jaki glanced at him while trying to make his damn erection go down. “I’m usually not terribly warm and fuzzy. Then again, it’s not like I’ve had many to be that way with. I never much cared to start a real relationship in a dying Kingdom even though Elswere said I needed to get married and have an heir.”
They turned onto Bakern Street, and Jaki stopped a random passerby.
