Page 44 of Tristan
“But why?”
“That I don’t know. Why don’t you ask him?” he says with a cocky smirk. He knows I’m still shy with Corrik. It’s odd. I’ve become less shy with him in all matters sex, but something as harmless as talking still proves difficult.
“Ihave. Bloody bastard won’t tell me a thing.”
“Well, I’m neither here to babysit nor to tease you, brother, but the latter comes rather easily to me,” he says, with a wink. “I wish to offer myself to you.”
“Offer yourself to me?”I know the Elves are a polyamorous culture.
He laughs.“Don’t get too excited. I meant, my ear and my experience. I have something to offer you that is not sex, but I am happy to see sex is at the forefront of your mind these days,” he teases. “What I have to offer you is to do with our nature. We are alike, you and I.”
Those words are familiar and immediately I remember Papa on the last day I saw him.
“We are alike Tristan. You and I.”
“Diekin, do you mean you are a submissive?”
“Yes. I’m Ditira’s submissive,” he says with all the pride in the world. “I’m also a proud brat.”
I don’t care. The sky is spinning. My gut has dropped a thousand feet and is then plunged into ice water. Was that what Papa was trying to tell me? Was he submissive to Father?
Growing up, I understood Father’s word as law; Papa acted in thesame regard, but I thought it was because of Father’s title, Warlord, and Papa’s as his Second. Father was in charge on the field, I saw no difference with him being in charge in our home. It seemed right, normal even and so I never questioned it.
“Kathir, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing, I need to be alone.”
“Okay, but I mean it. There is much you are going to learn, and it will confuse you. I’ll be better at helping you with particular aspects than Corrik will be because you and I are the same. Dominants—especially Corrik—can tend to be pig-headed, they do not possess patience. When you need me, I will be here.”
“Yeah, I mean, I will Diekin—I’ve really got to go.”
I leave poor Diekin confused and run to Corrik’s and my chambers. I’m not watching where I’m going, and I end up running smack into the person I don’t want to see right now. Corrik.
“Tristan?” His voice is filled with concern.
“What?” I snap.
The concern quickly becomes laced with irritation. It doesn’t take a lot to provoke him, and I have; yet right now I can’t care a wit, Iwantto provoke him. When I glare instead of apologizing, he slams me against the dark wooden wall. “By Ylor! What’s gotten into you?”
“Nothing. I want to be left alone.”
His eyes rake over me and then scan back up to mine. “And you shall.” The steel in his voice momentarily removes me from my confused anger as he drags me into our chambers. Once inside, he tosses me on the bed and for the first time I’m scared of the large war Elf.
He searches in one of his bags and returns with two thick leather straps. Dear Gods, is he going to use one in each hand?
“Turn on your stomach.”
“Corrik I’m sorry—"
“Turn on your stomach.”
I do as he’s ordered. I can be brave. I’ve taken a strapping before,it’s nothing like being sliced through with a sword, which I’ve endured as well.
I’m shocked and relieved when he takes my forearms and binds them together behind my back with one strap and uses the other to do the same with my ankles. Once he’s finished, I roll to the side. “You arse! I thought you were going to beat me with those.”
“The day is still young,” he growls, looking like he does want to beat me within an inch. I can see the now familiar restraint in his body.
“I will leave you now.To be alone,” he says.
