Page 36 of Burning Ice
“N-no. Alone.”
Something trembled in Kylix’s chest. The thought of Mirel being all by himself made him want to unleash and kill his frustration. Literally.
“So you stayed at the hospital, hoping that one day you’d be let inside. How did you know your mother was there?”
“Frost.” Mirel looked at his hands. At those slim fingers. “It speaks the t-truth.”
Kylix’s hand stilled. He realized this was the most Mirel had spoken since he’d taken him, words unfolding like cracks in ice, small but dangerous. He pulled back and reached for his multi-slate.
He sent the message to Moargan through the multi-slate. The answer came soon enough.
“We go in the morning.”
Mirel’s lip wobbled. “Go...where?”
Kylix brushed over it with his knuckles. “To the hospital. To meet your mother. Cyprian will come too.”
“And...you? You come?”
“I come,” Kylix said. “With you.” He told himself he should say no, bury himself in orders, in the hunt, in the work that kept him from feeling too much. But he didn’t. He’d already made that choice the moment he’d chased Mirel down. He turned the puffer down until the coil sighed only once every few breaths.
Reaching inside the bedside drawer, he took out a v-neck sleeveless tank vest and a pair of sleeping pants. “Remove your suit.”
Mirel gawked at the material, then gingerly lifted his hips to slide the suit down his legs.
Kylix’s gaze went down to Mirel’s erection. “This is what you’ll wear from now on. Or not, if I decide you go naked.” He leaned in and blew against Mirel’s earlobe. “Say stop.”
Silence.
“Good.”
He licked all the way from Mirel’s ear to the dip in that elegant throat, leaving a trail of nips and bites that had to sting, judging by the way Mirel flinched. “You’ll learn to offer before I ask,” he murmured. “And I’ll still take.” Mirel shook his head. His teeth were clenched, eyes fluttering. And his clothed cock twitched in Kylix’s hand.
“Hmm, I see. You like a little bit of pain? Good. Me too.” He let out a growl, and finally broke the tender flesh of Mirel’s throat with his jeweled incisors. Blood poured into his mouth, the salty taste making his own dick throb inside its confines.
“I-I…” Mirel stammered, but his hips rocked against Kylix’s hand, in search of more friction.
Kylix licked the final drop of blood away, then pulled back. “You, what? You want to give me more answers to questions I haven’t asked yet? Please do. I’m very curious about Cyprian’s brother. How you create ice, for instance. Or how you managed to stay off the radar for so long.”
“S-stop.” Mirel pressed weakly against his chest, and Kylix enjoyed how he watched his bloody lips with horror.
“Stop? I believe it’s a little late for that, little one. You see, you live in my house now. Officially. You have been given to me by the Imperial Heir. That means that this...” He leaned in and claimed Mirel’s mouth in a bruising kiss. “Is mine. And this...” He wrapped his hand once more around Mirel’s cock, breathing in the smell of fear and arousal. “Is mine too. And this...” He tapped his hand against Mirel’s temple. “Is also mine. That mysterious mind of yours. Soon enough, it will know how to answer my questions, don’t you think?”
Mirel bristled and looked away, cock pulsing in Kylix’s hand.
He squeezed it one more time, and felt how a wet patch formed. Then he let go. “But you’re right. It’s late, and it’s been a long day. Put on your new pajamas, little one.”
“K-Kylix.” Mirel’s eyes widened when Kylix got up. “You don’t...”
“Finish you? Bring you the pleasure you seek? No, little one, not yet.” Kylix smirked when Mirel flushed, before sliding an arm around his back to lift him up and place him onto the open bed. “You’ll stay like this, caught between wanting and restraint, until I decide you’ve earned more.” His mouth brushed Mirel’s ear, the words close enough to sting. “Soon, you’ll beg for it. Properly. Not because I command it, but because your body will learn who it answers to. You’ll fight it, you’ll hate that you do, and you’ll still come apart for me.”
Mirel panted as he put on the silk pants and the soft top. His erection pressed obscenely against the material.
“And remember, I can relieve you from your desperation. You only have to ask.” He pressed Mirel onto the mattress and left a kiss in the exposed underside of his throat.
Mirel shivered.
Good, Kylix thought. He wanted that surrender. Not for conquest, but for proof. Proof that what trembled beneath him could still trust, still yield without shattering. That something in this ruined world could bend to him and survive it.
