Page 38 of Burning Ice
“You begged me with your ice before your mouth caught up. But your body already knows the truth.” He leaned close enough for his breath to graze Mirel’s ear. “Now tell me what it wants.”
Mirel’s throat worked before sound came. He breathed once, then again, trying to steady it.
Kylix waited, the weight of his presence closing in until Mirel could hear nothing but their heartbeats.
“W-warmth.”
Kylix grinned and bent closer. The distance between them vanished in a breath. The heat of him burned through the cold, and shame rose in Mirel’s chest, fierce and blinding. Everyinstinct fought to hide, but his body reached toward that warmth as if it had always belonged there.
It was like Kylix saw everything. Mirel watched him rise, each movement slow and certain. The sound of fabric moving filled the room, soft against skin, then falling quiet on the floor.
“Keep your eyes on me,” Kylix said. “If you look away, I stop.”
The light showed the lines of his body as the Imperial Prince slowly undressed. Of those broad shoulders, strong arms, the steady rhythm of breath under warm skin. Muscles rippled when Kylix slid his shirt off his shoulders. A long, ringed finger dragged a teasing line across his pecs and Mirel found himself staring, transfixed. Those fingers had touched him in the bath, had brought him more pleasure than he’d ever known.
“You like what you see?”
Mirel’s chest tightened. His mouth went dry. He tried not to stare, but his eyes kept returning to the shape of him, to the calm control in every small motion.
“Eyes here, little one. You begged for warmth. Watch what that means.”
Mirel swallowed, the air thick in his throat. He didn’t trust his voice, didn’t even try. His chest rose and fell rapidly, and his hands felt like the frost he’d produced.
Kylix had removed the remains of his black and gold Luminary uniform and was left naked on the bed, sheets undone, his tanned skin a sharp contrast to Mirel’s lighter one.
With easy force, he lifted the blankets on Mirel’s side, exposing him fully. Mirel gasped when Kylix reached out for him at once, tracing a warm hand over the silk top down to his throbbing cock.
“So you create ice when your emotions are out of control?” Kylix murmured. His fingers teased the soft material, making his skin tingle and his desire pump faster.
“Yes. I-I never know when.”
“Hmm. So that’s why you fought me on the graveyard. Did you mean to?”
“N-no.”
“But you couldn’t say the words to stop that madness.” Kylix’s knuckles brushed over Mirel’s inner thighs. “You were brave, that night. I’ve never had anyone challenging me in return. Prey always just lets it happen.”
“But they r-run?” Mirel shivered at the thought of those Aureates he had seen. Of Kylix’s cruelty in the heart of the pit. His cock pulsed at those memories.
“Oh, yes, they run. But they don’t fight. They don’t challenge me the way you do, Mirel. You attacked me, remember? Whether you liked it or not.” Kylix’s knuckles brushed over his cock, and Mirel ground his jaw from begging him to reach deeper, to grab him tight and make him feel good.
“You fighting me was the sexiest thing I’ve ever experienced.” Their mouths met. Teeth bit. Tongue pressed deep. Kylix caught Mirel’s hand and set it on his chest, the skin hot and firm under palm. He dragged Mirel’s fingers lower, across the hard lines of his stomach, along the heat that led to his cock. The air thickened when Mirel’s hand slid over the shape of it, mapping out each and every ridge of his veins.
Mirel’s pulse jumped. Want and fear twisted together. Kylix held him there and kissed him deeper, taking the sound from his mouth. “Feel what you do to me,” he said against his lips. He curled Mirel’s hand around his shaft and moved with him, slow at first, directing the rhythm until their breaths matched. The friction was hot and heavy.
“Good,” Kylix breathed. “Just like that, slow, feel the heat before you move.”
Where their skin met, frost hissed and vanished. The sound was small, like water on metal. Mirel’s pulse matched Kylix’swithout thought. The rhythm hurt, but he could not break it. The cold inside him pushed back against the heat until both burned.
Kylix leaned down again. His breath hitched, then steadied. His lips moved over Mirel’s chest, tongue tracing the lines that had clung to his skin. He warmed what he had marked earlier until the trembling under his mouth turned from chill to need. Each stroke drew another breath, another surrender.
Mirel moaned. Heat slicked between them. His fingers tightened without thought, following Kylix’s pace, the motion jerking sound from both of them. Kylix groaned, caught Mirel’s lip between his teeth, and pressed their bodies together until nothing but breath and sweat lived between them.
“You taste good, little one.” Kylix’s incisors caught light in between nips and kisses. “Your arousal and fear are like the sweetest of ambrosias. Can you feel mine too?”
“N-no.”
“Can you not feel how my pulse flutters under your tongue? Try it. Love it.” He directed Mirel’s mouth to his throat. Mirel inhaled deep, the smell of noir bloom coating his tongue as flicked it over Kylix’s warm skin.
