Page 70 of The Empty Throne

Bittersea gasped mockingly. "You stolebelongings off dead bodies?"

"They were just lying on the ground, not withany bodies at all. Who's to say they didn't already belong toyou?"

"Naughty, naughty," Bittersea replied,trailing his mouth lazily across whatever bits of Cohea's soft,sweat-salty skin he could reach. "What was done with Fazekas'sbody?"

"It was cleaned and dressed and left out tofreeze before it will be escorted with respect to his home. Some ofthe other lairds will be arriving in the next week or so for peacenegotiations."

Bittersea pushed up enough to bare his teeth."Why bother with negotiations when I can remove the problementirely? They wouldn't even make it to the palace."

Cohea nipped his nose, then dragged him intoa wet and filthy kiss that left Bittersea's mouth throbbing. "Nokilling for now, I'm afraid. Anyway, you need to start thinkingabout our wedding and your new name."

"If you insist," Bittersea said with a sigh,rolling to lie on his back, staring up at the ornate velvet drapingthat knotted and swirled before flowing out to form the curtainthat shielded the bed when even a roaring fire and ancient,embedded magic could not drive back the searing cold. "You know Icould care less what my name is." As long as nobody called himJethue. "You're so controlling and obsessive, why don't you pickit?"

Instead of replying, Cohea sat up and settledhimself between Bittersea's thighs, spreading him wide and slidinghis hardened cock into his body like it belonged there. Bitterseagasped, arms wrapping around Cohea to dig nails into his back."You're insatiable."

"You're delectable," Cohea replied, restinghis weight on his arms on either side of Bittersea, rolling hiships to fuck him deep and slow, taking his time and savoring thisround. "Wait until tonight, when I won't have to worry about beingup at a reasonable hour to do tiresome political things. I'm goingto bind you to this bed, make you my pretty little slave, your onlypurpose to pleasure me."

Bittersea laughed, but it turned into a gaspas Cohea gave a particularly hard thrust, going so deep Bitterseacould damn near taste him in the back of his throat. "Fuck.Cohea."

"That's it," Cohea said, kissing and lickingand nuzzling his face as he continued to fuck him. "Show me howmuch you enjoy this, being split open on my cock, weighed down andunable to go anywhere, how hungry you are for something only I cangive you."

"Your dick isn't that special," Bittersearetorted scathingly. "I can walk down the street and find plentymore of them, maybe even a cunt or two for variety—" He laughed atthe snarl that got him, the fierce, biting kiss that left his lipssore and throbbing, the hands that roughly turned him over beforeCohea shoved back into him and fucked him like he was beingtimed.

He came just moments later, utterly exhaustednow, but as ever, Cohea liked to keep going, pushing his body totake more and more, until he was overstimulated and trembling. Onlythen did Cohea push in deep one last time and come.

Bittersea let his weight fall, settling intothe blankets and allowing exhaustion to win out as he distantlyheard Cohea climb out of bed to putter around the room and get themcleaned up.

When he woke some hours later, it was to aclock in the hallway chiming, heralding that it was still entirelytoo early in the morning. Cohea, naturally, was already up,dressed, and eating breakfast. Bittersea sighed and climbed out ofbed, getting ready for the day quickly and joining him at thetable. "So what prattle must I listen to this morning?"

"Recovery and repair plans."

Bittersea scoffed. "Not interested."

"You're going anyway, so I know where youare," Cohea said. "I don't trust you to not slink off to toy withany war prisoners lying about."

"Stop ruining my fun. It's not like they'd bemissed." At Cohea's look, he added, "Fine, maybe they'd be missed,but also maybe their spouses or whatnot would be relieved to hearthey died in battle. You don't know."

Cohea snorted in amusement as he pushed awayfrom the table and stood. "Let's go, moon shadow. I have everyfaith there will be somebody for you to torment and kill before theday is out. Who knows how many soldiers are hiding in the city,what kind of trouble they might cause. If they had any sense,they'd simply try to go home, but…" He shrugged one shoulder.

"I suppose that's something," Bitterseagrumbled as he went to examine his trove, which sadly would have towait still more hours before he could pay it proper attention.

His eyes did catch on a new addition,reminding him that Cohea had mentioned adding to it. The sheath wasleather that had been dyed the deepest green, like a wintergreentree as the light faded, so dark it was nearly black. The hilt ofthe blade was embellished, set with small squares of black andgreen enamel in alternating bands that overlapped and interlocked.At least the pommel was functional, heavy and rounded, good forsmashing into someone's temple or the back of their head ifstabbing was, for some strange reason, not an option.

Bittersea released the snap that held thedagger in place through turbulent movement and drew it—and smiled,sharp and wicked, as he took in the whole of the dagger, which hadbeen forged with waves. A keris, also known as a snake dagger. Thewaves weren't really necessary, as much a show of the forger'sskills as anything else, but nice all the same. It would hurt goingin and hurt even more coming out. Deadly even in the hands of anamateur. In his hands? A beautiful, wonderful toy guaranteed toextract all manner of screams and pleas and sobbing. "This islovely." He sheathed it again and fastened it to the back of hisbelt, where it would be hidden by the draping of his outerlayers.

Cohea's eyes gleamed with satisfaction. "Iknew you would approve. I'll expect a proper thank you later whenwe have some free minutes to spare."

"Is that all? You want me to suck you off inan office between meetings?" Bittersea tossed his head. "Howuncreative of you. Here I thought I'd be forced to endure one ofyour toys." He strode for the door—and wasn't remotely surprisedwhen he was grabbed roughly by the back of his neck and all butthrown down on the table, his legs kicked wide and his handsswiftly tied behind back.

That dark, gruff voice filled his ear again,the way he loved best. "I was going to be nice to you, since I woreyou out so thoroughly last night, but if you're going to beimpertinent instead of grateful, Bittersea, I'm happy to administerthe torment you're begging so sweetly for."

"Putting up with you is torment enough."

Cohea just chuckled, low and smug, smackinghis ass lightly before moving away across the room, still out ofBittersea's sight. His ears worked just fine, though, and it waseasy enough to tell that Cohea was rifling through the wardrobe inthat corner of the room. Contrary to most people, Cohea kept noclothes in the wardrobe, not even linens and such. No, it wasfilled entirely with all his precious toys, a collectionever-growing as he discovered new or improved ways to play withBittersea, by far the favorite toy in his collection.

He returned after a few minutes, settingsomething on the table—out of Bittersea's sight—and then set towork getting his long outer layers flipped up out of the way beforeundoing his belt and yanking pants and underclothes down to buncharound his thighs. A soft, deep groan filled the room, andBittersea laughed.

"Going to be late anyway at this point,"Cohea said, and that was all the warning Bittersea got before Coheafucked into him in a single hard, burning thrust that trapped theair in his lungs, before a series of brutal thrusts finally punchedit out. He was still somewhat stretched from just hours ago, but itwas still a lot to take.

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