Page 30 of A Deception of Courts

Duncan shifted beside me, his breathing breaking its pattern. I turned my head to look at him, to find his narrowed, tired stare on me.

“How long have you been awake?” he asked, voice groggy.

I let out a sigh, suddenly relieved. Hearing his deep, rumbling voice edged with exhaustion was the relief I required from my mind. As always, it had the power to expel the tension that built up in my chest. “Unfortunately for me, it seems my head is refusing the idea of sleep. Sorry if I woke you.”

“I’m only sorry you didn’t wake me sooner. Come here,” Duncan groaned as he encouraged me closer to him. “Would you feel better talking about it?”

He had let go of my hand to allow me to get as near as possible. My fingers were stiff; my wrist ached from being stuck in one position. All those discomforts melted away as my cheek pressed into the hard curve of his chest. Duncan had shaved the hairs from his torso with a wet blade only days ago. Already the hairs had grown enough to prickle me. Not that I cared. In fact, I was slightly disappointed when he had shaved at all. Although I didn’t admit that to him. There was something about seeing his muscles sculpted by the shade of dark hair that set something ablaze in me.

“Oh, you know,” I whispered, laying my hand on his stomach. He was warm to the touch, our bodies equally sticky. If he didn’t look so exhausted, I would’ve suggested a stroll to the main deck for the welcoming kiss of fresh air. “Same old concerns about demonic gods and their mind-controlling puppets searching for the keys to bring forth a world of damnation and death. Nothing too consuming.”

It was easier to blame all my anxiety on Aldrick instead of bringing up Erix, Jesibel, and the empty Icethorn Court that waited for me. Not to mention the Nephilim. There were so many other concerns that if I didn’t slot them each into their own place in my mind and give them attention, one at a time, I feared I would implode.

Duncan pressed his lips into my hair and kissed the top of my head. He pulled back enough to speak but still kept close enough that his breath tickled my scalp. “One day, we will be sleepless for other reasons without a care or concern in the world.”

I closed my eyes, trying to conjure up such a time. It felt impossible. “Say it again, and maybe I’ll believe you.”

“I believe it,” Duncan replied as he lay back on the pillow. His eyes had closed again, but his fingers slowly trailed shapes upon my upper arm as he held me to him.

“How do you feel?” I was scared to ask for what he might reply, but I did so anyway.

“Don’t you have enough to worry yourself with other than my well-being?”

I laughed, catching the hint of his sarcasm from the sly grin he forced upon his face. His dark hair had been swept from his forehead to reveal it glistening in the dull glow of the swaying lantern on his side of the room. Some colour had returned to his face, but he still looked fatigued.

“You are all I think of,” I admitted. “Which is more a pleasure than a pain. Anyway, I need you to get better because you owe me something.”

“I do?” Duncan’s smile widened as he surveyed me out of one open eye.

“Yes, something that requires you at full energy… at least that is what I recall you saying. I mean, lots has happened since then. After a few minor hiccups along the way, my plan of emptying the Below has worked. That, and now there is currently a sea full of ships with winged humans who name themselves after the Creator’s favoured inanimate objects… and not to forget the mystery of keys and missing fey. In fact, perhaps my mind is playing tricks on me, and you promised nothing at all.”

Duncan’s fingers no longer traced my skin but gripped it. His thumb pressed down into my arm with a pleasuring force. “No, no. I still seem to remember a promise.”

“Enlighten me,” I replied.

I longed for Duncan. His touch, his taste. There was a need to feel him, which I also caught in the glow of his eyes. Mischief and hunger coiled in his dark gaze made clear by the parting of his lips and the flash of his tongue caught between teeth.

“Are you using me, Robin Icethorn? Because if you only require me in your life to tire you out, I’m certainly up for the challenge,” Duncan said, spare hand reaching down for the bedding that covered his modesty. At first, what I believed was a mound of material revealed itself to be a peak caused by the swell of his hard cock.

“You can hardly keep your eyes open,” I said, trying to be coy but failing. “I hardly think you have it in you to ruin me.”

“Ruin you?” His eyes narrowed.

“Was that not the promise you made, to ruin me? I could have sworn it was.”

Words seemed to fail Duncan as his mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water. Giving up on finding the right thing to reply, he surprised me with strength as he rolled me on top of him.

A giggle escaped me as he forced me atop his waist, straddling his proud body with legs bent on either side of his hips. I felt him thrive beneath me, hips rocking in tandem with the ship’s natural movement. The press of his cock upon the thin material of my undershorts turned my want for Duncan into a feverish need.

Part of me felt wrong about doing this here. With everything that had happened since my head last touched a pillow, this moment of distraction felt undeserved. As though this prize hadn’t yet been earned.

But I couldn’t wait for our return to Wychwood to take Duncan. Not when he was beneath me now, hands gripping my thighs and encouraging me to roll my hips upon his cock. His eyes had shed the tired gleam. He hardly blinked as he looked up at me. Waves of dark hair spread across the pillow, fanning out around his head like a halo of shadow.

“I missed this,” Duncan whispered. “I missedyou.”

“How could you miss me when I haven’t left your side?”

Duncan stared me dead in the eyes as though searching for my soul to judge it. “You might have been beside me, but your mind has been elsewhere. Every time I have looked at you, I have seen heavy clouds flooding your mind. I don’t blame you, of course, not with everything you have done.” Duncan lifted a hand from my thigh and brought it to my face. I kept still as his fingers glided across my cheekbone, inches from my left eye. “But now they’re clearer than before. Not blue skies, not yet. But the clouds are thinning within you. I’m glad for your sake.”

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