Page 84 of The Prince and the Ice King

Maybe Jack owed him the same.

Reardon

Reardon wasn’t sure when the king was or wasn’t watching him, so he tended to imagine he always was.

Except with Raphael. Oh, he hoped he hadn’t seenthat.

Just in case, Reardon focused his time in the music room on helping Nigel, rather than working on his own piece, at least until he could ask Zephyr to inform him whenever the king was watching while he was in there—which would also ensure they knew where Zephyr was forNigel’s sake, though Nigel insisted he could always tell when Zephyr was listening.

At nightfall, after a quick dinner, Reardon went once more to the king’s chambers and tied that same scarf over his eyes before he knocked.

“I won’t look, Majesty!” he called. “And I promise I haven’t had anything to drink tonight.”

He was ready for a fight, for silence or angry remarks, but after only a few short beats, the door opened, and a gentle hand took Reardon’s to pull him inside.

The thrill of the king’s touch made Reardon shiver for such different reasons than the cold of the room he’d come from. The warmth of these chambers was all the sweeter too, the look of them clear in his mind’s eye now as the door closed behind him to let him know he was welcome.

“While I thank you for admitting me, Majesty, this is rather silly,” Reardon said, carefully following the path the king led him on.

“You mean you coming here every night?”

“I mean you not letting me see you but still letting me in.”

A comfortable hush fell until Reardon crossed what he knew to be the threshold into the bedroom. “Can’t you be happy with what you’re given?” the king said, the hand in Reardon’s keeping hold of him, while the other was suddenly at the curve of Reardon’s cheek.

“Depends on what I’m going to be given.”

“Well, little prince… it seems I owe youthis.”

A puff of breath was the only warning Reardon received before the shock of descending lips. He gasped, leaning instinctively into the body before him and nearly going limp at that first brush of another’s mouth. The king had touched him so intimately before, yet this made Reardon’s knees far weaker.

He whined, opening his mouth wider upon the scarred softness of the king’s, and sought the wetness of his lover’s tongue. The king tilted his head to comply, pulling him against him tightly, his tender touch on Reardon’s neck becoming a firm hold as he plunged his tongue deeper to give Reardon what he wanted.

Reardon was still shy of fourteen days in the castle, yet he’d found everything he’d ever wanted his long twenty-two years on this earth and hoped he was giving the king something worthwhile after a far longer two hundred.

“Please,” Reardon panted after his breath had been stolen. “Let me know your touch again. Let me knowmore… if I can.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Then I surrender, my little prince. At least in this.”

Reardon’s chest felt like a jolt of Liam’s lightning had hit him as he followed the king’s ginger steps to the bed.

Because he had called himhis.

Jack

Perhaps Reardon truly believed in his devotion, but Jack knew, once the curse proved unbreakable, the prince would have to accept heading home empty-handed. And all the better, because knowing that—knowing true love wasn’t real (or at least, not real for him)—wouldn’t stop Jack from taking what he could.

Monsters could be gentle and giving too. Even demons garnered sympathy on occasion.

Reardon trembled and parted his moistened lips with a sigh, as if all the answers to the universe could be found in Jack’s touch. He simply knew no other, but Jack would make it sweet for him and sweet, in the end, for himself too.

“You lent me your mouth, little prince,” Jack said, laying Reardon down and straddling his thin hips, “now, let me give you mine.”

Descending swiftly, Jack claimed another kiss. He’d forgotten how nice the simple meeting of mouths could feel, tongues caressing with demanding twirls and flicks. Reardon had little practice but more than enough passion, pawing up at Jack with equally aggressive fingers twisting into his shirt.

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