Page 9 of Zel
Rudy tugged Zel closer before he could finish. “Please, let me feel how wet I made you.”
Zelwaswet, still dripping, but as much as he wanted that, he couldn’t allow Rudy to feel anywhere near it. He was tempted. Itwastheir last night, and Rudy deserved to know the truth, but Zel couldn’t risk it. “Not tonight. Now go before someone catches us. I’ll follow shortly. If anyone asks, I’m still getting pretty.”
“You are always pretty. But fine. I thought perhaps today of all days I could change your mind.” Rudy lifted Zel’s hand and kissed his fingers. “Happy birthday, Zel.”
Zel was twenty today, finally a man—or woman to everyone else—but at least he had until tomorrow to be sent to the sorcerer’s tower.
When Rudy released Zel’s hand, he flipped it over and dropped something into it that felt cold and weighty. It was a necklace, gold by the looks of it, with an emerald pendant.
“Rudy.” Zel held the necklace up to inspect it. “Who did you pickpocket this from? Such a treasure should have been turned over—”
“Do not worry about that. Just enjoy the gift.”
Tears welled up in Zel’s eyes because it wasn’t only that it was a beautiful and clearly valuable piece of jewelry, but that it harkened back to the very first gift Rudy had ever given him.
They were six at the time. They’d played together a little but were not yet close. Several other children were teasing Zel, including the bully who eventually melted, chanting about how the sorcerer was going to chop him up into his own salad someday. If any of them knew it was Zel’s birthday, none of them had wished him well but continued to taunt him.
Rudy intervened, chasing them away. The others had been so merciless, they’d pushed Zel to tears, which had only made their taunts worse, saying he’d for certain fail as a member of the guild someday if he was such a “soft and silly girl.” But Rudy cheered him up. The Great Famine hadn’t fully ravaged the kingdom yet, and they were in a small field of flowers at the edge of the central city, as far as most children were allowed to venture. Rudy sat with Zel, babbling on about one thing or another while linking a chain of snapdragons. Their yellow flowers made it almost look like a gold necklace. Then he affixed the blossom of a green zinnia to act as its pendant and presented it to Zel like a courter.
Happy birthday, Rapunzel.
“I can make you one out of flowers again if you prefer,” the grownup Rudy said, clearly having intended the comparison. “I would do anything for you, Zel.”
“Rudy, I cannot wear this—”
“Not to the celebration, no, but tomorrow, when you go to the tower, wear it in remembrance of me.”
The necklace was truly beautiful, and connected to that precious memory made it even more valuable in Zel’s eyes, but as he slipped it into the pocket of his apron, he had to say, “I have told you many times—”
“To not get my hopes up. I know. You are a free spirit, but my heart does not know any better. I will always love you.”
The sentiment was almost enough to dwindle Zel’s erection.
Almost.
He kissed Rudy’s cheek but still bid him farewell for now.
As soon as Rudy left, Zel hoisted his lower layers to take his cock in hand. He didn’t think about Rudy while he pumped his prick, smoothing the collection of fluids across his skin. He didn’t think about anyone. He simply wanted the bliss of oblivion for a while when nothing else was certain, other than that Rudy was setting himself up for disappointment.
Inevitably, as Zel stroked himself to a harried end, a faceless figure entered his mind. He had begged his parents to describe the sorcerer to him, but all they had ever said was that he was tall, dark, and terrifying, and that Zel could not let his fear show when they met.
Hips stuttering, Zel came into his palm, as he imagined the faceless figure licking him clean. He certainly wouldn’t be getting that treatment from the sorcerer, but the fantasy was better than the reality to come. In truth, Zel used a rag to clean himself that he then tossed into the corner, telling himself he’d sneak it into the laundry later.
He tidied himself and prepared to head back downstairs, only to nearly collide with his mother when he turned for the hatch.
Second time tonight. He was definitely distracted.
Sophie had brown hair and eyes to match. Aside from sharing his father's bowed lips and slight build, Zel had often been told he looked like her. The scar on Sophie’s cheek did not sully her beauty. Not the sorcerer’s cut. That had eventually healed and faded. Lothar’s was the one that had scarred.
“Rapunzel—”
“Just this once more!” Zel said. “Rudy remains none the wiser.”
“You tempt fate.” She crossed her arms sternly.
“What else can one do other than tempt it when one’s fate is already sealed?”
Sophie did not move to grant Zel leave to the hatch nor did she look away. She barely blinked. “Are you a man today or still a brat?”
