Blood of the Orc Prince by Lionel Hart
9
Chapter Nine
Once he had gone the first time, it was easier for Taegan to go back to Miss Jade’s inn. The Snoring Seagull was livelier, the wine was better, and she proved to be an excellent conversationalist; clearly she was smart as a whip, but so far she had proven to be more trustworthy than he had initially thought. His daily routine shifted to accommodate visiting her tavern in the afternoons after his morning walk and swim, as he started taking his second walk to the town square after drying off at the beach, getting lunch at her tavern to drink and loiter until closer to sundown when he would finally head home.
But the situation with Zorvut and Tom had not changed much, if at all. Zorvut was so absorbed in his training that he hardly seemed to notice when Taegan returned most days, and interactions between them were standoffish and awkward. He had started pulling most of his feelings away from the bond in frustration, but Zorvut seemed to either not notice or not care enough to bring it up. They spoke rarely as well—they would exchange a few words over breakfast some days, maybe over dinner when Taegan returned, but Zorvut was often tired enough from the day’s exertion that he would go right to bed once they had shared their evening meal.
It was just as well, Taegan supposed; if they were not talking, they were not fighting. And they were not really fighting at all. He could not say he was angry with Zorvut, just idle and irritated. But words could certainly start to boil over if they were exchanged, so perhaps it was best they were circling around each other.
It was not sustainable, but things had been so pleasant when they were on the road together that Taegan was not especially concerned. Once they went home things would be better, he was sure of it. But the more they trained the more Taegan suspected it might take longer than he had initially hoped; as unassuming as Tomlin had seemed at first, it was obvious he had some significant magical ability of his own. Occasionally the retired bard would play his lute or sing a song after dinner, and even Taegan with his meager sense of the arcane could notice the shift in the room when he played, the way the very air itself seemed to be drawn toward Tom’s presence and arc toward his voice, his song.
Whatever magic he was most skilled with, it was certainly channeled through his music, so it was humbling to think that what he was teaching Zorvut, strong as it was, wasn’t his forte. Though it was impressive, it was still disheartening to think their visit might take much longer than he had first imagined. Zorvut wanted to learn everything Tomlin could teach him, and a man with that amount of skill surely could not teach everything he knew in just two or three weeks.
And he still had not gotten a letter in return from his father, though he was quite certain it had been long enough that the courier should have delivered the letter by now. He had suspected he probably would not hear back, just for their safety, but it was still a concern always at the back of his head. Had the letter been delivered to the right hands? Was his father safe? He had not heard anything remarkable in the rumors that had swirled around the tavern—some reports of elves losing border villages or pushing back and reclaiming them from orc invaders, but nothing regarding the capital or the king. But no news was somehow worse than bad news in his idling thoughts, forced only to wonder with no confirmation either way.
Most of his thoughts he tried to keep to himself, but after a few drinks at the tavern he would sometimes let a few things slip to Miss Jade.
“So he’s here to learn magic from his father, and you’re here to… what?” she asked when he had mentioned Zorvut’s training. “Keep an eye on him? Make sure he doesn’t defect to the orcs?”
“No, no, I’m not concerned about anything like that,” he protested, shaking his head. “More just for… moral support, I suppose. We didn’t want to be apart.”
“Well, no wonder you’re restless,” she replied. “What in the hells would he expect? He might be here to work, but he’s asked you to go on an indefinite vacation to somewhere you’ve never been with no plans to do anything!”
“When you put it that way…” he replied with a grimace. “We didn’t exactly have a plan beyond getting here to see what we could find out. I think neither of us truly expected to be here so long.”
“Sure, sure,” she said, though her expression was still one of slight condescension. “All I’m saying is you probably could’ve stayed safe at home and the outcome would have been the same. And maybe it would have lit a fire under him to speed things up, get home to you faster. Not that I don’t appreciate your presence, of course, or your coin.” She grinned cheekily at that, and he managed a slight smile in return as he took a long drink from his goblet of wine. He was starting to suspect the same.
“It is what it is,” he sighed. “I’m already here, trying to make the best of it.”
At that point she was distracted by another customer, and it was getting close to sundown, so he dropped a few coins on the bar, waved goodbye, and left.
After that day, Miss Jade would ask him how Zorvut’s training was going at some point during most of his visits, and he realized he did not really know. It must have been going well, he assumed, for Zorvut always seemed tired and drained at the end of the day but Tom appeared pleased with his progress. The last he had seen was when he had mastered creating both fire and lightning, and had been working on creating ice. Hopefully he had accomplished that as well, though Taegan wasn’t sure what the goal was beyond that.
“It was just so boring to watch,” he sighed. “It sounds much more exciting than it actually is. It was a lot of breathing exercises and practicing stances. I don’t know enough to really understand the magic parts of what they discussed.”
“I’m surprised the elves couldn’t teach him more,” she remarked, raising her eyebrows. “You’re the ones known for having the best grasp on magic, after all.”
“I think it was just too different,” Taegan said with a shrug. “I don’t fully understand it. But Tomlin seemed able to explain things in a way he could understand, and that’s how he’s learned so much so far. As long as it works, I suppose.”
At that point it had been nearly three weeks since they had first arrived in Naimere; he probably should know with a bit more certainty how well Zorvut was doing. As he walked home he considered how to ask about it without sounding flippant, or worse, like he was trying to push Zorvut to leaving sooner. That certainly would not go down well.
Dinner was largely the same as usual, and when Zorvut returned from his bath later that night, Taegan stood from where he was sitting and reading, catching his attention.
“Before you go to bed,” he said quickly. “I wanted to ask you something.”
Zorvut blinked in surprise, but sat down on the edge of the bed and gestured for him to speak. “Go on,” he said.
“I realized I haven’t kept up much with your training the past few days,” he said, though that was an exaggeration. “I just wondered what you were working on now, how it was going.”
There was a beat of silence, then Taegan was surprised to see Zorvut glance away with a stifled chuckle.
“It’s funny you would ask me that now,” he said, shaking his head. “I had something I needed to bring up to you as well. Tom has taught me much, certainly. But I’ve gotten a pretty good handle on most of the combat magic he knows, and there’s not much more he can teach me. But he was telling me about a friend of his, a warlock, out in Vlissingstadt who he thinks can teach me a lot more. He specializes in combat magic. Tom was going to send him a message tomorrow to see if he would be willing to tutor me.”
Whatever Taegan had been expecting, that was not it. He hesitated for a long moment before replying, trying to calm his suddenly pounding heart.
“Vlissingstadt is awfully far away,” he finally settled on saying, keeping his tone as carefully neutral as he could. “I don’t know if it’s really safe for us to be traveling more these days.”
“But I can protect us much better, too,” he interjected. “I know you haven’t seen it yet, Taegan, but there’s a lot I’ve accomplished since we’ve gotten here. I can set my sword on fire, throw bolts of lightning—there’s nothing I couldn’t protect us from.”
“But that’s still opening ourselves up to more risk, risks we don’t need to take,” he protested. It was getting harder to push down the panic tugging at the edges of his chest. “And how long do you think it would take us to get there? And how long would we stay?”
“It’s about a week of travel,” Zorvut said, looking away. Whatever he was feeling, he was keeping it closely guarded; Taegan couldn’t get any sense of anything from him. “I’d anticipate us being there another three or four weeks like we’ve been here.”
“Absolutely not!” Taegan exclaimed before he could even think about what to say. He bit his lip, forcing himself to choose his words before speaking again. “That would mean we’d spend over two months away from home. I can’t be gone that long, not when we’re still at war.”
“It would benefit both of us,” Zorvut said, still not meeting his gaze. “The stronger I am, the stronger we both are.”
“I’m not going,” Taegan said flatly, crossing his arms over his chest. “If it means that much to you, go alone. I’m not leaving my father for that long.”
Zorvut seemed to flinch at that, his expression faltering, and through the bond Taegan felt a faint flash of anger. “It’s not like you’ve been here with me this far.”
“Don’t—” Taegan stammered, lifting a finger in accusation before biting down the words and clenching his hand into a fist, lowering it to his side. “I came here in support of you.”
“And now you don’t support me,” the half-orc said flatly. His expression was carefully neutral once again, and for a moment Taegan hated the cruel cast of his eyes, the hard line of his mouth, just different enough from his own that he could never get a good read on his face if Zorvut did not allow it.
“That’s not true,” he protested. “But my father, my nation—our nation—needs our support as well. There’s only so much we can do from afar.”
“Stop,” Zorvut said, lifting a hand. “This isn’t about them, this isn’t about anyone but us. If you want to leave, I can’t stop you. Fine. You left once already. I’ll figure it out on my own.”
All the anger flooded out of his veins all at once as his heart broke. “Is that really what you think this is about?” he asked hoarsely, his brows furrowing.
“I don’t know what this is about,” Zorvut replied, his face twisting the same way. “I just know you disappear all day and don’t talk when you’re here. You’ve broken our bond once, so what’s stopping you from doing it again?”
“That’s not fair!” he exclaimed. Tears burned at the corners of his eyes, but he willed himself not to cry now of all times. “That’s not fair and you know it. That was completely different. I’ve been keeping myself busy because I have nothing to do here. I can’t exactly help you with what you’re doing, so I’ve tried to find things I can do to pass the time. You’ve seen me coming back from the beach — I walk, I swim, I drink. That’s been my entire existence the whole time we’ve been here. I’m trying to stay sane sitting here twiddling my thumbs while my father is at war. If you can’t trust me on that, then that’s an entirely different conversation.”
Zorvut seemed to deflate at that, glancing away again with a guilty frown. “I just wish you would talk to me more about what’s going on.”
“There’s been nothing to talk about,” Taegan scowled. “I just told you everything that’s been going on. Maybe you’ve been learning new things, but every day has been the same for me. It’s boring, and lonely, so I’ve tried to keep it to myself to avoid distracting you. Zorvut, I… I really wanted to come here with you for you to learn as much as you could. But it’s been hard to be so far from home.”
For a long moment, Zorvut was silent as he looked out the window, unable to meet Taegan’s gaze. He watched Zorvut carefully, his heart pounding as he watched each miniscule change in his expression as he seemed to consider Taegan’s words. After a long moment, he felt a faint trickle of emotion coming from the bond, then a jolt of something—a mix of frustration and guilt and fear and a tinge of melancholy. His end of the bond was no longer so carefully guarded, and Taegan could feel his conflicting emotions. Though in some ways it started to amplify his own worries, there was also a strange comfort in finally knowing for sure what the other man was feeling.
“I’m sorry,” Zorvut said quietly, still not quite meeting his gaze but looking down at his hands which were clasped in his lap. “I suppose I let my emotions cloud my judgment. I didn’t fully realize that you were having this hard of a time, and… I apologize.”
“I know,” Taegan said, unsure what else to say. His hurt still lingered, but the anger he had initially felt at Zorvut’s words had faded, burning out as quickly as they had started. “I’m sorry, too. I don’t mean to make this about myself. We came here for you.”
“Don’t apologize for that,” Zorvut said sharply, shaking his head. “Just because we came here for me doesn’t mean you don’t get a say. I’ll tell Tom not to ask that warlock, we won’t go. I’ll finish my training with him and then we can head back.”
“That sounds good to me,” Taegan said, and despite the guilt the words elicited, he managed a tiny smile which Zorvut hesitantly returned.
“I realize now that my training is probably not as exciting for you as it is for me,” Zorvut said slowly. “Since you haven’t had much to do, maybe we can set aside a bit of time in the evenings to spar? To help keep you a bit more active, and I can show you a bit of what I’ve learned, too.”
Taegan chuckled. “I think that sounds pleasant. Although I still think you should come with me to the beach one of these days, too. It’s very nice. Do you know how to swim?”
“A little, yes. You’re right. Let’s go tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” he laughed. “I’m envious of how quickly you can change your mind. I might still be grumpy tomorrow.”
“That’s fine,” Zorvut said, and held out his arms. “Come here.” Slowly Taegan rose and stepped toward him, and Zorvut pulled him close, nestling his head against Taegan’s shoulder. “I love you,” he breathed slowly, and Taegan wrapped his arms around the half-orc’s neck, kissing the top of his head. “I really am sorry. I don’t ever want to lose you… That clouded my judgment.”
“You won’t lose me,” Taegan said, shaking his head. “It’ll be a lot harder than that to get rid of me.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” Zorvut said with a long sigh, the tension draining from his body. The close contact sent a warm rush of arousal through Taegan, but Zorvut shook his head still pressed into his shoulder. “I’m sorry. I really am tired.”
“I understand,” Taegan laughed. “Sorry to keep you up.”
“Come lay with me,” Zorvut said softly as he pulled away, laying back. Taegan crawled into bed with him, and even though neither had blown out the candles, it didn’t take long for Zorvut’s breathing to slow into the steady rhythm of sleep. Taegan laid looking at the flickering candlelight for a long while before finally extricating himself from his husband’s arms to blow out the light and return to bed.
* * *Even Tomlin seemed to notice their better mood the next morning as they ate breakfast. He was sitting on the opposite end of the kitchen looking out the window as he strummed his lute and hummed a faint tune, but occasionally glanced over at the with a barely-stifled smile. His relief at their less-tense interaction was nearly palpable. When Taegan met Zorvut’s gaze over the cup of coffee he had brought to his lips he could not help grinning as well at the look of recognition they shared.
“Tom, I was thinking we could end early today,” Zorvut said after a moment. “I decided I should take Taegan up on his offer to visit the beach, so we’d like to go later this afternoon.”
“That’s fine, that’s fine,” the older man said, waving his hand dismissively. “You’ve learned just about everything, anyway. A half day or two won’t do any harm.” He winked at them from across the room as he strummed his lute again. “And Naimere’s known for its harbor and beaches, so it’d be a shame if you didn’t spend some time down there while you can.”
Taegan nodded. “I agree,” he said with a slight grin, and Zorvut only nodded in reply although he too had an amused smile on his face.
He still went on his usual morning walk, but returned home when he would normally go to the beach. It was as beautiful a day as any others had been so far, with the sky clear and blue, no clouds blocking the sun from shining down on them. When he returned to the house, Zorvut and Tom were still working in the backyard, but when Zorvut noticed him they seemed to quickly wrap up and he came back inside, finding Taegan packing a small lunch for them to take.
“I’m ready to go,” he said, and Taegan grinned up at him. “Or should I bring anything with us?”
“We’ll have lunch while we’re there, so maybe a blanket to sit on?” he said, and the half-orc dutifully went to retrieve one. Soon they were heading out from the house, Taegan leading him down the street toward the harbor.
“Most people visiting the beach are on the north end of the harbor,” Taegan was explaining as they walked. “So let’s go to the south end, since it’s usually less inhabited. It’s more rocky on that side, so people don’t like swimming on that end as much, but I don’t think you’ll mind.”
“I trust your judgment,” he replied simply with a nod. So when they arrived at the harbor, Taegan led them to the south end—just as he had explained, they could see some beachgoers in the distance on the north end, but the south side looked quite uninhabited from what he could tell. The harbor was bustling with activity, but they avoided most of it as they walked.
Taegan had not been on the south end of the harbor, so as they walked he was surprised to see a smaller dock in the distance, which had been hidden from view by the harbor from the other side. Zorvut pointed it out almost immediately after he noticed it.
“What’s over there?” he asked, and Taegan shook his head.
“No idea,” he said, and glanced back. “Want to go look? I don’t see any ships. Maybe it’s abandoned.”
They made their way across the beach, clambering over rock formations and kicking up sand as they went. As they approached, Taegan’s suspicions were proved correct—the structure was a tall pier that looked entirely abandoned, stretching out into the ocean several yards before crumbling into a mess of rotting wood far out into the surf. A set of wooden stairs still remained to attach the pier to the beach below, but even those looked soft and unsteady.
“My guess is that this was a fishing pier,” Taegan said. “And when the harbor got busier, it fell into disuse. Either all the fish were driven away or the fishing is just better from the harbor than it was here.”
“Probably not safe to get up onto,” Zorvut remarked as they stood at the base of it. “It even smells like rotten wood.”
“No, but it seems nice and isolated,” Taegan said, glancing back at him. “If you wanted to…?”
Zorvut grinned, shaking his head incredulously at the jolt of arousal through the bond. “Was this your plan all along?”
“No, but it’s worked out well for me,” he replied, setting down his basket of food. “Come here and pin me to one of these pillars.”
“I can’t say no to a prince,” Zorvut said, carefully setting down the blanket he was carrying onto the sand. Taegan was already walking out under the pier and pulling his shirt up, and Zorvut pressed him up against the wood pillar the moment it was off, pushing his hands down the elf’s trousers and peeling them off easily.
“Don’t let them get wet,” he said breathlessly, and with a laugh Zorvut tossed them further up the beach next to their things, where the tide couldn’t reach.
Their mouths met and Zorvut’s tongue pressed insistently against his lips. He opened his mouth compliantly and their tongues met in a wet, hot swirl of movement and force. The orc’s strong arms lifted him effortlessly, bracing him against the pillar so he could free one arm to unbutton his own breeches.
“Don’t tease me,” Taegan groaned as Zorvut’s hands moved up his chest, brushing against his nipples and his abs. “It’s been too long—please just fuck me.”
“Ask me again,” Zorvut growled, the sound sending a shiver up Taegan’s spine.
“Please fuck me,” he gasped, and he felt Zorvut nod against his shoulder. His weight was shifted to an easier position, and he wrapped his bare legs around Zorvut’s waist as the familiar pressure of the half-orc’s cock pressed against his entrance.
“Fuck,” he whimpered as Zorvut entered him, setting a slow and leisurely pace that entirely betrayed the sense of urgency he felt. From where he was, he could see out onto the beach they had come from; though it had been abandoned, there was no guarantee someone might not stumble upon them. The thought only sent an arc of heightened arousal through the bond, though whether it stemmed from him or from Zorvut he couldn’t tell. “Please, faster.”
“No,” Zorvut said, and he stifled a moan against his shoulder. “No, I’ll have my way with you, I don’t care if anyone sees.”
“No one can see us,” he protested weakly, but he was completely at the half-orc’s mercy. “You can’t let anyone see.”
“Let them see,” he growled in Taegan’s ear, moving unbearably slowly inside him. “Let them see you’re mine. You’re mine.”
“I am yours,” he agreed, and he couldn’t form the words to protest any further. Pleasure buzzed through him, lighting every nerve ending in his body, heightened by the fear that wouldn’t quell in the back of his head that at any moment they might be discovered. It was frightening and arousing all at once, and a tiny shred of him hoped for the thrill of being found out even as the rest of him screamed that it was unseemly, unbecoming, terrible and dangerous. His cock was trapped between them, the friction of the slow movement between them driving him to the edge before he even realized. It was the hot, wet sensation suddenly pulsing between them that made him realize too late he was already coming.
“You like it,” Zorvut gasped, moving a bit faster as the realization took him as well. “You want to be discovered. You want everyone to see us, to see me fucking you.”
“No!” he exclaimed, shaking his head as his face burned red-hot. But the evidence was undeniable between them, and he felt Zorvut chuckle. “No, that’s not true—I—I don’t!”
“Fuck, it’s been too long,” the half-orc groaned against him. “And you’re so tight…” He could feel how desperately Zorvut wanted to keep fucking him long and slow, the iron will keeping him at the same slow and decadent pace, so he squeezed his legs tighter around Zorvut’s waist, eliciting a long moan from him.
“Come on,” Taegan urged, and bit down on the sensitive skin between his neck and shoulder. That seemed more than Zorvut could bear, and his hips stuttered and sped up. He was being well and truly fucked now, Zorvut’s shallow movements setting a staccato beat that peaked with ecstasy at each rapid thrust.
“Fuck,” Zorvut panted, unable to stop himself. “Fuck!” He held out for only a moment longer, fire tearing through the bond as he came hard and fast. Taegan gasped and whimpered at the hot sensation of his belly being filled with come, his spent cock twitching weakly at the feedback loop of pleasure.
“Spoiled prince,” Zorvut moaned against him when his hips finally stilled. “I wanted to fuck your tight little hole forever.”
“Keep fucking me, then,” Taegan replied, pressing his face into Zorvut’s chest to hide his wicked smile as he clenched his muscles around Zorvut’s cock, making him gasp.
“You just want to be found, don’t you?” Zorvut chuckled, and Taegan could feel that for a moment he was considering it—then seemed to decide against it, slowly pulling his cock out. Taegan hissed at the sudden emptiness and the sensation of liquid spilling out of him in a thick gush that splattered at their feet. “I’ll have you again tonight. But I’d like to actually spend some time on the beach, not under it, after all.”
“Who’s the spoiled one here?” Taegan teased as Zorvut lowered him carefully. His legs trembled at first as he stood, streams of white come still dripping down them, but he walked further into the surf where he could wash clean. Zorvut took a moment to watch him and finally pulled off his own shirt that Taegan had only managed to unbutton before following him, going out much further into the surf to fully submerge himself.
Taegan watched nervously as the half-orc disappeared under the water—he could not quite see him in the dark blue water, but Zorvut’s head popped up only a moment later, grinning slightly as he wiped the salt water from his eyes.
“It’s colder than I thought,” he said as he waded up to where Taegan was standing — the water was waist-deep for him but went only partly up Zorvut’s thighs, his softened cock on full display.
“Go put your clothes back on,” Taegan laughed, and Zorvut only winked at him as he walked back up to where their belongings were on the sand. After he had wiped himself clean in the cold water, and spent a long moment looking out toward the harbor and hoping they had not been too loud, he stumbled back up to the shoreline where Zorvut was waiting and holding out his clothes.
It was a struggle to get dressed while he was still so damp, but soon they were sitting in the sun with their lunch spread out on the blanket between them, idly eating as they watched the surf.
“Thank you for inviting me,” Zorvut said after a long moment of silence, tearing his gaze away from the horizon to meet Taegan’s eyes. “You’re right. It would have been a shame if we’d gone home before I’d been able to see this, to swim in it.”
“I’m glad you decided to come with me,” Taegan said, leaning closer to him as he took a bite of fruit, the juice dripping down his chin. “It’s pleasant here, but it’s much more pleasant with you.”
With an amused smile, Zorvut lifted a thumb to wipe the juice from Taegan’s face. “I love you.”
“I love you,” Taegan said, grinning up at him. They remained on the beach sitting quietly for a while after their meal was complete, then packing up and heading back home before the heat of the day became too intense.