Page 84 of Axios

Chapter Twenty-Two

The following day, Eryx and I awoke later than usual and scurried around to make it to morning meal. As we jumped from our beds, pulled on our bottoms, and went to rush out the door, we collided with the other and found ourselves unable to stop from laughing.

“You are too slow and in my path,” I said, pushing him back so that I could go through the opening before him.

“I think not!” He pursued me and grabbed both of my sides from behind before swinging me around.

I nearly lost my balance as he shot past me, but I swiftly regained my footing and continued running after him.

It was a nice change from how serious we’d been as of late. We were young again—boys who found joy in the little things in life. Not weighed down with remembrances of war. We chased each other like we used to do so long ago.

I stared at his smooth back as I followed him, admiring the definition of his shoulders and the two indentions that marked his lower back.

A different hunger spiked within me, and I craved to sink my teeth into the perfectly rounded globes of his bottom—nipping him there before flipping him around and taking his length to the back of my throat. He would moan, and I’d take him deeper. Slower. Teasing him until he begged me to allow him release.

“Oof!”

My foot snagged in a hole in the ground and sent me plummeting to the grass. I’d been so enwrapped in my fantasies, I had not been focusing on where I treaded. Right as I landed, the air momentarily left my lungs, and I both gasped for air and laughed at my stupidity.

Eryx, noticing I wasn’t behind him anymore, slowed his pace and turned. When he saw me, he laughed so hard he held his stomach.

“Ax, what have you done?” he asked through his snorts and approached me. “Your mind must have been in the clouds once more. Consider this a lesson that you cannot think and run simultaneously.” He stood above me and looked down with humor still in his eyes. “Or perhaps it was onlywhatyou were thinking that sent you tumbling toward the earth. Go on. What was it?”

I glared at him and flipped to my back, staring up at the clear, blue sky. “If I admit the truth, I am certain you will laugh for days on end.”

He grabbed my arm and hoisted me to my feet, grinning. “Tell me.”

“I will after we eat. I am starved.”

We continued the rest of the way side by side and entered the dining hall together.

Our syssition sat around the table, speaking in boisterous voices and eating in between their words. All except two men, who sat a chair away from the other and picked at their food in silence. They never sat apart, so I knew the argument I’d heard from them the night before must have still been causing them dispute.

I took my seat beside Quill, and Eryx sat on the other side of Theon.

Quill tore off a small piece of bread and slowly chewed it. His brown hair looked as if he’d just run his fingers through it, some of the strands falling into one side of his face.

“Why are you and Theon at odds?” I asked, grabbing some figs off the platter and peeling the slightly tough skin. I could eat them with the skin on, but only if they were ripened enough and those were not.

Figs reminded me of a certain king, however, and a moment of sorrow trickled inside my chest.

He did not respond.

“If you ignore my question, I will only continue asking it until you answer.”

With a sharp exhale, Quill looked at me. “He is stubborn, foolish, and selfish. That is why.” Before I could comment, he expanded his response, “When I lay with a woman yesterday, he yelled at me for it. Went absolutely mad with rage and slapped my chest. It is unfair. Just because he is jealous does not mean I must stop living my life.”

Theon scoffed from seats down. “Jealous? You flatter yourself.”

“Do you see?” Quill asked, motioning to Theon. “He is overbearing. If he wishes to bed a woman so badly, he needs to stop being a coward and do it. The man has fought in war. Surely, he can find the courage to wet his damned prick between a woman’s legs.”

Theon, obviously not in the mood to hear such things, jumped to his feet and stormed from the hall.

I focused on Quill, wondering if he was truly that oblivious.

Theon did not care to bed women and his actions were not those of a competitive nature. Every man could see the way Theon looked upon Quill with affection... apart from Quill.

But it was not my place to intervene. They needed to work it out amongst themselves.