Page 11 of Out of Time (The Ice King Chronicles #3)

Ethan

I have to admit, he took me by surprise. I’d never seen him so passionate about anything before outside of sex.

“I’m not afraid of the Quendi,” I told him, leaning my hips back against the desk.

“Then you’re a fool. They’re powerful warriors.”

“I can handle myself. And you too, for that matter. I won’t let the Elves hurt you.”

“You can’t keep that promise. Tarrak has a whole castle full of fierce, well-trained soldiers.”

“Why don’t you let me worry about it?”

“Because it’s my life you’re putting on the line here!”

“Don’t be so dramatic. You won’t be in any danger.” At his crestfallen expression, I softened my tone a bit. “Don’t you trust me?”

“I want to, but what if Tarrak offers you gold to hand me over to him?”

“You think I’d take gold in exchange for you?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think so, but …”

“But nothing. We need to do this, Glori. We need to find out what this is.”

“Why?” he moaned, dropping his gaze.

“You arrived here under a vicious curse, one that Drogheda had to pull you out of your own world to try and vanquish. You still have something—maybe even some kind of demonic thing—hiding deep inside you that we have yet to deal with. I want to make sure this Sergey or the brother you mentioned didn’t somehow put another curse on you or somehow send one to you over time and distance. To find out, we need to travel to the Fae world in your own time to confront both the two of them and King Tarrak. If it’s not them, then the trail may even lead me to King Stefan. But I will get to the bottom of this.”

Without stopping to consider what I was doing, because hesitation had gotten me nowhere so far, I reached for him and pulled him in my arms. “Glori, listen to me.”

He struggled for a second or two, but finally went limp against me, stifling a little sob and came into my arms. “We need to find out what’s attacking you.”

“I’m scared,” he finally admitted, though I knew it cost him. I felt compelled to kiss him then, taking his face in my hands and thoroughly tasting his honeyed lips. His words had moved me more than I would have believed possible. This impossible, irritating, totally inhuman, reckless creature. This Fairy —of the tribe I’d sworn never to go near—he had gotten so far under my skin he felt like a part of me. I kissed his eyes, his cheeks and even the tip of his nose, before eagerly pressing my lips against his full ones again.

“Make love to me, Ethan. Please.” He kissed my throat and pushed up as close as he could to me.

I had thought about falling in love before, though I wasn’t a romantic guy or the kind of person to sit around daydreaming about such things. I figured it would probably happen someday, but somewhere off in the future. Of course, I’d wondered who this future lover might turn out to be from time to time, but never would I have imagined even considering someone like Glorfindel. Yet incongruous as it seemed, I thought I may have found the love of my life in him, and I would never find anyone else to match him or even come close again. I was still fighting it though, afraid to truly trust in these feelings. But for now—for these few moments—perhaps I could pretend as if I did believe it.

I picked him up again and put him on his back on my desk for a second time that day, and then I attacked my own clothes as he began to wiggle out of his. I needed him like I needed to breathe, and that burning need swept through me like wildfire. I managed to kick off my jeans by the time he was ready for me, laid out on my desk like an offering, his beautiful cock standing up proudly. I fell on top of him, and his legs wrapped around me, his thighs squeezed my hips. His cock, like the rest of him, was perfection. It was long and pink and nestled in blond curls.

Taking both of our cocks in one hand, I fisted them together, starting a frantic stroking. Glori arched up, pressing his forehead to my shoulder. “Oh!” he cried, shamelessly thrusting his hips upward. When I picked up the pace even further and added a little twist to the downward stroke, Glori sank his teeth into my shoulder, and bit down hard.

I took his mouth again and again, crushing it under mine, and Glori made a sound so sweet it made me groan even louder. It was a kind of plea, a kind of moan, his pretty cock hard and leaking, so I rubbed my thumb over the head. I lowered my mouth to Glori’s and kissed him long and deep as he suddenly came harder than he had with me so far. His slim hips jerked and thrust, and it went on and on, like it would never stop. He yelled out his pleasure in a voice that was hoarse and exultant.

“Are you all right?” I asked him after a few moments, and he nodded, burying his hot face in my shoulder. I dropped my mouth to his throat and worked my way down his chest, nibbling as I went. Glori groaned and pushed up into my hand again.

“Beautiful,” I murmured and rolled him to lie on his stomach.

I used my knee to spread his legs wide then settle myself inside his thighs. He writhed beneath me and arched up his back, trying to lean back closer to me. I told him then in great detail what I would do to him if I ever caught him looking at another man or ever giving himself to anyone else. I wanted to make sure Glori knew he belonged to me and no one else.

He nodded his head throughout my litany and made mewling promises as I stroked his ass and fondled his balls. The possessiveness I thought Glori would perhaps never tolerate outside of sex now seemed to drive him wild, and he rubbed his ass against my hand, begging me for more, hissing with pleasure as I stroked along his cleft. I eased a finger into him and then added another. He whined and bucked up against me even harder, his head turning to blindly seek my skin and whimpering when he couldn’t reach it. I found his prostate and gave it a good massage, then watched him come apart. He came so hard a second time that his come soaked the desk beneath him, and I milked him through his release until he groaned. When I finally released him, he sagged like he’d been shot, but I was far from being through with him.

I coated my cock with a small tube of lube I had begun keeping in my desk drawer since he’d arrived. I lifted Glori’s leg and then drove my cock into him in one, hard thrust. Glori arched his entire body and shouted, tremors vibrating all through him. I waited a moment for him to get used to me deep inside him, and then I rolled my hips up higher and thrust into him fast and hard, again and again. I was taking the advice my grandfather had given in his scribbled notes—I would keep this Fairy too well fucked to even think of being with someone else.

He screamed again, no doubt alerting the whole block as to what I was doing to him. Luckily it was late, and few people were about. I drove into him again and again, moving one hand to his flagging erection and stroking him relentlessly until his cock began to sluggishly refill. He was a magical being but getting fully erect again after two orgasms just wasn’t in the cards. Still, I enjoyed trying to make him. He matched the thrust of my hand to that of his hips, and when I came myself a few minutes later, it was no less spectacular than Glori’s orgasm had been.

I felt it wash over me, filling me with pleasure and deep satisfaction. When it finally stopped and I recovered a bit, I slipped reluctantly from Glori’s body and stood up, swaying only a little. I leaned over and sucked up a huge red mark on the side of his neck as he moaned and whimpered, liking the idea of marking him both inside and out before I took him back to the Fae realm.

Those two Elven kings might not love him, but they couldn’t help being attracted to him. Not if they had red blood in their veins. He was far too desirable and beautiful. I picked him up in my arms and carried him upstairs, to my bed, not bothering to clean him up. I liked him the way he was far too much. He held out a hand to me after I laid him in my bed, and I took it, then I covered him up with the light quilt on the bed and stood over him watching him as he drifted into sleep.

I made a silent vow to myself to find out who was trying to hurt him and put an end to this once and for all.

****

Glorfindel

I didn’t wake up the next morning when daylight was streaming in the windows. I glanced at the little black box next to his bed with the red numbers on it, surprised to find it was almost nine o’clock. Ethan was already gone, and I jumped from bed in a panic, thinking he might have gone without me. Funny, since I’d been afraid of going the night before. But the idea of him on his own frightened me too.

Then halfway down the stairs, I heard his voice in the shop and sagged with relief. It was only then that I realized I was both naked and had little flakes of come decorating my body. I turned and hurried back up to go to my own bedroom and start the water in the little booth so I could “take a shower,” as Ethan would say. I thought I might miss this convenience when we returned to the Fae realm.

I soaped myself thoroughly, washing my body and my hair with Ethan’s soaps. After drying off and inspecting the marks on me from the night before—and approving of them—I got dressed and went downstairs again to find Ethan. Sometimes—well, make that most of the time since I’d arrived in Salem, it felt like I had an invisible string that reached from my heart to his. No matter how silly that sounded or how much I would have hated it just a couple of days before, it was the truth. I wasn’t sure what it meant, but I knew I was terrified of losing it.

Truth be told, I dreaded facing King Tarrak and Sergey again. I didn’t want to see the look on Pavel’s face and how much Lord Juul, his husband, would no doubt sneer at me. Maybe he’d even pull his sword and run me through. Pavel had been perilously close to becoming my friend while I’d been with the Quendi, and I really didn’t have many of those. Now he no doubt scorned me.

King Stefan, too, if we went to see him, though I hoped it wouldn’t become necessary. He’d been kind to me, and I’d thrown it back in his face. Funny how I could see that now, when I couldn’t before. I was kind of proud of myself for the realization, though it had taken me a while. My time in Salem with Ethan had changed me profoundly in just a few days, or maybe it had been due to finding true love, against all odds. I had a lot to be thankful for. I was still riding high on my newfound cloud of pridefulness when I burst into the kitchen and found Dee at the table with the box that had once contained her chocolate birthday cake. She was looking down at the remains that she, too, must have dug from the trash, with only a bunch of crumbs and a few smears of chocolate icing on the bottom of the box where the cake had once been.

I tried to sneak past her, but her head whipped up and she pinned me with her gaze. “Finn, did you eat any of my birthday cake yesterday?” she asked.

“Mm, uh, let me think. Oh yes, I think I had a piece yesterday afternoon. It was delicious.” I tried to scoot past her, but she stood in my way.

“How many pieces did you say you had? Because I didn’t get any and Marcy left for the hospital to see Pat before having a piece. I’d thought I’d bring it out today and have a piece, but then I found this empty box.” She held out the sad little pastry container. “That just leaves you and Ethan….”

“Ethan did it,” I said, without a moment’s hesitation. So much for being a changed man. “He has a bit of a sweet tooth.”

“Huh. I never noticed that about him before,” she replied. “Okay, well at least I hope you enjoyed the one slice you had.”

“Oh, yes, it was really good. Very sweet and chocolatey. But I have to go find Ethan now. We have, uh, things to do today!”

I turned to run out of there and crashed right into what felt like a wall of muscle. I let out an undignified little squeak as Ethan steadied me.

“Why are you in such a hurry, Finn?” he asked. He glanced over at the box Dee was holding. “Didn’t you have something you wanted to tell Dee?”

“Um, no. Can’t think of a thing.”

“Are you sure?” he asked softly, staring down at me. “Honesty is the best policy, they say.”

“Then dishonesty would be the next best thing, by process of elimination, right?”

He just gazed steadily at me, while understanding dawned on Dee’s face, and she stood accusingly by, holding the empty cake box out to Ethan like one of my father’s court prosecutors might present evidence of a crime to him.

“Finn, talk to Dee.”

“But I’m busy now.”

“Finn…”

“Oh, very well,” I said crossly. “You didn’t bring enough cake, Dee. I’m sorry.”

Ethan lifted his eyes heavenward. “Take out that first part.”

I huffed and said, “I’m sorry.”

“And…?” he prodded me.

I must have looked blank, because he leaned down to whisper in my ear. “Happy birthday, and the cake was very good.”

“Happy birthday. And the cake was very good,” I said a bit sullenly, uncomfortable with apologizing to this mortal girl. It wasn’t even that good. But a big part of me didn’t want to disappoint Ethan and where the hell had than even come from?

She sniffed and put the box in the trash. “It’s all right, Finn, though you should have left me at least one piece of my own cake. And you shouldn’t have blamed Ethan.”

Ethan’s eyebrows rose incredulously. “You blamed me?”

“I’m sorry,” I said, more loudly and dropped my guilty gaze.

“What will you do in the future?” Ethan said in my ear while he petted my ass. Did the man think I was one of my father’s hounds? Maybe I was at that, because I leaned against him as he caressed me and enjoyed every moment of it. Then he ruined it by prodding me.

“Finn, tell Dee what you’ll do to make it up to her.”

“Buy her a new cake?”

“Good. And what else?”

“Never do it again.” I tugged at his arm until he leaned down. “I don’t have any money to get another cake,” I whispered in his ear.

“I told you I’d spot you till you get your paycheck,” he said and smiled reassuringly. I felt good for a moment and then he leaned down to my ear and whispered. “And you are going to pay me back in a way you won’t enjoy. I’m going to teach you to stifle those Fairy instincts of yours, boy. I intend to see to it.”

I would have been mad, except his words made my dick hard.

Ethan turned away, finally letting me off the hook. “Dee, have you heard any more from Marcy?”

“Yes, she’s coming in tomorrow. She said that Pat didn’t remember a thing when she woke up in the hospital, and the police still don’t seem to know much. They did call Marcy for an interview, though. On account of her being the last one to visit Pat’s apartment. She said they seemed really interested in that.”

Surely these police Ethan and Dee were talking about didn’t suspect Marcy for setting the fire. I didn’t know her all that well, but she seemed to be a nice mortal, as mortals went. I tuned back in again to what Ethan was saying.

“I’ll be closing early today, Dee. Probably around lunch time. I have an appointment, and Finn here isn’t trained enough to help you run things yet.”

“Okay, sounds good. I’ll go out and open up now then.”

She left, and Ethan turned back to me. “We’ll leave for the Fae Realm as soon as we close after lunch.”

“But won’t it take some time for us to see Tarrak? Maybe Stefan too?

“I don’t expect it to take too long. We’ll be in and back out before you know it.”

It was true that Timeroamers like the Sidhe moved fast, or at least they seemed to, seeing as how they could manipulate time. What might be days for us back in my home might be only hours or even minutes here. Still. I worried about going back to the Quendi palace. Just arriving there unannounced seemed dangerous.

When I expressed my concerns to Ethan, he was completely unfazed. “We won’t be unannounced,” he said.

“We won’t?”

“No. We’ll be with your father. He can send a message ahead with the news of our impending visit.”

“My father ? But he never goes anywhere!”

“Then it’s high time he did. I’m sure he won’t mind. After all, you’re his son, and if the Quendi wizard sent some demon after you to follow you here, then he has every right to know and to be angry about it. He’ll also serve as an extra layer of protection for you. Tarrak wouldn’t dare harm the king of the Woodland Fairies, nor his son. At least not right in front of the king himself. Your father can announce our visit and we’ll all arrive in style in one of his carriages. Then after we speak to Tarrak, we’ll accompany him back home.”

“You make it sound so easy.”

“It is easy, Glori. And don’t be afraid. I told you I won’t let anyone harm you.”