Page 47 of Serpent In White

“Fuck,” he groans, head falling forward, almost onto my shoulder, until his breaths are lingering on my skin. “Do you know how good that sounds coming from those lips?” He lifts his face, eyes set on my mouth.

“M-my lips?” They’re trembling as my cock throbs in my palm.

“They’re irresistible.” He leans in, his mouth practically hovering over mine as he thinks very un-King-like things about my lips.

My balls are drawn up already… I fear I might come if he moves near me one more time.

And of course, he knows that. His hand moves down to his own erection, and I’m frustrated that it’s too dark to see into the water right now. But I feel him stroking it slowly.

“We shouldn’t be doing this…” he growls, eyes falling shut as his body sways in the water before me. “Someone could see.”

“I know,” I murmur, hating that I can’t have what my body is craving down to my marrow.

Darian reopens his eyes, and then his hand appears on my lower back, pulling me into him for just a moment. Our hardened cocks brush together in the water, the curves of his pectoral muscles on mine as his peaked nipples graze my skin until I whimper.

He whispers in my ear, “You’re a gift, young servant. One I don’t deserve.”

Then, before I can curl myself around him and never let go, he dives under the water.

I spin around and around looking for him, but I’ve lost him.

When he finally resurfaces, he’s swimming away, toward the shore. He wades out of the water, walking up the bank and redressing fast. Glancing back at me, his irises are alit in sorrow. The only words echoing through his mind areI’m sorry.

I tilt my head to wet my hair once more before I get out, thinking back to what happened today with Drake. And now this…

I don’t know what I’m doing in my love life, but it’s obvious I’m going after the wrong people. I feel like such a joke.

I wait for Darian to be back in his clothes and walking away before I come out of the water. Rushing to my own clothes, I dress quickly, trying desperately not to watch him leave. But I can’t help it…

My eyes are on him as he wanders toward the Den, peering back at me one last time with something on his face I can’t read, speaking a thought I cannot hear.

Wearing an expression that will surely haunt my dreams.

It’s too quiet.

I’m making my rounds, spending the day walking the Expanse and checking on everyone. Not something I like to do when my Empyrean has worn off because I have to rely on my family telling me the truth, which people are often hesitant to do, especially with someoneabovethem.

It’s human nature to lie. Anyone who says they don’t lie is lying. The pertinent factor being, of course, that there are variations of lies. To simply saylying is badis a broad and unfair assessment.

As with everything else in this glorious existence, things are not black and white. We live within a wide prism of color; endless possibilities for every single situation.

It’s as fascinating as it is overwhelming.

So when I ask the farmers why we seem to be missing at least three barrels of our barley yield, and they tell me bugs got to it, when in fact it was the fault of Henry for not securing the lids, leaving it exposed to rain and causing it to mold, which I was able to learn from their thoughts, I have to give them the benefit of the doubt.

Of course, I make note of all these things, and if the lies accumulate, there will be repercussions. But in a case like that, it’s not a life-or-death situation. The farmers lied to protect one another, which is something only human beings do, and it’s an impressive quality.

Unfortunately, though,right now, I can’t hear as much as I want to, and it’s stressing me out. Drake was supposed to come by last night and he blew me off. I wish I was surprised by it, but it’s happened so many times over the years. I can’t waste time letting it bother me anymore.

The thing that’s bothering me the most on this lovely, if not slightly overcast day, are my own thoughts, and more so my recollections.

What happened with Abdiel the other night was a mind-fuck on many levels. Mainly because he couldhear me. It shocked the shit out of me when I heard him, listening to me listening to him. I couldn’t believe it at first, but then I heard him thinking, remembering being with Drake, and Drake injecting him with Empyrean.

Startling myself as well, my first reaction wasn’t anger or jealousy, more so confusion and intrigue. I’ve been thinking more and more about Abdiel Harmony, since the night I overheard his lascivious thoughts about me and my brother. I couldn’t stop wondering how he knew, what he’d done, and why.

I came to the conclusion, which was verified when he confessed, that he must have spied on us. And when he admitted he wasdesperateto know what I do in the lounge, it sort of spurred on even more erotic musings for my youngest servant.

One of my best friends’ son… I really shouldn’t be thinking about Abdiel as much as I have been, but I can’t stop. Especially after what happened in the lake.