Page 7 of The Offering of Four

Mendas’s face broke into a smile. “Thoroughly knotted.”

Amenzu barked out a startled laugh. “Well. That’s good, I hope.”

“Oh yes.” Mendas folded his arms beneath his head and heaved a sigh of deep contentment. “I have to say I’m enjoying my heat much more than I usually do.”

Amenzu dropped his gaze, feeling shy at this praise. “Well,” he said, then bent to give Mendas a kiss to spare himself from having to make any reply.

There was water on the washstand, and clean linens folded beside the basin. Amenzu took both over to the bed. Mendas watched him but made no move to sit up, although when Amenzu dipped the cloth in the water, he said, “I can do that myself.”

“I would like to,” Amenzu said, shy again but also determined, and Mendas looked aside in a way that made Amenzu think he wasn’t alone in his diffidence. They were still strangers in most ways, and it would take time to grow accustomed to each other.

Amenzu swallowed. They would have plenty of time. Years, decades; the rest of their lives.

He washed Mendas in long, slow strokes, down his chest and stomach to wipe off the mess, then scrubbing at his pubic hair and gently wiping his soft cock. Mendas was tender and shivery at Amenzu’s touch, and his thighs jumped as Amenzu lifted his cock out of the way to clean his sac and between his legs.

“I’m sorry,” Amenzu said. “If you’re too sensitive?—”

“You’re going to get me hard again, that’s all.” Mendas stretched his arms above his head and parted his thighs. “I need a lot of attention, you see.”

Amenzu’s tongue sat thick in his mouth. “I do see,” he said.

He couldn’t produce another knot, not so soon after the last one. He used his hands and his fingers, and at last, uncertainly, his mouth. He was an absolute novice and fumbled around without any clear idea of what he was doing, but Mendas made a series of pleased noises that concluded in him spilling into Amenzu’s hand, so it seemed Amenzu hadn’t done so poorly for himself.

Mendas reached for him. “Lie down with me,” he said, and Amenzu did, and Mendas kissed him. With a sweet sigh, Mendas settled into Amenzu’s arms. Amenzu closed his eyes and let sleep weigh him down into the bed.

Amenzu woketo the sensation of fingers stirring through his hair. He turned onto his back and opened his eyes. Warm lantern light filled the room, and the drapery at the window had been drawn back to show the sheer curtains hanging beneath, which billowed with the night breeze. Mendas sat on the bed beside him, gazing down at him. Amenzu reached up and touched his cheek.

“Someone brought us food, if you’d like to eat,” Mendas said.

“In the other room? Stay here, I’ll bring it.”

The front room was empty, although the lanterns had been lit. The parrot was dozing on its perch and made no reaction as Amenzu came in and examined everything that had been laid out on the table, food and fresh linens and a pitcher of water. Amenzu carried the tray of food back into the bedchamber. Mendas had moved to the edge of the bed but no farther, and Amenzu said, “Can you come out and sit at the table? Maybe you shouldn’t.”

“I think not,” Mendas agreed. He offered Amenzu a wry smile. “The insensibility and begging, you know.”

“You seem perfectly sensible to me.” Amenzu set the tray on the bed and sat down at Mendas’s side. He was disoriented from sleeping and felt untethered from ordinary life. What would he be doing right now if he were in the temple? “Do you have any idea what time it is?”

Mendas shrugged. “The usual mealtime, I think. My attendants keep me on my regular schedule while I’m in heat, for the most part.”

“We didn’t sleep for long, then.” Amenzu glanced down at the tray. There was flatbread, a salad of chopped tomatoes and cucumbers, roasted and mashed eggplant, fruit and nuts—a light, simple meal, without anything hot to make them sweat. Amenzu picked up an orange segment and offered it to Mendas,who eyed him for a moment before leaning in and closing his mouth around the fruit.

His tongue brushed against Amenzu’s fingertips, a soft kiss. He drew back and they regarded each other. Mendas said, somewhat uncertainly, “I suppose we should eat.”

Amenzu wasn’t opposed to pushing Mendas back onto the bed and having him again while the tray spilled its contents all over the sheets, but Mendas was probably right that they should eat before his need became urgent again. He picked up another piece of orange and this time put it into Mendas’s hand, and Mendas’s eyes crinkled at the corners as he ate it.

They cleared the tray in companionable silence. Amenzu watched Mendas as he ate. Mendas was unselfconscious in his nudity and said nothing when he glanced up and saw Amenzu’s eyes on him. He was very beautiful, and for some reason had chosen Amenzu, not only as a companion for heat but as his spouse.

Amenzu’s stomach plunged into a sickening swoop. He was going to marry Mendas, and then he would be the prince consort.

Mendas peered at him. “Are you unwell?”

Amenzu did his best to quell his panic. This wasn’t the time to burden Mendas with his fears—not when Mendas was still in the grip of heat, and maybe not even after. He didn’t want Mendas to feel any guilt for choosing him. They were both at the mercy of the dreamers. Whatever they might want for themselves came second to obeying the commands of the dead.

He looked at Mendas: his furrowed brow, the elegant line of his nose. He didn’t know how to be a prince consort, or how to navigate the court, or how to conduct himself among the nobility. He felt anxious about the vast and unknown shape of his new life. But he wouldn’t be alone in it. Mendas was steady and patient even in the throes of heat. He had been kind toAmenzu in every word and gesture since their first meeting. He would help Amenzu, surely, and show him what to do.

Amenzu would never live in the temple again, and he would grieve for that, now and probably for years to come. But a life with Mendas wouldn’t be so bad. Amenzu thought he could grow to find great joy in it.

“I’m very well,” he said to Mendas’s concerned face, and Mendas’s expression smoothed out into a smile.