Page 19 of The Second Marriage
Taral was in his office, as he often was. He gave some indistinct reply at Sejun’s knock and looked over in befuddlement when Sejun came in and closed the door behind him. Then he sat up straight, his expression opening with some type of awareness—of what? Sejun didn’t know what expression he himself bore and didn’t know his own intentions. A small, hot, agitated longing tunneled through him as he looked at Taral’s face.
“Sejun,” Taral said, his voice not quite steady. Sejun lowered the bar to lock the door.
They didn’t bother to undress. Sejun hiked Taral’s robe to his waist, baring his ass and thighs, and took him right there on the cushion where Taral had been sitting to do whatever tedious thing needed his attention. He put Taral on his hands and knees and coaxed a series of astonishing noises from his throat. Sejun felt wild and covetous, and he found himself being rougher with Taral than he usually was, although Taral didn’t seem to mind.
He could have Taral whenever he wanted. Taral never turned him away. He got wet at Sejun’s touch and mewled for his cock, a willing hole for Sejun to enjoy. Sejun could finish inside him and pull out and leave him there on the floor, squirming with arousal, his used hole dripping Sejun’s spend. He was shocked by his own thoughts, but excited, too. Taral was his: his omega.
He didn’t have the chance to live out his fantasy. Taral groaned and dropped his head, and tightened rhythmically around Sejun’s cock as he came. Sejun gripped him hard, hands tight on his lean hips, and didn’t change the pace or depth of his thrusts even when Taral began to flinch and twitch, oversensitive.
Take it, he thought viciously, meaner than he knew he could be, and rolled his hips until he hit the eye-watering crest of his orgasm and spilled down the other side.
He helped Taral tidy himself up afterward, abashed by his behavior although Taral gave no indication of distress, and all Sejun could sense from him was well-fucked contentment. “Let me bring you some food,” he offered. “It’s almost time to eat.”
Taral gave him a sidelong look, the bond rippling with bewildered amusement. “I’m not hungry yet, but thank you.” He untied his belt to re-situate the rumpled front panels of his robe, and Sejun flushed at the fresh wave of desire sparked by the sight of his soft cock hanging between his legs. “What have you been up to today?”
“Oh, nothing much,” Sejun said.
CHAPTER9
“I’m thinking about going on a short trip.”
Sejun looked up from his book. Taral stood in the doorway to the balcony, holding a letter in his hand. “Oh? What did you have in mind?”
“I have a friend who lives nearby, in Barun. I’d like to go visit him for a few days.”
“Of course.” Sejun closed his book and set it aside. He hadn’t known Taral had friends. “When do we leave?”
A sharp stab of irritation spiked through the bond. “Well—I had thought of going fairly soon.”
“You want to go alone,” Sejun said belatedly. “I see. Yes, of course. That makes more sense. You’ll enjoy yourself, I’m sure.”
Taral’s jaw worked. “That wasn’t my intention. It would be nice for you to have a chance to get out of Tadasho.”
Oh, he was a liar. Wounded pride urged Sejun to say he would stay in the fortress, but spite won out. “It would be nice for us to spend some time together,” he said, with a bland, innocent smile.
“Yes. That too.” Taral cleared his throat and lifted the hand holding the letter. “He’s said I’m—we’re welcome at any time. We should go soon to be home again before my next heat.”
Sejun’s entire body flushed at the thought of Taral going into heat again. He couldn’t think about that or he would be driven to madness. “Tomorrow, then, or the day after. How long will it take to prepare?”
“Not long. It’s less than a day’s ride, so we’ll hardly need to pack anything. Let’s go tomorrow, then.” Taral’s mouth pulled into a smile. “Thank you. He’s due with his first child at the end of the summer, and I imagine he’ll be too busy to entertain me after that.”
“His first—his wife is pregnant?”
“No. He is.” Taral lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “He’s an omega. That’s how I know him.”
“I see.” Sejun blinked a few times, not sure why he was surprised. Of course an omega would want to be friends with other omegas, to talk about—omega things. Taral was endlessly sending letters about One God only knew what, and Sejun could easily picture him writing letters to every friendly royal house in the Mountain Kingdoms, asking if they knew of any omegas he might befriend. He was nothing if not industrious.
“Well, at any rate.” Taral folded his letter shut. “I’ll tell Iniya we’re going.”
“I’ll pack my things,” Sejun said.
They left the next morning, before the sun had risen above the mountains to the east. Sejun had never been to Barun—he had never left Tadasho—and he looked forward to the trip, even though he didn’t enjoy spending more than an hour or two on horseback as the damned creatures were so uncomfortable to ride. Even at this early hour, the town of Tadasho bustled with activity; all the shops were open, and people were walking back and forth along the road hauling firewood and water. Sejun watched with interest as Taral smiled and hailed many of the townspeople they passed. He had thought Taral spent his days sequestered in that miserable hole of a room he used as an office, but maybe when Taral disappeared he was instead taking jaunts into town to charm all the shopkeepers.
Barun lay to the north and west of Tadasho, but the road led east through Tadasho’s long valley and then branched north to cut through the pass. The river burbled along in its bed to their left, placid now after the spring flooding that always followed snowmelt. Sejun whistled through his teeth as they rode, then subsided at a look from Taral that he couldn’t interpret.
“I didn’t mean for you to stop,” Taral said after several moments of silence.
“I would rather listen to the birds, I suppose,” said Sejun, who knew nothing about birds beyond the fact of their existence.