Page 49 of The Second Marriage

Sejun came over to him, still laughing, and cupped Taral’s lowered head. “They have no room to judge you, as they’re the one selling such scandalous material. Don’t be embarrassed.”

“What misadventures I’m having here.” Taral looked up at Sejun’s smirking face. “I’m glad to have amused you.”

“Thank you for my present.” Sejun bent down and kissed Taral’s forehead. “I’ll read you a chapter every night before bed.”

A sweet thrill ran down Taral’s spine, overriding his embarrassment. “Well. Now that I’ll look forward to.”

* * *

Taral feltpeculiar when he woke in the morning: a bit light-headed, a bit weak. He wondered if he had contracted some minor illness, which wouldn’t be surprising given his recent exposure to Chedi’s foreign air. He was rarely ill and was sure he would feel better in a day or two. There was no reason to sit out a full day of the negotiations.

By the time they broke at midday to eat and have a short rest, Taral’s head was fuzzy with confusion and he couldn’t deny something was wrong. He stumbled back to his room in a haze. Sejun was there, already eating his own meal. Taral stopped inside the door and drew in a deep breath, then another.

Sejun frowned at him. “Is something the matter?”

“I think I may be going into heat after all,” Taral said. His first thought was that he couldn’t afford to miss so many days of the talks. His second thought was that there would be no baby, and that was more of a disappointment than he had expected and left him speechless for a moment, his hand still on the door.

Sejun stood from the table. “Taral, what’s wrong? You’re upset.”

“It’s a bad time for heat.” Taral gave his head a sharp shake, trying to clear it. Sejun’s scent hung around his head in a dense fog. His face was hot and his thighs were loose and unsteady. He felt as though his heat had been building up like water behind some blockage in a stream, and now the full force of the backup was unleashed and crashing over him.

“Well, you can’t stop it,” Sejun said with maddening pragmatism, “and everyone will understand why you can’t attend for a while. Let me have a message sent to Feba. You look like you need to lie down.”

“Yes,” Taral said, and he undressed with trembling hands and climbed into bed while Sejun went out to speak with a servant. The bedding smelled like Sejun. Taral squeezed his thighs together. What was taking Sejun so long? Taral needed him, and instead he was all alone.

Sejun returned at long last. He closed the door behind him and came over to sit on the bed. His hand stroked over Taral’s hair. “I’m here, my darling. It’s coming on you fast this time, isn’t it?”

Taral shivered at the unexpected endearment. “Hold me,” he begged, and Sejun’s mouth tightened with some unknowable emotion, but he stood without remark and untied his robe.

Taral couldn’t hold back his moan as Sejun lay down beside him and drew Taral into his arms. Sejun’s skin was smooth and warm, and the sound of his heartbeat filled Taral’s ears—or maybe that was Taral’s own pulse racing. He pressed his face against Sejun’s neck and breathed in. He ached everywhere, with longing instead of pain.

Sejun’s fingers walked down Taral’s spine. “You’re wet,” he said in a low voice. “Aren’t you? I can smell it.”

Taral was past the point of shame. “You can have me now,” he said, “and again later, as much as you want, whenever you want me. You can—” His voice caught, stuck on the thought that had been a secret torment to him since his last heat. “You can breed me as many times as you want.”

Sejun exhaled a curse. His hands crushed Taral against him. “Is that what you’re made for? To take my knot and grow fat with my children?”

Taral was so hard his vision had gone blurry. He could feel his hole leaking slick down his thigh. “I think so. I think that’s all I’m good for. Sejun, please.”

Sejun hitched Taral a little higher on the bed. Taral draped his leg over Sejun’s waist as Sejun reached down to get his cock into position, rubbing the head along Taral’s perineum until it caught on Taral’s swollen, oversensitive hole. Sejun said, “I’ll fuck you so well you’ll forget everything in life but spreading your legs for me whenever I ask. Do you need to beg for me a little first?”

“Oh please fuck me,” Taral pleaded, mindless and frantic, tugging at Sejun’s shoulders. “Knot me, fill me, fill me with your spend, fill me with a baby, please, Sejun,” and the noise that came from his throat as Sejun pushed inside him was more animal than human. His eyes watered. He could hardly believe he felt like this—that he was able to feel like this, that Sejun could so readily give him exactly what he needed.

“My sweetheart,” Sejun murmured as he bottomed out. “My good omega—you’re mine. My omega.”

“Sejun,” Taral said, the only word he remembered how to say.

Sejun didn’t have much leverage in this position, but he could drive in deep and slow and did, again and again, thrusting his cock into Taral’s body as Taral slowly lost his hold on himself. The pleasure loosened every part of his body until he was only a limp collection of limbs held in Sejun’s arms. He slid into his orgasm so easily that he couldn’t mark its beginning, only knew that he had entered it and was wracked by it as Sejun moved inside him.

By the time Sejun knotted him, he couldn’t even manage a moan. His mouth hung open as he panted against Sejun’s shoulder. He was filled, as he had begged to be, and tied to Sejun as the One God had made him to be. He had never intended to become Sejun’s husband, and yet here he was, with Sejun’s hand stroking down his back, holding him as they waited for Sejun’s knot to go down. Taral couldn’t deny that this had become his favorite part of heat: lying in Sejun’s arms in the aftermath, warm and close.

“How was my performance?” Sejun asked. “I hope you’ll flatter me.”

“Magnificent,” Taral said.

CHAPTER23

Aservant brought a note from Feba, which Sejun opened and read. Feba would convey Taral’s regrets; she sent her well wishes and looked forward to Taral’s return once he had left his confinement. The expected response, in other words. Sejun set the note aside without saying anything to Taral about it. Taral looked to be asleep or close to it, and Sejun saw no need to trouble him with a matter that needed no immediate response.