Aleksey's Kingdom (A Royal Affair #2)(6)
The light had fallen now, and it was icy—too bitter for me to sit out in lake-damp clothes and with only a small cooking fire. I still did not like being cold.
I stoked up the fire in our small cabin, although it was already quite warm. I was still hungry, but there was nothing to eat. Aleksey came in. He would either badger me or sulk, neither of which I was looking forward to. He surprised me, therefore, by asking quite rationally, “What do you think happened to the missing tribe? You must have thought about it, even if no one would talk about it.”
I sat down in front of the flames, picking up a stick to poke it idly, just as he had been doing earlier, and he sat close, our knees touching. His shirt was as damp as mine, and I pulled a little piece of the fabric toward me, rubbing it between my fingers. “I wondered at first if they had been raided and taken for slaves—that was very common amongst the people. We had many slaves, but they always died easily and had to be replaced.”
“You also have some truly horrible stories, Niko.”
“Oh, and you did not have slaves, I suppose?”
“No! We most certainly did not!”
“And yet you let your old people starve on the streets if they had no family to care for them when in their dotage? Our elders were treasured and respected, so do not judge me.”
“I’m not…. For God’s sake. So… raided?”
I wrinkled my nose. I knew I’d been unreasonable, but something was telling me the plan to relieve the outpost was not forgotten by any means; he had only gotten stealthier in his ways of winning my compliance. “Yes, but there were no signs of a struggle at all, and I also concluded that looters would have taken the horses at least. And the encampment was full of very valuable items—surely they would have taken them too?”
“Gold! Jewels?”
“Oh yes, Aleksey, of course. Wonderful artworks too, and I believe a piano.”
“Huh. It must have been hard to hang the paintings on the tepees. They would not be… straight.…”
“No, the slaves were employed to stand there all day and night, holding them just so…. I meant knives, axes, and some very fine bows. They had all been left as if the owners had merely stepped into the forest to relieve themselves for a moment.”
“Perhaps they had. A mass tribal shit?”
That was too much provocation, and I pounced upon him, which is what I think he’d wanted anyway. I lay heavy upon him, feeling his chuckling vibrate pleasantly against me. I eased his damp shirt open as far as the laces would allow, admiring the prominent collarbone and smooth, hairless flesh. Pushed slightly to one side, the opening revealed one pebbled pink nipple. I fastened my teeth upon it, working it, feeling him swell beneath me. I moved to the other nipple and enjoyed that one for a while as well. He was running his fingers through my hair, which was still as short as I had made it when we first met.
He had grown his somewhat longer, not long enough to tie back, as is the norm for all men, but long enough for me to hold like reins when I mounted him (although I had not actually articulated this thought to him for fear he would be contrary and shave it off once more). He seemed to like my short hair well enough, and it was the best-combed hair in the New World, although it rarely saw actual instrument. He fastened his fingers in it now and used it to tug me off his chest, lifting my face to his. As we were kissing, he rolled us. Closer now to the fire, Aleksey upon me, I could feel my shirt steaming and smell the drying material. It took my mind back to the story I had been telling him, and although I was kissing Aleksey, I was walking once more between the tepees and standing at the edge of the great forest, peering into the never-ending darkness and wondering….
“So…?” As ever, the annoying one appeared to be able to read my mind—when it suited him. “What was your conclusion? I know you must have thought about it until you had solved the puzzle. That is how your mind works. What was your explanation? You know how I love your theories.”
He was chastised for his cheeky comment for some time. It is a pity his punishment and pleasure were always so closely linked. One day, I must think of something he doesn’t like me to do to him and discipline him more effectively. Releasing his cock and letting its head rub up and down the inside of my throat was clearly not a very effective sanction. Pulling off just before he could complete was more amusing, and I smirked at his outrage as I stood up and said I had to check the horses before bed.
I knew what he was planning then. I saw the mutinous look for a moment, so seized him and turned him over onto his belly, pulling his hands behind him. “Niko, no!” He actually sounded genuinely angry. Good. I tied his hands.
I bent to his ear and whispered, “It belongs to me, Aleksey. No one else is allowed to touch it—even you.”
“Pissing will be a little difficult, Nikolai. Let me up. Now.”
“No. I actually do need to see to the horses. You will be quite all right until I return.” I then reached beneath him, unfastened his breeches fully, and lowered them off his backside, framing it with the material. He lashed out with his foot and kicked my groin very neatly. But he was barefoot, so I caught him by his big toe and bit into the sensitive part quite hard. “Be good.”
And with that I left him trussed up and shouting obscenities at me that would have made a sailor blush. They only made me laugh. Aleksey was funny; he appeared to switch from German to French to English when cursing without noticing. He’d had a very privileged education, I could tell.