his firm body into Niko, or Niko pressed into him. He wasn’t sure. Couldn’t think. A hard rod dug into Niko’s thigh, evidence Vasili wanted this too. He’d been so sure the prince felt only hate, but his keen arousal meant everything.
Niko dropped his hand, cupping Vasili’s cock through his trousers fabric.
Vasili gasped in his ear, and Niko had to pull from the kiss to bite his own lip to keep from groaning. Vasili’s gaze caught his, and the moment stilled, stretched between them. If Vasili touched him, if those precise fingers brushed over his aching cock, like all the times he’d dreamed, he might lose his mind.
Niko skimmed his hand up Vasili’s chest, rumpling his shirt. “You have no idea how long I’ve dreamed of this…” he confessed.
Vasili’s fingers looped his wrist, holding him off. The prince averted his gaze, and the heat between them quickly turned cold.
The fucking scars. Dammit, Niko knew not to touch him there.
He brushed his jaw against Vasili’s. “I’m sorry… I didn’t… I don’t have to touch you for this… for us to do this.” Why wouldn’t the right words come? He meant to say he knew Vasili hurt, he knew how touch reminded him of pain, but they could still do this. He clearly wanted to. And Niko could go slow. Whatever Vasili wanted—needed—to feel safe, he’d do it.
Vasili swallowed with a loud click.
Niko still had his hand on Vasili’s cock, but its earlier hardness had softened.
“Leave,” Vasili croaked.
“Vasili—”
He shoved Niko back and braced himself against the sideboard, turning his head away. “Leave, please.”
Niko raised his hands and backed up a step, giving him space. If he’d just look over, he’d see he didn’t have to fear what they had, what they could do. “It’s all right. I won’t hurt you—”
Vasili’s mouth tilted. “It’s not you.” He closed his eye and sighed hard through his nose. “Just get out, Nikolas.”
Niko turned on his heel, closed the door on Vasili, and paused at the banister, breathing hard. When Vasili was hurting, he lashed out. Or froze. Two extremes. If he could just let Niko in, he’d see how he didn’t need to fear pleasure.
Niko breathed out a long, shuddering sigh and returned to his floor.
Chapter 14
Over the next week, Niko worked at the local forge, tended to the horses in the livery yard, and explored Seran’s sometimes dazzling and always overwhelming nightlife. The old city hugged the docks, while the newer areas, full of proud redstone buildings, crawled into the distance, encroaching on the jungle. Strange animals were sold at the nightmarkets; even stranger meats adorned the menus of the countless eating houses. Coin and entertainment, heat and sex bloomed around every corner.
Why Mah had ever left for Loreen’s restraint and grey-clad world was a mystery.
Vasili artfully avoided Niko. He needed space, and so Niko gave it to him. He’d open up when he was ready. Or maybe he wouldn’t. Niko wasn’t sure anymore. The soft, achingly gentle kiss had changed everything. Rage and sex, while fucking hot, were a flash in the pan. But that damned soft, hungry kiss Vasili had delivered… Niko found himself dwelling on that kiss more than was probably healthy.
All of this had to be at Vasili’s pace. And that pace was killing Niko. He could show him how to love. Vasili would probably hate every second of it, until he stopped fighting. If he would just trust Niko enough to surrender to him, he’d show him what it meant to be lost in pleasure. It didn’t have to mean any more than that if he didn’t want it to.
Niko spent the evenings with the dockworkers, finding them easier company than the icy prince at home. The men and women of the dockside bars asked nothing of him. They clocked off late, long after the sun had set, and spent hours drinking, eating, and carousing at the outside tables.
A week after the kiss, he returned to the dockside again and spotted the flower-seller outside one of the eateries. With a pocket full of coin from his first week’s work, Niko paid her for a long-stemmed thornless rose and the oxeye she’d previously given him.
“Ah, Lycus has fallen for Amala!” one of the workers jibed. The fun-loving, muscular man called Ehran waved Niko over. Wine sloshed into glasses, and Niko quickly fell into the habit of relaxing among them.
“She has nice flowers.” He set the rose down and smiled into his glass.
The group snorted and laughed. “Picks them from her