“You’re not,” Dushka confirmed, coming over to brush his fingers through my wet hair. “Your friend Sebald reunited with the woman he was supposed to marry before he ended up in the forest.”
“Sebald?” I hadn’t thought Sebald liked women at all. In fact, I was certain he didn’t.
“Premila, her name is,” Dushka explained. “Lovely woman. She had married Sebald’s old flame, Barthold, after Sebald disappeared from Yakutsk. The two of them had a son together, and just before Barthold died last fall, she ended up with child again. “I believe she’s due to have the second baby any time now.”
I was so stunned that I laughed. “Sebald has two babies?”
“He does,” Dushka said.
“Show off,” I laughed.
Dushka laughed as well and kissed me. “There’s more. Your other friend, Lefric, has taken up with none other than Olympus Hakobyan, son of the leader of Good Port. Olympus already has three children from his marriage—his wife died years ago, apparently—so in a manner of speaking, Lefric is step-father to three now.”
That had me barking with laughter. I couldn’t imagine Lefric as anyone’s father.
“I definitely need to catch up with the other Sons,” I said. “I hated that I couldn’t get word to them, and to you, about what I was doing in Royersford, and that I couldn’t hear anything from you all.”
Dushka grasped the sides of my face in his big hands, shot a sideways look to Appius, and growled, “I can see what you were doing in Royersford.”
That little comment had me heating all over. I’d waited months, and now I just wanted to fall into bed with my lover and fuck until we were both senseless.
But Appius was the fly in that ointment. He was now very clearly using the washstand as a barrier, and he looked like he would run or fight if Dushka made a move toward him.
“We need to sort this out,” I said, taking a step back from Dushka so that I could address both of them. “Dushka, I’m not willing to give Appius up. I love him, and I want him to be with us. Appius, you’ve known from the very start that Dushka is my lover. I’ve never hidden that from you, and I’ve made no secret of the fact that I won’t leave him. So either it’s the three of us as one—like Neil, Peter, and Magnus—or something has to give.”
Dushka shrugged as though it was of no consequence. “I’ve no objection to Appius,” he said. “There’s plenty of room in our bed.”
“I’m not—” Appius started, then squirmed and stammered, like he didn’t know how to go on. “I can’t…I don’t want to….”
Dushka sent me a look that must have looked dismissive to Appius, but that I knew meant he liked Appius and found him sweet.
When he glanced back to Appius, he said, “I will not now, nor ever, force you into relations with me that you don’t want. We can be friends or, if you eventually feel moved to it, we can be lovers as well.” He peeked back at me again. “As Conrad well knows, there are some interesting and enjoyable things that can be done with three in a bed.”
“We’ve already done four,” Appius whispered, then flinched, like he was surprised he’d spoken at all.
Dushka paused, then broke into laughter. “Four?” He glanced to me.
My face flushed with an odd mixture of pride and embarrassment. “It was a particularly fraught night. We all needed something to ease the tension. The twins were up for it, so we…played.”
“The twins?” Dushka asked the simple question with lust and expectation in his eyes.
I laughed. “I’m certain Leander and Darius would be more than happy to come play with us one of these days.” I inched closer to him and threw my arms over his shoulders, pressing my naked body into his. “But right now, I just want you. I’ve missed you, missed you so much, and all I want is to feel you in me and around me.” I leaned in for a kiss, but paused. “Appius, you don’t mind, do you?” I turned to him. “You can stay and watch or go somewhere else. Or…participate?”
“I…would….” Appius bit his lip and fiddled with the edge of the wash basin. “That is, if we’re all going to be together, I wouldn’t mind staying and watching. Just watching, for now.”
Dushka grinned and winked at me. He definitely liked Appius, but he would be gracious and patient when it came to integrating him into our relationship.
“I think that’s a fine way for us all to get to know each other,” I said.
“I agree,” Dushka said. “And I am more than ready to get to know you again after so long.”
He closed his strong arms around me, holding one hand at the back of my head, and surged in for the kiss I’d been waiting nine months for. I reveled in it, letting everything go and closing my eyes so I could just bask in it. I’d been genuinely worried that I would never experience his kiss again, so to meld myself against Dushka and let him have his way with me was beyond heaven.
“I don’t think this is going to last long,” Dushka growled, lifting me and twisting so that he could spill onto our bed with me under him. “I wasn’t sure I would ever taste this sweetness again, and now, all I want to do is gorge myself on it.”
I wriggled under him until my legs were spread wide with his hips wedged tantalizingly between them and my arms were draped over his shoulders with my fingers combing through his hair. “I was just thinking the same thing,” I sighed.
Dushka made a sound of hunger and bent down to kiss me again. He thoroughly ravished my mouth to the point where my lips would bear bruises and my skin would be red with beard burn. He rutted against my groin as well, providing enough friction against my cock to tease me without bringing me anywhere near release.