broccolifloret

  He was coming close to the right combination of taunting and shaming to get under my skin. Such a weird feeling, to have anybody bother. It felt good, but not entirely comfortable. I was the one who understood how my lovers worked; they didn't understand me. They'd think they called the shots, but I could get anything I wanted and walk away without giving them a second thought.

  This wasn't like that at all. Maybe—it wouldn't be like that anymore.

  "Does it feel good to be so stubborn?" he went on. "I don't think so. I think you want to give in."

  "Why would I?"

  "Because you want to be used like the slut you are? Come here, I'll let you suck my cock and fulfill your purpose."

  I wanted to tell him where he could shove that purpose, but I wanted that cock on my mouth even more.

  "If you insist." I shrugged, and actually managed to look convincingly indifferent. Vanth wasn't fooled, of course; the self-satisfied curve of his lips said otherwise. But then, he was the true expert at pretending indifference, wasn't he?

  As I crossed the few steps between us, I didn't look away from his hand rubbing zily up and down his cock. "Can you come just from touching yourself in a dream?"

  "It's no different from a wet dream. I must say I haven't made myself come in a dream yet, so I doubt you'll fare any better."

  A btant manipution attempt, but I still wanted to prove him wrong.

  I came close enough to touch him, but instead of reaching for his cock I threw my arms around his neck. Surprised, he parted his lips for me; let me enter his mouth and taste a faint echo of him. I thought he'd stop me, so I ran my hands all over him, fast, so that he wouldn't catch me easily. I could even smell his hair, though barely, and a hint of what seemed to be vender soap. He didn't do anything after all, didn't even touch me.

  Vanth angled his hips better and spyed his legs wider, cradled in the nest of darkness. I'd been so wrong. This is what obscenity looked like.

  "Someone's eager," I said.

  He propped up his head on one fist. "Someone indeed."

  I wasn't going to continue this pointless arguing when I already had his cock in my reach. I wrapped my lips around the fat head, letting it sit hot and heavy in my tongue. It throbbed inside me, greedy for my attention. The real thing would've been too big to take in as a single mouthful, even for someone with my experience—assuming that's what the real thing looked like, of course. This was a dream, though, and I didn't have to worry about choking or needing to breathe. I was free to do the best I could, and my best was pretty damn good. I took his cock down my throat, swirling my tongue over the thick veiny shaft.

  Vanth closed a hand around my shoulder. "What did I say, beautiful? You were made for this."

  Despite his swagger, his voice had cracked for the first time. A shiver ran down my neck. I swallowed all of that cock, down to the hilt. My lips touched the very base; curly hair tickled my nose. Vanth's hand tightened around my shoulder, breathing heavily now. So even the King of the Dying Sun could be made to fit in such a small space, right between my teeth and tongue.

  Something tightened around my wrists. Around my ankles too. I was dragged away from my task and hoisted up. It was our dark, shimmering background itself that had reached out to restrain me—it had sprouted a set of tendril-like bindings. After a few tentative tugs I stopped trying to free myself, in part because it wasn't working and in part because Vanth was watching with even more smugness than usual, still stroking the cock he'd deprived me of.

  He met my eyes, almost smiling.

  "Cheater," I hissed.

  "But of course." He went up on his hands and knees. "You don't deserve any better until you start behaving like a good boy." He crawled toward me, slowly, letting me enjoy the view. Letting it sink in, too, that he was quite literally crawling naked beneath me and he'd still wrestled the upper hand away from me the second he'd wished to.

  Vanth sat by my feet and snapped his fingers. My clothes disappeared. Too bad I didn't know how to make myself look better; I didn't look any different from my usual self, and my usual self had always felt like a bit of a runt to me. You wouldn't guess I could dig a fence and shear over a hundred sheep in the same day! The way Vanth looked at me, though, you'd think someone had presented a starving man with his favorite meal. Seeing that look on his face made up for the rest, a tiny bit.

  "You're lovely." He stroked my cheek.

  "Far be it from me to argue with His Illustrious Highness."

  Vanth nuzzled my neck, licking along the pulse, biting just hard enough to let me know who was in charge. "Behave and you'll see how good I can be to my pets."

  Unfortunately, with my cock out and hard and glistening with precome, I couldn't pretend he wasn't hitting the right spot. Not that he was paying my cock any attention, busy gripping my thighs hard enough to leave bruises—out of a dream, at least—and nibbling at my colrbone.

  All of a sudden, I was lying on my back, looking up at Vanth as he loomed over me.

  "Wait," I said. "When did we move?"

  "We didn't move. I'm controlling your perceptions." Before I could say anything, he caught my nipple between his teeth and bit just hard enough to send an electric jolt all the way to the pit of my stomach. I threw my head back, tense like a string about to be plucked.

  Next thing I knew, I seemed to be on my belly, with Vanth right behind me. He pinched my smarting nipple; my eyes watered, and it felt amazing, and I couldn't take it anymore, and I didn't want him to stop. At the same time, he'd started fingering my ass, spreading me wide. Oh, that was good.

  "You've been used so much, haven't you?" My breath caught in the note of admiration in his voice. "So many men have had you. But then, why wouldn't they? Look at you. Just look at you."

  I wanted to tell him I wasn't impressed, but the words simply wouldn't leave me.

  Now Vanth was stretching himself out before me, and the shimmering darkness pped up at him like a wide treacherous sea. I was still caught in the tendrils, though; they tightened around my thighs, spreading them wide apart. I struggled to free myself, but of course I couldn't.

  I could've sworn Vanth was still underneath me, but a few of his curls fell on my cheek.

  "What's going on?" I asked. "I can't keep up."

  "You won't. Surrender and let things happen to you. It's what you want, isn't it?" Vanth ran a finger down my hard quivering dream cock. I could feel the real one back in my body, longing to be touched. "Don't worry, you'll have fun. I'll make you."

  I knew he was right. That's what made me squirm. "Hurry up and suck my cock."

  He patted my cheek tenderly. "Getting desperate, are we?"

  I wanted to deny it, but that's what I'd sounded like.

  Vanth held my cock in his firm grasp. So tender, now that he'd won. "How pretty will you look when I make you come, indeed?"

  It was that tenderness I couldn't stand.

  "Please?" I whimpered.

  "So shamefully needy, too. How can you stand hearing yourself like that?" My face burned. "It's not enough, however. You're gonna have to do better than that."

  His voice was rough with desire—he'd denied his own release, too, but he looked like he could keep doing this all night.

  I avoided looking at Vanth in the eye, struggling against the dark tendrils as if I thought I'd have better luck this time.

  "Please, will you suck my cock? I'll be your cute little pet if that's what you want. Any time, any pce you want me, I'll get on my knees, I'll ride your cock. Just, please, let me come first."

  He kissed my cheek; his lips felt cool against my hot skin. "See? That's better."

  Vanth pushed his hair behind his shoulder and lowered his head over my hard cock, pping at the damp slit. It twitched for him, pathetically grateful for the attention. I wanted to thrust into his mouth, but the tendrils still held me firmly in pce, unable to do anything other than y still, pinned down and spread out for him, and wait for Vanth to be done with me. And he sure wasn't in a hurry, but I can't say I was unhappy either, not when the wet fire of his mouth made me feel as if I was being sucked off by the first time, unable to take it any more and about to shoot my load any moment now, an instant stretched into incandescent white heat. And the sickly-sweet stench of roses came to me out of nowhere; I breathed it in without wanting to, and it filled my nose and my mouth and my throat and it was all inside me.

  I heard a scream like an animal being gutted alive; it came from me. I didn't want to see any pce drenched in the stench of roses, I didn't want to be there. I'd rather die than be seen there.

  And then, Vanth wasn't touching me anymore, and we weren't wrapped in shimmering darkness. We were back in his hotel room, the bed still perfectly made beneath us. I'd curled myself up in a tight ball, sitting on a pillow, backed all the way to the tall headboard. Vanth kneeled at the other end, eyes wide open and lips tight with guilt.

  I stared at him for a while, not really seeing anything anymore. I couldn't feel my sleeping body anymore.

  Then I realized he was looking at me. Actually looking at me. He still looked—well, almost like this caused him pain.

  "It's not your fault," I said.

  "Wasn't it something I did?" He seemed to be attempting to sound casual, but he couldn't hide how shaken he was.

  "No." I ran a hand through my hair. It didn't come out damp. That felt wrong. I should be dripping cold sweat. My real body probably was. "I mean, I don't know. Maybe it was something you did, maybe it wasn't. It never happened before."

  "It didn't?"

  "No."

  Vanth sighed. "Well, it's the first time you've had dream sex, isn't it?"

  "That's true. Does it change anything?"

  "Couldn't say. It's the first time for me too."

  "Ah."

  Were we headed toward another uncomfortable silence? I didn't know how to prevent that. Thankfully, Vanth went on talking.

  "You don't bme me."

  "It's not as if you did it on purpose. You didn't even know it'd happen, did you?"

  He exhaled in relief. "No, I didn't. I swear. Do you want me to leave you alone?"

  "No. Hold me." I was still too shaken up to wonder if that was a request or a demand or anything else. Vanth didn't seem to mind. He swept me up in his arms. I burrowed my face in the crook of his neck. I wished I could smell him, stained with sweat and sex, to distract myself from the memory of that flowery stench. Just thinking back on it made me want to throw up. But Vanth did feel solid and warm all around me, and that was enough to help my heart slow down.

  He held my head with one hand, the other running slow circles on my back. He didn't ask me if I felt better, just let me be. Which is just what I wanted. Maybe if I closed my eyes—my mind's eyes?—and focused on his warmth and the weight of his strong arms around me, I could pretend I was safe.

  "Would you like a change of scenery?" he asked.

  "Yeah."

  Now we sat under a tree, sunlight dappling the fresh grass around us. Birds twittered carefree above us, darting here and there into the bushes to catch bugs. Wildflowers bloomed all around us. Both of us were dressed: me in the clothes I'd worn just a moment ago, Vanth in his usual leathers.

  I didn't have to wonder why he'd chosen such a cheerful, peaceful scenery; it made you feel better just by sitting there in silence. There was an old moss-covered stone fountain at some distance: songbirds dived into the water and preened themselves on the lip. I reached out an open hand to the earth, warm under my palm. I knew it wasn't the real ground beneath me, but it was soothing all the same. A single rosebush could've ruined all of it, though. Not that I'd tell Vanth what had upset me. Those cards would stay close to my chest.

  "The family manor in Vorsa," he expined. "In the spring. Unless you'd prefer another season?"

  "It's perfect like this, thank you."

  "I know what you're thinking. No need to fake compliments."

  For once, he sounded casual, almost friendly. That was enough to make me want to inquire further. "What am I thinking?"

  "That my real home must be a decaying manor with old statues of skeletons brandishing sickles everywhere. And cobwebs nobody bothers to clean up."

  I chuckled. "Your jokes are so bad."

  "Then why are you ughing?"

  "It's funny that they're terrible."

  "That makes no sense."

  "Anyway, the skeletons and stuff are obviously for the front door."

  "Of course. This is the backyard. That's for friends only. That means you're the first person who's seen this in ages. I have no friends."

  I chuckled again. It was meant to be funny, right? In my defense, the man said everything in the same deadpan, so I was mostly taking a swing in the dark.

  "You were upset too," I said.

  "Don't concern yourself about it."

  Yeah, right. I'd never get any decent allies like that.

  I cupped Vanth's face in my hand so I could look into his eyes. "I mean you looked real upset. Though if you really don't want to talk about it, that's fine."

  "I wasn't upset with you."

  "I know."

  "I feel better now." His hand ran down my waist.

  "Mmm. How about you invite me to your home when we reach the capital? You've oathed yourself to me. That counts as a friend, right?"

  "Absolutely." He kissed the top of my head. "The oath doesn't care who threatens you, Azul. Neither do I."

  A hard knot swelled in my chest. Good thing I didn't cry anymore.

  broccolifloret