Chapter 7Helio

7

Helio

H elio was addicted to fucking the human.

He’d taken Benny in every room of the villa at this point. Propped up on the dining room table. Folded in half on the beach lounger. Bent over the new gym’s benches (and hadn’t Benny’s surprise at one of the spare bedrooms being replaced with a state-of-the-art gym been delicious?). Kneeling on the carpet, sucking Helio off on the sofa.

And when Helio wasn’t fucking Benny, he was daydreaming about the tight grip of his channel, his hands itching to squeeze and stroke those thick thighs, that muscled ass.

It was heaven. It was misery.

Benny was almost always prancing around naked these days, his tan lines disappearing more and more each day. It would have been maddening, if not for the fact that Helio was allowed to touch now.

And he was allowed, make no mistake. Benny was willing—always willing. Eager and open, the perfect pet.

Well, almost always willing. He still filmed his workouts every morning without fail, ever the diligent content creator. As he was doing now.

He did those recordings fully clothed, unfortunately—or, partially clothed, really, in his tiny shorts and tank top that had arm holes big enough to display his nipples—and he’d asked Helio not to watch anymore, in case he got “chubbed up” by his presence.

It was fine. Helio could tolerate Benny’s absence for a mere half hour. Of course he could.

But Benny’s video this morning seemed to be taking an eternity. Helio had had Benny just that morning—had licked him open in their bed before the sun had fully risen, had filled him with cum and then licked it right back out of him. But it hadn’t been enough.

It never seemed to be enough.

Was Helio the one entrapped? Had he tangled himself in some bargain he was unaware of? Was Benny some otherworldly creature Helio hadn’t yet been warned existed?

He had to be. Why else would Helio be so…enamored? Helio had dallied with fae royalty, had toyed with expert courtesans from both realms. So why should this human hold such fevered appeal?

Helio had to be under some sort of thrall. He simply had to be.

Either way, Benny was taking too long. Perhaps he was having to do multiple takes. Helio would go check. He wouldn’t interrupt; he’d just…lurk on the sidelines a bit. Make sure everything was going smoothly.

With that in mind, Helio stepped out of the villa and onto the sand.

And then Helio’s heart was in his throat, because Benny wasn’t alone on the beach.

He was, by all appearances, talking to another human, but that would be impossible. And Helio knew that face and that form, however disguised it might be.

Cyprian was here.

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

How long had he and Benny been talking? Had Benny made any promises? Accepted any favors?

Helio approached them with hurried strides—it would give too much away to sprint, but it was tempting. Benny was smiling at Cyprian openly, so sweet and trusting.

Helio wanted to cover his face. That openness was for him alone now, not for fae interlopers who would betray and abuse it.

“Helio,” Cyprian purred at his arrival, not at all surprised to see him. “I was just making the acquaintance of your charming guest. Although”—he dipped his chin to Benny, eyes flashing—“I didn’t catch your full name, Benny.”

“Don’t tell him,” Helio said quickly, all subtlety and artifice melting away in the face of his terror.

He ignored the way his clear distress made Cyprian preen, too focused on Benny, on his cheerful smile that morphed into something warm and intimate as he looked at Helio.

Helio stepped between him and Cyprian. “What are you doing here?”

Cyprian gave a languid little shrug. “Just a small check-in, Helio dearest. Our queen has been sensing your presence in the realm for some time now. She grew…curious.”

Of course she did. Helio didn’t usually stay in one place this long, preferring to bounce around between the realms.

Still. The queen’s attention was…less than ideal.

“I’ve been banished from the court,” Helio said airily. “What does our queen care about my dalliances now?”

“Dalliances indeed.” Cyprian’s gaze roamed over Benny’s form with clear appreciation. Helio resisted the urge to pluck his roving eyes out. “Benny here was just singing the praises of your…private island.” He smirked. “Tell me, Benny, do you know the name of where you are? The name of the island, perhaps? Or even the country?”

For all that Helio had always thought Benny oblivious, he seemed to know when he was being taunted, his large frame curling into Helio slightly at Cyprian’s words. As if Helio was a point of safety.

A surge of protectiveness ran through Helio, strong and hot. He wrapped an arm around Benny’s shoulders. “Leave,” he snapped at Cyprian. “ Now .”

He was playing it all wrong, he knew. It should have been a verbal dance, a battle of barbed jabs and parries. But two seconds in Cyprian’s presence and Helio was remembering how exhausting it all was. He’d been dining on the sweet simplicity of Benny’s honesty for too long, and now the fae obfuscations and half-truths were too cloying to tolerate.

“Leave now?” Cyprian clucked his tongue. “But I’ve been so rude. Wearing cheap masks in front of old friends.”

And then Cyprian, the asshole that he was, dropped his glamour, revealing his very obviously otherworldly beauty. He grew several inches, his ears turning pointed at the tips, his skin taking on a quite noticeable glimmering golden glow.

Cyprian smirked at Helio. “Would you like to drop your mask as well, old friend? It must be chafing after all this time.”

Helio felt his glamour dropping. He couldn’t stop it—Cyprian had the power of the court behind him, and Helio was no more than a lowly outcast.

“Whoa.” Benny didn’t scream, didn’t shout, but he did step back from Helio’s hold, his brown eyes wide.

“Well, this has been fun,” Cyprian purred. “But I really ought to be going. Don’t worry, I’ll be back to check in soon.” He winked. “Very soon.”

And then he was blinking out of existence, presumably on his way back to the court, to update their queen on Helio’s latest humiliation.

Leaving Helio alone with Benny.