Chapter Fourteen

The next day, I was back at work in the garden. Gunrel hadn”t come by to tell me if the King had listened to him, and I hadn”t heard from King Shaleros either. I assumed I had been judged a man-whore, and that was that. There went my hopes for both helping King Shaleros and having him.

This pained me more than expected. I”d been in Latur for a little over a week. That didn”t seem so long as far as getting to know someone went. And yet, I felt as if we had, I don”t know, bonded. Connected. I understood King Shaleros and admired him. I had seen him as a man, not a king or a Dragon, and I liked that guy. He had become important to me. I wanted things for us. For him. The Dragon King had gotten to me.

I dug my hands into the soil and gave it my sorrow. I pushed my disappointment into Serai and let the planet bear the weight. It”s what I always did when something felt overwhelming. But my thoughts raced instead of quieting. I kept thinking about the courtiers avoiding me. About the Dragon King”s laugh. His condemnation. Innocent or not, it didn”t matter. Even if Gunrel convinced King Shaleros that nothing had happened, I wouldn”t get an apology. The damage was done. He”d use this as an excuse to draw away. To go back to being the stoic survivor, paying for the sin of his existence with loneliness.

“Why even bother to live,” I muttered. “That”s no kind of life.”

A thorn caught me in the upper arm. I hissed and jerked back. I had made it to the end of one of the paths and was hidden from the colonnade. The back wall of the garden stood before me, softened by plants, but many of those plants had to be removed. I sat back and stared at them, suddenly feeling sorry for the invaders.

“You just want to live too, don”t you?” I asked them. “You had no say in where you were planted. But you have to go. I”m so sorry. That”s the way of it. You”ve had a good run. One hundred fifty-seven years to be exact. That”s longer than I”ll get. But I”ll give you one more day. A few more hours in the sun. Soak it up, my friends.” I lay back on the stone path and stared up at the sky.

The expanse of blue was cut by the castle, forced into a square. Beyond the frame, the King”s terrace loomed. He wasn”t there. But from that angle, I could see the tower above, and although my eyes weren”t as good as a Dragon”s, I noticed movement.

I blinked. Squinted. The King was in his tower. I couldn”t be certain that he was staring down at me, but it was a possibility. It occurred to me that I never questioned how he had known I needed help with that tree. I thought he”d been ignoring me. But what if he”d simply been careful about his surveillance? Watching me from further away. Far enough to see me but not be seen by me.

I pretended I didn”t see him. I mean, I didn”t, not really. Maybe that wasn”t even him but one of the servants enjoying the view in the middle of cleaning Hid Majesty”s bedroom. But what if it was him? And what if he was watching me right now? My heart sped up. Dare I? This was so pervy. I told myself I wouldn”t. But fuck it.

I sat up and removed my shirt. Then I rolled it into a ball and used it as a pillow. He”d think I was taking a nap. A little break. And I closed my eyes to confirm it. But then I moved my hand down my belly.

In my mind, I pictured the King above me, but much closer. I saw him standing beside me, watching me. Saw his eyes widen as I undid my pants. Then it became real for me. King Shaleros was there. His breath caught when I removed my cock from my pants. His stare locked on it. I gripped it gently, then rubbed it. Just stroked it a little and let the sun bathe it. Fuck, I was throbbing. So hard. My pelvis canted forward. My muscles tightened. The King crouched beside me.

My hand became his. The Dragon King worked my cock expertly despite his many years of abstinence and his lack of experience with another man”s flesh. He thumbed the head. Rubbed the gathering moisture over it. I sighed and rocked my hips, pushing into his grip. He quickened his pace.

“Oh, fuck,” I whispered.

The fantasy got richer, more detailed. The King cupped my balls with his other hand. Massaged them. He worked me firmly. His lips parted. Sunlight glinted in his hair. The ends of those pale strands brushed against my belly. Then he slid his hand down, under my balls. Back. His finger probed me. Slipped inside. Pumped.

Back arching, I came. I had enough sense to angle myself to the side, but that was it. I was lost to my imagination, and by the time I came down from that high, I had completely forgotten the reason I started touching myself. I mean, other than the pleasure of it. Then I saw him. Just the shape of him, but I knew it was the Dragon King and that he was looking at me. I let my hands fall to the sides as I sprawled on my back, my spent cock lying on my thigh. I didn”t move to cover myself. I wanted him to look. I hoped his sight was good enough that he could see every detail, from the errant drop of cum on the tip to the wrinkles in my sacs.

And it wasn”t just to arouse him. I wanted to shock King Shaleros past his barriers and familiarize him with my body. Help him get used to the idea of wanting another man. Hopefully, seeing me orgasm would make him want me more. But if it didn”t, it would seal the end of anything between us. As awful as that would be, it would be better to know now than to get deeper into something with him and have him realize he didn”t desire me. With those thoughts in mind, I closed my eyes and enjoyed the languidness that followed a great orgasm. And the dappled shade. But above all else, I basked in the Dragon King”s stare.