Chapter 2

CHAPTER2

The kiss startled him enough to where he didn’t respond at first, his own lips taut and unyielding. But Callan had warned him there would be a price.

For all that Kithage was a modest kingdom where people did not flaunt their proclivities outside of the bedroom, Elric was no stranger to sex—and this was only a kiss, given to an attractive man whose touch was hotter than he could’ve fathomed.

Elric finally kissed back, though he didn’t relax. He didn’t know what he wasn’t supposed to be fighting against—the kiss, maybe? Or was it something more? The phoenix seemed to think Elric was tainted somehow, though Elric couldn’t understand how.

The phoenix took Elric’s parted lips as an invitation, darting his tongue in and filling Elric with even more warmth. The heat traveled down Elric’s throat, coursing through his body, until it settled just under his breastbone.

Exactly where the phoenix had pointed to, earlier.

“Wh-what—” Elric tried to ask.

“Don’t fight it,” the phoenix repeated, pulling back a little. He was still frowning. “Why are you fighting it?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” Elric said, his voice tight with frustration. “If you’d only be clearer about what I’m not supposed to fight, perhaps I could do something differently.”

The phoenix placed his hand—almost unbearably hot now—on Elric’s chest, and pushed back, until Elric was forced to grip the side of the workbench or risk falling backward.

“It’s stuck. Pulsing, stealing. Rusting you.” The phoenix pushed harder. “Lay back. I’ll give you more of my cleansing fire.”

Elric was getting beyond frustrated with this, and he grabbed the phoenix’s wrist. “You’re speaking in riddles, phoenix. I don’t know you, and you know nothing about me. There is nothing… stuck inside of me. If you won’t explain, I won’t sit here and be party to this.”

The phoenix made a frustrated noise. “Fine. I will fuck you, and perhaps the experience will be so incandescent that you’ll be healed of the… dirt. And after that, if you still want to, we can slay a dragon.”

Now that, he could do. Sex was easy enough. While he doubted it would be the life-changing event the phoenix seemed to think it would be, he’d do it if it meant having the creature’s cooperation to kill the dragon who had ruined everything for him.

He let go of the phoenix’s wrist, shedding his clothes and laying them carefully over the workbench. He couldn’t risk them getting even dirtier or ruined somehow; he only had one spare set of clothing to defend against the growing cold outside. “Is there a place to go?” he asked with a scornful glance at the workshop around them.

The phoenix had pulled his flimsy shirt off, and yes, his chest and stomach were exactly as Elric had imagined. The only question was why he’d bothered wearing the shirt in the first place when there was scarcely a difference between wearing it and going shirtless.

“Here is fine,” he answered. “Lay back on that table.” Then the phoenix chuckled. “Unless you need more romance.”

“Romance,” Elric scoffed. “No.” It would be uncomfortable, but at least the table looked sturdy. He shed his boots and pants, getting up on the table and lying flat on his back. “Well, come on then.”

“You know,” the phoenix said as he stripped his own pants. There was a small hint of a smile on his face, almost like he was mocking Elric. “Most people beg to fuck me. I’m very good at bringing new life to people. They’re sure a good dicking from me will cure them. And… most of them have also, by this point, asked for my name.”

Elric rather thought the phoenix was a charlatan at this point, who promised good health and positive things to those who fucked him simply so he could bed others, but he was polite enough not to say so aloud. “I would be honored to fuck you,” he said. He blinked, though, at the mention of the phoenix’s name that he had indeed not asked for. “I apologize. What is your name?” Usually, he’d have been a little more polite than this, but he was in a hurry.

Every moment he left the dragon on the throne with his brother was another they could use to make the situation that much worse.

The phoenix stepped up between Elric’s legs and pushed one thigh up. He pressed a kiss to the side of Elric’s knee, and for a second, Elric’s entire body blistered with heat.

Elric gasped and tried to swallow the embarrassing moan that threatened to escape. It was a simple kiss, to his knee, of all places, and it was almost unbearably hot, at that. There was nothing particularly arousing about that spot!

From the phoenix’s smug expression, he was fully aware of just what effect that kiss had on Elric’s body.

“Athan. My name is Athan. Don’t cry to your gods when I fuck you,” Athan said, his smoldering gaze meeting Elric’s. Then he winked, breaking the tension.

“P-pardon?” Elric asked, so shocked he stammered over the word. “While you… No, Athan, there has been a misunderstanding. While I’m sure it would be a great honor to be… fucked by you, I do not bottom for anyone. I apologize. But I will make sure to bring you pleasure.”

Athan smirked and placed his hand—so hot—over Elric’s cock. He was only cupping it, but the intensity of the heat had Elric’s cock twitching… and had Elric worried something precious might burn.

“I just told you. I need to fill you with my heat. My seed. My cum. Whatever word you prefer. But if you don’t want to, I’ll respect that. I’ll go back to fixing up the music box I was working on. I have enough projects to last me a few decades. Maybe the dragon will have grown bored and left on its own by the time I’m done.”

Elric took a deep breath and forced himself to calm his nerves. All right. He’d told himself he was willing to pay any price, and if that included getting fucked, so be it. Elric had never allowed himself to be taken that way before, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t. Phoenixes were immortal, weren’t they? If Elric was going to do this for the first time, an experienced lover might well make it worth the sacrifice.

“No, no. I was simply surprised,” he said hurriedly. He spread his legs a little wider, inviting more of the touch.

Athan tightened his grip on Elric’s cock, giving it a long, slow stroke. Was his hand hotter now? Elric couldn’t be sure. He only knew that every touch seemed to be just on the brink of too hot.

“Is… is your member as…” Elric stuttered as Athan pushed a knuckle against his taint.

“Hmm?” Athan kept massaging that spot, bringing Elric to hardness faster than any servant had with their mouth.

Because of how warm Athan’s hands were, Elric told himself, because no human’s mouth could be this warm.

Then Athan’s fingers traveled lower, pushing against the sensitive flesh of Elric’s hole. Elric tensed up. Even if he was fully prepared to receive—he needed Athan’s cooperation to reclaim his throne—it was a new, wholly foreign experience.

“I’ll need oil,” Elric demanded, but the would-be command came out shaky.

“If I said I had to do it raw, and your insides would burn and fester before I’d give you my help, would you agree to it?” Athan asked, pushing a fingertip in.

Elric shuddered, but he didn’t even have to think about the answer to that question. He would do it. He would do anything to have his kingdom back. “Do you?” he asked, unable to keep a little bit of anxiety from his voice. “Will they?”

Athan sighed and stepped away from Elric, taking his heat with him. The room was still warm, but Elric couldn’t help but shiver at the loss of the more intense heat.

“No. I don’t shoot lava. It’d be really lonely if the only people I could fuck were other phoenixes.” Athan walked back to his cupboard and took a larger bottle from it.

Were there other phoenixes around for him to fuck?

Elric didn’t think about that for long, though, as he gazed at Athan’s naked back.

His ass was well-defined too. And when he turned around… oh. That was not a small cock.

Elric’s hole twitched, and he already feared what state he’d be left in if that massive thing penetrated him.

It had a strange shape though, not like a human’s cock. It swayed in its erect state. There were raised ridges in a spiral pattern, with the tip significantly thinner than the base of the cock. It was still larger than Elric’s, though.

When Athan returned to the table, he set an empty bottle next to Elric’s head and unstoppered the large jar.

“Oil. For the king. And every other visitor, because the only screaming I want to hear is the good kind.” Athan smiled as he poured oil directly onto Elric’s cock and balls. “Does everybody tell you you’re handsome and they’re very happy to let you fuck them, my liege?”

Was Athan mocking him? It was very hard to tell between that smile and the way those fingers trailed over Elric’s now-slick cock. He let out a soft groan, the heat of those fingertips almost more than he could bear.

“Yes,” he said, though instead of his usual arrogant bravado, he felt almost… uncertain, which was strange. He didn’t usually care what his partners thought of him in the moment, as long as they got to their knees or spread their legs for him.

“You’re handsome enough,” Athan said right as he pushed one finger inside Elric. “I’ve had prettier than you.” Elric started to bristle, but Athan continued, “I’ve had less handsome than you.” Then the phoenix thrust his finger in and out, a single beacon of warmth that was almost too much to bear, and Elric could think of nothing else.

Elric’s legs kicked automatically, and he gripped the edge of the table for something to ground himself. It was just a finger. Just a single finger. Surely he could handle that. The oil ensured the finger’s slide was smooth, every movement sending little sparks of pleasure through him.

“Wow. You’re already dripping,” Athan murmured. He added another finger and drove in even deeper, warming parts of Elric he hadn’t even known existed. “Maybe you’re the neediest I’ve had.”

Elric flushed at that. “I don’t—” His voice caught, words hitching in his throat before he cleared it. “I’m not trying to be… needy.” It felt like an insult, but it was hard to focus on that when Athan’s fingers were inside of him.

“Very, very needy,” Athan answered, but he frowned. His other hand moved to Elric’s chest again, tapping at that spot underneath his breast. “It’s stuck more than I thought. And there are holes. How does a human get holes in him?”

Elric had more or less resigned himself to the fact that the phoenix was going to continue to talk in riddles around him. But really… Rust? Holes?

“I’m not a machine,” he reminded Athan. “Humans don’t rust or have holes in them. Well. They have some holes, but not… there.”

Athan chuckled. “Well, at least one of your holes wants me to fill it.” He added a third finger, and that was so much already, so hot. How was Elric going to handle Athan’s entire cock? He hated this sensation of hanging on the edge, dread and anticipation roiling in his stomach all at once, all while his body grew hotter and hotter and his mind went fuzzy with pleasure.

“J-just do it already,” Elric grumbled. “Give me your… heat.”

“Yeah. Maybe it’s not too late.” Athan pulled his fingers out and wiped them on Elric’s thigh. Then he dragged his massive erection against Elric’s cock.

It felt like a stone that had lain in the sun all day, almost too hot to touch, just like every other time Athan brushed against him.

It really would burn Elric up. This was all a trick, one where Callan watched Elric go up in flames and laughed about how he’d tricked the human into going into a phoenix’s warm lair after Elric had sent his own brother into the dark cold of a dragon’s den.

But Elric didn’t want to stop either. His body pulsed with heat and need, and if this was truly the only way to get Athan’s cooperation…

Without it, he’d never oust his brother.

Better to die here than to live in destitution.

Athan pushed his cock in, inch by strange inch. The cock seemed to twist as it penetrated him, reaching in a lot deeper than Elric thought was possible—but it had to be his imagination, borne from his inexperience.

Elric cried out as the heat registered even before the feeling of that hard cock was too far inside of him. All at once, it was damn near overwhelming, and he had to bite his lip to keep a steady string of noises from spilling past his lips.

That would’ve been humiliating, for a king to whimper like a whore for a man he’d only just met—all while he was being fucked on a workroom table.

The indignity of it almost made him change his mind, but no. He had a dragon to defeat, and to defeat a dragon, he needed a phoenix. This phoenix. This was the price he had to pay, and if he happened to enjoy it a bit, well… No one needed to know, right?

Athan kept going, and going, until he had filled Elric completely to the hilt. Elric was laid completely bare to the phoenix, completely open. Even at a complete standstill, Elric thought he could feel Athan’s cock pulse and twist inside him.

It was strange. Foreign. It shouldn’t have been there. But the heat was so intense, and the pleasure chased it, leaving even Elric’s fingertips tingling.

Athan bent forward to place his hand on Elric’s chest once more. “You were pretty once, weren’t you?” Athan murmured. “Before the dirt.”

That sounded like an insult, but before Elric could respond, Athan began to thrust.

Elric jerked beneath him, surprised into the motion before he could stop himself. He shuddered and tried to relax, but his hips moved seemingly of their own accord, trying to meet Athan thrust for thrust.

It failed, of course. He had no idea what he was doing, and Athan’s pace was quick. It was one thing to do the thrusting; it was another entirely to try to match from this end.

Besides, he usually made his servants do all the work.

He could’ve done that here, too, but it felt a bit… rude. And like it wouldn’t feel as pleasurable, which he didn’t quite understand. Why should he care? Why would it matter?

One thrust after another, one failed attempt at meeting each one, until finally he fell in sync with Athan’s movements. It felt better then, as his body clenched around the heated shaft within him and felt little fiery… drops, maybe? Were those bits of precum spreading inside of him?

Athan suddenly bent forward and kissed Elric again, even while his hips continued to shallowly thrust against Elric’s ass.

Elric’s entire body was surrounded by Athan now, filled by him. There was not a single breath he took that wasn’t heat, flame, humidity—filling his lungs, his throat.

It was all fire, smoldering inside him.

Elric really was going to go up in flames, but he didn’t care. He kissed back and squeezed Athan’s ass, noticing with some triumph that Athan’s breath hitched.

Athan smiled and nibbled the bottom of Elric’s lip. “Get ready.”

Ready? How could he possibly get ready for more of this? He was already so warm that sweat dripped down his dirty face, and it wasn’t even because of the furnace in the shop. No, it had everything to do with the phoenix atop him, the phoenix who was already filling him and threatening to spill into him with even more of that heat.

He mewled, a pathetic little sound that had been meant to be something more like… a protest? An encouragement? He didn’t know.

Before he could even begin to figure it out, Athan’s cock was spilling into him, as hot as he imagined lava to be. Was it burning his insides? It certainly felt like he was being roasted from the inside out, and he cried out, his fingers digging into Athan’s shoulders as he kissed him with more ferocity—like that would ground him, like that could ground him and keep him from bursting into flame.

Somehow, through the heat and flame, Elric found his own pleasure overwhelming him. It shouldn’t have been possible. He tried to stave it off, didn’t want to believe he’d be this pathetic—but the pleasure consumed him, burning off the last hold on sense he had.

Elric bucked and grabbed Athan’s shoulders, trying to pull him even closer, winding their tongues together for more.

Athan smiled against his lips, kissing back eagerly. He brought one hand between their bodies and stroked Elric’s over-sensitive cock, the heat of his hand still nearly unbearable.

Elric gasped, the heat of it going all the way through him. Inside and out, the touches were indescribable and so appealing, and the cold outside was all but forgotten.

The cold inside was receding, too. Strange. Normally sex was distant, but in this moment, Elric felt almost alive. It had to be the phoenix convincing him to take that potion, didn’t it?

Maybe there was something wrong with him after all.

He wasn’t going to admit that to the phoenix, though—and he was definitely not going to admit that this had been the best orgasm he’d ever experienced in his life.

They kept kissing until even Athan’s warmth wasn’t enough to stop the small pangs of discomfort nagging at Elric. As good as the sex had been, he was still contorted strangely on top of a hard table.

Elric groaned and pushed Athan away. “Are you… Are you satisfied?”

Athan sighed and slowly pulled out, taking his wonderful heat with him.

Elric bit his lip to stop himself from begging to have it back. Once Athan had stepped away, Elric gingerly sat up on the table, wincing at how sore his body felt. Especially his ass. Never mind how much oil they had used, his body was not made to take anything that large.

Athan tucked a stray lock of feathery hair behind his ear and gave Elric another once over. “No. I’m not satisfied.”

Elric tensed, already feeling ashamed of his own wanton desires expressed in such a way. He could feel that liquid heat slowly trickling out of his stretched ass, and he forced himself to think for a moment instead of simply responding. That would be his brother’s stupidity, not his own. He knew better.

“I can promise you more lands. A title.” He spared a glance around the workroom. “A bigger workspace, more trinkets to play with.”

“I don’t need any of those things.” Athan turned around and grabbed a washcloth from a clothesline. He began to wipe himself down, completely unashamed of his nudity, of the way his strange cock seemed to be almost… unraveling near the tip. No, that wasn’t right. He had to be seeing it wrong. “But I’ll go with you anyway.”

Elric straightened at that. “But you just said…” No. That was foolish. He wasn’t going to look this gift horse in the mouth. “Thank you. But do name your price. If you help me regain my kingdom, you may have anything you wish.”

Dangerous words.

Was that how Larkin had ended up marrying a dragon?

He coughed, then amended, “Within reason, mind.”

Athan finished wiping himself down and passed a different, cleaner cloth to Elric. “If I help you regain your kingdom… Hmm. I’ll think about it. Now get dressed. Unless you plan to spend the night here.”

Elric took the cloth with a murmur of thanks, cleaning his cock and wiping at the trailing cum from his ass. He set it down on the bench next to where Athan had placed his own, then found his trousers and pulled them back on. It still hurt. Every movement hurt. It was likely good he was on foot and wouldn’t be astride a horse.

“You’re ready to leave now?” Elric asked, hardly daring to believe his luck.

Athan had already redressed in his worker’s trousers and scandalously simple shirt. On his feet, he only wore simple sandals. He picked up a travel pack that was by the front door and slung it over his shoulder. “I was thinking of leaving, anyway. If you’d arrived another day later, I wouldn’t have been here.”

“Where were you planning on going?” Elric asked, gathering up his robes and drawing them around his shoulders. He looked at the travel pack with a strange mix of longing and relief. He wished he had more to his name, but at the same time, he’d have had to carry it all this way.

Still, it would’ve been better than an almost empty coin purse.

“Who knows?” Athan pushed the front door open, and for a second, with the sunlight streaming in behind him, he appeared to be engulfed in flame.

Elric’s breath hitched.

Then Athan was gone, and Elric had to hurry to follow.