Does It Matter?

Chapter 58

After Maric was done talking to each of his men individually, he went back to camp and opened up a couple of bottles of wine to share with his men and they played cards and talked as a group about what the future might hold for them.

Overall, the mood of the group seemed to be one of excitement. Every one of his men had agreed to go with him wherever he led, but they weren't just doing it out of duty. These were ambitious, skilled men, and they were hungry for adventure, something they had mostly been denied in their time serving Maric. A prince was not to be put in dangerous or unpredictable situations, after all.

As the sun went down, the cold crept in, and Maric retreated to his tent where Dara was waiting for him. Bug was there too, and awake for once. Maric offered him a nod of acknowledgement before crawling under the blanket next to Dara.

"Your hands are cold," Dara told him.

"Oh, sorry," Maric said.

Dara shook his head. "It wasn't a complaint. Come here. I'll warm you up."

This was what Maric would rather die than ever lose. Dara's arm around him, cuddling him close, his hand holding Maric's against his chest and rubbing it warm. Before he'd met Dara, Maric had thought a romantic partner was little more than someone you were sexually monogamous with. There were so many emotional layers he hadn't even been aware of.

Brayan slipped into the tent, gave Maric a nod of acknowledgement, and headed straight for Bug.

Bug was already reaching his arms up for Brayan as he got close.

Brayan sat down next to him and paid little mind to Bug's awkward attempts to cling at him. "Have you eaten?"

"Mmhm," Bug said.

"Are you warm enough?"

"Well... maybe I could be warmer..." Bug said coyly.

Maric buried a huff of laughter against Dara's shoulder. Brayan had been trying to keep things within his comfort zone, to play the role of dedicated but distant carer, but he'd put himself in a corner now.

Brayan was silent for a moment, and then he climbed under the blankets and lay down with Bug without comment.

Maric had been distantly aware of Dara's hands wandering while he'd been distracted by Brayan and Bug, but it wasn't until Dara crawled on top of him and straddled his hips that Maric realised that he'd unbuttoned Maric's shirt. Maric sat up just far enough to pull it all the way off and then dragged Dara in for a kiss.

When they paused to catch their breaths, Maric glanced over at Brayan and Bug. At first he thought they were just laying side by side doing nothing, but then he noticed the telling movement of Bug's hand beneath the blanket.

Maric stripped Dara of his shirt, and then everything else had to wait a moment as he gave into the temptation to give the supple skin between his neck and shoulder a gentle bite. Dara made a sound in the back of his throat as he arched his hips and then began fumbling to get his pants off.

Brayan was on top of Bug now, blankets tossed aside. Brayan was no longer pretending to be aloof and disinterested. Lust had taken him. Or... well, not entirely. Bug made a quiet sound of discomfort and lifted his hand in a request for pause, and Brayan immediately stopped and patiently readjusted their positioning until Bug nodded his approval and they kept going.

Dara was naked, but he also seemed to have half an eye on Brayan and Bug as he popped open the buttons on Maric's pants, whether out of concern, curiosity, or, well... something else.