Wren had never been embarrassed to a point where he wanted to hide before, but as each day rolled by, the dungeons became more and more appealing. The pain from the seals flared up for near three days, and each one, several Sols approached and showed him fealty. There was apparently a bold line of difference between Talamayas being obsessed with a prisoner and naming Wren his soul bound. As Talamayas' mate, Wren shared equally in his power, and the Sols were more than happy to have another leader.
Too happy when Wren was the one who'd taken their mother.
It was as if no one remembered her anymore, like they didn't dream of murdering her each night no matter how comfortable it was to be by Tala's side. It had been okay just living here, but having them introduce themselves one by one and drop to a knee was too much for Wren by the end of the third night. With no other way to avoid them, he stowed away on the most distant side of the castle he could find. Storerooms seemed to be Wren's go to spot, considering he slept in one, and he found an old cushioned bench bigger than a therapist's couch to just wither on.
Every time he made any large movement, like sitting, going up a step, turning sharply, etcetera, the pain flared up for just that moment. So with his descent onto the couch, the small spots on his wrists flared up and accented the darkness with agony. It was cold this low in the castle and out of reach from the sun, and as Wren shivered, it sent another wave of pain through him. Before he could even cringe from it, a shadow dropped on him in the form of a blanket. With a sigh, Wren placed his face on the inside of the cushioned bench.
He was also never alone.
"Is the pain any better?" Talamayas asked, standing over him in the dark.
"Yes. It just protests when I move too much," Wren whispered into the blanket that he'd bunched under his head near his face. It wasn't very fun to inhale the dust of the old bench, so he used it as a shield to breathe.
"Can I join you?" Talamayas asked, actually asked. Since forcing him into being his soul bound, Talamayas had been walking on nervous eggshells that were nearly just as agonizing as his people's fealty.
"You would join me if I were sleeping on a bed of nails, Talamayas," Wren replied, letting out a hiss of breath as Tala lay behind and smothered him in his dark magic. It was such a pleasant release of pain to have Tala's essence conquer Nicholas' lingering magic completely.
The bench was wide enough for both of them, but only if Talamayas pressed Wren into his chest and pinned him to the back of it–something the man had no reservation about doing. Heat washed away the chill of the old room in an instant, and it wasn't at all from his own body temperature. It was nice on occasion that when Talamayas was emotional, the air around him heated.
"Wren," Talamayas said his name into his ear, with nowhere else for his face to go with them glued at the hips and chest. It blew a hint of charred air into Wren's face, and the scent meant Tala was thinking too hard again.
"What is it?" Wren asked patiently, even though he was tired. Speaking was difficult for Tala and the man had been downright avoiding touching him at night while he was in too much pain. It was no real surprise that he was all over him the moment he'd told him the pain was bearable.
"How do I make you want me?" Tala asked, and before he even finished the sentence, Wren snorted a laugh. The responding growl shook Wren's back pleasantly, and Tala would have likely tried to half murder him if he wasn't in so much pain.
"Your brain is the most confusing ping pong ball I've ever had to deal with, Tala," Wren said through his laughter. "I thought we already covered this."
"We did not," Tala hissed and tightened his arms around him, but only because all of his muscles were tensed in frustration again. "You said it was okay if I touched you, and that you were okay with being mine, but you have also explicitly stated that you were not interested in... doing anything with me."
"When did I..." Wren racked his brain until he recalled the time Tala had come down to the dungeons to touch him for the first time. Nothing about it had been sexual for Tala considering he was just that daft, but Wren had taken it that way and lashed out at him. "Talamayas..."Wren breathed out in disbelief. "That was forty years ago. Do you forget nothing I've ever said?"
"I do not," Talamayas said curtly, and then he turned into a statue behind him–no growl, no dark fluctuating energy, just still. "Do you think I'm... perverted?"
"Tala, you embody the dictionary definition of perversion" –the words had Tala's hand clutching Wren's stomach painfully until he continued– "but I thought it was clear that I accepted that. If it was not, then I will make it so." Wren eased a breath into his sternum when Tala unclenched his hand. "I have zero interest in being celibate for the rest of my life, Talamayas Sol, and I will take every moment of your perversion as long as it is intended to facilitate pleasure for us both."
In the darkness, Tala moved his hand up the front of his mage attire until he found his chin, his skin was near scalding as he turned Wren's face back. There was no hesitance as Tala dropped his lips on his and pulled him closer, dark magic caressing his lips, but more so, heat scalding the soft flesh.
Tala devoured him, pressing and prodding until his tongue was in his mouth and wrapped with his, tasting and eating him from the inside out. It was so hot that Wren kept having to retreat, and each time, Tala refused to let him–turning him on his back, lying on top of him, and forcing his tongue further until there was nowhere for Wren to flee. Tala only backed off when he was gasping for air, and it forced Wren to stare up into the crimson of Tala's hungry eyes as he waited for his prey. When Tala closed them, the room sunk into complete darkness, and Wren panted as he waited but Tala didn't move.
"Do you like that I can't see you?" Wren rasped, shifting his gaze but finding nothing.
"If I said yes?" Tala whispered into his ear so abruptly that Wren's heart stuttered.
"You enjoy frightening me..." Wren realized, but it should have been expected.
"And if I did?" Talamayas asked, trailing his hands down Wren's side. "If I liked the way your quickened breath felt against my skin, the rush of your blood pumping through your veins, and the moisture as you perspire?"
Wren tightened his muscles reflexively as the smell of ash wafted into the air. His clothes searing under Tala's touch, the smoldering remains glimmering before they joined the shadows around him. The desire was slick enough in Talamayas voice that Wren knew he liked it, but the question was real as was the hint of trepidation in exposing desires that might turn Wren away.
Something delicate and fragile lay below the surface of Talamayas' warped personality and urges, a part of him that only Wren had the ability to break. Catching his breath, Wren focused on the slim glow of red in Talamayas mostly closed eyes as it glinted off his fangs. There was only one real answer to Tala's question.
"We're going to fuck in the ashes of my clothes, aren't we?" Wren whispered, and the crimson glow disappeared. A blood-chilling cackle followed as Talamayas fell on him, his entire body pressing Wren into the bench.
"I do love the scent of things burning," Tala said into his neck.
Hot breath blew across Wren's throat that he didn't entirely feel as Tala's teeth buried themselves in the valley between his neck and shoulder. It felt more like the man was trying to chew him than drink, and Wren shuddered as Tala worked his teeth on his flesh. Fingers trailed down his sides again, and Wren couldn't withhold the near whimper of fear as flames lit the edges of his vision, slicing his mage attire with a line of searing heat that had him stiff as stone until they ebbed. It left Wren gasping for air and begging his heart to calm as he understood that Tala had not used his magic to harm him.
"Did you think I'd burn you?" Tala asked, lifting his face off of his neck and looming over him with his eyes closed. "Wren Song, what fun would it be if I didn't save dessert for last? I promise, I won't hurt you." Tala purred the words, dripping his desire to do so off every one, and it was the least reassuring thing he'd ever been told. "Tell me, which position is the most fun?"
Tala flipped him on his stomach, and Wren groaned as Tala seized his wrists and held them down against his lower back, so low it trailed the curve of the valley there.
"Lie still, or this will hurt," Tala whispered unto the back of his neck, shifting Wren's long red hair out of the way before he pressed his free palm between his shoulder blades.
Flames licked at his skin, and Wren struggled against Tala's hold when all he could see was the edges of anything. Leaving the spell to burn, Tala relaxed into the cushions and lowered his face to breathe in Wren's scent as the heat advanced. It crawled down Wren's back, devouring the silk and cotton, caressing his shoulder blades, licking down the center of his back, and it didn't stop there.
Wren felt more than the flames press into his behind as Tala ran his fingers with it, gripping him as they delved lower and spun around his legs like a snake. By the time the spell had run its course, Wren was panting for an entirely different reason. Being stripped bare by Tala's power had started to feel more pleasurable than frightening as it wound to an end in a hiss of smoke.
"There we are," Talamayas growled low as he inhaled near him, absorbing the desire Wren knew he could taste in the air.
"It's a little warped that this is erotic," Wren whispered into the blanket that was crunched under his face.
"Shan agrees," Talamayas said, flipping Wren onto his back and leaning over him with an arm on either side of his ribs. "Not sure where I got it either. It just came with the change, my love of flames and the wild disposition of any who wield them."
Tala's crimson eyes trailed away from Wren's, making him fully aware that when he'd been flipped over, the front side of his clothes had not come with him. A blush crept on Wren's cheeks, and he stiffened unintentionally, lifting Tala's eyes back to his.
"Being naked embarrasses you but not getting excited by having your clothes burned off?" Talamayas said with a light chuckle that spread his mouth to show his fangs in the dim light of his eyes.
"Not all of us walk around naked all day," Wren complained, trying his best not to cover his groin because it would only draw attention to it. It didn't take much imagination to know he was hard, but it was still awkward to have someone stare at him, more so Talamayas.
"You take baths naked with my men and me," Tala responded, narrowing his eyes and likely raising an eyebrow, but Wren could only imagine the latter.
"At which time, none of you stared at my groin," Wren growled, and Tala tilted his head. "It's also not too fair that you can see all of me, and I can barely make out your shape in the dark."
"Very well."
Tala lifted his hand and flames lit in small braziers around the room, embedded in the wall to keep from damaging the papers and books stuffed in the corners. Under them, Tala finally came into view enough that Wren's eyes went straight to his chest. Charred remains of his clothes littered it, just bits of black ash smeared across him like battle scars. Tala noticed his staring and wiped them away.
"Is that enough light?"
Enough, certainly, but the low flicker of flames brought Tala to sight in a dim glow that lit his bronze skin a shade more red, imbuing him with the very flames he embodied. It reflected with a sheen that crawled up and lit the edges of his dark hair with just a hint of sunset orange, and the rest sank into shadow. Wren raised a hand to the crimson tattoo marking Tala's chest and hesitated before touching him. They'd touched plenty, but Wren hadn't explored Tala like he had him.
Tala saw his hesitation and captured his hand in his before pressing it against his pectoral muscle. Heat seared Wren's hand, and he yanked it back with a yelp that had Tala covering his mouth as he laughed. Mumbling curses, Wren dropped them as Tala smiled sympathetically.
"Sorry. I sometimes overheat when I'm excited. Give me a moment to calm," Talamayas closed his eyes and breathed out, steam filling the air and dissipating as it hit the cool of the room around them.
It was interesting to watch Tala bent over him with his eyes closed, breathing out steam that was less and less with each moment. When Tala breathed out and it was free of a white puff, Wren brought his hand back to his chest and touched it just barely with his fingers. It was still hot, but not so much that he couldn't press his hand to his muscle and glide his fingers over the shape of the sun that took up his entire right pectoral. A low purr escaped Tala as he kept his eyes closed, relishing the feeling of Wren's fingers trailing over the swell of his muscles before Wren sank lower to count the ridges of his abdomen.
"Fuck, Wren, you're running ice down my skin." Tala opened his eyes and panted a puff of steam that had Wren's fingers trembling in anticipation for his temperature to climb. "This must be how you feel when I touch you in the evenings."
Tala was talking, but Wren's focus was just below his own hand, in the flickering light that defined a more than apparent tent in Tala's pants. It stirred Wren's arousal that had faded just a bit when he'd burned himself touching Tala, and an urge overtook him. Meeting Tala's eyes, he slid his hand lower and ran his palm against the pressure there. Tala jerked, his eyes widened, and the air ignited in a shower of embers that had Wren chuckling as Tala tried to compose himself.
As Wren had expected, it was fun to fluster Tala.
Determined, Wren cupped the edge and pressed, eliciting a hiss of breath from Tala that dipped to a whine in the end. Wren wrapped his fingers around the top of him and squeezed. Tala threw his head back, grit his teeth, and the fabric below Wren's fingers moistened. Wren was so startled that he almost let go, but Tala reached down and held his hand as he thrusted into his grip and nearly fell on him, his elbow catching him next to Wren's face before he crushed him.
"You put new meaning to the phrase quick draw, don't you?" Wren whispered into the side of Tala's face where the man was leaned closer to breathe him in.
"Shut up, Wren," Tala growled in his ear. "I'm not ashamed to say I've never been touched before, and to have it be you is too much for me to handle. Don't you worry though, vampires frequently find pleasure more than once when they fuck."
"Now who's embarrassed?" Wren chuckled.
Tala slammed his hand on Wren's face so abruptly that he jumped out of his skin, Tala's fingers wrapped around his mouth and cutting off his ability to make any sound.
"You think this is funny?" Tala asked, smoke hissing out his mouth as the man barely gave him any leverage to answer.
"No, it's endearing," Wren said into his hand, pushing it away with his own and looking down to his other that was still wrapped in Tala's. "I like that I'm the only one to ever touch you and that I bring you that much pleasure. It's powerful." Wren smirked, and Tala huffed another puff of steam into the air before releasing his hand.
Wren wiped the palm of his hand off as Tala removed his pants, soiled as they were. As Tala settled back onto him, full on erect, Wren couldn't help calculating the length of what hung above his hips. He was pretty sure he didn't have a hole in his body to fit something that large into, and he couldn't help but cover himself with his free hand.
Tala had the gall to laugh.
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