The Western Border of Westrial
They were arriving at Castle Vermeton, under the hills near the western border, when the messenger hawks swirled down to their encampment. King Cedd held out his gloved fist and the falcon landed on it while the King unfastened the message. On one side of him rode Princess Isobel, who was careful not to look at him, and on the other was Anthony who watched Cedd’s face change.
“She has wed without me,” Cedd said, shortly. “Let us turn and head back to Kingsboro.”
Anthony’s face hardened, but Isobel, practical, said, “Lord Veldon is waiting for us. We will stay at Vermeton tonight, for a few days in fact, make an occasion of it, the King coming to visit his western provinces. Tonight I will send a falcon to Sussail and one to Abbot Merrill for our wedding. We will have it here, on the very door of the West Kingdoms”
While Anthony and Cedd looked on Isobel with respect, she continued, “The wedding will be on the first day of the next month. It will be the spectacle the people have been waiting for.”
She added, “And it will certainly outshine what Imogen has done, or how you were not there to see her do it.”
That night, autumn rains thudded hard outside the large windows of Anthony’s chambers. In one chair Teryn Wesley sat across from Anthony, and a servant came in to add another log to the fire.
“The thing is,” Anthony admitted, “I don’t believe Imogen feels she hurt Cedd in any way. They have never been close, and if she hadn’t fled, he was intending to marry her off to some old lord. He had intended to dishonor her.”
Teryn’s brow knotted, and his crossed legs stretched across the thin carpet.
“That is not the King I know. And yet,” he shook his head, “how much of the King can I really know?”
“He is gentle and kind,” Anthony said. “But not always. And the not always is what Anson and Imogen know. Apparently Anson is on his way back here and so Imogen wished to marry before he left. And now she is Queen of one of the most powerful realms in Ossar. A Royan queen has far more influence than a Sendic one.”
“Isobel….” Teryn began. Then, “The Princess Isobel…”
“Quite a woman,” Anthony agreed. Then Anthony said, “Teryn, come with me.”
Teryn nodded, rose, and walked out with Anthony, closing the door behind them.
The lights in the halls were out now, for it was late, and as they passed through them to where new corridors were faintly lit by spaced lanterns, Anthony pressed a half open door.
“Teryn,” Cedd said. “I am glad you came as well.”
Cedd was in a blue dressing gown, and his dark eyes were distracted as he put down the letter and said:
“This is a new letter. This has come from Inglad.”
“Your Grace?” Teryn said.
“Not tonight,” Cedd shook his head. “We will not discuss this tonight.”
The King of Westrial rose and shrugged off his gown. Teryn still shuddered to see his lean body naked, the play of muscle underneath white skin, the soft, faint growth of dark hair defining his body. Cedd came forward, unself conscious, and kissed Teryn lightly on the lips while grasping his hand and beckoning to Anthony, who was also slowly undressing.
“For now,” Cedd said, “let us rest.”
Isobel of Sussail daughter of Hermudis daughter of Iffanwy watched the lovers, contented. She cared for Teryn and wished his comfort, thought he deserved both to be loved and to be the lover of these two men. But as her hand swished gently over the water dish so that it now reflected only candlelight, she prepared the fire for a different type of sending. Isobel would have to sleep late tomorrow after such spell work, for she was no Ohean, did not possess the power of Nimerly. She imagined telling the court, “Oh, I’m sorry, my witchcraft has exhausted me!” and almost laughed. It was Essily’s witchcraft that had kept her from reigning as a true queen, and it would be a long time before Westrial could except an openly practicing sorceress on its throne.
Hermudis must set out for the wedding in the morning and not wait on some bird, and Nimerly must know that now that she had let Cedd and his lovers live in peace, it was likely she could have whatever she wished, be as powerful as any Sendic queen could be. After all, terrible tidings were coming from Daumany and beyond. Edmund in Inglad and Rufus in Daumany could never be trusted. The Black Hands were moving about the Temple in Zahem, the Temple those silly people and their ridiculous Prophet knew so little about, though they had made it the center of their worship. What was more, the new Prophet was a eighteen year old boy, and h knew nothing of the true nature of his temple, or of that dreadful high priest.
Isobel had been trained not to see in blacks and whites, mere goods and evils, but clearly now, one side stood for preservation and growth and another for destruction. The kingdoms of Ossar, The Rootless Isle and the Hidden Tower would need all the strength and unity they could muster, and if Isobel secured them by letting her husband carry on with two men, so be it.
On either side of him, hot and firm, gentle and smooth, were the King and the Duke of Pembroke. Lying on their stomachs they were just blinking in and out of sleep. Though he was afraid to say it, he loved them so much. He kissed one and then the other, and he placed one hand on Anthony’s back, another on Cedd’s. He stroked them gently and they both sighed. He moved his hand down to the small of their backs and they shuddered. He massaged their asses and they sighed, mouths open. They made child noises. Gently, he slipped a finger into each of them, and both Anthony and the King’s mouths opened. The King’s mouth! Their eyes flew open in amazed wonder. In a trance, removed from who they were in the day to who they were in the middle of the night, Teryn worked them and they moaned, grasping their pillows, then the sides of the mattress. And then Teryn kissed them.
He kissed them down their backs, first Cedd, and then Anthony and then again, all the way down until his tongue moved inside of them, from one to the other and they both cried out now. They shouted a little now. Anthony banged on the headboard with his fist, and shuddering sounds escaped Cedd. Teryn’s mouth worked on them, his hands reached around and kneaded them. Anthony and Cedd looked at each other, eyes wide. Suddenly they kissed. As they kissed fiercely, Anthony reached down and brought Teryn up. Now he was between the two older men who were looking on him with so much sweetness, and on each other, taking turns to kiss him while they kissed each other. They moved kiss to kiss, mouth to mouth, and the kisses that began on the lips went to their throats, to their breasts and stomachs and further down still.
Cedd and Anthony kissed, pressing together with Teryn between them, going up and down Teryn’s body until, gently, Anthony turned him on his stomach and Cedd, brought into a strange contemplation, watched Anthony fuck him. Cedd’s mouth was half opened. His eyes glazed over. Teryn grabbed the bedpost, and his eyes went dull under Anthony’s thrusting.
It ended all too quickly in an orgasmic flood, Anthony’s hands bunched on Teryn’s shoulder, the cords of his neck strained, his red face arched to the ceiling, his cock, thick, wet, spewing, deep inside of the younger boy. But when Anthony came out of him, still stiff, his cock wet, Teryn reached for Cedd, and Cedd came to him. Now it was his turn. Now they were together. Cedd wanted to hold it in. He did, a little longer, making love to Teryn the same way he did when they were in private, holding back his burst. Anthony was there, exhausted, on his side, watching. In a way it was like they were doing this for him. When it was time to let go, Cedd almost mourned it. Teryn gave a long whimpering cry.
The room was hot, and it smelled like sweat, long nights and fucking. They, all three, sprawled, limbs together, their stomachs sprayed with their semen. No one said a word. Teryn loved it when they all did this, though thoughts of the Princess Isobel, sleeping alone passed through his mind. He put them out of his head. She had secrets of her own. Isobel knew everything that went on, and was no creature to be pitied.
Teryn said, “Come and hold me. Come clean off, and then come and hold me.”
The King, tight bodied, his arms and thighs traced with black hair, got up a little unsteadily and made his way to the watercloset. Somehow, the King was different after he had been inside of him, and Anthony’s body would seem different too when, inevitably, the Lord of Pembroke asked Teryn to fuck him. Cedd returned with a cloth, and gently he wiped off Teryn and Anthony and then wiped up and down his own chest. Lightly he put the cloth on the bureau.
Drowsily, he climbed into bed and as Teryn pulled Cedd into his embrace, Anthony lifted the covers over all of them.
