Nikoly’s lips curled up, either amused at Tiiran for saying it or pleased at the idea of Arden sending Orin away to spite Tiiran, only for Tiiran and Nikoly to go with him.
Tiiranwasa seasoned traveler, though. He had gone all the way to Rossick territory. He had met Rossicks, and Astvans, and seen mountain wolves, and heard fae laughter when he’d been unable to look away from Nikoly receiving new markings—he’d been lovelier than Tiiran had imagined, and still flushed and pain-drunk later when Orin had fucked him.
Tiiran had even been marked in the same manner several days later, although not around his throat like Nikoly, and had been equally pain-drunk although far less lovely. Nikoly had pleasured him twice in the aftermath, although his fervor had possibly been more for Tiiran getting marked the way the Rossick did. He had reacted in the same way when Orin had consented to the piercings.
The point was, Tiiran could stand some pain and discomfort and travel.
“Kitten.” Orin was smiling. “You hate travel.”
“For you, Orin, I would.” This was obvious. Tiiran had visited Orin’s family twice, after all. And invited them to the palace, although only Orin’s mother and father had accepted the invitation so far. Maybe the others would come for the wedding. “I dislike it when you’re away.” And perhaps Arden was right to stress about the wedding, and Mattin, and worry over increased dangers. “And Lyli had only me to care for. That’s not enough to keep him controlled. If you needed it—ifheneeded it, you could always take just him with you.”
“And leave you here alone?” Orin and Nikoly demanded at once.
Then Nikoly abruptly closed his mouth.
Orin bent in to kiss Nikoly’s brow and press the tip of his nose to Nikoly’s temple. “Don’t worry, pet. I won’t let him do that to us.”
Tiiran still could not cross his arms. “You haven’t even kissed him properly yet.”
“That’s true,” Nikoly agreed softly, giving Orin a pleading glance. “You have not kissed me, or Tiiran, for that matter. Bee was focused on me, but he was still anxious. It’s this wedding and all the stress. I wasn’t enough to calm him, either.” He put one flowered hand to Orin’s chest, pomegranate-stained fingertips pressing gently into his gambeson. “We need you when you’re gone.”
“Demanding pets,” Orin growled before kissing Nikoly until Nikoly was panting, then turning to Tiiran. “Demanding husbands,” he sighed before finally giving Tiiran a kiss—far too brief of a kiss, in Tiiran’s opinion, but he did rest a hand on the back of Tiiran’s neck and the inked marking in the shape of a hissing cat. Whenever he did that, Tiiran inexplicably wanted to curl up in his arms. Orin knew it, too. “You have had each other for almost a week,” he reminded them both. “I’ve been thinking only of home.”
Tiiran leapt at him, standing on Orin’s toes to kiss him again, nearly pushing all three of them through the door. He meant to apologize, but Orin hauled him close when Tiiran went to step away, and then Nikoly ushered them through the rest of the way and shut the door firmly behind them.
The End
