Esteve froze when he felt his bed move. No one should have been able to sneak past the guards even if they could get past wizards’ spells. Esteve hadn’t even heard anyone moving in his room. The bed shifted again and the bed clothes rustled. Had anyone heard? Would anyone come and investigate?

No. They wouldn’t. Several of the spells placed on Esteve’s room were to keep noises out. Or in. Royalty had its privileges and being the crown prince had even more. Screams could fill the room and no one would come. Even if the spells broke and someone heard dying gasps, they wouldn’t check. Kings and, by extension, crown princes were above the law. He might murder a maiden every night and he would never be questioned.

No one believed that he was in danger in his own room. No one believed that anyone, including Ignasi the sorcerer could get this far. That was who it was, wasn’t it? The person slowly making his way up Esteve’s bed. Esteve felt a hand on his leg and it took all his self-control no to loose a worthless scream.

Not that every one didn’t know Ignasi was bent on revenge. He had been crown price after all, one of the blood that was not only beautiful and clever, but powerful in the ways of wizards. He might have been the first wizard king in ages, Ignasi the Benevolent or some such if Esteve’s father’s councilors had not convinced the grieving widower to remarry. Or if Esteve had never been born.

If not for Esteve, Ignasi would never have cause to go bad.

Hands came out of nowhere and pinned Esteve’s arms above his head. He felt warm breath on his cheek, but could see nothing. Was it a spell? Ignasi was good at spells. He was good at everything. Esteve was clumsy, ugly, and slow compared to his cousin. When his servants and tutors sighed under their breaths and turned away, Esteve knew he was being compared.

Esteve forced his body to relax; he couldn’t let Ignasi know his fear. He fought to recall his brief glances of his handsome cousin and the too few times the older boy had caught his eye and smiled. Esteve was only five when Ignasi was driven out and Ignasi was seventeen. After that Ignasi learned how to twist magic to perform dark spells. But before, before Ignasi left, he would walk tall and proud though the castle corridors. One of Esteve’s nurses would often take Esteve for walks where they passed Ignasi. Sometimes Ignasi’s attention could be drawn away from his duties and he would rub Esteve’s head before to turned again to matters of importance to the realm. Esteve treasured every smile, every pat.

Ignasi’s knees were to each side of Esteve’s hips. Esteve felt vulnerable, more vulnerable than since Ignasi, the boy he worshiped, was driven out by people he trusted, people Esteve was supposed to trust. And how was Esteve supposed to trust them? Would they someday turn on him too? As Esteve grew, he gathered a few people around him to watch his back, but they couldn’t protect him right now.

Esteve ached to see, but the world was a relentless black. Was the darkness only cast on Esteve’s eyes? Could Ignasi see him? He licked his lips to moisten them. His courage couldn’t fail him now. He had to do this. His life was on the line. “Ignasi, is that you?”

“Who else would it be?” The voice was hard and angry, but melodious. Esteve’s heart ached to hear it. How could anyone be cruel to his wonderful cousin? “Ignasi, I missed you.”

“You missed me how? For target practice?” Ignasi barked a laugh.

“No, no,” Esteve cried, tears flowing from his eyes. “I love you. I want to be with you. I want to be with you forever.”

Esteve froze when Ignasi did. Would Ignasi believe him? Esteve and Felui, his wizard, had searched Ignasi’s heart with a forbidden spell. Ignasi didn’t hate Esteve, but his heart was broken. He was betrayed by his friends and teachers then cast away. His quest to kill Esteve, his replacement, was the means to his revenge on those men. Esteve had to convince Ignasi that wasn’t necessary. That even if Ignasi would never be crown prince again, he was welcome here, wanted, needed here. That he could and should come home. Felui had divined that words wouldn’t be enough; Esteve had to convince Ignasi with his body. Esteve tugged his wrists bound by Ignasi’s large hand. “Please Ignasi, let me up. Let me up and I’ll show you.”

Ignasi hesitated before he pulled away. Esteve didn’t let him go far. He reached blindly up and when he found Ignasi’s neck, he wrapped his arms around it, pulling their bodies together. Ignasi gave in, laying over Esteve, but he was stiff. In the darkness, Esteve’s lips found Ignasi’s. He licked them, delighting in their sweet softness. Ignasi’s mouth opened in a soft moan and Esteve seized his tongue, sucking it deep within his own mouth. He had to keep Ignasi. He couldn’t let him go. Not now, not ever.

Esteve let his hands roam down the large, hard body above him, feeling every muscle, every ridge, every dip. Ignasi silk robe slipped and slid easily under Esteve’s hands. The long strands of Ignasi’s hair felt soft and smelled wonderful as they tangled around Esteve’s fingers. Esteve moaned low. As delicious as these touches were, they were simply not enough. Esteve needed Ignasi’s skin against his own. He needed to hear his sighs and smell his sweat. He drank in the sweet taste of Ignasi’s tongue until Ignasi’s moan filled his mouth. This is what he wanted, what he needed. He pulled at Ignasi’s robe until he felt warm skin.

Ignasi pulled away. “Esteve, wait.”

“What? Why?” Esteve grabbed hold of Ignasi’s robe with both hands. He couldn’t let him leave.

Ignasi’s smooth hand brushed hair from Esteve’s brow. “You do not know what you ask.”

But Esteve did know. Ignasi last remembered Esteve when he was very young. Perhaps he needed to be shown that Esteve was no longer a child. “I know what I want. I want you. I want you forever. This is what I mean by want.” Esteve ran his hands down Ignasi’s sides, where he tucked his hands beneath the silky fabric then between their hips. Ignasi stiffened when Esteve rubbed his shaft. It was as hard as Esteve wanted it to be. He purred as he wrapped his hand around it. He could get lost in touching his beloved, but words needed to be spoken. “I want you beside me. I want you inside me. You are mine. Now and forever.”

Ignasi laughed the laugh Esteve remembered. “This was not how I expected to be greeted.”

“Get used to it,” Esteve said, tugging Ignasi’s robe up his chest. “Let me see, so I can get this off you.”

“Your wish, my prince, is my command.”

Esteve sight came back as Ignasi sat back and pulled the robe off his body. Ignasi’s hair was black and wavy the way Esteve remember it, but longer, nearly to his hips. His skin was pale in the moonlight where he used to be tan and his body was no longer boy thin, these dozen years later. But his eyes, which had always laughed before, cried out their aching loss. His face was still perfection, more so now that Esteve was old enough to appreciate it.

Esteve was frozen by Ignasi’s beauty. As Ignasi exposed the last inches of his flesh, Esteve realized that he was still covered. He struggled to pull his nightshirt off. Ignasi smiled tolerantly, but didn’t help. Did Ignasi think that Esteve had changed his mind? That would never do. He tossed his nightshirt aside and held out his arms. “I love you.”

Ignasi leaned forward, his voice husky. “Are you sure this is what you want?”

Esteve put his hand on Ignasi’s chest, his palm over one hard nipple. “I want to bind you to me. Bind you so tightly that you will never leave without me again, no matter what anyone says to you. I need you by my side all day, all night. I need to turn and see you looking at me or working to keep me safe and happy. I want us never to part. I want no wars, people, or misunderstandings to come between us.”

He sighed, looking into Ignasi’s eyes, which still reflected his long ago pain. “I know I can not have all these things at once, so for tonight I will settle for your arms around me, your body beside me, and your shaft within me until the morning dawns.”

Ignasi laughed and ran his thumb along Esteve’s jaw. “You are a prince, demanding and determined. If I please you, will you allow me back?”

Esteve wrapped his arms around Ignasi’s neck, willing away the inches between them. “If you do not please me, you must come back as many times as necessary until you do. If you do please me, I’ll never let you sleep anywhere else again.”

Ignasi’s lips brushed Esteve’s. When he pulled back, Esteve moaned, but the sound was barely out when Ignasi’s tongue licked his needy lips. He lifted he head to snatch that tongue, but Ignasi pulled back further. Esteve moaned again in frustration. Ignasi laughed, his warm, sweet breath filling Esteve, making him lightheaded. Ignasi’s lips touched his again and sucked in Esteve’s lower lip. The tug on his lip pulled something lower down and Esteve gasped. Ignasi rested his face on Esteve’s cheek and Esteve was sure he felt a smile. He turned his head and stole that smile right of Ignasi’s face.

Ignasi pushed his tongue into Esteve’s mouth and suddenly nothing else mattered. Esteve had no hand, no feet, no body, he was entirely his mouth and lips and tongue as Ignasi took possession of him. His fingers threaded into Ignasi’s long hair and his lungs ached with the effort to fill them. He was need and Ignasi filled it, filled him.

Esteve was too weak to protest when Ignasi moved his wonderful mouth down his body. He had never felt anything like this and the part of him that could think was glad. This joy was for Ignasi because only Ignasi could make him feel this way. With Ignasi’s hands and mouth on his skin, he needed nothing else. His body was on fire and floating like a cloud, only Ignasi above him kept him from drifting away.

Ignasi stroked Esteve’s thigh and licked up his shaft. Esteve writhed and moaned. He wasn’t just on fire, he was fire. Hotter than a volcano. Hotter than everything. Esteve watched as Ignasi licked the leaking tip then pounced, sucking in the entire thing. He yelped at the hot, moist, tightness. He couldn’t hold still. He lost control of himself and all coherent thought. The very air was burning. He body was not big enough for what was inside him. Esteve took great fistfuls of Ignasi’s beautiful hair to anchor him enough to shot, “Ignasi. Ignasi. I love you. I love you.”

The world went white. But it was a good white. Not scary in the least. And he could hear Ignasi’s breath and feel in warm mouth as he licked Esteve clean. He could stay this way forever, in the pleasant place wherever it was, but slowly his eyes came into focus and he met Ignasi’s gaze. His heart ached at the beauty of those haunted, perfect eyes. Esteve would never allow Ignasi to be betrayed again. “Oh, Ignasi. Beloved, my heart, my very life.”

Ignasi glaze traveled down his body and back up slowly, like the best of caresses. “You are the prince. I cannot be your first.”

Esteve took several deep, shaky breaths. “Why would I want another while you walked this world? I am yours. I have always been. I will always be. Just like you are mine. But even my dreams of you were never this good.”

“You dreamed of me doing this to you?”

Esteve tried to shake his head, but it only listed to the side. “I dreamed of you. I dreamed of you inside me, crying my name. I dreamed we came together and you said you loved me.”

Ignasi looked into Esteve’s eyes as if to read them. Esteve gazed back into his beautiful face, willing Ignasi to read his soul and all the love he held.

Ignasi lick his oh-so-perfect lips and smiled a grin that was worth more than diamonds. “I think, my prince, my love, I can fulfill you desire.”

Esteve was rolled onto his belly and his pillows were tossed away. His limbs were still leaden for Ignasi’s wonderful touch. He wanted nothing in the world more than for Ignasi to cuddle up against him and pledge his live and heart. But then large warm hands slid down his back and his shaft hardened, leaving his gasping. Soft lips trailed down his back as his hips were raised.

Fingers slipped between his back cheeks and down his crack, pushing into Esteve as if that’s where they were always meant to be. Ignasi must be using his powers for Esteve felt no pain. The fingers dipped in and slid out as Ignasi caressed Esteve’s chest with his other hand. Esteve’s body rocked to Ignasi’s rhythm and he gasped each time Ignasi rubbed the spark inside him. He was made for Ignasi. Did Ignasi feel the same way? What did he look like a he touch Esteve? Was his face full of concentration? Was he working hard to give Esteve this lighter-than-air feeling? Was his shaft leaking? Was it pulsing with need to be inside Esteve?

Esteve needed to see Ignasi. He wanted to watch him, he need to hold him. His arms held him up, but they cried out for their prize. Anyway this wasn’t the way a prince was taken. Princes weren’t taken at all. They bestowed their favors and this wasn’t how he wanted his favor bestowed.

“Relax, Esteve. If you fight, I won’t be able to keep the pain at bay.”

“But I want to hold you, too.” Tears stung Esteve’s eyes. “I want to hold you.”

“Not this time.” Ignasi pulled his fingers out, but Esteve barely had time to feel the loss as Ignasi shifted his hips and something far larger than his fingers took their place. The thrust went deep into Esteve and Ignasi’s sacks bounced off his legs, but he felt no pain, only gloriously filled and more loved than he’d ever been in his life. A tingle started in his groin and slipped down his arms and legs until his entire body was buzzing. His mind was in that pleasant place that Ignasi had led him to before, but the tingling became a burning until his body and the very air he breathed were on fire. His mind snapped back into place.

Ignasi pulled back and thrust again. In the absence of pain his body became hyperaware. He knew just how deep Ignasi’s shaft was in him. He could feel each individual strand of Ignasi’s long hair slide across his arms and legs. He felt each blast of breath against his neck. And he knew that neither his arms nor legs nor backside would give out before Ignasi wanted them to.

Each inch of Ignasi’s shaft within Esteve pumped him up, each slap of sacks against his legs made him lighter, each moan that escaped Ignasi’s lips brought him higher, until he was flying, but this time he wasn’t alone. Ignasi was with him. Ignasi would always be with him. Today was the beginning of forever.

“Es tev, es tev,” Ignasi’s gasped to the rhythm of his thrusts, making Esteve hotter than he ever though possible. Could one die of too much pleasure? If so Ignasi was killing him bit by bit. No matter how good each thrust felt, Esteve wanted more. He wanted to hear his name over and over, he wanted Ignasi to never let up. He wanted to be all Ignasi thought about, all that mattered. He wanted to be Ignasi’s world, his universe, his heart, his soul.

He pushed against the next trust and tilted his hips, allowing Ignasi deeper. Esteve’s body was on fire; Ignasi’s should be, too. Ignasi let out a gasp and dug his fingers into Esteve’s hips for a second before renewing his thrusts. “Es tev, es tev, es tev. Es tev, Es Tev, ES TEV.”

And with that scream, Esteve’s world went white and his insides filled to bursting. Ignasi froze as Esteve’s muscles clinched around Ignasi’s shaft. Then Ignasi thrust again, more slowly this time, but deeper. Esteve was owned; he was bought and sold like some foreign slave. He was bound and branded, but he didn’t care because Ignasi was his entire world. Ignasi was all that mattered.

“I love you, my precious prince,” Ignasi said against the back of Esteve’s neck. He wrapped an arm around Esteve’s waist and twisted, so that they lay on their sides, Ignasi still deep within Esteve. “You are right to say you bound me. I could not leave you, even were I to want to. My shaft belongs in you and my heart beats in your chest.”

Whatever magic had kept Esteve steady while he lost himself in Ignasi’s pleasure was gone and his tongue was heavier than lead. He could do no more than sigh contentedly. He couldn’t even snuggle deeper into Ignasi’s arms, but then Ignasi held him close and it didn’t matter. His eyes closed of their own accord and his breath matched the slowing rhythm of Ignasi’s breath. Warm, safe, and happy, he lost consciousness to the steady beat of Ignasi’s heart.

Esteve woke as the bed shifted and he cracked an eye open against the dawn. Ignasi pressed a kiss over each eye. Once closed Esteve’s eyes refused to open. Ignasi’s kissed his lips and laid a hand over his heart. “Until tonight, my love.”

Esteve didn’t open his eyes again until the sun shone, warm and bright, against his face. Lluis stood by the side of the bed as Esteve rubbed his eyes. He knew that Llius had taken in his disheveled state as well as that of the bed. But he would never ask. He was that good of a valet. “I hate to wake you, your highness, but your royal father wishes to confer with you. The seers have looked again into their gazing balls, as is their want, and now the dark sorcerer holds no threat to you.”

Esteve stretched and yawned to cover his smile. Lluis looked away. Esteve was still nude. The door was thrust open over the protests of the guards. “Your highness, your highness, did it work?” Felui stopped short, staring at Esteve’s body. Esteve looked down. Ignasi left a mark over Esteve’s heart. Being a wizard and sorcerer, Ignasi hadn’t left a love bite. This mark was a picture bigger than his hand of iridescent blue and white flames springing from a golden crown.

The fire was Ignasi and Esteve was the crown.

Felui turned away, blushing. “I guess it worked.”

“Of course it did. You are the best wizard around, aren’t you? After Ignasi, of course. Tell my father I have it under control,” Esteve said, motioning for Lluis to hand him a mirror so he could get a better look at the mark. He traced the flames with a finger and smiled. Perhaps he should eat breakfast then go back to bed. He would need his sleep. He was unlikely to get much tonight. At least if he had his way, which Esteve always did.

Esteve hummed a ditty as the servants filled his bath. He was looking forward to tonight.