Earthly Desires Read online

  Breaking off the kiss just as Dmitri moaned and leaned into it, Efrosin looked up from under his lashes and pressed his upper teeth into his lower lip. “I have heard that I am unbearably beautiful when wet. Not to mention I have it on the highest authority that I’m much easier to converse with when submerged; I have a bit of weight then. It is when I am most truly happy.”

  Dmitri softened. “I only want to keep you safe. But if you feel you must…”

  “Yes, you must take me to the lake, or I will die of unhappiness.” He unknotted the rope binding him to the table with a dramatic flourish and snatched up his white silk top before floating to the ceiling.

  Efrosin knew that was an exaggeration while simultaneously feeling quite sure that it was absolutely true—should Dmitri fail to take him to the water, he would somehow dry up instantly and turn into dust. He’d been so happy only moments before, full of a physical, humming satisfaction, but now he felt a high-flying anxiety that would only dissipate once his body was enveloped in a watery embrace.

  “But getting you there.” Dmitri pulled on his shirt, regarding Efrosin with wide-eyed worry.

  Efrosin flapped his hand to dismiss those charmingly realistic concerns as he slipped his arms into the silk. “You can strap me to your chest and carry me to the lake. You have rope and lengths of fabric. The knights do it all the time—especially Sir Carlisle. You are as strong and brave as a knight, are you not?”

  He kicked off the ceiling and somersaulted through the air before noticing Dmitri’s dark expression at the mention of Sir Carlisle. He wondered at the wild joy that stirred in him as he fanned the sparks of Dmitri’s jealousy. “Though you don’t have a beard like Sir Carlisle, so perhaps that makes all the difference.”

  Dmitri growled, snatched Efrosin by the ankle and dragged him down. He bound Efrosin to his chest with several long, rough ropes, and carried him out into the forest. The sun still shone beyond the canopy of the trees, and Efrosin gazed up happily as Dmitri bore him away, arms tight around him.

  The trees were so thick and grew so close to the water’s edge that Efrosin barely had time to gasp before they were there. Ringed by trees, the lake sparkled in the late-day sun, a crystal blue that Efrosin thought he could get lost in forever. It was so much bigger than the river he was used to—he could barely make out the other side.

  “Quick. Untie me.” His palms itched, body twitching with the need to dive into the cool depths.

  Dmitri obliged immediately, releasing the bonds and pushing Efrosin down gently to the water. Efrosin dove under and pulled off his silky clothing. He blew out, chuckling in his throat as bubbles gently tickled his face on their effervescent journey up. Following them, he broke through the shimmering surface, gasping for air, and shook the water from his eyes. He tossed his sodden garments to shore and grinned at Dmitri, who watched from the bank, a small smile playing at his lips.

  After diving up, down and all around, exploring the depths of the lake, the water soothing on his naked skin, Efrosin flipped onto his back. He gazed up at the lovely sky —the very one that had almost swallowed him forever mere hours ago. How things had changed since then. How wondrous and strange.

  Now the light faded around them, a rosy glow in the west indicating that the sun was on its way to bed. Efrosin twisted in the water, facing Dmitri again, admiring him where he sat amidst the new green grass shooting up all over the muddy bank. With his shirt tossed aside, exposing his hard stomach and handsome chest, and with his brown, steady eyes never leaving Efrosin for even a moment, Dmitri began to talk. “You know my story, so now I’ll ask you. Why are you cursed? Let me guess—your father forgot to invite a powerful witch to your christening?”

  Efrosin lifted an eyebrow and clucked his tongue. “Not every curse begins with a christening, my dear Dmitri.” He pushed a bit harder with his legs to stay afloat.

  “Of course not. Mine didn’t. But yours did.”

  “Why, then you know the story already.”

  “Perhaps. There is much lacking in the gossip of old women trading their wares. So did a missed invitation cause the trouble?”

  “Oh rather the contrary,” Efrosin said, splashing lightly. “It could be argued that I’m cursed because Papa invited a powerful witch to my christening. Perhaps if she hadn’t been invited, then she’d have just stayed away and minded her own affairs.”

  “Doubtful,” Dmitri said, shrugging and leaning back against the embankment, his eyes straying up to the sky, clearly taking measure of the light. “Cursing is what witches like best. So…your father invited a powerful witch to your christening and then what?”

  “Well, he invited two powerful witches, which is why I’m still here at all. Oh bother. Where to begin?” Efrosin chewed on his lower lip as he paddled languidly. “There is much to tell, but night is falling and I would dearly love it if you’d bugger me again before bedtime. Let me make small bones of this giant beast.”

  “As you wish,” Dmitri chuckled.

  “My mother, Queen Inna, died giving birth to me. After a suitable amount of time —one year to be precise—my father invited everyone of any importance to my combined birthday party and christening.”

  “Always ominous,” Dmitri said.

  “Indeed. My father invited Mother’s eldest sister, Ereshkigal, the witch of the earth. She arrived and offered herself to my father as his new wife. She had loved him madly for years, you see, and never forgiven my mother for marrying him. My father laughed at her. As did I, though I was just a baby, and let’s face it, I laugh at everything. She was insulted, of course, and gave me the delightful christening gift of this lovely curse in order to punish my father and to spite me for simply existing.”

  “But there was another powerful witch there?”

  “Yes, my mother’s younger sister, Uriti, the witch of fire. She wove a spell that tempered my curse with my mother’s gift.”

  “Your mother’s gift? I don’t understand.”

  “My mother was the witch of strong waters. The only place I have any weight is in water from the river bearing her name.” Efrosin indicated the lake of fresh, clear water he was swimming in. “The Inna River —and all of its lakes, streams, pools and ponds—is my favorite place to be. I would live in these waters if I could. All in all, it’s not so bad of a curse. It could be much worse.”

  “Not so bad? If you say so.”

  “I met you because of the curse, didn’t I? Admit it, there is something delightful in that.” Efrosin reached toward him and waggled his fingers, calling, “Come. Come in with me.”

  Dmitri shifted. “It is too early in the season to swim. Perhaps you’re unaffected thanks to your affliction.”

  “Don’t tell me you’re truly afraid to swim before the Springsimmon blossoms fall. Do you always follow the rules?” Efrosin asked, sighing. “They make life so boring.”

  “Always follow the rules? I should say not. I took you home, didn’t I? I kissed you and touched you, I bit your neck and pushed my prick into you, when any sensible person would have refused and found a way to summon the search parties instead. So no, clearly it is not required that I follow the rules. I have catered to your every need.”

  Efrosin chuckled. Rather than looking pleased or proud, Dmitri appeared a bit uncomfortable and puzzled over his choice to lie with Efrosin instead of follow his common sense. “Damn the Springsimmon then,” Efrosin said, and splashed the water in a large arc that missed Dmitri only because he managed to roll quickly away. “Get in the water.”

  “No,” Dmitri said, laughing. He dug in the sack he’d taken with them and tossed a bar of brown soap at Efrosin. It plopped into the water and popped up to the surface again. “Wash yourself. I want to get you back inside where you’re safe.” Dmitri’s eyes glowed more brightly than the sun sinking closer to the trees. “And I want to lick and kiss your hole before I hold you down to fuck you again.”

  Efrosin licked his lips, remembering Dmitri’s thick prick ramming into his ass, and
the sudden descent of an ecstasy so arresting that he’d bitten down hard on the curve of Dmitri’s shoulder. He now felt a sharp jolt in his gut at the sight of the reddish bruise left by his teeth and the purple blooms of love bites he’d sucked into Dmitri’s chest and neck. He shivered.

  “Tell me you don’t want that too,” Dmitri said, voice low. “You need it. We both do.”

  By all rights, Efrosin should be sated—his body still hummed pleasantly from their exertions, and his hole felt a bit sore and abused. Yet he already wanted it again. But he wanted it his way.

  “It’s true,” Efrosin agreed, and smiled at Dmitri’s triumphant expression. “But we have time. The night is almost upon us and they won’t search for me in the dark. We’ll have hours in your bed.”

  Dmitri cocked his head. “You sound almost…reasonable. It’s odd. Nor are you laughing yourself sick at every moment.”

  “It’s the water. It changes me.” He lifted his hands in the air, presenting himself for a moment, before ducking beneath the surface again, coming up grinning. “Do you like it?”

  Dmitri seemed to consider the question seriously. “I do. But I liked you before too.” His brow furrowed. “It’s the water?”

  “It must be.” Efrosin stretched out his hand. “Come on.”

  “But it’s freezing.”

  “It’s not so cold.” Efrosin turned on his brightest smile, summoning his more common enthusiasm from where he could feel it waiting in his lungs, like a balloon ready to rise. “Do dive in. It’s thrilling!”

  “I’ve no doubt. I’m sure it will thrill me until my skin is quite blue.”

  “Charming! Then you’ll look like a water pixie.” Efrosin tipped his head back, observing the sky turning the color of the knight’s bruises after a tournament. It was dusk and anything was possible. “I have always wondered what it must be like to cavort with pixies. To be whisked away to their parties, dancing and twirling the night away, while godly men and women sleep unknowingly in their beds.”

  “Shh.” Dmitri glanced around. “Don’t speak of the blue folk. They’re dangerous and should be respected.”

  Efrosin smiled, swallowed back a laugh— so much easier to do in the water—and took the advantage Dmitri had unwittingly offered. “If you get in, I won’t mention the pixies again.”

  “And if I don’t?”

  Efrosin felt a surge of wicked delight. “Then I shall summon them.”

  As he opened his mouth to do just that, Dmitri put out his hand to stop him. “Please, Efrosin. Don’t. My mother always warned me to stay far away from the earth fairies and water pixies. They are a menace.”

  Efrosin cleared his throat and projected his voice. “Blue pixies of—” He got nothing more out before he was swamped by a huge wave of water. Sputtering and wiping the excess from his face, he laughed and splashed back, amazed. Dmitri had leapt into the lake, breeches and all.

  Together they were gleeful and happy, as the light faded around them and a rousing swirl of belching frogs lifted up their nightly song. The world was nothing but laughter and water, and slick skin against skin. Not to mention wet cloth that rubbed roughly against Efrosin’s cock as he and Dmitri wrestled in the lake. They shoved and dunked each other, and Efrosin shocked Dmitri at one point by getting his footing in a shallow area, lifting Dmitri up out of the water and tossing him several feet despite the difference in their size.

  “The water gifts you with inhuman strength too?” Dmitri chortled, splashing Efrosin’s face and laughing when Efrosin choked, diving toward Dmitri and dunking him under.

  “No,” Efrosin said. “I’m simply much more than you think.”

  “I think you’re everything,” Dmitri exclaimed, which earned him a kiss, and then a push back into the water.

  As the night closed around them, they tussled and raced, until finally Efrosin held Dmitri’s slick shoulder with one arm, chest to chest, his other hand twined with one of Dmitri’s. His feet pressed into Dmitri’s solid form, kicking at him playfully until suddenly Dmitri pulled his hand free from their clutch, reached between Efrosin’s kicking legs and took hold of Efrosin’s bollocks.

  Efrosin went completely still, a sweet wonder engulfing him as Dmitri squeezed gently. Dmitri rolled them in his hand before gripping them a bit harder and Efrosin gasped. The water lapped at their skin, and the song of nightingales broke the quiet descending darkness as Efrosin let his legs relax in the water. Holding onto Dmitri’s neck and breathing his breath, he

  stared into Dmitri’s dark, warm eyes.This isintimacy. This is trust. This is real.

  Efrosin had learned the rules of these games from the best tutors his father could buy, but it was only now, his most sensitive part held firmly in Dmitri’s grasp, that he understood the reason for them. And with a moan he realized that the deep place inside him, the one he’d only just unearthed in Dmitri’s bed, was ever so much darker, deeper and full of secrets than he’d ever been able to imagine before.

  “I don’t want you to leave,” Dmitri said, his voice rough. Efrosin understood. Should the search parties find him, he would go. As wonderful as it was to dream of staying, he was a prince, and Dmitri was a woodsman cursed to remain on his land. They were not two of a kind, no matter how their bodies sang for each other now. The day would come— likely tomorrow—when Efrosin would be discovered, and he’d be carried away on horseback, strapped helplessly to Sir Carlisle’s chest. Efrosin felt as though he’d swallowed a rock.

  Dmitri massaged Efrosin’s bollocks enough to knock them together inside the sac. Efrosin groaned as violent jolts of sensation shot through him, tightening his nipples and making his asshole clench desperately. Dmitri didn’t seem to expect Efrosin to say anything, which was good, because all that Efrosin could do was feel— the vulnerability of his tender sac in Dmitri’s calloused palm, the sweet pulse of his cock as the water swirled around it, and the pounding of his heart in his chest.

  And just like that the newly found, heavy place inside him broke open and spilled out until he wasn’t light like air and he wasn’t wet like water. Instead he was dense like sun-warmed earth mixed into mud. He had never felt so thick, waiting with his lips resting against the stubble on Dmitri’s chin, aching to be molded into shape.

  Dmitri released Efrosin’s sac and grabbed his cock instead, pulling it in a fast, eager rhythm. Efrosin moved, grabbing handfuls of Dmitri’s dark hair, finally kissing his lips. He licked into his open mouth, tasting water and spit, seeking the traces of his own seed that he’d shot so eagerly onto Dmitri’s tongue in the cabin. And when he found it, he moaned, sang out in happiness and began to beg—for what he didn’t know, just something more and something now.

  Dmitri shook in Efrosin’s arms and seemed to read his mind. “Yes, yes. I’ll give it to you.” They thrust against each other, legs tangling, until they slipped beneath the water, still kissing, and then pushed up and out again, coughing, gasping for breath and still unwilling to release the other’s mouth.

  The water and Dmitri’s saliva mixed on Efrosin’s tongue, a sweet elixir that he swallowed greedily as he struggled to keep afloat, until finally he pulled Dmitri by the hand toward the shallows by the bank. As they got close, he let go and flung himself onto all fours. Efrosin crawled forward as far as he dared, his hands and knees sinking into the mossy, murky bottom of the lake.

  The water was up to his elbows and thighs, rooting him in wetness like a flower in the ground. Efrosin lifted his bare ass up in the air, arching like a dog in heat, begging to be mounted. The head of his hard cock breached the water, and he felt the constant soft movement around it, and the occasional brush of a fish. He dug his fingers farther into the sediment. His hole felt bruised and tender from their earlier endeavors, but he didn’t care. Dmitri had unearthed the hot, desperate depths of him, and Efrosin couldn’t get enough.

  He panted, looking over his shoulder as Dmitri swam the short distance to him before shakily kneeling behind him in the shallow water. The very last
of the sunlight illuminated him from behind, water dripping from his hair, nose and chin, his breeches plastered to him and streaked dark where Efrosin’s feet had rubbed lake-bottom mud onto them in their tussle.

  Dmitri’s voice was rough. “Yes. God yes. You’re so very beautiful, Efrosin. I will taste you and give you what you need.” He didn’t hesitate, grabbing Efrosin’s buttocks and squeezing before spreading him apart. “It seems to wink at me,” Dmitri marveled. “Let me kiss it, lick it.”

  “Please,” Efrosin whimpered. Efrosin shuddered and moaned, arching his ass toward Dmitri’s mouth. He could feel the heat of Dmitri’s breath on his hole, and his throat went dry. He bent his head to let his forehead drop into water. The wet, slopping sounds of the waves lapping at the shore came to his ears as he waited, pulse pounding for whatever was about to come.

  He never had much patience out of the water, but now, fingers digging into soft, wet earth and Dmitri’s taste on his tongue, he felt that every moment was worth waiting for, though he quaked with desire and shivered eagerly.

  The first touch of Dmitri’s mouth on Efrosin’s hole sent him scrambling and splashing in ecstatic shock, and Dmitri grabbed hold of his hips to haul him close. “It tickles!” Efrosin gasped, shoving his ass back for more. He squirmed, laughing deep in his belly as Dmitri swirled his tongue all around Efrosin’s asshole.

  “It tickles, Dmitri.” As soon as he said the name, he felt a sensation almost like a blanket covering him. Then the tickle was no longer funny at all, but so deliriously good that Efrosin forgot he was in the water, collapsing down farther and farther, shoving his ass higher up, grinding it against Dmitri’s mouth, teeth and chin. He suddenly found himself coughing and choking, having dropped his face into the lake in his ecstasy.