Oh, he was physically aroused. How could he not be with those two sensual, talented creatures doing their best to suck him dry? But the yearning in his eyes wasn’t for another emotionless orgasm given by fawning followers. What he needed, neither Lenard nor Fenna could truly give him. They were too in awe of him to take him the way he needed to be taken.
“The way he wants you to take him.”
Like a light going off, Kansas replayed and understood all of Z’s comments about the king. Every clan from Glider to Equus saw him as a leader who would guide them. A warrior who would protect them. But no one saw the man.
How could they? You’d have to live on another planet—or a storm ride and one dimension away—not to be in awe of him. Not to wish to obey him.
The king might demand it, but the man didn’t want to be obeyed. He wanted something entirely different. Something that was exactly what Kansas wanted to give him.
The smile snuck up on Kansas as everything fell into place. Like Lenard, the king was a bottom. Submissive. And if he was right, the man had never actually been topped before.
Kansas could be the first.
The only.
Now he understood the wizard’s motivations. In advising Kansas to deny him immediate gratification, he was giving his monarch exactly what he needed. He’d known either way the king wouldn’t send Kansas home.
“I’ll return you now, should you ask it. But can you leave before knowing the bliss the two of you could share?”
Get out of my head, Z.
The sorcerer knew exactly what to say. Kansas couldn’t leave. Not yet. Dream, delusion or destiny, his attraction was too powerful to deny.
He had to know him. More than that, he had to claim him.
Kansas pulled his shirt off over his head, tossing it aside carelessly before leaning back against the wizard to “enjoy the show.”
“That’s right.” Z brushed his lips against his ear and Kansas shivered.
The king scowled.
Kansas placed his hand on Z’s thigh, caressing him through his pants. He heard him gasp, felt his muscles tighten. The wizard’s mouth was pressed against his temple, his hips lifting in a subtle request for more.
“That’s enough, Z,” the king growled.
Kansas answered before Z could react. “Why should you have all the fun?”
The frustration filling those whiskey eyes spiked his adrenaline. “You enjoy defying me, don’t you?”
“How can I defy you? I’m not your subject.” Kansas slid his hand higher up Z’s thigh, never taking his eyes from the king. “Send them away.”
Fenna and Lenard stopped what they were doing, looking between Kansas and their ruler with wide, curious eyes. Even Z had pulled back, sitting so still Kansas wondered if he was breathing.
The crackling of the fire was the only sound as the two stared each other down for long, tension-filled moments. Finally, the king said, “Leave us.”
Kansas stood and stretched as his friends gathered their things and practically ran out the door. Through his lashes, he could see the king watching his bare torso with greedy eyes. “Like what you see, Your Majesty?”
His jaw tightened. “I’ve done what you asked. For that boon I’ll have one of my own. Get on your knees and finish what they started.”
“Oh, was that the deal?” Kansas tsked, trying to untie the lacing on his pants in what he hoped was a seductive manner. “That’s funny, because I know that’s not what you want.”
“You claim to know what I want? Please, enlighten me.”
Kansas shrugged. “Well, I was thinking that you’d want to go lie on that big, comfortable bed you made sure I had a view of all night and wait for me to come to you.”
The shudder that ran through the king’s large frame made him growl. He watched the pride and need warring on his noble face an instant before he turned and strode almost angrily toward the bed.
Hell yes.