Page 117 of Silver & Gold

“I love you, baby,” Seth breathed as his cock tunneled into Raider. “Gods, I love you.”

Raider tried to reply, but he couldn’t. He was gasping, straining, his body tight. He was trying not to come.

“Oh, baby, don’t fight it. Come for me.”

Crying out, Raider curled up into Seth, clutching at him as his cock spurted between their bellies. Seth cursed, hips snapping forward as he strained through his own orgasm. His cock kicking against Raider’s prostate made Raider cry out at another wave of his release.

As they came down from it, Raider stroked his hands over Seth’s head, which was resting against him. “I love you, too, Seth. So much.”

After Seth had cleaned them up and they lay together in the night air, Raider traced his fingers up and down Seth’s abdomen.

Raider said, “You’re worrying about something.”

“It’s just something Tarjan said to me.”

“He whispered something to you before we left Jannat. I had forgotten.”

“He said that he could tell how much I loved you and how much you loved me, but he said I had to be careful not to trap you. I would never want you to feel trapped. I would never want to take your freedom from you. But I do want you with me.”

Raider propped himself up on one elbow so he could see Seth better.

“Seth, you are my partner. You are the one who knows me. Do I seem trapped to you?”

“No, but you could’ve stayed in Jannat, maybe could even go back there—”

“Seth. Do you really think I wouldn’t have felt trapped there? It was gorgeous. I loved being there—with you. I loved having you fuck me in a beautiful garden and beside an incredible waterfall. I loved eating good food and resting—with you. With you, Seth, I’m the freest I’ve ever been. I wasn’t free before, not when you met me. I was trying to be, pretending to be. But I wasn’t really.”

Seth seemed to think about that. “Because you couldn’t escape the past?”

“Yes. And every time it caught up with me in any way, I just hurried on. I understand now that I have to carry it with me, all the things that have happened. But with you, the burden is lighter. With you, I can handle it. Seth, don’t you understand? You are my freedom.”

“Oh, baby, come here.”

Seth’s arms wrapped around Raider and pulled him down into a kiss.

CHAPTER 39

SETH GRABBED the heavy trunk from Julian as the young arcanist staggered under the weight of it.

“Fuck,” Seth grunted, hauling the trunk across the deck of the ship. “What the hell is in this? You didn’t have this much shit when I met you.”

“Books and some wonderful pieces of artifice. The empress was very generous.”

“You were supposed to be packed yesterday. There’s already a trunk of books in the cargo hold.”

One of those books was Kahzir’s. Zarina had allowed Raider to decide what to do with it, whether to destroy it or keep it. Raider had said it was best in Julian’s hands. After all, his neutralizing drug had worked at least a little. If anyone could make something good from all that bad, Raider had said, it was Julian. (Which, yeah, had had the young arcanist’s cheeks positively flaming.)

“I know!” Julian replied to Seth’s grumbling. “That’s what the captain said, and that’s why he made me carry it myself. These were last-minute additions.”

With a sigh, Seth hauled the trunk down into the cargo hold, stowed it, and returned to the deck. He found Julian talking with Raider, who was leaning against the rail. Raider, bare chested, was wearing dark blue shalvar pants and a new violet sash. Adavasti, in cat form, was sitting at Julian’s feet, his tail curled around Julian’s ankle. He was still glowing faintly from the infusion of power from the Alchemist’s Stone.

Though the draining of the Stone had freed the essences of the djinn—something that, apparently, Julian and Adavasti had theorized while everyone else had been focused on Kahzir—clearly some degree of power lingered in the ifrit. (Seth found that very concerning and couldn’t believe that no one else seemed worried about it.)

Seth said, “I’m not sure how the University is going to react to an ifrit taking up residence.”

Julian gave him a pleading look. “They don’t need to know he’s an ifrit, do they?”

“Well, I won’t report it, but if you think he’s going to be able to control himself and remain in cat form, you’d better think again. Besides, he’s still glowing.”