Wanting to Impress Someone Is Motivation Enough for Certain Decisions
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Todd seemed to have a limitless supply of noise in him.
Sam didn’t understand how after all this time he could still whimper and cry every time Henry fucked him—not even that hard, from what Sam could hear—but he managed it. It was actually kind of impressive, the consistency with which he managed to be annoying.
Sam had almost figured out the last bits of the spell on the magic-blocking collar, but Todd was distracting him from figuring out how to get the Forces to close the circle for him.
Just as he was getting frustrated by the noise, Henry spoke up, a smack filling the air. “Shut up, God. I’m not even hurting you.”
Todd just whimpered. Henry let out a sigh and kept fucking him.
Sam got up, setting the collar down and heading over to the bed, where Henry had Todd bent over the side. He unlaced his pants. “You need to learn how to control him better,” he told Henry, pulling his hardening cock out.
“Be easier if you weren’t always helping,” Henry said, and Sam heard him shift, pushing Todd’s head towards Sam.
Sam grabbed Todd’s hair and muffled the whimpers by sticking his cock in Todd’s mouth, smiling as the warmth covered him. “Can’t help it,” he grunted.
“You gave him to me to deal with,” Henry reminded Sam, as they got a rhythm, fucking Todd between the two of them.
“What’s yours is mine, Henry,” Sam reminded him back. Hoping that he was still right about that. The possibility that it was suddenly the other way around had occurred to him more than once, but Henry hadn’t yet done anything that suggested he was planning to betray Sam.
Sam might have to kill him if he did, and he didn’t want to do that if it could be avoided. He wasn’t sure he was willing to do that.
Henry just grunted at him, made an indistinct noise, fucked Todd harder. He didn’t stop, but Sam knew that he was cumming inside Todd as he did, and not only because of the loud noise that Todd made around his cock. Sam fucked his face harder in response.
Letting out a loud sigh, Henry pulled back, leaving Todd to Sam. He went quiet, like he usually did after he was done with Todd. Sam knew he was still telling himself it was because this was what was best, and that it was the only thing keeping Todd from a much worse fate. But he still didn’t like it. Or at least he was pretending not to.
Funny how he could poison two innocent kids and let a man suffer for a week before being eaten alive, but this still got to him.
He’d get there, Sam wasn’t worried. Not about that, anyway. He was a little worried now about what would happen after Henry got there. After Henry’s little display the other day, Sam had realized very quickly that he didn’t know what Henry was capable of. But instead of attacking indiscriminately, Sam had elected to pay attention, to find out what he could about Henry.
A knock sounded at the door, and Sam didn’t slow down on Todd’s face as Henry got up. “Suck harder,” he said, smacking the side of Todd’s head.
Todd did, as Henry opened the door. “What?”
“A…” the servant at the door paused, probably noticing Sam, but picked up again. “A letter for his Majesty, sir.”
“When did it come in?”
“Just now, sir. You said that all letters should be brought right to you…”
“I know I said that, Wendel. Thank you. Go back to work.”
“Yes, sir.”
Henry shut the door, the sound of ruffling paper tracking him across the room as he came and sat on the bed beside Sam, who’d slowed down. “Who is it from?”
“Hold on,” Henry said. He must be reading through it. He reached down and gave Todd a push onto Sam, fingers brushing Sam’s. “You’re almost done with that collar, right?”
“Almost,” Sam confirmed, taking in a bracing breath as he felt himself get close. “The letter, Henry. Who’s it from?” He needed Henry to remember that Sam was still in charge here, that Henry only had what he had because Sam had given it to him. That he was still Sam’s servant.
Whether or not that was true.
“Your brother.”
Sam stopped moving, but Todd didn’t stop sucking, and he brought Sam over the edge, and Sam came into his mouth with a surprised yelp, holding Todd firmly in place as he did. Todd choked a little, but swallowed.
Panting, Sam pushed Todd off, and he fell to the floor as Sam sat down properly on the bed. “Saul.”
“Yeah. Get better at swallowing,” Henry said to Todd, moving closer to Sam. “You look like an idiot with cum running down your chin.”
“S-sorry…” Todd still managed to sound sullen, even through his pain.
“Get out,” Sam told him. “I’m sure Derek’s waiting for you to come take this out on him.”
“Yes, your Majesty,” Todd whimpered, voice wavering.
“Does it feel good?” Sam asked him, as Todd got up. “Hurting him? Making him cry?”
Todd was quiet for a second, until Henry smacked him. “He asked you a question.”
“Yes,” Todd said, voice a little stronger.
“Yeah.” Sam smiled. “Now you understand why I like doing it to you. Get out.”
“Yes, your Majesty.”
Todd lingered, fabric rustling as he started to pick up his clothes. Sam reached out and kicked him. “I said get out. I didn’t say get dressed.”
Todd let in a breath sharply, let it out in a whimper.
“Problem, Todd?” Sam asked sweetly.
“N-no, your Majesty…”
“Good. Get lost. Give Derek my regards.”
Todd fled, the door opening and closing behind him. Faintly, Sam heard a sob on the other side of the door.
Sam giggled. “Have you managed to keep everyone in the castle from using him? Or have others been acquainted with his hole yet?”
“A couple of the guards have raped him,” Henry said, voice dull. “I killed them.”
“How protective of you.”
“Do you want to hear the letter or not?”
“Of course.” Still giddy, Sam crossed his legs, turned to face Henry. “What did my dear brother say?”
This was going to be good. Sam could already hear Saul screaming in his dungeon. Maybe he and Henry could rape him together.
“Dear dad,” Henry read. “Sorry I haven’t written in so long. I’ve been really busy with classes. School’s going really well. It’s a bit wild because we’ve got these three classmates who all might be the chosen one. Nobody’s really sure which of the three of them it really is, but Nicholas, Isaac and Peter are all really good people either way, so I’m happy with any of them. Oh, that’s all kind of a secret, so don’t tell anyone I told you, okay? There was this crazy attack on the Vault a while back, and someone tried to steal some artefact from us. I can’t imagine why anyone would attack the Academy like that. It’s suicide. Anyway, we have final exams coming up soon, and I’m really nervous about our Practical Magecraft exam. I’m pretty okay at using the Pillars, but I’m worried everyone’s going to be able to tell I’m not as good as my classmates. How are you doing? I guess busy, since you never answered my last letter. Do you want me to get you any souvenirs or anything? I can get you stuff if you want. Or are you going to come and visit Three Hills like you said you might? I know it’s not easy and everything, so no worries if you can’t. Anyway, I’d like to hear from you just so I know you didn’t forget I exist now that I’m all the way out here. Hope you’re doing well.” Henry stopped. “It’s not signed. None of you people know how to sign letters.”
“It’s because he’s not using his real name,” Sam said, processing everything that Henry had said. He could hear it, hear Saul’s snotty voice behind the words. “He’s worried that someone might read the letter, that’s why it’s full of crap about his classes and his friends instead of just saying what he means. He’s a student, at the mage’s academy.”
“In the northern capital,” Henry agreed. “He doesn’t mention the other friend that you found.”
“No, and she never mentioned him either,” Sam mused, leaning back a little. “Which means that Solomon didn’t trust one of them. Maybe both.”
“Or they have different jobs,” Henry suggested. “He wants the stone, but he might have also wanted to keep an eye on this chosen one.”
“Yeah,” Sam agreed, breathing hard. His heart was beating hard. “Saul did make sure to mention that. The attack on the Vault, I ordered that. The spell that I cast to trigger the plan Solomon had in place. His friend knew about that, and she knew about the attempt to rob the academy. Saul didn’t.”
“He was calling it stupid,” Henry said. “When he said it was suicide. He thought Solomon made a mistake.”
“Well, it didn’t work, so I guess he was right, now wasn’t he?” Sam snorted. “He’s worried he’ll be detected. The comment about the exam. Sorcerers can pass as mages for a time. The power that they use is accessible to us because it branches off from the Forces. But he’d only be able to do it in a rudimentary way. Eventually someone will detect him.”
“Was that Solomon’s plan?” Henry asked. “Or did he intend for Saul to be out of there before it became a problem?”
“Probably the latter. He wouldn’t have thrown Saul away if he didn’t have to. He liked Saul.” Sam let out a breath, trying to think. “I should write back to him, pretend to be Solomon. Recall him. He won’t come back if I tell him to—he hates me.”
“Since you plan to torture him to death, do you blame him?”
“Fair enough.” Sam sighed. “I wouldn’t come for him either. What if we went there? Solomon must have said he might.” Given what had happened the last time Sam had left the castle to go meet someone, he didn’t like it. But it might also be his only shot at getting Saul.
“Saul obviously didn’t want him to. He won’t be expecting that,” Henry said. “We could teleport to the northern capital. Maybe even stay there for a day or two. We’d have to be careful, though. You can’t just walk into a school full of mages and start killing people. There are going to be a lot of them.”
“Agreed, and if Saul noticed me, he’d probably attack me.” Sam scowled. “Let’s…” He didn’t know what to suggest, but he wanted to suggest something before Henry did. “Let’s go there. Find out if we can learn a bit about what’s going on in the capital. The mages have one of the stones, and I’d be surprised if Solomon didn’t have other plans in the northern capital.”
“You want to write back to Saul?”
“No,” Sam said, biting his lip. “No. We’ll do that when we get back. I…you were right, before. I need to be a king who knows what he’s doing. And I need to think instead of just acting. I need…I need to know what’s happening there before I make a decision.”
The room was quiet for a second and Sam felt his heartbeat quicken. He wasn’t sure why. He felt worried…nervous. That’s what it was, he was nervous. He was…
He was nervous because he didn’t know how Henry would react to that. He wanted, he hoped that Henry agreed.
He wanted Henry to approve of him.
Sam clenched his hand into a fist, trying to suppress its shaking.
“That’s smart,” Henry finally said, and Sam felt his cold relief flood his chest. He was going to have to do something about this. When had he started to care about Henry’s opinion? “We’ll gather intelligence. You don’t have to go.”
“I will, though.” Sam didn’t want to have to rely on someone else’s perception, or on what someone else chose to tell him, any more than he had to. “You and I will go together. The servants will be thrilled.”
“Less fear of dismemberment in their daily lives,” Henry agreed. “All right. We’ll go. I’ll start making the preparations right away.”
“Okay.” Sam let out a breath, wishing that he wasn’t so…something. Happy? Excited, maybe. Not for the trip, or for finding Saul, but because he had Henry. Because he’d be somewhere alone with Henry, and he liked that idea a lot. “A few days, but we’re not moving there. I don’t want to be gone forever.”
“Yeah. Three, four days should be enough, I think.” Henry covered Sam’s hand in his. “I think this is one of the best decisions you’ve made so far.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
Sam couldn’t help but smile at that, but he suppressed it. “I don’t give a shit what you think. I’ll be paying close attention to you while we’re there. Don’t think I don’t realize you’re hoping to slip away from me in a crowded city.”
Henry snorted, and he leaned forward, kissed Sam on the forehead. “And leave you to slaughter hundreds of random townspeople? I don’t think so.”
Sam felt his stomach flip at that, and he got up, pulling his pants up. “I’m going to finish work on that collar. Go start the preparations.”
“Yes, your Majesty,” Henry said, and it sounded like mockery to Sam. But Sam didn’t mind it. Because it was Henry. And as much as he worried that Henry might try to kill him, he was also having a hard time making himself not enjoy the game Henry was playing to build up to it.
Excited for the trip for more reasons than he could completely quantify, Sam went back to work, smiling to himself.
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How Best to Use a Sword 