Fortitude - 35. Chapter 35

“All this activity can’t be good for your shoulder.” Teddy was hugging his arm to his chest since I’d removed the sling to undress him, and I could see he was sore. There were shadows under his eyes that hadn’t been there before, his weary expression aging him. “Let me give you a massage.”

I helped Teddy maneuver until he was flat on his stomach, his arm cushioned comfortably on a down pillow. I climbed onto the bed, straddling his thighs. The long, lean muscles of his back led to a generous posterior I’d be more than willing to massage. My face heated when Teddy opened his eyes, peeking at me.

Massage.

His back.

I cleared my throat, placing my hands on the small of his back and stroking lightly. “Do you want me to use some cream? I have a jar by the vanity.”

“Just your hands on me is good.” Teddy’s eyes were half-open as he stared at me. I dropped my gaze from his, focusing on my hands instead. I pressed my palms to either side of his spine and slowly pushed upward toward his shoulders, keeping the stroke light. Teddy groaned. “So good.”

After that, my focus remained on ensuring Teddy made as many of those sounds as possible. I rubbed circles on his shoulders and lightly caressed along his spine, soothing the tension away until he was ready for the heavy pressure to work the knots out. Teddy was totally satiated, a look of bliss on his face that I was very pleased to put there.

I had an erection—I was touching his bare skin after all—but neither of us had the energy to be intimate. I stripped to my small clothes, too, and slid into bed beside Teddy. “Goodnight.”

The morning brought another surprise, far more pleasant than our visit to the king for tea. Teddy had turned to face me, and I woke to his hand sliding inside my clothing to touch my rigid length. At first tentative, Teddy grew bold and sure, his hand gliding on the loose skin, each stroke an urgent tug.

“Touch me,” he begged.

How could I resist? I didn’t want to. The early morning light from the window couldn’t reach the bed, casting us in shadow but giving me the outline of his body. I leaned forward and pressed our lips together, caressing him with soft pecks, sucking on his bottom lip. Giving in to the desire to touch, I let my hands wander all over his chest, back, and side, tracing the muscles under the smooth skin.

“No, touch me here.” He thrust his hips forward, his rhythm stuttering.

I breathed in the warm musk of his skin and the rising scent of the arousal generated between us. It was so good. No longer in the mood to tease, I plunged my hand beneath his small clothes and wrapped my fingers around his slim length.

“Yes!”

Awkward at first, we fumbled together to find a rhythm that matched our thrusting hips and unsteady hands, but it was enough. Moments after our lips met again, teeth knocking together so that I tasted the iron tang of blood, I was writhing in Teddy’s hands, shooting my spend in my smalls. He followed suit, leaving warm, sticky trails of his seed in my hand. We stopped stroking, but he hadn’t let me go yet, and I did the same.

“Amazing.” Teddy’s voice was a harsh rasp as he panted. He cleared his throat. “Everything with you is just… good.”

I grunted and nodded, still trying to catch my breath.

Eventually the mess pushed us to get out of bed. Washing up with a cold ewer of water shocked us both the rest of the way awake since we could not ring for a servant with heated bathing water. Thankfully neither of us had much facial hair, so shaving was a quick process, though Teddy did nick the tip of his chin, the mark was small.

“We’re meeting that man at the theater today, right?” Teddy said.

“I assume so, though he did not remain to discuss a time.”

Breakfast was a repeated grilling by my mother that I barely tolerated for the length of time it took to eat our hard-boiled eggs and a few slices of toast with marmalade. She protested our leaving, but Michael had no events planned until another late dinner party, so we were able to make our escape.

It was not surprising that the man was lurking in the shadows of the theater after we finally arrived. Our late start, plus a circuitous route with a few decoy stops and doubling back, ensured it was mid-morning before we got there. If we were being groomed already to have our abilities sucked out of us, there could be anyone watching us.

“We saw the king!” Teddy blurted out.

“Did you?” He wasn’t surprised at all. “Why?”

I would bet a month’s income that this man and his so-called group of rebels were watching us, so I’d no intention of keeping the visit from him, but there was no way he could know what we spoke of while at tea. Good to know where his reach didn’t extend.

“Architecture and the properties of sound,” I said. “Boring stuff, really.”

Teddy raised his eyebrows, glancing at me. I nodded.

“We figured out the cell must be in the king’s palace. I mapped it in my head on the way back.”

No Name rubbed his chin. “Then the machine is definitely there. We knew that. Now we have—”

“A way out,” I said. “Without a key, we can’t get out of the cell. But we might find one to get into the cell. So what we need is a way in and a chance to find the machine.”

“Eventually they’ll bring you in.”

I narrowed my eyes. “No. Are you insane? I won’t wait for them to try and steal our abilities.”