Chapter 404: Invite Me
Steam curled upward in soft, ghostly ribbons, carrying the mineral scent of the water. The faint echo of droplets falling from the carved stone walls created a rhythm that was both quiet and endless.
"Xion," Darius called as he helped the healer remove the extra robe from his shoulders. "Are you in pain?"
The healer couldn’t help but sigh, but halfway through, it turned into a shudder when the air in the hot spring enveloped his bare torso.
"No, I’m not. I am perfectly fine now. As fine as I can be."
From their bedroom all the way to the springs, Darius had asked him that same question over and over, as if the answer might change if he caught Xion off guard.
His earlier breakdown had rattled the Archduke badly, and no reassurance seemed enough to loosen the man’s grip.
It wasn’t hard to understand the reason.
Though crying had managed to calm Xion’s violent emotions down, it would take some time for both of them to return to normal.
The future where Xion would have to do everything without any special support, and where Darius wouldn’t see him groaning in the middle of the night and spitting blood.
His musing stopped when a hand reached for his waistband.
"I can do it," he said, clutching onto his trousers.
Xion was suddenly conscious of how close they were, of how he might appear after being on the bed for so long.
His body reeked of gloominess, and the way his ribs were jutting out, it looked horrible even to him.
I look like a mushroom, he thought.
White from lack of sun, with edges that had curled in on themselves. And yet, Darius acted as if he were looking at something priceless.
It was then he realised with mirth that just a few months ago, the two of them had been here.
At that time, Darius had acted like a perfect gentleman, leaving him alone to soak in the hot spring.
Now that he was well aware of his husband’s less-than-innocent thoughts, he highly doubted Darius hadn’t been harboring some fanciful thoughts then.
Yeah, it was better not to risk it.
"Can you... maybe... turn around?"
"Sure."
With how easily Darius agreed, it stunned Xion until he heard the latter sentence.
"For the sake of my own sanity and self-control..."
Xion glanced at the broad, sculpted back before him, then down at himself, and almost laughed. What could Darius possibly see to tempt him?
Shaking his head, he turned around as well, removing his shoes and socks.
He had barely touched the drawstring before his hands stilled. Long fingers were already there, brushing over his knuckles.
In the next breath, heat bloomed as Darius pulled him flush against his chest.
At some point, the great northern lord had rid himself of his own clothes at the fastest speed.
Xion could feel the contour of those muscles he hadn’t seen for a long time.
"You said ’sure’ a moment ago." He shook his head, smiling all the same.
"I also said ’for my own sanity and self-control,’" Darius murmured against his ear, "and you know I have none when it comes to you."
Xion couldn’t help but laugh.
"You are so silly, you know," he leaned back, letting those long fingers fiddle with the cords. "Sometimes, I wonder what you would be like if you were not from this world."
Lips were onto his neck, gently sliding over to his shoulders.
"That’s simple," Darius said, pausing to kiss the curve of his shoulder. "I’d still be your lover. Or chasing you. Or already married."
It was said with the same certainty he gave his soldiers when ordering them into battle.
For a man called the devil, for the cold-blooded warlord, love was really that simple to him.
Something to protect at any cost. Something he could kill and even die for.
Perhaps it was that relentless devotion that had dragged Xion back to him.
And perhaps it was what made the sudden bite to his shoulder send a startled sound tumbling from his throat.
"Ah! Hey—don’t bite—mnnh!"
The hand that had hovered innocently over his trousers slipped inside, and now it was shamelessly roaming over his thigh.
Xion instinctively held Darius’ wrist, trying to stop him from causing trouble.
But when had the Archduke been so easy to stop in this kind of situation?
"Bath, I-I want to take a bath."
"Ask me, baby." One of Darius’ arms circled his waist, tracing a slow, maddening path around his navel. "Ask me to join you. Invite me."
His fingers measured a line from his navel down, as if calculating something. The depth where he could possibly reach with his cock without hurting Xion.
Xion had to clamp his teeth on the moan building in his chest.
It had been far too long since they’d been this close, and already the heat, the proximity, and those hands were unraveling him.
The pent-up rage, grief, frustration — everything had started to coil tight in his gut.
"T-take a bath with me," he breathed, shuddering when Darius nipped at his ear.
"With pleasure, my darling. And I’ll make sure you’re clean from head to toe."
The drawstrings loosened, and the trousers fell onto the ground.
Darius had removed everything, leaving only a tiny golden chain decorating the delicate white ankle.
Xion allowed himself to be carried and to be placed in the water while Archduke easily pulled him onto his lap.
It was far too easy, Xion thought, to lose myself when I am with you.
His dear husband was hard. He could feel it touching his spine all too well.
And yet, Darius didn’t pounce on him immediately.
Rather than that, with those sloppy kisses littering his back and neck, he was taking his time.
Warm water sloshed around them, gently lapping at their bodies, relaxing the taut muscles.
However, the teasing touch didn’t allow Xion to float into relaxation.
Darius had poured some oil on his palm before pressing his hand over his chest.
"They say it helps with soothing," the Archduke said.
Though with how he was only focusing on rubbing it over those cherry nipples, making them look extra shiny and perked up, Xion highly doubted it.
It even had a faint grape scent to it, something very similar to that lip balm.
Come to think of it, Darius had even kept these oils and balms in that house in the middle of the Rusa mountains.
Was he anticipating that Xion would be willing to have sex back then? How... sneaky.
His attention was pulled back with a sensual tug at his chest.
His lips parted, and a strangled groan escaped.
Pleased, Darius pinched and rolled the sensitive flesh until Xion arched, baring his throat.
That only made it convenient for him to steal kisses.
Blushing, with water droplets clinging to his skin... Ah, his baby looked like a fresh apple. So supple, enticing him to take a few more bites.
That was exactly what he did.
"I have missed you touching like this."
Xion did too. Tremendously so.
That was why when the sneaky hand was back between his legs, he didn’t reject it. He simply couldn’t.
With no fabric to cover his shame and arousal, he could only shut his eyes tight.
Wetness clung to his lashes, a whine rumbling in his throat.
"Oh, Xion, you look so pretty on my lap," Archduke’s alluring, low voice dripped with naked adoration as he wrapped his hand around Xion’s cock. "Look at you, trying to fuck my hand."
The words sobered Xion enough to realise that he had at some point started to grind over Darius’ lap.
His face burned, his eyes swirled with hazy lust.
"Does my touch feel good, darling?"
Xion bit his lips, silently refusing to admit.
Not to give him any chance, the Archduke bit onto the red earlobe before sucking on the slender neck.
He could feel the pulse thrumming against his mouth.
Wild, erratic, and so very alive.
When Xion failed to stop the moan spilling from his lips, Darius pushed his fingers inside his mouth.
With grape-scented oil coating his fingers, he stirred the pink tongue as if it were a fine wine, coaxing it to bloom to perfection before devouring.
Feast. Yes, Darius wanted to feast on Xion.
When that soft slippery thing tried to push at his fingers, he merely held it, toying with it with the same rhythm as he rolled his thumb over Xion’s leaking cock’s head.
"No, sweetheart. You can’t take it back now," he murmured, licking the thin thread of saliva trailing from the corner of Xion’s mouth.
"You invited me yourself, knowing what I was asking."
The speed of his hand increased, and so did the fingers in his groaning mouth.
The grasp at his arm only seemed to entice Darius more. Because his baby wasn’t even trying to push him away now.
Xion was merely holding onto him, offering himself like a reward.