Clan and Crown (53 page)

Somewhere in its deepest reaches, his
body found more cum. It spilled an offering to make the rising
hellish excitement ebb. Somehow it made Bevau more sensitive than
before. He twisted and fought his binds, trying to escape the
brutal ecstasy, knowing all the while he could not. He had no
choice but to endure the vicious bliss that curled his toes and
fingers, that made his shaft pound with desire.

He found new depths of dread when
Egilka crawled across the sleeping mat towards him, the Imdiko
licking his lips in anticipation. He too went on his knees before
Bevau, pushing against Clajak to make room. The Dramok did, and
then there were two of them mouthing and playing with
Bevau.

Bevau shrieked as his cock spit cum
that felt like searing lava. How could there be anything left? He’d
never been so drained in his life, and yet they somehow enticed
more from his straining body.

He didn’t want to come anymore. Clajak
and Egilka wouldn’t let up, forcing him to.

“Why?” he pleaded. “Why can’t you just
accept I won’t clan with you?”

Blessed ancestors, his question made
them quit, at least for the moment. Two pairs of purple eyes lifted
to regard him.

Clajak answered with a question of his
own. “Why won’t you give in?”

Bevau heaved for breath. He wondered if
he could delay them long enough for his overwrought cocks to
de-sensitized a little bit. “You know why. I’ve told you over and
over. The Empire will never consent to a half-Imdiko as their Nobek
Emperor.”

Egilka’s voice sounded as reasonable as
ever. “They will if you’re already clanned to us.”

Clajak added, “We know you’ll do a good
job. You can’t tell us you won’t. The people of the Empire will see
soon enough for themselves how right you are for their
leader.”

The pair refused to see sense. That
they wanted him so much, perhaps as much as he wanted them, warmed
Bevau’s warrior heart. It made it easier to do what was best for
them. “There is still the Royal Council.”

Egilka gave him a maddening shrug.
“What about them?”

“You know they’ll give you hell about
clanning me. They may even vote for you to de-clan me. You can’t
ask your fathers to issue an Imperial Decree blocking that, not if
the citizenry sides with the council.”

“You’re seeing a future that may not
come to pass,” Clajak said. “As for the Royal Council, they give us
hell about everything. They’ll give us hell no matter who we choose
for ourselves. You aren’t so special where that is
concerned.”

“I won’t be the reason for it. I won’t
do that to you.”

Egilka’s face softened. “Do you care
that much about us? I know as a Nobek you can’t speak outright of
such things, but all your protests point to it.”

Bevau stared into the Imdiko’s eyes.
For once he wished it was not so much of the Nobek code to show
regard to other men through actions only. In that moment, he’d have
given anything to speak words of love to these two who had taken
his heart and soul away from him ... or had they enticed him to
give those parts away?

There was no doubt that he adored these
two, even though they tortured him more than any enemy
had.

“Listen to me,” he pleaded. “I’m not
good enough for you, for the Empire. Not because I don’t believe I
could do the job. I could. But I’m not Nobek enough for others to
accept me. It will do you harm.”

“You listen,” Clajak said, his tone
heating. He stood and grabbed Bevau’s face between his hands. “No
one else has any bearing on what Nobek I choose for my clan. Only
Egilka and I have say, with my fathers’ blessing.”

“You’re ignoring what’s important
here,” Bevau insisted.

“The fuck I am. Do you care enough for
my Imdiko to protect him from all harm?”

“Always.” The affirmation flew without
thought from the Nobek’s lips.

Egilka also rose to his feet. He stared
into Bevau’s eyes. “And would you lay down your life for my Dramok?
Would you kill for him if his life and well-being rested on
it?”

Again, the answer came instantly.
“Without a second thought.”

Clajak said in dead earnest, “Then you
are the only Nobek we will consider. With love and respect and
need, I claim you for us.”

Bevau shook his head, saddened to have
for the taking the men he wanted above all others ... no, not above
all others, but the only men he wanted. The men he must not give
himself to.

His tone held sad determination. “I
will hang here an eternity to protect you from
yourselves.”

Clajak scowled, his frustration clear.
“Then you will hang here for an eternity.” His charm reasserted
itself as a new thought occurred to him. “In that case, you may as
well be our clanmate since you’re not going anywhere.”

Bevau growled, his patience worn out.
The battle of wills would continue. It was the most important fight
of the Nobek’s life. He could not be the reason for the princes to
suffer any further pain.

* * * *

Day three of Bevau’s imprisonment
dawned. He hung from the hovercuffs, feeling the pull of his weight
on his muscles. He was exhausted ... from lack of sleep, from the
nonstop sexual play and fucking, from the arguments he waged in
futile attempt to make Clajak and Egilka see sense. He’d never been
more tired in body and soul. That it showed no sign of ending drove
the exhaustion deeper.

He admired his captors’ stubbornness,
along with their conviction that they were right in their choice of
him for a clanmate. When the two princes got an idea in their
handsome heads, they didn’t let it go. Bevau was beginning to think
they really would keep him prisoner for the rest of his
life.

His head hung heavily, his chin resting
on his chest as sleep tried to pull him under. He knew at any
moment he’d be injected with stimulant to keep him awake. Awake for
more sensual torment. Awake for more cajoling, pleading, and
fighting. Awake for more of the agonizing awareness that he must
insist on them finding another Nobek, though part of Bevau swore
he’d tear apart any man who dared to take his place...

Instead of a stim injection, Bevau felt
Clajak’s hands on him, curling around his cocks from behind. The
Dramok’s shafts were hard and insistent as he rubbed them in the
cleft of Bevau’s buttocks. With weary frustration, the Nobek felt
his body respond. Even when it tormented, Clajak’s touch was a drug
that Bevau couldn’t resist. Too-familiar heat filled his pricks,
swelling them in the prince’s grasp.

Disgusted with himself for giving
Clajak the idea that he might be yet swayed, Bevau muttered, “Do
the moments that I hate you have any bearing on your feelings for
me?”

Clajak froze. Across the room, Egilka
paused in rummaging through the toy drawer. He turned to stare at
the two men, his eyes wide.

Clajak’s voice was halfway between a
whisper and a moan. “It changes nothing of how I care for you. I
don’t want you to hate me though. Not even for one
second.”

The Dramok’s face buried in Bevau’s
shoulder. For a few seconds, nothing else happened. Then the Nobek
felt wet warmth against his skin.

Clajak was crying.

The silent expression of hurt pulled at
the Imdiko part of Bevau. He wanted to take the words back, wanted
to beg forgiveness for ever having said them. He didn’t mean them,
not really. It was only that he was so tired and needed Clajak to
give up this nonsense of making Bevau his clanmate.

His voice was rough as he tried to make
the prince understand. “You see how ill-suited I am for you? There
are other Nobeks out there who will make you a much better
clanmate.”

“Not like you. They won’t care about me
and Egilka like I know you do.”

Bevau sighed, hearing the pain in
Clajak’s voice and hating being the cause of it. “Love is not a
requirement to be a good clanmate. Adherence to duty is all a Nobek
needs.”

“I’ve already lost someone I love. I
lost the first person I ever loved, the one who I loved before I
even knew what love was. Why won’t you give me back a little of
what I’ve lost?”

Bevau wanted to. He wanted to give to
the two men every day for the rest of his life. But the best way to
give to them was to let them go.

He tried another tack. “Egilka loves
you.”

“Am I greedy to want more? To need
more? Is that awful of me? I love you. In time, you might love me
too.”

“Clajak, I already—” He stopped, a bare
word from insulting Clajak by proclaiming what he was doing his
best to prove. Bevau swallowed and started over. “You need one of
the candidates you already have, one who knows what it takes to run
an Empire. You have potential clanmates who are trained in
politics.”

He could tell that Clajak spoke through
gritted teeth. “I don’t want any of them. And I don’t want the
damned throne.”

Clajak abruptly let go of Bevau. He
walked around the suspended Nobek to face him with red-rimmed
eyes.

In a flat determined voice that told
Bevau he did not make an empty threat, the Dramok said, “When the
time comes for Clan Zarl to step down, I will abdicate. I will not
rule Kalquor in any capacity.”

Egilka gasped. He stared at Clajak in
shock. Meanwhile, the hairs on the back of Bevau’s neck stood up.
Clajak kept his steady stare on the Nobek’s face.

It was no bluff.

The prince kept talking. “If I can’t
have the Nobek who I know will place as much importance on
protecting the Empire as he will me and my Imdiko, I will not clan
another. Without a Nobek, I cannot rule Kalquor.”

Hoping he read Clajak wrong, Bevau
said, “You don’t mean that.”

“He does.” Egilka came over to look
into Clajak’s face. His tone was awed. “You really will walk
away.”

“I will.”

He cannot refuse his duty
over me.
Out loud, Bevau said, “Do you hear
yourself? You would put your wants ahead of the needs of the
Empire?”

Clajak offered him a wry smile. “But
I’m not. In fact, I’m doing the Empire a favor. I’m no leader, not
of an entire kingdom.”

“You are more than you give yourself
credit for. ”

“I’m a joke. Egilka is the one who is
emperor material. He has all the qualities and the common sense to
lead our people. With his help, I can muddle through a little bit.
But I’m not enough. I’m no Zarl. I’m sure as hell no Irdis.”
Clajak’s smile remained, but his eyes welled up. Tears streaked
down his cheeks as he spoke his parents’ names.

After taking a second to compose
himself, Clajak kept talking. “Kalquor needs more than Egilka, good
as he is. The Empire needs more than my half-assed abilities. I
can’t rule as Dramok Emperor, not without as strong a Nobek as I
have in my Imdiko.”

“Clajak—”Bevau whispered, trying to
make him stop and see his worth.

“I know in my heart that you are that
Nobek,” Clajak went on. “You are the only Nobek who can help Egilka
make me the man I need to be to lead the Empire. Help me,
Bevau.”

Bevau tried to find reasons to refuse
yet again. He looked into Clajak’s wretched face. The bitter smile
that twisted the Dramok’s handsome features seemed more a silent
scream than humor.

In the face of that awful heart-rending
expression, Bevau’s arguments failed. Clajak did need a Nobek who
wouldn’t just protect him. He needed a warrior who wouldn’t simply
fight for him. He needed a Nobek who would love him with all of his
fierce heart.

He whispered to the prince, “The Empire
will hate you for this.”

It was Egilka who said, “Let them hate
us. As long as we have you, it will bounce right off our
backs.”

Clajak murmured three more words.
“Please, my Nobek.”

My Nobek
. The phrase rang in Bevau’s ears. He knew hearing Clajak or
Egilka call another man that would tear him apart. Now he knew no
other man would.

If I refuse, the Empire
loses a worthy pair of future emperors. Because no matter how
unsure Clajak feels about himself, he will find his way.

If I accept – then
what?

One option gave an absolute outcome.
The other offered no absolutes except Bevau would be granted a gift
of inestimable value.

“Ask me.”

Hope lit in Clajak’s eyes. His hold on
either side of Bevau’s face tightened. “Will you join my clan,
Bevau? Will you consent to be our Nobek?”

Bevau dipped his head once. “I will, my
Dramok. Mother of All help you, I agree to be your clanmate. I
accept being your Nobek, your protector, your warrior. For all of
my life.”

A real smile replaced the twisted one
Clajak wore. Staid Egilka unleashed a celebratory yell. In the next
moment the two princes acted like young boys, screaming and hugging
each other and Bevau. Clajak even jumped up and down a little
bit.

As worried and tired as Bevau was, he
couldn’t help but laugh. Now that it was done, he could set his
sights on the tasks ahead.