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Little more than a month later, their hiatus came to an end. Rohyr sent them to the kingdom of Myare in South Vihandra.
Known for overthrowing the last Shaja of their first dynasty and massacring all members of the royal family who’d been unfortunate to be in residence at the time, the volatile nation was once more seething with discontent. This time however the conflict was being fomented by a vested few rather than the general population.
The Myaren Shaja had called on Ylandre to affirm their alliance. A show of support by the North Continent’s strongest nation would set the would-be rebels’ cause back considerably. The citizens by and large were aware that their thriving economy depended in large part on the lively trade between the two nations, as well as the employment provided by Ylandrin fishing fleets and mining corporations operating in the kingdom.
As Ylandre’s foremost Ambassador-at-large as well as plenipotentiary, Jareth’s assignment to the kingdom was potent confirmation of Rohyr’s continued backing of the current regime. As such, he would not only act in his capacity as a diplomat, but also serve as counsellor to the Shaja regarding the campaign to stabilize Myare’s political situation once more.
Because the Ylandrin embassy was adequately staffed, Jareth elected to bring only select personnel with him. Unless he saw a need for more of his own people on staff, he preferred not to uproot the rest for what was basically a temporary assignment. An upshot of his decision was his further reliance on Yandro and Valin.
Not only did they have his utmost trust, both were sticklers for accuracy and detail in all the information that came the embassy’s way. Jareth could rest assured he would always be kept abreast of everything that occurred in Myare from which government official had made the latest moronic decision down to who was sleeping with whom.
Keeping the staff’s numbers to a minimum also assured continued secrecy with regards to his affair with Yandro. The Myare-based staffers did not know them very well; neither their respective habits nor personal quirks. So they missed the subtle signs of an ongoing sexual liaison between their ambassador and his aide.
This suited Yandro just fine for, as Jareth had pointed out when they agreed to keep their relationship a secret, he did not care to invite scrutiny of his private life and then perforce face the all but inevitable criticisms and accusations of currying favor.
He’d come to expect Jareth’s company most nights after the ambassador showed up at his room their very first eve in Rovena, the Myaren capital. It was one rule they assiduously followed. Their after-work trysts took place in Yandro’s quarters, never Jareth’s. The latter was more closely monitored by the embassy personnel.
The ambassador could not afford to have scandalous tales about the Ylandrin Ardan’s representative circulate and perhaps be used as fodder in the information battles being waged between the government and the self-styled insurgents.
As the weeks turned into their first month in the South Vihandran nation, Yandro became more assured that perhaps there was indeed more to Jareth’s regard for him than physical attraction and the camaraderie that came so easily to them. For the first time since his university days, he allowed himself to let down his guard and feel secure about his place in the world.
It was quite easy to do, especially when he lay in Jareth’s arms at night, his backside deliciously sore after being subjected to his lover’s considerable ardor.
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“How long do you think will it be before you can hand over this assignment to a permanent ambassador?” Yandro asked one morning as he and Jareth pored over the latest reports of dissident activity in preparation for another meeting with the Shaja.
Jareth took a generous sip of khavi, the hot beverage favored in the south. Sweetened more often than not with a rich condensed milk to mask its slight bitterness, the drink was also known to banish sleepiness.
“I wish I could say when with any certainty,” Jareth said, his eyes on the report before him. “But every time the Shaja uncovers one cabal of dissidents, another springs up elsewhere. Until he can eliminate them once and for all, I fear we’re stuck here.” He glanced up at Yandro with a small smile. “Why do you ask? Bored already?”
Yandro snorted. “This is hardly a place to get bored in what with having to watch one’s back incessantly.” He shook his head. “I only worry for the safety of the staff. The attempt on Valin and Diryon was much too close for comfort.”
“That attempt was a case of mistaken identity,” Jareth pointed out. “Valin was set upon due to his unfortunate resemblance to the Minister of Internal Affairs and they probably took Diryon for his adjutant. I doubt any other of our people will be targeted. There’s no gain in assaulting diplomatic folk and everything to lose, especially if these so-called patriots desire support for their cause from abroad.”
“I suppose you’re right. Heyas! They don’t have the country’s best interests in mind, do they?”
“Not one bit. The dissidents caught thus far have none of the zeal true rebels possess. They cave in so easily under interrogation and readily yield names.”
“Mercenaries?” Yandro ventured.
Jareth shook his head. “Even mercenaries show more loyalty to their employers than these insurgents display. More likely third-tier lackeys the actual plotters use as sop when they need to divert attention from themselves. Notice that the names given up thus far are of Deira with solid enough alibis to refute the charges brought against them. I very much doubt they meet these fools, but send lieutenants in their stead pretending to be them.”
“While they ensure they’re far away during outbreaks of violence and thus cannot be connected to them with any certainty.”
“Exactly.”
“But how many more can they dupe into acting for them?” Yandro wondered. “Sooner or later, folk will realize they’re little more than pawns and fodder.”
Jareth shrugged. “So long as they offer sufficient coin, there will always be people willing to sell their services.”
“Sufficient coin would require sufficient resources,” Yandro commented. “Yet when the Shaja’s people looked into the financial standings of the Deira whose names were yielded, there were no suspicious transactions and the like.”
“The plotters aren’t stupid,” Jareth pointed out. “They won’t touch their domestic accounts.”
Yandro caught his breath. “And by law, banks are beholden only to the government of the nation in which they operate. The Myarens cannot compel banks abroad to yield their records.”
“They can’t,” Jareth agreed. “At least, not directly.”
“What do you mean?”
“They can’t use force, true, but no law prevents a bank from offering to yield those records.”
“But that would presuppose some forceful persuasion,” Yandro protested.
Jareth smiled humorlessly. “It would indeed. I’m confident Gilmael has enough information to guarantee these institutions’ cooperation. Or rather, certain of their highly placed officers. And if that isn’t enough to convince them, Uncle Yovan will have recourse through Bank Cordona’s connections courtesy of his law-kin.”
Yandro huffed in wry amusement. “There are times I question the legality of what you come up with. You oft act more like an extortionist than a diplomat.”
“Why should one exclude the other?” Jareth said with a grin. “Come now, you’ve been at this long enough to know there are some problems that can’t be solved by the usual or should I say, traditional means.”
“You mean lawful,” Yandro retorted. He smiled a little. “But I will allow that our profession is rife with the unexpected.”
“Which require unconventional solutions in turn.”
“Unconventional? You really have a way with words, Dyhar,” Yandro said rather fondly. “Small wonder you’ve risen so high in so short a time. It’s that silver tongue of yours I warrant.”
He gasped when Jareth suddenly took his hand and pulled him from his chair. Yandro found himself a-straddle the ambassador’s lap, held fast in an adamantine embrace and drawn into a spate of kisses that left him nigh breathless. He tried to break free and failing that, attempted a few protests in between the unions of their mouths.
“Wait! The door... someone might... Jareth, stop!”
“Nay.”
Yandro heard the sharp snick of metal and through the corner of his eyes, saw the bolt on the door slide into place. He gaped at this display of his lover’s power and thereby opened himself to a plundering kiss which reduced him to gasps and grunts and the occasional low moan. When Jareth insinuated a hand between them to cup the no longer quiescent bulge down yonder, Yandro knew he was lost.
He did not protest, did not so much as attempt to push the ambassador away. Even when Jareth rose and lifted him up and onto the table did he find the wherewithal to do aught but allow his lover to have his way. He found himself spread on the tabletop, jerkin and shirt flung open, shoes pulled off, and breeches and drawers unlaced and yanked off his legs. Jareth pushed his knees up and apart until Yandro could plant his feet on the table’s edge.
Yandro could not help the warmth that rushed to his face as he lay exposed and under the ambassador’s salacious regard to boot.
“So delectable,” Jareth murmured, his gaze moving downward in appreciation. He produced a small bottle of oil from the inside pocket of his tunic. Yandro rolled his eyes at this evidence of his lover’s readiness to rut whenever the opportunity presented itself.
“We-we’re supposed to be... working,” he finally managed to blurt through the fog of lust and anticipation.
“And we were,” Jareth replied. “And will be anon. I think you’ll agree, there’s no harm in taking a short break from our toils.” He deliberately laid his hand on Yandro’s shaft, idly stroking the stiffening column before going lower to cup the delicate pouch beneath. At Yandro’s hissed response, he smiled. “Or however long it takes for us to be in the proper frame of mind for work once more.”
With little warning, he bent and closed his lips around Yandro’s shaft. Yandro let out a strangled cry at his sudden engulfment and the rapacious suckling that followed. He hurried clapped a hand over his mouth, knowing he would not be able to stifle himself and unwilling to let so much as a squeak alert anyone passing the chamber’s door to their unscheduled tryst.
“Please, please...” He did not quite know what he was begging for, only that Jareth was going to drive him mad if he continued what he was doing.
A roguish chuckle was his answer and alarmed him further. His suspicions were soon borne out when Jareth ceased to suck him only to wander lower to tend the flesh he would breach before too long. Yandro let out several gasping cries at the swipe and stab of his lover’s tongue. The stabs turned into outright plunges, and Yandro could not hold back a soft wail of pleasure.
“Jareth, I can’t— Enough! Deity’s blood, I’ll scream,” he babbled.
He knew only the briefest of respites when Jareth straightened, unlacing his breeches as he did. “You’ll scream indeed,” he informed Yandro as he slathered his shaft with oil. “I’ll have failed in my efforts if you don’t.”
Jareth forced Yandro’s legs farther apart, grasped him by the hips and pulled him forward. Yandro had but a moment to relish the prod of Jareth’s shaft against him before it parted the cleft of his bottom and slid into him, filling him to the brim and stretching him almost beyond bearing. Almost. When Jareth started to thrust into him, the mild friction sparked pleasure that would spiral into indescribable rapture.
Yandro braced himself, grabbing at the table edge above his head. Veres preserve me, he thought dazedly as Jareth proceeded to bugger him as if this would be their last chance to couple. Then again, when they were on assignment, there was no telling when they would have time for personal needs. And pounding Yandro into the mattress, tabletop or whatever surface happened to be available was one of Jareth’s current favorite pastimes.
Through his pleasure-induced daze, he saw Jareth gazing raptly at him. Hungrily even. You’d think he isn’t fucking me senseless right now, Yandro thought a tad deliriously.
Even back in Ylandre, Jareth had regularly bedded him and always with the same enthusiasm and burning passion he’d exhibited when they first coupled. And if work or company kept him from Yandro’s bed, his mood would turn sour and his usually even temper would blacken. Fortunately, no one suspected Yandro was the reason for those sudden turns. Except perhaps Riodan Leyhar who tended to cast an amused grin Yandro’s way whenever Jareth took his leave too precipitately.
On occasion, Yandro entertained the notion that Jareth could not seem to get enough of him or his body only to discard the idea almost as soon as it entered his mind. After all, what was so special about him to stoke Jareth’s desire thusly? He invariably explained it away as the result of a hunter enjoying the fruits of his labor.
The thought that he was little more than prey, however highly prized, stung to the quick. But he had always prided himself on being realistic about his prospects. Jareth’s willingness to engage in an affair with him could not possibly be based on more than physical attraction and hopefully enjoyment of Yandro’s company.
He moaned when Jareth leaned down and sucked hard on a nipple. Yandro flung sense and discretion to the four winds and arched his body into it. He slung one leg around Jareth’s waist and urged his lover to take him even harder. Whereupon, Jareth trailed kisses and bites from his chest to his throat, leaving bruises Yandro knew he would have a devil of a time concealing, before sealing their mouths in torrid union.
Yandro let go of the table edge to wrap his arms around Jareth’s shoulders, trusting his lover to keep him steady as he continued to plow into him.
Release came with the force of a gale and Yandro did scream and sob and whimper. Fortunately the sounds were muffled by Jareth’s lips upon his. He shivered as he felt the spill of liquid warmth deep inside him. He was as much undone by the intimacy of it as the sensation.
Only when he’d ceased to tremble did Jareth release his lips. The ambassador smirked with satisfaction as he studied Yandro.
“I so enjoy making you scream,” he said rather smugly.
Yandro opened his mouth to issue an indignant rejoinder, but Jareth silenced him with another kiss that threatened to become more. Yandro subsided. Restraint would prove the better part of valor if he wanted them to get any more work done this morning.