Chapter Twenty-Two

MICHEL-LEON HELD Constantin as the storm of emotion shook him. He’d carried so much, in memory and duty, for so long. As much as Michel-Leon hated to witness him in such distress, he sensed Constantin needed to get this out or else it would fester inside him.

Régine entered the ballroom with a stricken expression. “Will he be all right?”

Michel-Leon wished he knew. The magicman’s words kept circling in his head. Nightingale had known Constantin had the potential to turn into a magicman. And Constantin had been about to tear the creature’s twisted soul apart. The ancestors had confirmed his intent and warned him so he could intervene. The edge Constantin walked scared Michel-Leon more than he wanted to admit.

He had to speak to Constantin, warn him of the danger. Be sure he understood the stakes this time. Bon sang, he didn’t want him to be hurt anew by his hands tonight. It was bad enough he’d overheard his lies to Nightingale. Still, he had to do it. He wouldn’t risk dooming Constantin because of a misguided need to shield him. He needed to have faith in Constantin’s resilience as much as he believed in his ability to stay on the healthy path.

He gave Régine a helpless look, and she patted his shoulder, then knelt on Constantin’s other side. She smoothed back his hair, exposing the scar on his cheek. “You did it, Constantin. You saw it through to the end. Gabrielle is safe. Neither of us would ever hurt her, under any circumstance, no matter how much we needed this information.”

“I know. I know.” Constantin lifted his head, his face ravaged. “My doubts about you both almost ruined your ploy. Je suis désolé.”

“I believe you strengthened it. Your outrage was the tipping point. I will add my assurances to Régine’s. I never intended for you to overhear that. Come,” Michel-Leon murmured, helping the other man to his feet now that his tears and shudders subsided. “We could use a stiff drink.”

“I’ll leave you both to the drinking,” Régine declared. “I need to let ma tante Salome and Mahout know it’s over. We should be together tonight and soothe each other. Have a drink to mon oncle Hadrien for me.”

“Let her know we leave for Paris in the morning,” Michel-Leon said, and she nodded.

He clasped her hand in gratitude and support. Then Constantin caught it and held it to his chest. “If you ever need anything, I am there.” His gaze switched between Régine and Michel-Leon. “Both of you.”

Régine smiled and kissed his scarred cheek. “It isn’t necessary, but merci. I have two brothers now.”

They parted on the stairs, Régine to go to her family, while Constantin and Michel-Leon retreated to the haven of their workshop. “I’d hoped that all those souls he’d consumed would finally be released,” Constantin murmured in a lost voice when they were finally sitting down with cognacs. “But I sensed nothing like that with Nightingale’s death.”

“Je suis désolé, Constantin, but I don’t see how it would be possible.” The more Michel-Leon learned of the monsters, the more he committed himself to hunting them. At least they were rare creatures. He had to ensure he passed along what he’d learned. “What’s destroyed stays that way, but the magicman will never harm anyone again. You made sure of that. Against all odds. You wouldn’t give up. You should be proud.”

“It will have to be enough.” Constantin gave his glass a grim glare, then tossed back the contents. He set the glass down and fixed his gaze on Michel-Leon. “I don’t think I’m in the mood for drinking or talking.”

The direct stare and words flustered Michel-Leon, filling him with heat. He took a hefty swallow of his drink, but the heat only increased, and then Constantin was moving toward him. He should protest, put a stop to Constantin’s intent, but his tongue remained tied as Constantin pulled him up and into his arms. Constantin tasted like cognac and reckless heat, always ready to dive in without thought of the consequences, and Michel-Leon allowed himself to be pulled along in his wake.

He slid his hands into Constantin’s hair, his heart pounding faster with Constantin’s rough, urgent kisses. His senses felt alive and all of them locked on the man with him. “Constantin,” Michel-Leon whispered. His thoughts whirled as Constantin’s lips traced a path along his jaw to his ear, revealing sensitivities Michel-Leon didn’t know he had. He clutched at him, trying to form a coherent thought.

Constantin pulled back and took Michel-Leon’s hand. “Let’s seek more comfortable quarters.”

Michel-Leon dug in his heels, and Constantin shot him a confused look. He scrambled, trying to find the words to fit all of his tangled emotions. He wanted to throw away caution and say yes, but his concern for Constantin wouldn’t let him. “I don’t want to take advantage of you.” He flushed at Constantin’s surprised expression. “You’ve had enough men in your life who have done that.”

“How would you be taking advantage?” Constantin asked. “I want you and you want me. It seems straightforward. Sex is a good way to distract ourselves from our problems for a time.”

His body yearned for him to shut up, but Michel-Leon persisted. “What happened earlier would be upsetting to anyone, but you lived with what it both did to you and had done to you. I don’t want…” Michel-Leon’s words failed him.

Constantin’s eyes softened. “I think you may be the first lover of mine to express such a sentiment. Once again, you surprise me. I am not used to someone like you.” He slid his work-roughened fingers over Michel-Leon’s cheek and buried them in his hair. A glint appeared in his eyes that made Michel-Leon’s knees shaky. “However, you are the virgin here. Perhaps I am taking advantage of you.”

Michel-Leon’s cheeks heated. He hadn’t appreciated his inexperience had been so evident. He had the impression, though, Constantin wasn’t put off by it. “Well, there is that. If you’re sure.”

“Oh, I am.” There was a wicked glint in Constantin’s eyes, and the weariness etched across his features had eased.

Michel-Leon laced his fingers with Constantin’s, jittery with nerves as Constantin led him along the hidden passageways. The voices nattered at him in an indistinct murmur, but Michel-Leon couldn’t concentrate enough to get the gist of the message. It didn’t seem important, so he shut them off. This was a private moment. And though there was too much riding on their success, too many strings they needed to follow up on, this was important. Or else, as Constantin pointed out to him, why were they fighting so hard if not to live?

His nerves increased tenfold as Constantin shut the door to his room and slid the lock home. Memories came to him of other stolen moments that left him filled with longing and frustration before they ended with such finality. Constantin was not Lennox though. He was not a man who thought of himself first and others second. And when he did think of himself, it was usually in survival terms.

“What are you pondering so hard?” Constantin asked, tipping Michel-Leon’s face toward him.

Michel-Leon’s heart caught painfully. He could trust Constantin with this. “It is a novel experience to be here like this with someone who isn’t seeking to use me either. To him, I was merely a distraction to toy with. I thought I cared for him, but care dies quickly when it is one-sided.”

“Ah, that explains a few things. Your reluctance with intimacy.” Constantin rubbed his thumb over Michel-Leon’s jaw. “Je suis désolé someone did that to you. I won’t.”

“I know.” Shyly, Michel-Leon slid his fingers through the silken weight of Constantin’s hair. “You already have what you want from me.”

A quick, naughty smile crossed Constantin’s sensual mouth. “Oh, my innocent chevalier, not even close.” He kissed Michel-Leon, swamping him with emotion again as his mouth taught him how lips and tongue could play and tease with both tenderness and hunger. “I’ve been thinking of you in this big and lonely bed,” Constantin said as he pulled away and tugged Michel-Leon toward it.

“You have?” Michel-Leon asked, bemused, as Constantin sat on the edge of the high bed and urged Michel-Leon closer.

“You mean you haven’t been thinking of me?” Constantin said with an amused light in his eyes, and Michel-Leon blushed again. Then his expression became serious, and he slid his hands into Michel-Leon’s hair again. “You are a balm to my soul.”

Before Michel-Leon could respond to the startling admission, Constantin was kissing him and unbuttoning his shirt. Michel-Leon went hot and cold, tingles rippling over his skin, and then he was doing the same. They pulled back long enough to strip off their garments, and Constantin’s mouth was on him again.

Michel-Leon shivered as he pressed hot, urgent kisses along his throat and collarbone. Constantin awoke a hunger in him that he’d buried for so long he’d forgotten it was a part of him. He slid his hands over Constantin’s smooth torso and the lean body that still showed evidence of so many years scraping for food. Constantin’s hands on his belt sent another shiver through him.

He pulled back and knelt before Constantin to remove his boots. He knew it was a delay born of shyness, but Constantin didn’t appear upset by his withdrawal. “I’ve never had a nobleman at my feet this way, acting as the servant.”

Michel-Leon wanted to ask if he’d been with any other noblemen but held his tongue. “I’m just a man. Titles in France can be dangerous, given the mood of the people and the indignities forced on them. Sometimes I wonder if we’ve learned anything.”

He tugged off one boot and let it thump to the floor before moving on to the next. “It gives me the funds to pursue my calling, but I would prefer to only have the title of chevalier.”

“Despite the pain and loneliness it causes you?” Constantin asked with a cock of his head.

“It is what I am.” Michel-Leon slid his palms up Constantin’s thighs and let Constantin pull him back up into his arms.

“It’s not all you are.” Constantin reversed their positions and kissed Michel-Leon tenderly before pushing him back on the bed. He quickly stripped out of the rest of his clothes, standing unabashedly naked in front of Michel-Leon. The lamplight burnished his skin, emphasizing his fey-like quality. He looked so beautiful, like he didn’t belong in this world.

The scar on his cheek reminded him that Constantin was a man, the same as him, and that he’d much rather be treated that way. Both of them had been so caught up in the roles given to them. The changeling vagabond and titled chevalier who had no business forming a friendship, much less even more. But here alone in their room, they could just be. Longing welled up in his heart as Constantin smiled at him.

“I will be right back, and I expect you to be naked as well when I return.”

Michel-Leon stared in stunned disbelief as Constantin strode naked across the room with no apparent discomfort for his state of undress. He disappeared into the adjoining room, where he slept. Michel-Leon pulled off his boots and the rest of his clothing. He didn’t want to disappoint Constantin when he returned, and the longing to be with him overcame his shyness about getting naked as well.

Constantin returned, bouncing something in his hand. Michel-Leon’s curiosity about it swept away with Constantin’s smile of approval and the long, hungry gaze he gave him. Michel-Leon’s heart beat faster as Constantin crossed back over to him. Both of them carried scars visible against the skin in the lamplight. Each scar told a story, and he wanted Constantin’s, but not tonight.

Constantin clambered up beside him, and they drew the bedcurtains around them, enclosing them in hushed darkness. Michel-Leon slid his arms around Constantin as they came together, and his breath caught at the sensation of naked flesh against naked flesh. He’d been partially unclothed with a man, come to completion with their fumbling explorations, but it was not like this.

They kissed, urgent and hungry. All the upheaval of emotion they’d gone through that night translating into passion. Constantin’s lips branded his skin, and Michel-Leon moaned as he skimmed his fingertips over Constantin’s smooth body, seeking touches that pleased him. Constantin made him ache in so many ways. He distracted Michel-Leon from his tasks, made him ponder things other than monsters or his quest to leave behind a written legacy. They had so much in common, the way they viewed the world and their duty that went beyond the differences in their station.

Michel-Leon found himself wanting to spend more and more time with him, confide in him, and steal away times like this when they could lock themselves behind closed doors and love each other. He wanted Constantin to find a home with him.

They laid back on the thick pillows and the taste of Constantin was on his lips, the scent of his hair as it fell around him when Constantin lay over him. Michel-Leon groaned, sliding his hands down the muscles of his back, tracing the outline of his ribs and hips.

“How do I please you?” Michel-Leon asked, trying to gather his wits as Constantin scattered them with every touch.

“Let me show you,” Constantin whispered. Then his mouth moved lower, finding a sensitive spot right under his ear that made Michel-Leon shiver. Every time Michel-Leon got used to a touch or the brush of his lips, Constantin moved on until Michel-Leon was swept up in the haze. The feel of Constantin’s mouth on his nipple had him clinging to the headboard, his body writhing as he panted.

Who knew a touch, a kiss, could have so much power?

Michel-Leon’s mouth was dry, and all he could do was make little whimpers that encouraged Constantin as he explored. He urged Michel-Leon’s legs apart and settled between them. The sensation of Constantin’s hardness against his own sent a fresh wave of heat through him. He was on fire, and for once, he didn’t fear it.

He found a spot on Constantin’s neck that made the other man shudder and circle his hips against Michel-Leon. There was madness in this rush of desire and Michel-Leon didn’t want it to stop.

Constantin grasped his cock with slickened fingers, and Michel-Leon groaned, his hips rocking as he pushed into his hand. It felt so unbelievably good, better than his own touch, more potent. The circle of his fist moved up and down on his shaft, and Michel-Leon thought he’d go out of his mind with the pleasure. Just when he thought it might be too much, Constantin backed off, leaving Michel-Leon trembling in reaction.

“Let’s see how well you learned your lessons,” Constantin challenged as he shifted to lie back on the pillows beside Michel-Leon.

“I…” Michel-Leon trailed off, at a loss for what to say. He reached for Constantin instead, wanting to give him the same feelings, the slow buildup to the edge. He started by kissing him, marveling at how such a simple meeting of lips could feel so right. Constantin let him take the lead, and at first, it filled Michel-Leon with shyness, but the way he kissed him back sparked his curiosity more. He craved to know what it would be like to have Constantin writhing and panting as well.

Constantin’s nipple pebbled against Michel-Leon’s lips, and he experimented with kisses and nibbles. Constantin threaded his fingers in Michel-Leon’s hair, pressing gently in encouragement. He took it into his mouth, remembering how electric it had felt. Constantin’s breath caught, and his cock throbbed against Michel-Leon’s stomach.

If it excited Constantin that much with this spot, how much more of a reaction would he get if he experimented lower? Michel-Leon broke away and kissed down Constantin’s stomach. His scent grew stronger. Michel-Leon both wished he could see Constantin better and was grateful for the masking darkness. He fumbled for him, wrapping his fingers around Constantin’s shaft.

Constantin hissed, his fingers tightening in Michel-Leon’s hair, and he froze.

“Is this bad?” he asked.

Constantin chuckled, the sound ghostly in the dark, and his grip eased. “Non, it feels good.”

Michel-Leon dipped his head and ran his lips over where his hand was. Constantin’s shaft burned against his lips, the skin silky and inviting.

Constantin gasped. “I have not given you that lesson yet!”

Michel-Leon smiled, pleased at the reaction, and it emboldened him to do more. “Well, I am a scientist. I learn by experimentation.”

Constantin groaned and lifted his hips. “Who am I to argue with science?”

Michel-Leon bent over him again, making a silent vow that the next time they would do this in the light. It was one thing to feel Constantin’s reactions; it would be another to witness it. After all, observation was key.

He ran his fingers over Constantin’s straining cock and followed with his lips. It felt vitally alive against his mouth and left a unique taste heavy on his tongue. He kissed, nibbled, and sucked, experimenting with everything Constantin had shown him until he tensed and pulled away, panting hard.

Before Michel-Leon could ask if he’d done anything wrong, Constantin was kissing him, hungry and urgent, sweeping him up in his fire again. He turned Michel-Leon, laying him on his back. “We’ll experiment more later,” Constantin said as their lips parted.

Constantin straddled him again, settling over Michel-Leon’s hips. Before he could ask him what new game this was, Constantin grasped him and sank down onto his cock. Shocked, Michel-Leon went still, and that incredibly tight heat enveloped him.

“Oui,” Constantin groaned, settling down against him and rocking. A delightful constriction around his shaft made Michel-Leon break out in a sweat. His fingers dug into Constantin’s hips as his heart pounded. Then Constantin began to move on top of him, riding him, breaking him in, and all Michel-Leon could do was hold on and attempt to keep up to the final, reckless end.

“Mon seigneur.” Michel-Leon stared up into the darkness, his brain spinning, his body humming as Constantin folded over him. He slid his arms around the other man, and Constantin chuckled.

“Not yet.” Constantin kissed him and slid off him. He kissed Michel-Leon’s shoulder. “But give me a few minutes, and we’ll see if I can do better.”

“Better?” Michel-Leon lay his head on Constantin’s shoulder. “I’m not sure I could survive better.”

Constantin chuckled again. “Let me show you, slower this time.”

They kissed. Then Constantin proceeded to give truth to his words. Finally, limp, exhausted, Michel-Leon dropped into sleep right away with no thought of the dangers and deadline looming over them.