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Kadou was in rare form today.
He was rarely confident and never outspoken, but today he was ordering kahyalar around like he had been born for it. (He had been, of course, so maybe it was more like he had finally come into his birthright.) Evemer was visibly proud of and impressed by his husband. His kahyalar were beside themselves in their pleasure and eagerness to serve. Every time Kadou snapped out another order, the kahya he addressed would smile and nod and say, “Yes, Your Highness,” or “Of course, Highness,” or “With pleasure, my lord,” and Kadou’s own smile kept getting bigger and bigger. His eyes lit up at every enthusiastic response from his kahyalar (he adored his kahyalar) and he kept sneaking pleased looks at Evemer and basking in his husband’s approval.
Evemer was flitting around the room nitpicking the way their kahyalar had organized their belongings and ignoring the exasperated looks they kept exchanging behind his back. Kadou had stood straight and tall while his kahya dressed him and argued with Tadek about details for Evemer’s birthday celebration the following week, and was now seated at the table across from Tadek, holding forth with surprising force and stabbing his finger into a map spread across the surface. Tadek, for his own part, was mostly picking fights about inconsequential details just to watch the way Kadou’s eyes would flash and his mouth would curve when he laughed.
Kadou was nearly glowing and had worked up the courage to ask a kahya for a pot of coffee and some snacks without even being prompted. He sat and drank his coffee and argued with Tadek and ordered his kahyalar around, and the longer this went on, the more Tadek wanted to keep making him laugh, and the less Evemer seemed to be paying attention to the way the jewels had been laid out in their boxes.
“Farida, would you open a window, please?” Kadou asked eventually. “It’s getting stuffy in here. Probably from all the hot air Armsman Hasira is blowing around.”
Tadek lost what little composure he’d been clinging to and laughed so hard he nearly fell over, and Kadou damn near preened at the wave of amusement that spread around the room.
“And no, Tadek, we can’t turn there. We did that a few years back and the corner was too narrow; a bunch of the horses were pressed too close together and nearly tripped over each other. We’ll need to continue down to…oh…” he pointed at a different spot on the map, “here, maybe.”
Tadek pulled himself together enough to look where Kadou was pointing. “That might work. But—no, hang on, then when we get over to here, we’re going to have to jog across these two intersections…”
A while later, when they were nearly done with the parade route and Evemer had probably moved every single item in the closet only to put it back where it had already been, Kadou abruptly stopped talking and took a long, slow breath. He was still smiling, but he rolled his shoulders back and stretched his neck. “I…I need a break.” He looked a little surprised at himself.
To the palpable relief of the three kahyalar he’d been terrorizing across the room, Evemer was at Kadou’s side in a moment. Kadou smiled over at him, turning a bit smug when Evemer kissed his cheek.
Tadek nodded. “Of course, Highness. What kind of break? How can we serve?”
“I don’t know. Ah…” he trailed off, looking thoughtful.
“Would you like some suggestions?”
“Yes, please.”
“You could visit the bathhouse.”
“I already went this morning.”
“You could take your husband with you, this time.” Tadek gave him a rakish grin and wiggled his eyebrows.
“Shut up, Tadek,” Kadou answered pleasantly, his smile unchanging.
“Would you like food? More coffee? Something else to drink?”
Kadou tilted his head for a moment. “Not hungry, really. I’ll wait for dinner.”
“Get outside?” Tadek proposed. “Take a walk, or see if you can go for a ride, or convince your husband to spar with you?”
Kadou’s nose wrinkled. “I did just visit the bathhouse a few hours ago, so I don’t really want to get all sweaty.” Tadek doubted that hesitation would extend to dragging Evemer to their bedroom if the opportunity presented itself. “A walk sounds nice.” Kadou stood and directed another few questions and orders to the kahyalar, requesting a quick change of kaftan and shoes, having the coffee pot removed but the city map left where it was, specifying which kahya he wanted to accompany them outside (Melek, to no one’s surprise), and asking Evemer to pull his hair off his face into a quick braid. When all of this was done, he fired off three final instructions, pointing at each person in turn as he addressed them: “Halim, please let the chef know that I’d love some manti with dinner tonight, if it’s not too late to ask for it. Melek, please walk us to the gardens, and by that time your shift will be over. Tadek, come.”
Kadou spun on his heel and strode to the door, tossing his freshly-braided hair over his shoulder as he went.
Tadek blinked, his gaze dropping to the floor. The commotion surrounding him camouflaged the extra few seconds it took to get his feet to move while he swallowed hard and blinked a few more times.
When he looked up, Evemer was looking straight at him, his eyebrows raised. Tadek cleared his throat and followed Melek to the door.
“Melek, would you go walk with him for a moment?” Evemer asked softly. “I need to speak with Tadek.”
Melek hurried to catch up with Kadou while Tadek muttered, “Pretty sure you don’t.”
Evemer waited until they got outside before saying, his brows still raised, “That was interesting.”
“Shut up.”
“I know that I like it when he gives orders, but—”
“Shut up.”
“—I didn’t realize that you like it. At least, not that much.” Evemer’s amused surprise had faded into amused smugness.
“It wasn’t that,” Tadek tried protesting. “I just—he’s in a good mood today, that’s all.”
Evemer snorted and Tadek considered elbowing him. “Sure. That look on your face had absolutely nothing to do with him saying, ‘Tadek, come.’”
One of Tadek’s shoes caught on a bump on the ground and he took a quick two steps to catch himself. “Shut the fuck up, for the love of both gods.”
A quick glance confirmed that Evemer was now outright grinning. “You looked like you were going to follow his order in a very different sense.”
“Oh, and if the instruction had been ‘Evemer, come,’ you would have reacted differently?” Tadek hissed.
“Like I said, though, we already know that I like it. Is this a new realization for you?”
Tadek gave in and laughed. “Not at all. I can go either way, honeybee. I can give the orders or take them; I’m not picky.”
“Hmm,” Evemer said, nodding to himself. “Does he know that you like it when he orders you around?”
“How could he know that? Normally, he has trouble even letting Melek file his nails, much less ordering anyone around.”
“He’s getting better,” Evemer murmured, his voice deep enough to leave absolutely no doubt of what he meant.
“Well yes, because you fucking love it. And you’re fucking obvious about it.”
Evemer just shrugged. “I liked being a kahya.”
Tadek did not stifle his burst of laughter as well as he meant to. “Does he call you Lieutenant when he makes you kneel and suck his cock?”
“Sometimes. Would you like him to call you Armsman and make you kneel?”
Holy shit. It wasn’t just Kadou who was in a good mood today, then.
Tadek tilted his head side-to-side. “Not sure about that. I think I liked it being my name, actually.”
“Mm,” Evemer agreed, still grinning that smug, devious grin.
“Did you see him, though?” Tadek demanded, nudging Evemer with his shoulder. “I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him looking more pleased with himself.”
Evemer hummed again. “I’m pretty sure I have.”
Tadek laughed again and this time it was loud enough for Kadou to look curiously at them over his shoulder. He didn’t say anything, though, just returned to whatever he was discussing with Melek while they walked.
“Does he smile at you like that in bed? With his eyes all bright and beautiful like that, showing off those fucking dimples?”
“Ohhh, yes,” Evemer said, low and drawn out, and so full of satisfaction that it made Tadek’s stomach flip.
“You know,” Tadek said after taking a second to make sure that his voice would be even, “enough days like this one and he might start being that confident and gorgeous all the time.”
“His kahyalar were so happy.”
“Your chef is going to be ecstatic. Çe complains all the time that çe isn’t even sure what çir prince’s favorite foods are.”
“You were having the time of your life, arguing with him like that.”
“And you looked so proud of him you could have burst.”
“I was. I am. His kahyalar want to serve him. Our chef wants to make his favorite foods. Letting his people serve him is showing them how much he appreciates that service, how much he loves them.”
“You don’t need to tell me.”
Evemer snickered. “So do you want him to show you how much he appreciates you by arguing with you about parade routes, or by ordering you to come?”
Tadek gave him a wide grin. “Both, of course.”
“Oh, of course,” Evemer said through his own laughter.
Kadou turned around again. “Quit your giggling back there, you two, and come up here and talk to me!”
“Yes, Your Highness,” they said in near-perfect unison.
---
After Melek's shift had ended and they had wandered through the gardens enough to get bored, Kadou turned to Evemer. “Are you going to tell me what you and Tadek were laughing about this afternoon?” He glanced over at Tadek. “Or are you?”
Evemer grinned. “Do you recall what you said to him before we left the room?”
“I’m not actually sure he needs to know this,” Tadek tried to interrupt, but he was also grinning.
“I am absolutely positive I need to know this. No, love, what did I say?”
“You pointed at Tadek,” Evemer said slowly, like he was relishing every word, “and you said, ‘Tadek, come,’ and he…almost did.”
Kadou blinked, and then a gleeful smile spread across his face. He turned to face Tadek. “Did you, now?”
“That’s an exaggeration,” Tadek sniffed.
“I doubt that,” Kadou said at the same time Evemer said, “No, it’s not.”
Tadek tried to glare at both of them, standing there looking smug together, but he couldn’t quite school the laughter from his face.
“So we were discussing whether Tadek also has a thing about obeying orders.”
“Not as much as you do,” Tadek protested.
“I acknowledge this,” Evemer said without even blushing, the bastard. “But that’s not news. I didn’t know that you do.” He nudged Kadou, who had leaned back against his chest. “Did you know this?”
Kadou thought for a moment. “Not…specifically, although I’m not surprised. Tadek’s, ah…flexible.”
“That’s what I told honeybee. I can give the orders or take the orders—I’m easy.”
“Well I knew that,” Evemer muttered and Kadou giggled behind his hand, eyes sparkling. He looked fucking adorable like that.
“This is a very useful thing to know about you, Tadek,” Kadou said.
“Is it?” Tadek demanded. “Is it, though?”
“Oh, yes.” Kadou glanced up at Evemer. “Do you think it works if he’s being obnoxious and I want him to leave us alone so we can fuck? Can I order him to leave?”
“Nope,” Tadek said cheerfully. “You could probably order me to suck you off pretty easily, though.”
Evemer kissed Kadou’s cheek. “I’ve got a bad feeling he’s right. Ordering him to do something he does want to do is different.”
“Yes, see, exactly. He gets it,” Tadek said.
“Hmm. So if I…” Kadou started, but he never did finish his thought. He just tilted his head to one side and looked at Tadek like he was seeing right through him.
Tadek swallowed hard. Both of their eyes dropped to his throat. Kadou’s gaze seemed to get stuck somewhere around Tadek’s lips and never made it back up to his eyes.
Evemer whispered something in Kadou’s ear and Kadou took a deep breath, but didn’t respond. The look on his face seemed to be shifting from thoughtful to aroused, now. Evemer whispered something else and Kadou closed his eyes. When he opened them again, there was no more question about whether he was aroused.
Gods, these two were the horniest people he knew. And Tadek knew a lot of people.
“Armsman,” Evemer said, his voice just a bit deeper than usual, “what would you do for His Highness?”
Tadek didn’t reply, just quirked a smile and dipped his head to one side. Evemer’s answering smile managed to look both fond and smug at the same time. Which was fair.
Evemer whispered something in Kadou’s ear again and Kadou tipped up his chin. “Tadek,” he said in a soft tone that still straightened Tadek’s spine, “kneel for me, please.”
For him, yes, of course. And Tadek loved the way he always said please, even though he didn’t need to. Tadek wondered for a split-second why the angle of his eye line had changed and was not really surprised to realize that he had already dropped to his knees.
Kadou bit his lip, pulling one of Evemer’s hands down to press it against his cock through his trousers. He made a soft noise of pleasure. Evemer nuzzled the side of his head, apparently still whispering in his ear. Tadek let his eyes drop to where Evemer’s hand was now resting, let the hunger show in them.
Evemer nudged Kadou and he moved forward a few steps, until they stood about an arm’s length away from Tadek.
“Do you want him?” Tadek could now hear Evemer murmur against the side of Kadou’s head. Tadek let his lips part and took his own deep breath, meeting Kadou’s gaze. A smile crept into Kadou’s eyes, then showed on his face, then Evemer hummed approvingly and started to loosen the fastenings of Kadou’s trousers. “Armsman,” he said in a voice that made Kadou’s eyes flutter and that Tadek could nearly feel in his own chest, “will you please your lord?”
“Yes,” Tadek breathed, but he didn’t move, even when Evemer freed Kadou’s cock from the fabric and gave it a long, luxurious stroke. He licked his lips and looked back up to Kadou’s blown-dark eyes.
“Tell him,” Evemer said to Kadou. “Use his name.”
“Tadek,” Kadou said, still smiling, without any hesitation in his manner at all, “touch me, please.”
They stepped closer as Tadek shifted on his knees and wrapped his own hand around Kadou’s cock. Evemer slowly moved his hand out of Tadek’s way—not reluctantly, but more like he was gently passing Kadou over. Tadek held him with one hand and brought the other up to steady himself on Kadou’s thigh. “Tell me,” he said, letting his breath wash over the head of Kadou’s cock and feeling the way he twitched at the sensation, “tell me what you want.”
“Your hand.”
Tadek didn’t miss the way Evemer’s fingers tightened on Kadou’s hips. He glanced up to see Evemer looking down over Kadou’s shoulder, his own eyes as dark and wanting as his husband’s. Tadek stroked Kadou, ran his thumb over the head, teased at his foreskin the way he liked, pressed his thumb against the spot under the head that made him groan. He decided he needed more moisture and switched to his other hand for a moment while he licked his own palm. He looked back up at the princes as he did.
“Your mouth,” Kadou said breathlessly.
Tadek couldn’t resist running his tongue up his hand again, all the way to the tip of one of his fingers, and he smiled up at Kadou before he licked his cock from root to tip. Kadou groaned, his own smile still firmly in place.
Then, Kadou threw his head back against Evemer’s shoulder with a hissed “Fuck!” as Tadek took him down as far as he could, and pulled back up slowly, working his tongue around him. Even Evemer made a rough noise, his hands clenching and then rubbing over Kadou’s hips in apology.
“Oh, gods,” Kadou muttered as Tadek pushed back down. He put his hands over Evemer’s on his hips, then moved one to dig his nails into Evemer’s forearm and the other to rest on Tadek’s head. Tadek moaned his own approval, and Kadou tried to tighten his grip, but, “Take—take down your hair.”
Tadek reached back with the hand that was not holding the base of Kadou’s cock, tugged the tie from his hair, and slid up to squeeze Kadou’s hand before returning his grip to Kadou’s thigh. Kadou didn’t hesitate to thread his fingers into Tadek’s now-loose hair, scratch over his scalp with his fingernails, and pull. Tadek groaned, his eyes rolling back in his head and his attention on Kadou’s cock faltering for the first time. Kadou did know what he liked, after all.
And now Evemer did, too, Tadek realized. Both of them knew now that they could order Tadek to his knees, tell him to pleasure his prince in any way they could think of, scratch him and pull his hair, and Tadek would be as enthusiastic as he had ever been in bed with Kadou. Everything in Tadek was screaming yes! as loudly as it could, hoping Kadou would yank on his hair, pull him down onto his cock, wishing they would drag him into their bed and hold him down and make him fucking scream…
He pulled back, letting his hand keep up the rhythm that his mouth had set, just enough to look up at them. He met each of their eyes—Kadou’s: deep and dark and still fucking smiling that incredible, exquisite smile, and Evemer’s: darker still, wide with approval and arousal and admiration—and whispered, “My lords.”
The sound Kadou made was sharp and broken and reminiscent of being punched in the stomach. Evemer groaned out, “Tadek,” and Tadek really wanted to make Kadou come on his face, but they were in the palace gardens with no way to clean up, so this probably needed to create as little mess as possible. He swallowed Kadou back down and worked him until his grip tightened in Tadek’s hair again and he bent forward, spilling into Tadek’s mouth with a gasp.
Kadou’s hand moved to Tadek’s shoulder while he panted, probably to help hold himself up. When he straightened, though, he cupped Tadek’s cheek and turned his face up. Tadek smiled at him, kissed his palm, and sat back on his heels.
Leaning back against Evemer and still fucking smiling, Kadou cleared his throat and said, “Thank you, Armsman.” Evemer huffed a laugh into Kadou’s shoulder.
“My pleasure, Your Highness,” Tadek said, but Kadou raised a brow and looked down.
“Doesn’t look like you’ve had your pleasure yet, actually.” His smile turned impish, which Tadek fucking loved.
“Believe me,” Tadek winked, “it was definitely still a pleasure.” He tucked Kadou back into his trousers and did up the ties and fastenings on the fabric, adjusting the fall of his clothes until they hung normally. Kadou leaned his head back against Evemer’s shoulder, looking blissful and letting Tadek work.
Evemer recovered himself enough to look down at Tadek again, watching him finish fussing with Kadou’s clothes and settle into just running his hands up and down Kadou’s thighs. “Can you stand up straight? Walk?” Evemer asked.
“Probably not,” Tadek snorted. “Can you?”
“No.”
“Tadek,” Kadou asked, “can you stand up to kiss me?”
“Let’s find out.” Tadek rolled to his feet, adjusted himself in his trousers, and kissed Kadou’s cheek. “Apparently, yes.”
Kadou put one hand back in Tadek’s hair and the other at the back of his neck and pulled him into a kiss that Tadek was a little surprised Evemer let continue as long as it did, and he was a little more surprised to find that Evemer was still smiling contentedly when they separated.
“Well,” Kadou announced, “once you’re both able to walk again, I suggest we go back to our rooms, kick all our kahyalar out, and get you two caught up to me.”
Tadek looped one arm through Kadou’s and pulled him toward the garden path. “I’m in favor of this suggestion.”
Evemer took Kadou’s other hand. “Me too.”
While they walked, Evemer looked at Tadek over Kadou’s head. “What was it you said earlier? Enough days like this and he might start being this confident and beautiful all the time?”
“Stunning,” Tadek said. “Ravishing. Gorgeous.” He winked at Kadou. “Lovely.” Kadou flashed him a flirty smile.
Evemer nodded. “I think if you keep rewarding him like that, it won’t take very long at all.”
“I am in favor of this suggestion,” Kadou said immediately.
“Me too,” Evemer and Tadek said in unison.