Common sense told him to back away. “This is a jest, right?” He clasped Hamish’s arm, much to the man’s surprise. “If you want me to be more careful, then I shall.”
Hamish stared at him as if he’d suddenly sprouted extra eyeballs. “Have you got rocks in your head? I just said we cannae do it.”
“I heard you, but what if we are discreet?”
The man’s fiery-red brows twisted with disbelief.
“I can do discreet.”
“You snogged me in the middle of a pub,” Hamish pointed out. “Forgive me if I find to idea of you being discreet a little hard to swallow.”
Yes, some years had passed since it had been required of him, but that was hardly a basis for his abilities. “All right, that was not one of my finest moments, but I was drunk and… curious.”
The confusion-etched wrinkles around those brilliant, aquamarine-blue eyes deepened as amusement took over. “And horny?”
Laughter bubbled through Darshan’s throat. “That, too.” Not that he had much hope of completely quashing the feeling once it dug its claws in, one of the barbs of being born into a strong magical bloodline.
However, letting those emotions command his actions was inexcusable. The tales they would’ve told at court. Not that he had lived his life back home in any way free of scandal. “Do let me know if I get a bit much, I cannot always tell.”
Hamish remained silent, but his brow twitched briefly in puzzlement. Over what, exactly? Just how well-informed was the Tirglasian population about spellsters in general much less their quirks?
Darshan cleared his throat. He’d never had to explain this to someone before, they’d just known. “The current scientific theory is that strong magical bloodlines tend to also come with a heightened libido that lends itself to a greater chance of thinking with the loins rather than the head in… certain situations.”
“I didnae say—” Hamish trailed off, his gaze distant as he stroked his beard. “I thought the Udynean court was full of strong spellsters? It must be interesting having them all in one place.”
Only during the soirées. There was that one orgy in Madaara’s temple that had gotten quite out of hand during the yearly blessing of the Goddess of Wine’s bounty, although the unexpected potency of the alcohol imbibed at the festival could also be attributed to such hedonistic acts. He certainly hadn’t meant to unleash his magic when he had braced himself on Madaara’s statue, much less reduce twenty feet of carved marble and gilding to rubble.
“It is not as bad you might think,” Darshan murmured, struggling to ignore the unfamiliar flush of heat invading his face over the memory. “Restraint is a highly prized trait.” One he routinely failed at displaying. “And, as you can see, I am more than capable of not ravishing you whenever we are alone.”
Hamish laughed with a deep throaty rumble. “That’s a shame. I’ve nae been ravished before.”
“How about starting small? It seems to me that sneaking more than a few kisses behind your mother’s back in the vein of a pair of horny teenagers is a thing that is long overdue.”
“And you’re how old again?” Hamish’s open smile took off what could’ve easily been a harsher edge to his words.
Grinning along with the man, Darshan bumped their hips together. “You are never too old to attempt sneaking things past your parents.”
Whilst there was definitely a smidgen of agreement in the curve of his mouth, Hamish’s thick brows lowered. “You’d risk getting caught with me again and possibly exiled?”
That last threat would’ve held more weight if exiling him, an ambassador offering only peace and trade, didn’t also carry the definite recourse of angering his father and the Udynean senate. And that was without factoring in his royal title. “Would you?”
Hamish’s frown deepened.
Darshan held up his hands, pleading forgiveness. “That was a poor comparison. You need not answer.” He rubbed at his temples with a single hand. “How about you come to my quarters tonight?”
“What?”
He tilted his head, peering up at the man through the outer edge of his glasses’ lens to find Hamish staring back at him. Those blue eyes should not have been so wide, especially after his actions last night, nor should they carry that hint of trepidation. “I would suggest your room, but I get the distinct impression that you would prefer it maintained its off-limits aura.” He could work with that. It would make things tricky, but interesting.
Hamish nodded.
“And, whilst I might not have had someone I could actually claim was my lover before, I—”
“Neither have I,” Hamish blurted as if such a fact could be open to contestation.
Darshan inclined his head in acknowledgement. “Then this will be somewhat virgin ground for the both of us.” He stressed those last few words, making sure that detail had reached Hamish. ”And we have yet to figure out each other’s tastes beyond a few fumbling moves.” On his part, at least. Hamish certainly knew what he was doing orally and Darshan was more than happy with that performance—the very thought of it sent a pleasant shiver through him—but it wasn’t much to base any sort of relationship on, even one forged solely for sex. “If we are to become paramours, we should perhaps see if our previous attempt at intimacy cannot be improved upon.”
“Aye, but tonight? It’s nae that I’m averse to the idea, it’s just… real soon like.”
Darshan bit the inside of his cheek, chasing his thoughts. He supposed engaging in a second night of intimacy in a row would seem an extremely short time after being forced to abandon any sort of sexual act for… How long had Hamish said?
Thirteen years.
He still couldn’t quite get his head around that scenario. To have to pretend, to constrain his emotions, to keep any friendship with another man at a distance least the worst was thought of such closeness… Darshan had some experience with the latter, but the rest was foreign. Not once had he ever been made to
