Knight's ChoiceChapter 25

The following chapter contains explicit sexual content with dubious consent and is intended for mature readers only. Please use your own discretion.

A/N: We apologise for the delayed update! We had run out of prewritten chapters. We can update as we complete each chapter (varied schedule) or work on a few and post on a schedule again. What would you prefer? VSbyn1

* * *

Perhaps it was the flame-dance of the hearth that softened Umbra’s features, painting them in gold. Yet it seemed to Esra that, in the deep grey eyes, there was something like tenderness coming to light. They were glossy, coloured by glimmers burning bright, like the dappled rays of a sunset ocean.

Read more BL at chrysanthemumgarden (dot) com

There were times when instinct gripped the heart and moved a body whole. He could try to check himself, perhaps delay the inevitable; but Umbra’s hand at his waist was its own actuation, truer to Esra’s heart than his own mind.

With a soft yearning gasp, he flowed forth, as a wave returns to the mass of the sea. 8WpE9z

Umbra’s mouth closed over his own, the warm press of lips. Overhead, the shadows recorded the moment of Esra’s surrender; two figures becoming one indivisible whole.

The kiss came soft, sweet enough to steal Esra’s breath away. He’d never before been kissed so gently. It was enough to make his heart ache with a sort of stolen longing, tears rising hot to his eyes.

Perhaps this was how he had imagined a first kiss to be.

Umbra’s mouth was gently explorative, his palms soothing warmly over Esra’s shoulders and back, like the youth was something precious and easily damaged. With patient hands he smoothed out the residuals of Esra’s many pains, even the ones he himself had caused. Esra yielded to this wordless apology, and lost himself in the dragon heat of him.

Enshrouded in darkness and the warmth of the hearth, all the world muted in Esra’s mind. In this moment there was only the soft yet insistent press of Umbra’s mouth, his coaxing tongue, the slide of his fingers over Esra’s narrow back. His embrace had an alarming solidity, velvet over hard muscle. There was strength enough to bend Esra to his will, yet the touches were slow, unhurried.

His knight was taking his time.

When their lips separated, they shared the same shuddering breath. Their heated skin pressed together, Esra’s lashes brushing Umbra’s cheek.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

When Esra opened his eyes, his vision blurred with tears unshed. His lashes stuck wetly together. Through the hazy veil of his tears, by the dying flames, the unearthly perfection of Umbra’s features was rendered dreamlike. It allowed Esra to pretend, if only for a moment, that he was not with something so perfectly inhuman. The gulf of power between them might not exist, and they could be two equals having some sort of hidden affair. h3vm4N

Lbk yfjealoei tf wera tjnf yffc jr j sbecu rbivlfg, j wbgaji ilxf tlwrfio. Srgj kbeiv tjnf ifa tlw vb jcsatlcu. Lf kbeiv tjnf gec jkjs klat Fwygj, atfc.

C tfjafv tjcv meqqfv Srgj’r ojmf, ygertlcu jkjs atf kfacfrr atja uifjwfv eqbc tlr mtffx.

Srgj rkjiibkfv tjgv jujlcra atf cjwfifrr sfjgclcu lc tlr atgbja, jcv aegcfv tlr ojmf ab qijmf j afcvfg xlrr lc atf mfcafg bo Fwygj’r qjiw. Lf ofia jcv tfjgv atf rtjgq rtbmxfv lcajxf bo ygfjat, atf qbkfgoei ybvs afcrlcu ecvfg Srgj’r ilwyr. Tfa, gjqa, atf xcluta vlv cba wbnf.

With a soft sigh, the youth leaned up and pressed a warm kiss to the corner of Umbra’s mouth, lingering a moment as a tremble ran through him. He knew what he was inviting with such a gesture; a deer stepping before a hunter’s arrow. 8JeBbY

When Umbra claimed his mouth again, Esra welcomed him. He melted against burning kisses, and gasped for breath with each release, his body shivering hot with desire. He could stay in this moment for hours, yet, their growing passion seemed to awaken something of the dragon in his knight.

He gripped the youth fiercely through the layers of wool and homespun. His breath was hot on Esra’s cheek. He stayed close enough that Esra could see the dark length of his eyelashes, how they dipped as the searing gaze moved over him, over the glimpses of tender flesh at wrist and throat.

The shadows flickered dark on the walls around them, but the light from the fire carved golden the edges of their shapes; the pearl sheen of skin, the dense shimmer of velvet. They looked much like one of the framed paintings that surrounded them, some quick study of light and shadow. The flames caught how the knight unclasped his shaking captive’s mantle, pushing it from his slim shoulders. It slid to the floor in a silent whisper of wool.

“Umbra,” Esra whispered nervously, suddenly struck by vulnerability. When the knight’s grip went to Esra’s belt, the youth froze, thin fingers clasping in mute protest over the buckle. qhPHLD

Storm grey eyes met his, pupils wide in the half light. “Move your hands.”

* * *

Please visit chrysanthemumgarden (dot) com

He was unstitched in pieces. The whisk of linen over head, the unveiling of fresh skin scented by perfumed water. A humble wardrobe scattered the floor: a peasant’s simple tunic, laced breeches, well-worn boots…

As Umbra, fully clothed, pulled the youth down onto his lap, Esra felt more naked than he’d been in the bathhouse. He felt the air close about him, and how the tender skin of his thighs rubbed against the black finery of Umbra’s breeches. His face burned. He kept his eyes downwards, not daring to meet Umbra’s piercing gaze. PW7DMK

It did not make it any better, the sensation of being so exposed.

The knight was captivated, drawn close by the slow unveiling of his body. It was a novelty to have his trophy here at last: a rarity plucked from the wilderness, now here in his own rooms. A shiver prickled over Esra’s skin as he felt those avidious grey eyes upon him, watching closely the shaky intake of the youth’s breath, the tremble in his slim throat, the peak of his nipples hardening in the cold.

His hands were hot over Esra’s bared skin, the span of them so large that it took Esra’s breath away. Umbra mapped out the lithe body of the youth on his lap, his palms sliding appreciatively over sleek shoulder blades, a narrow ribcage, the slight dip of his waist. His nostrils flared as he breathed in, slowly. He sought to enjoy Esra with as many senses as he could: touch, sight, and scent. Soon, he’d taste him again, and hear his moans, his shaken pleas.

Esra felt his pulse rushing red under his skin, propelled by fear, yes, but more fiercely by a shameful thrill from the depths of his secret heart. This intimate hour had long been predicted. He could no more resist Umbra’s mastery over him than he could the passage of time. His knight’s mercy rested on a coin flip, or some whim of nature, like the changing weather. 3BzXAp

All Esra could do was obey him, and hope to survive.

He shivered as Umbra’s hand slipped upwards, through the dark curtain of his hair to delicately cradle the base of his skull. With his long fingers curled into the silk strands, he guided Esra’s head to tilt back with a hold that was, while not painful, impossible to disobey.

Esra’s pulse rushed wildly, caught helpless in Umbra’s grip, as his body instinctively stilled. Fingertips brushed over his cheek, trailed feather-light down the underside of his delicate jaw. He felt the brush of hot breath flare over the vulnerable arch of his throat, and clenched his eyes shut.

SDvz9K

With a dark predator hunger, Umbra moved in. He pressed his open mouth on Esra’s neck, a hint of teeth, and held.

A hot terror pooled liquid in Esra’s belly at the animal threat of it. He hovered in a trance as Umbra kept him there, too frightened, too obedient, to move an inch. Esra could feel the heat of him through his rich clothing, his muscled power. From somewhere deep within himself, he let slip a frightened moan.

In a moment Esra found himself upon his back against the cushions, breathless and shaking. Umbra fell upon him as a beast-like shadow, descending to capture a vulnerable open mouth, fierce, hot, delving deep. Large hands spanned his body, gripped his rump, his flesh at the knight’s mercy. Esra felt blood rush to between his legs, leaving his head spinning as if he were intoxicated. When he struggled, he felt it pressed against his thigh through fabric: the heavy bulge of the knight’s manhood. The brutal promise of its size made him sob.

The world about them had vanished; beyond the walls, abyss. He could scream in here, he thought wildly, and none outside would hear. CVIMzu

He was achingly hard.

Umbra held him in place effortlessly, with his hands, with the sheer weight of his body. The velvet of his doublet brushed over Esra’s flushed nipples, the hard press of his muscled thigh teased the wet tip of Esra’s prick. A heated hand smoothed backwards and he whimpered into Umbra’s mouth when long fingers stroked down the cleft of his arse, brushing over his sensitive hole. His whole body flinched at the impact of his desire.

Umbra pulled back, breath heavy and lips wet. He looked dangerous in the firelight, eyes gleaming sharp under the sweep of his ashen hair.

“Stay here.” Umbra rose to his full height, casting vast shadows upon the walls like the unfurling of wings. He disappeared into an adjoining room, leaving his creamily naked captive splayed out on the couch, dark hair spilling wild upon the cushions. gdEsPV

* * *

Esra breathed shakily into the dark, too frightened to even shift. A slight wheeze in his chest stilled him further.

Story translated by Chrysanthemum Garden.

Alone, he felt the radiant heat of the fire caress him, the softness of rich fabric beneath bare skin. He was overly aware of his own nudity, the humiliating throb between his legs. The deeper ache, in the core of him.

He knew well now what Umbra wanted from him in the dark, but it was difficult to discern whether the ache was pain or remembered pleasure. Whether Umbra’s passion be sweet or violent, it would happen regardless. It was the terror of not knowing his fate that gripped him, a fist clenched in his chest. Tpct46

Lying still, he felt closer to object than ever before. One novel curio, in the middle of a room of them. Umbra must enjoy his property if he chose to keep it all so close to hand, but in the end, it was just that: property.

Upon the ceiling, darkwood had been hand-carved into intimidatingly intricate geometry. His eyes well-adjusted, he saw that there were stories carved on each tile, glimpses of figures and scenes impossible to truly make out in the darkness.

That was luxury, Esra thought. Using the talent of an artisan, full days, weeks, of his life, to decorate something you would never really look at. He was beginning to realise; the powerful took for granted beauty. They expected it. Without conscious intervention, the eye becomes inured to even the most exquisite of creations, rendering it blind to what the common man can see.

* * * lEVwze

Footsteps approached, then paused, just outside the glow of the hearth. In the dark, the knight was a creature made of shadowed smoke, his expression indiscernible. The sight of Esra laid out upon his cushions had stopped him in his tracks. The youth waited obediently where he’d been put: a living painting, for private pleasure.

Esra shivered under the weight of his attention. It was no easier than lying still under his hands. The pressure of the knight’s gaze stroked over the rise and fall of his chest, the hardened peak of his nipples, the shallow dip of his stomach. It lingered over the jut of his prick, where he was still hard, the tip of it flushed and gleaming with a bead of wetness.

He had never before been so aware of his own physicality. He closed his eyes, tilted his head away, exposing the gentle white line of his neck.