a Pleasure Rites, #1 by Ines Johnson (top ten books of all time TXT) 📗

She looked up at him, startled.

"You're kind. You're patient. Those things are important to children."

"I can't imagine where I got those traits. Certainly not from my mother."

"Maybe not," Khial scratched the back of his head. "But what our parents did, how they raised us, made us strong enough to weather the trials we've faced in our lives." Khial thought back to Jian's words. The stubborn tree, he stood tall against the storm.

They pulled up to the house. Khial put the car in park. He rested his hands on the steering wheel.

"I thought that if I let you into the bond it would mean I'd failed," he said. "That my love wasn't enough. But you've been a joy to him. You've made him stronger. Thank you."

Chanyn's lips parted, then closed. Finally, she swallowed. "You're welcome."

Khial turned and got out of the car. He opened the passenger door and offered Chanyn his hand once more. They entered the house in silence, walking side by side, hand in hand. When they reached Dain's room, Khial opened the door for her and let her pass first.

Dain sat with his back against the headboard. His broad body looked small, swathed in all the blankets. Dain's face glowed at the sight of the two of them. The glow belying the continued weakening of his heart muscles and the toll it was taking on the rest of his body. He held his palms up in question.

Chanyn nodded.

A wide grin fell over his face. His arms spread wide and Chanyn went into them. Khial hung back, watching the two, his husband and his wife, embracing.

"You haven't asked if it’s a girl or a boy," Chanyn chided him.

Dain shrugged. "I don't care as long as this one's healthy."

This one? So Dain was feeling well enough to expect that he'd be making more. Khial had mixed feelings about that. Chanyn's expression was unreadable, but Khial could guess. He doubted she'd planned a repeat performance without the monk.

But she only said, "It's a girl."

Dain's eyes closed in silent prayer, likely thanking the Goddess for this blessing. When he opened his eyes, he pulled Chanyn to him and kissed her forehead.

"You truly are heaven sent," he declared.

She ran a hand down his face. "You are obviously delirious."

Her jib didn't shake Dain's reverence.

Chanyn rose from the bed. "I'll leave you two alone." She began for the door.

When she came near, Khial caught her hand. And then immediately let it go. Shrugging, he said, "You don't have to go."

Chanyn smiled, rubbing his arm. The spot felt warm even after the brief touch passed. "I'm feeling a little tired." She rubbed her back with a slight wince. "I think I'm going to call it a night."

She gave Khial another warm smile.

He tried to raise the corners of his lips but his mouth felt wobbly. He didn't want to embarrass himself so he released his facial muscles and bowed formally. "Sleep well, my lady."

When he straightened, she paused for a moment. But said nothing and continued on.

Khial went farther into the room and picked up his violin. He put bow to string and looked to Dain for a request. He saw the man grinning at him.

"What?" Khial demanded.

"I'm just happy," he said, a peaceful expression crossing his face. "You two will take care of each other."

"Don't get morbid on me."

"You've been an excellent mate to me. You'll be the same for her."

There was silence. Khial had sat in many comfortable silences with Dain over the years. Never needing to fill the void with chatter. They both knew everything about each other. Except one thing.

"What was it like?" Khial's voice was nearly a whisper.

"What?"

"Being inside of her? What was it like?"

Dain's eyes rose and then slowly lowered, turning thoughtful. "It was like touching a star. They say that at the core of the planet, where the Goddess was born, there's a burning star."

Dain closed his eyes for a moment, in memory. When he opened them, they burned into Khial.

"Making love to Chanyn was just like that. For just a moment, I touched the Goddess."

Khial felt himself heating at the prospect. At the memory of Chanyn's pink flesh, his dick jerked involuntarily.

"I do love her, Khi." Dain shook his slowly head. "Not the same as I do you. It's different. But it is love."

Khial waited for the jealousy to come. It didn't. He thought he understood what Dain meant. He saw the different ways Chanyn looked at Dain and the monk. When she looked at Dain it was with adoration, a mutual respect. When she looked at the monk there was a fire in her eyes. It was the same way Khial looked at Dain. The same look Dain returned to him.

"If you let her, she'll love you, too."

Khial thought of the smile she'd given him today, of the comfort and strength he felt holding her hand.

Emotion remained a scary prospect for him. He'd begun to care for Dain's parents. Darlyn would smile warmly at him. Dain's fathers welcomed him in their rough-housing. Khial had begun to feel safe, secure, cocooned. Then, in the next moment, they were taken from him. Taken from Dain. Taken from the world because of the plague that was his mother. He'd never found out what theory or response his mother attempted to test by causing the accident that had taken the lives' of Dain's parents. She'd been carted off to jail by then.

For a while, he'd believed her motive had been revenge. Revenge against a son who testified against her, her insane research, and the deadly experiment that led to her bond mates' deaths. Revenge against the people who'd banded around her son and had given him the courage to speak up. The only reason he and Dain hadn't been in the conveyance with his parents was due to Dain's illness. He'd been feeling weak that day. Khial volunteered to stay home with him while his parents went out.

It had been years since then. His mother had