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The immense abbey was filled to the brim with people. As Vessel made his way forward, he noticed not only nuns and priests but most of the courtiers as well. After spending so long in the forest, in the open field, wretched with stinking corpses, it was as if he had entered a different dimension. He was still in his armor, his pauldron heavy on his shoulder. The dark green of his cloak matted with grime.
A clergyman swung a thurible of incense, the scent overpowering. From the hidden knave above the cloister, the nuns sang in latin:
“Rex meus - Et Deus - Rex meus -Deus meus - Afferte - Honorem - Domino Maiestatis -”
The throne room was covered in ivy and purple roses. The thorns intertwined with the greenery, pierced through the wall hangings, spilling down the wall. It had been so since Perpetua's reign began four years ago. He could hear the clack of rosary beads, the whispered chants of prayer, the murmuring as he made his way through the ranks of soldiers, his fellow knights. Black candles lit the abbey, mingling with the aroma of incense. Everything shone with an unholy light.
Vessel’s whole body ached with exhaustion, his very bones jolted with every step but still he walked on until he reached Perpetua's throne. The closer Vessel walked, the brighter Perpetua became. His salvation. His ruination.
He knelt, and his sword, coated in scarlet, struck the stone floor. Blood dripped from the gash in his forehead, down the hollow of his throat, covering his forearms. A puddle of blood gathered at the bottom of his dripping fingertips.
Perpetua glittered in full regalia, his robes of silk, satin, and velvet. His crucifix and rosary along with the ceremonial headdress gleamed in perfect array. He looked resplendent and divine and everything Vesel had ever wanted in his life. Clawed metal gauntlets covered his hands, studded with amethyst and diamond. His beauty was cold in the waning light of day.
If they had been alone, he knew Perpetua would have brought his fingers to his mouth, dipping them in his saliva, cleansing them, guiding them to fill him. Not letting Vessel come until he was sated, until his whole body was aching for release.
The air was heavy with expectation and the urge to touch Perpetua, to feel his throat move against his bloodied fingertips was almost overwhelming to ignore.
His blood felt hot as his chin was lifted, the gauntlets he’d seen Perpetua tear out a throat with, delicate as velvet on his skin. He lifted his gaze to meet his king’s. Only Perpetuas eyes, one bright white, one dark, could be seen through the mask though his voice was clear as a bell. Until the whole court resounded with the refrain.
“Well done, champion of the realm.”
“I am, as ever, yours to command, my king.”
Vessel’s aches and pains, his fatigue and weariness faded with the gaze of the king upon him. Perpetua made the sign of the cross over Vessel and made to move back but Vessel caught his wrist. For an infinitesimal moment, Vessel touched him with his naked fingertips, lightly on the back of his wrist where the gloves failed to cover. To the crowd watching, Perpetua showed no reaction but to Vessel, he heard the quick intake of breath, a gasp.
Vessel took his place amongst the rest of the knights. His hand tingled from the brief contact.
“All hail Perpetua the fifth, Perpetua the blessed,” the congregation intoned, louder and louder until it reverberated throughout the abbey.
“All hail the king!!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Vessel bathed and had his wounds bandaged. It was not as bad as he had feared. Cuts and bruises littered his body but he was no longer bleeding. Perhaps he would again by the time Perpetua had his fill of him. He didn’t bother with his full formal attire, instead electing to wear loose trousers and his cloak.
He allowed himself to wear his half mask, something he only did in Perpetua's presence. There were no longer any battles in the near future, the kingdom safe for the moment. Vessel thought of all the nights he would no longer have to sleep alone, that he could be by his king's side, unworried about how he was protected. Even though he could protect himself, as he liked to remind Vessel.
Many believed that Perpetua was a God. But only Vessel truly knew that he was a man. As flesh and blood as Vessel himself.
The inner chambervwas blazing with heat from the massive fireplace. Snow fell heavily against the windowpane. Vessel's breath caught, as it always did, to see Perpetua out of his vestments, his regalia, without his full mask. His paint was still intact, the times Vessel had seen him without were few and far between. It was heresy that Vessel should be here at all. No one had seen the priest king without it.
Vessel would not call himself a prideful man but he was gratified even if it was only known to himself that no one had ever seen Perpetua this way. No one else had ever touched him, kissed his lips, felt his pleasure brim over. This was not like before in front of the entire court. Vessel is a knight of the order, a figure of honor, but this is devotion, not only to Perpetua as a figurehead but to Perpetua, the man. Vessel's only aim was to bring him pleasure, to protect him. Here, in the absence of an altar, Vessel would sacrifice his body in the only way he knew how.
Perpetua sat, with only his outer robe, open to the chest so that Vessel could see his nipples and his soft stomach. He could see the gleam of his rosary, silver and purple against his sternum. His long hair was elegantly tied up, showing his neck, the beauty of his profile. Vessel had never seen a man more beautiful.
It had been weeks since he’d been with him at all and his lust could not be contained.
“You were very bold in the sanctuary,” Perpetua said, still staring into the fire.
Vessel knelt without being asked to, this time without his armour, without his sword. Bare in almost every way.
“Too bold?” Vessel asked. He didn’t quite care what the answer would be. Because he was here now and Perpetua was so close that he could see the rise and fall of his chest. The beads of the upside down crucifix gleam obsidian on his rosary. Every impulse urged him to touch but he wouldn't reach out for him until Perpetua told him to.
“You risk too much,” he finally said.
“I risk nothing in my devotion,” Vessel replied.
Perpetua turned away from the fire, the shadows played with the contours of his face. His two mismatched eyes, one white, one dark, pierced Vessel to the core.
He held his hand out, and Vessel stretched to meet it.
“My knight,” he said, as Vessel kissed his hand, turning it over.
“Your man,” Vessel murmured back, his lips skimming Perpetua's knuckles.
“My man,” Perpetua said softly.
Perpetua's hands, free of the gauntlets, skimmed Vessel’s face, and then he moved forward, kissing him intently, urging him off his knees, so that Vessel crowded him against the high backed chair. Vessel loved the feeling of looming over Perpetua, being that much bigger than him. He took in his lover's sinewy body, drank his sighs like they were wine. Perptua smelled of incense and smoke and faintly of vetiver.
The robe fell from his body as Perpetua's hands roamed, revealing the hard lines of Vessel's abs. His hands ventured lower. His fingers found purchase, and Vessel gasped against the other man.
“I want this,” he said, stroking Vessels’ cock.
“You can have it. Any way you like.”
“I want you inside.”
Vessel's hands skim over Perpetua's thighs and ass, his breath stuttered as he felt how Perpetua was loose, his slight intake of breath as Vessels’ long fingers felt inside him.
“You prepared yourself for me…” his voice a guttural whisper. The thought of Perpetua alone, stuffed full of his own fingers, trying not to moan, waiting for him, makes his blood quicken.
He waited no longer as he hefted Perpetua into his arms, not pausing when Perpetua's robe started to slip but continued to kiss him, biting his neck.
Vessel loved being used, his pleasure always came last and it was the way he liked it. He wanted Perpetua to be drunk with pleasure. He loved being filled, being speared on Vessel’s cock, squirming yet always in control, being eaten out until his thighs were trembling over Vessel's shoulders. And Vessel just loved to take him there. It was not a question of domination, Perpetua held the keys.
Vessel brushed his lips against the hollow of Perpetua’s throat, as he laid him on the bed. He kissed and laved his tongue against Perpetua's collarbone so that the skin reddened. He was flushed all the way to his belly.
Quickly, he divested of his own clothing so that both of them were naked.
Perpetua was so beautiful beneath him, mouth red, skin bare to Vessel’s teeth and the warmth of the room.
“Meus”, Vessel murmured.
Perpetua took Vessel's fingers, guided him with his own hand, down to his hole, as Vessel gently opened him up.
“I will never tire of this.”
Vessel fucked Perpetua softly at first, kissing everywhere his lips can touch, until Perpetua was writhing on his cock. To Vessel, Perpetua’s cries of pleasure were like ambrosia. He was fueled by the revelation of just how good it felt to be inside Perpetua. Sweat dripped from his forehead, as he moved inside him.
The first time always felt like a fever, a haze after so long without. Something dark and holy that neither of them have words for but Vessel knows is adoration. The fingers at Vessel's waist tighten, and urge for him to move faster. But he wanted to make Perpetua come first, so he alternated between fast and slow, until he heard Perpetua curse.
“Make me come,” Perpetua commanded, although to Vessel it sounded more like pleading.
Vessel took one big hand and stroked until Perpetua was shaking, consumed with the need for release.
It didn't take long afterwards for Perpetua to come and Vessel to follow soon after, held above Perpetua, thrusting until he came inside. He didn’t rush to pull out, prolonging the feeling. He watched Perpetua's fingers touch the place they were joined and groaned when he pressed down.
“It’s times like these I know you are devil blessed,” Vessel said, as he pulled out.
“But you are so hungry for it,” Perpetua replied and made a soft noise of annoyance at being empty.
Vessel's hands soothed, his fingers lingered where their release was mingled.
Vessel knew that Perpetua was hardly sated. Their reunions and subsequent nights often lasted into the morning before they fell asleep.They lay entwined together, Perpetua's hand on his ribs. The fire still roared as did the wind outside the double paned windows. Perpetua nuzzled against him, bit at his shoulder. Vessel smiled, equal parts smug and eager.
“I want you again.”
“What do you want, pet?”
Perpetua's full body shivered at the endearment and glared at Vessel, who grinned back at him. He took Perpetua's wrists in one hand, pinned against the bed, leaving Perpetua breathless at the sight.
“Do you forget I am your monarch? Your king? Your confessor?” he asked haughtily. But it’s undermined by his smile, and Vessel traces it with his mouth. Perpetua rarely smiled and Vessel was viciously aroused and endeared in equal measure.
“I will never forget, my love.”
“You will do as I command,” Perpetua said, a little sternly.
“Always.”
This time Perpetua could hide the flush on his cheeks, the sparkle in his eye.
“What do you want?” Vessel asked.
“Everything.”
This time, Pepetua sat astride him, his eyes fluttered, mouth open. He let Perpetua use him, his hands gripped his hips, helped him ride. The sound of skin on skin filled the room. He lived for the sighs and moans and fought against the urge to fuck up into the tight warmth.
“My knight, do as you will,” Perpetua said, breathy and hoarse.
One hand traced the soft jiggle of his thighs, his trembling belly, up to his tit. Perpetua gasped, shivered.
“Ohhh,” he breathed out and rocked down even harder. Perpetua leaned forward, his rosary pooled around the hollow of Vessel’s neck.
“Am I making you feel good? Is it deep enough?”
“Satanas, yes.”
He snapped his hips up, as Perpetua ground down. He moved his hips in fast, tight circles, not giving himself or Vessel any quarter. Vessel’s hand fell from his ribs to Perptua’s cock, weeping at the head.
He watched Perpetua, resplendent above him. His curls had escaped from the confines of his coiffure, his expression was one between bliss and determination. He stopped for a moment and gestured for Vessel to do the same. It took more patience than Vessel wanted to admit while he struggled to keep his hips from moving.
His enquiring gaze held Perpetua’s.
“Eat of my body,” Perpetua said, lips set in a smirk.
Vessel’s body jolted, the command so desirable that he slipped out of Perpetua. Both of them groaned at the loss.
Perpetua sat on Vessel's lap, thighs astride him. The impulse to put him back on his cock is hard to ignore but so is the thought of eating Perpetua out.
Before he can turn him over, Perpetua brings Vessel in close, his lips pressed against his, a semblance of a kiss.
“Beg,” he commanded.
“Please, please, please, darling, let me taste you.” Vessel can hardly recognize his own voice, deeper and needier than he ever allowed himself to sound. He kissed Perpetua's neck, bit at his collarbones. Perpetua's hand came to grip the back of his head, holding him still.
Perpetua let Vessel look his fill: at his prominent collarbones, the love bites and bruises. The mess between his thighs and his erection. Vessels mouth waters at the feast before him, his cock aching for release. It's his cum that has leaked out of Perpetua, it’s his mess to clean up.
“Do you think you deserve it…my love?” Perpetua asks, eyes downcast in a semblance of shyness that Vessel knows is an act. This time he can't help but rut against Perpetua.
“Please, I need to make you come,” he said, when Perpetua loosed him from his grasp.
His head fell between Perpetua’s thighs. He mouthed at his cock, drawing gasps from Perpetua's lips. His litany of begging filled the air.
“Ah, Vessel…my love….you have my permission -”
Whatever Perpetua had been meaning to say was cut off by Vessel pinning him to the bed. He slung Perpetua's thighs over top of his shoulders and didn't waste a single moment before going down on him. He ate Perpetua out like it’s his last meal, like every glide of his tongue would grant him salvation.
Perpetua's thighs shook as Vessel licked harder and faster. He worshipped him with his tongue and Perpetua cried out the loudest when he came. Perpetua urged him up. Vessel's chin dripped with saliva, cum, his tongue stuck out for more while Perpetua held him still. He let out a guttural, unrepentant whine.
“Go on, my sweet boy,” Perpetua said as he kissed his shoulder.
When Vessel came, it was without a hand on him, just from the pressure of the mattress against his cock. From the way Perpetua had come from his mouth, his tongue, his hands. From the term of endearment Perpetua knew he loved.
They lay naked, sweating, covered in bodily fluids. Vessel loved this most of all. To lay with Perpetua’s head on his shoulder, to see him with a peaceful expression at last, no longer worried by affairs of the kingdom. He stroked his forehead, brushed away the strands of hair that had come undone. Perpetua looked soft, the lines around his mouth no longer visible.
Vessel had never known love before Perpetua, never known that within him he had a vast, endless well of devotion for this man alone. And though Perpetua never spoke of it, he knew that the feeling was mutual. He murmured a prayer, only here in the quiet of Perpetua's chambers.
“Benedictus Sit Rex Perpetuus”.