https://i.imgur.com/TZFDaPS.png The question would have come as no surprise with any other person, but Thomas had somewhat given up on trying to predict conversation with Zilrud, or to steer them in any particular direction. The man abhorred being led and resented social positioning as manipulation...

https://i.imgur.com/TZFDaPS.png It was, as always, hard to read Zilrud, which Thomas found fascinating and maddening by turns. He was happy to see him, and liked having him around. All of that sounded good. There were some things that Thomas was less sanguine on, however, chief of which was how san...

https://i.imgur.com/TZFDaPS.png 22nd Frost 4622 The amount of blood Zilrud had drawn was a bit sobering. It hadn't quenched Thomas' ardor for the other man, but it had tempered it. Not because he blamed Zilrud; it was foolish to blame the orkhai for expressing himself as best he could. On the contr...

https://i.imgur.com/TZFDaPS.png Thomas snorted slightly when a harried servant appeared in the study. He'd heard the scuffle in hall and could surmise what had happened. "I'm fine," he hastened to reassure. "I could use some bandaging up, though, if you would be so good." As the servant scurried of...

https://i.imgur.com/TZFDaPS.png Zilrud was kissing him. He was being kissed, not too gently, but kissed nonetheless, by Zilrud. It felt the way he had idly imagined it might: fierce, exciting, with a hint of actual danger. Thomas' breathing quickened. This was it. They were going to fuck. He knew t...

https://i.imgur.com/TZFDaPS.png Thomas was no stranger to dangerous situations. He had first been held at knife point when he was eleven. He'd been mugged so many times in his adolescence that he lost count. He just had a system when someone demanded his money or his life. Still, he never stopped h...

https://i.imgur.com/TZFDaPS.png He helped her to her feet and put a gentlemanly arm around her waist, encouraging her to lean on him as they made their back to their campsite. The bodies of the would-be raiders and their strange vehicles could rot and rust in the sand, for all he cared. Thomas was ...

https://i.imgur.com/TZFDaPS.png Actions speak louder than words. Take what you want. Show me what you want. Of the many meanings Thomas could have taken from what Zilrud said, This is what Thomas perceived. "I'm to show my feelings, and to go after what I wish for? Very well," Thomas said, and got ...

https://i.imgur.com/TZFDaPS.png One of the things Thomas most enjoyed about Zilrud's company was the other man's propensity for silence. The man spoke, but he did not fill the air when he had nothing to say. This was Thomas' default compulsion from years of entertaining others with words, but Zilru...

https://i.imgur.com/TZFDaPS.png Almost as soon as he'd said it, Thomas regretted it. Not because it wasn't true -- he wasn't soft, and if Zilrud thought him so because of his present circumstances, the man was not as observant as THomas had thought -- but because the way he'd accomplished his goal ...