Bringer of Winter- a M/M/M Epic Fantasy Romance

16- Little Gryphon

*****SPOILER, but FYI on a trigger: 

Despite all evidence to the contrary, there is no sexual assault or dubcon in this chapter. Though Heath is an asshole and has done some horrible things, I don't think it's possible to build a romance after rape. So it's a spoiler, but despite being forceful, lots of threats, and just all around being an asshole, Heath never rapes or otherwise coerces or forces Khif. There's a line, I think, and he dances on it, but never breaks it or crosses it.*****

HEATH—

It took Lucia and Teri a little over an hour before they were knocking lightly on my bedchamber door and opening it. They immediately bowed, moving out of the way to let Khif glide into the room.

As I sat up, unable to speak or make any other move, my irritation over how late they were, and any other emotion that had been in me before vanished like smoke. Khif was as stunning as I had imagined him to be, and Teri and Lucia would both be rewarded greatly for what they had done to my little gryphon.

Khif's bright red, shining golden curls were pulled up around his head, strung up with a net of pure black beads. Although they still framed his face wildly, there was a sense of Pryn order to them that made him seem more regal. His thin lips were rouged, as were his pale cheeks, and somehow the colors made the freckles on his cheeks and nose stand out even more. His bright, shining blue eyes were wide in his face, framed by his golden eyelashes and blonde eyebrows. His nails were clean and trimmed, and his toenails, beside the tattoos that marked his feet, were painted deep blue. Anklets jangled as he moved, as well as the many bracelets on his slim, scarred wrists, and yet his neck was unencumbered by a necklace, marred only by the thin scar of bondage and the silver strand of moonlight thread. The Nibean dress I had brought home from Rothart hung low on the boy's chest and the shimmering, semi-transparent, white fabric clung intimately to his chest and waist, and then flowed freely over the rest of Khif's body. It was sleeveless, and golden bands clasped his upper arms. Earrings rose up his earlobes, in the Nibean fashion, and the net around his hair hung a bit over his face in the Pryn fashion. As I had specifically requested, the women had dressed Khif in a perfect mix of my former and present homelands.

When I could find my breath, I got to my feet and moved towards Khif. Closer to him, I could see his hands shaking as he clenched them together and the light quiver of his lips.

"You are stunning, little gryphon," I muttered in Nibean, unable to say anything else. Even in my imaginings of the Cailleach since the moment I saw him on the auction block, he wasn't this beautiful. I didn't quite know how to move forward, but knew that the first thing to do was get rid of Lucia and Teri.

"Thank you, girls," I said to the slaves, who both bowed low to me. "He is perfect."

"Yes, master. He is beautiful."

I nodded and both of the girls understood my wordless order, for they backed up and moved towards the door. Khif's hand shot out, gripping Lucia's sleeve. He met the older woman's eyes with pleading visible in his. Irritation tore through me and I ripped his hand away from Lucia and shoved the slave out of the room, frustrated that Khif sought help from a stranger, because he feared me so much.

And why that made me want to beat Lucia and Khif both, I didn't fully understand.

When I shut the door on a stunned Lucia and turned back to Khif, he was already across the room, crouched in a fighting stance. Seeing him dressed so beautifully, erotically, and moving like a fighter made me smile.

"You will fight me, Khif?"

With my words, spoken in Nelek as a message to him, his shoulders sagged and I could see defeat in his eyes. Something I had longed, and dreaded, to see.