The Courtship of Julian St. Albans (41 page)

Alex kissed him again, hot and hungry, feeling
his body respond, a little sluggish but enough that he was pretty sure he’d
manage a decent performance. “I think we can manage,” said Alex,
pulling Julian along toward the bedroom, finding him pliant and eager now that
he was getting his way.

“I certainly hope so,” said Julian,
pushing Alex down onto the bed. “Oh, Horace!” He climbed over Alex to
go sit by the little bird on its pillow. “You promise he’ll be okay?”

“I promise,” said Alex. “Though
we should probably move him to the bedside table for now.” Alex scooped
the bird up gently, listening as he moved him to the table. “He’s stronger
already, by the time I’m allowed to do complex magic again, he’ll be ready for
me to fix him.”

Julian’s expression melted into a different
sort of concern. “You wore yourself out protecting me last night,” he
said, pushing Alex back onto the bed and climbing on top of him. He’d already shed
his shoes earlier, so Alex toed off his house slippers and let himself be laid
out on top of the covers. “I should take care of you today.”

Alex wrapped his arms around Julian and pulled
him close, kissing him. “We should take care of each other, love.”

That was all either of them said for a long
time, just kissing and touching, slowly shedding their clothes one piece at a
time. Julian’s warm sweater went first, and then he laughingly shed his socks
one at a time. Alex rolled them over for more kisses and felt a surge of
possessiveness as he lay on top of Julian for the first time, looking down at
him with his hair spread out over Alex’s pillows. Julian’s hands roamed over
Alex’s body, shoving his dressing gown off while Alex kissed him again and
again, his mouth and throat and down his chest, getting the buttons of his
shirt open one by one.

Alex nuzzled at Julian’s warm belly, and there
was a little giggling and tickling as they got Julian’s shirt off, and Alex’s
as well.

“Cold,” said Julian, stealing another
kiss. “I’ll trade you the rest of my clothes for getting under the
covers.”

Alex grinned. “It’s a deal, and I’ll throw
in my own clothes as well,” he said, and they both got naked and into the
bed with alacrity. Alex pulled Julian to him, unable to hold in a low groan at
the feel of Julian’s lithe, naked body against his own, Julian’s cock hard and
hot against Alex’s belly.

“I’ll have to see your creamy mounds
later,” said Julian with a giggle, hands squeezing the anatomy in
question.

“I know you get cold easily,” said
Alex with a kiss. “We’ll have a bath so you can see all of me.” His
hands slipped down Julian’s back, the skin soft and warm, and gave Julian’s
bottom a squeeze of its own. “You want me in you today?” he asked,
just to be certain.

Julian laughed, low and sexy and just a little
bit wry. “I’ve wanted you in me for ages,” he said, rolling them so
he was again beneath Alex’s body, this time with his legs spread invitingly.

Alex rocked his hips forward, kissing Julian
again, feeling their cocks kiss and rub, the tips both slick with need.
“I’m all yours,” he whispered, then he had to move away to find the
lubricating potion. He laughed as he fumbled in the drawer for it, feeling like
an idiot for being so ill-prepared.

Julian giggled with him. “It’s good to
know you weren’t ready to just go seducing boys at the drop of a hat,” he
teased.

Alex finally found the little bottle and pulled
it out. “I’ve been saving myself for you,” he said with a grin.
“Especially since James and Jacques wouldn’t come across.”

Julian laughed and smacked Alex’s shoulder
lightly, then tugged the bottle out of Alex’s grip and dripped a bit onto his
own fingers. “Mm, good stuff. Did you make it?”

Alex blushed, words stuttering as Julian spread
it onto Alex’s cock. “I-I, yes, I, fuck, make it.” He was having
trouble matching the bold, sensual creature in his bed with the shy, sad boy
he’d first met, but then, he’d been shown again and again during the Courtship
that there was more to Julian than met the eye.

“Good,” said Julian, giving Alex’s
cock a squeeze. “Now you get me ready.”

Alex held his hand up for Julian to pour potion
onto it, then reached down to rub his fingers over Julian’s entrance. The
warmth of Julian’s body was doubled here, and when Alex pressed one finger
inside the heat there lured him deeper.

“Oh, yes,” said
Julian, arching up, body opening readily. “Yes, more.”

Alex gave him all that he asked, working in
first one finger, then two and three, careful with Julian’s pleasure and the
body that felt like a huge trust, after everything. Their conversation became
nothing but pleasure and love and wanting, and Alex drank Julian’s moans in
greedy kisses. When Julian was open and nearly begging, Alex pulled his fingers
out and positioned himself over Julian, with Julian’s legs over his shoulders.

Julian cried out as Alex pushed in, and Alex
had to bite his lip and count backwards in three different ancient languages
before he could trust himself to move. “Beautiful,” he said, looking
down at Julian’s face, and Julian folded himself in half to pull Alex down for
a kiss.

“You, too, now have me,” said Julian,
playfully needy, squeezing himself around Alex’s cock.

Alex gasped and kissed back, hard, then shifted
for better leverage and started thrusting. He took his time, going slow and
angling up for Julian’s prostate at first, watching as Julian came apart
beneath him one stroke at a time. Alex couldn’t spare a hand for Julian’s cock,
but Julian didn’t look like he needed it, his belly wet with precome and face
showing nothing but mounting pleasure.

When he couldn’t hold back any longer, Alex let
himself speed up, thrusting more roughly, his focus narrowing to getting them
both to the pinnacle. He couldn’t seem to say anything but Julian’s name or do
much more than kiss him, his mind on just those two points, Julian’s orgasm and
his own. He leaned forward more so Julian’s cock was trapped between their
bellies, rubbed in the slick sweat and precome there. It didn’t take long
before Julian stiffened, fingers gripping Alex’s shoulders as he came. He made
little whimpering noises, body growing tighter than ever as he spilled hot
fluid between them, and that was all Alex could manage.

With a low cry of his own he let go, coming
inside Julian’s heated body. He threw his head back and thrust forward as
deeply as he could go with each wave of pleasure, and then collapsed with his
forehead pressed against Julian’s as the tide receded.

“That was,” said Alex, breathless,
unable to find the right word to describe how it felt. Julian was his new lover
and ex-fiancé, and Alex had every intention of repeating this particular
experiment as many times as it took to find the words to describe how very good
he felt.

“Yeah,” said
Julian with a little, happy laugh. “It really, really was.”

CHAPTER
31

In Which We Find Ourselves at the End

After an impromptu nap, Alex and Julian spent
the afternoon leisurely exploring each other. They took a bath in Alex’s big
tub, which he sheepishly admitted was one of the reasons he’d taken the flat.
Julian raided the fridge and made sure they ate, and Alex rewarded him by
sucking him off under the kitchen table. They had tea and made love and
generally acted like a newly-formed couple, and Alex loved every minute of it.

He even took his potions as
directed, and avoided doing any magic at all.

At some point, Julian remembered to get his
overnight bag and send his driver home, and when Alex finally fell asleep at
night with Julian in his arms, he understood perfectly why his heart had urged
him all along to fight for this young man. It was as though he’d never been
able to see how lonely he was until Julian came along.

Alex woke first, feeling warm and a bit sweaty,
but finding it well worth it to have Julian still wrapped around him like a
sleepy limpet. A check of his phone showed it was late enough they’d need to
get up soon if he was going to make his doctor’s appointment, but early enough
for a bit of fun before then. He kissed Julian’s hair, then extricated himself
and slid down under the covers. Julian made adorable little noises of protest
that turned to sounds of pleasure as Alex started mouthing at his cock and
balls.

Julian relaxed into the bed, spreading wide,
and murmuring softly in his sleep. Alex worked his mouth up and onto Julian’s cock,
sucking gently while his hands cupped and stroked Julian’s hips. Julian’s moans
got louder and his words more coherent, and if Cecil’s name showed up a time or
two along with Alex’s, well, Alex wasn’t one to feel jealous of someone beyond
rivalry. Alex sucked harder, using some of his favourite tongue-tricks, and it
was Alex’s name that Julian cried out as he spilled into Alex’s mouth.

Alex swallowed and moved up, pulling his
sleepily blinking lover into a sweet kiss. “Good morning, love,” he
said, grinning.

Julian grinned right back and cuddled up.
“A very good morning,” he replied. His hand drifted down to Alex’s
cock, which had enjoyed the proceedings as much as Alex had and was now hoping
for its turn, the shaft hard and head wet with precome. “What shall we do
about this?”

Alex kissed Julian again. “I thought
perhaps we might take care of it in the shower?”

Julian grinned. “You’ve got the best
ideas,” he said, slipping out of bed and luring Alex into the bathroom.

Soon enough they were clean and dressed, and
Alex elected to eat out for breakfast rather than mourn his own inability to
repeat Jacques’ masterpieces. They did leave sufficient treats for the
butterfly fairy, including milk and honey and a shot glass of sweet, milky tea,
but then Jones arrived and they were off. They chatted amiably about amulets
while they went, Jones still in possession of Alex’s old one for now, but all
of them agreeing that he ought to have one of his own.

“This is a bit much for me, usually,”
said Jones with a chuckle. “Though the car’s never been cleaner or run
better.”

Alex laughed. “I’ll make sure to put that
in the new one, perhaps I’ll do a pair of them, one specific to you and one for
whatever vehicle you drive.” Alex felt a little burst of protest as though
the car itself objected to the idea that Jones might drive anything else, which
just made him laugh more.

They all three enjoyed breakfast together at a
little cafe near the hospital, one that was full of doctors and police and few
other people. Alex enjoyed that no one gave them a second glance, and he didn’t
have to look up or down or anywhere, wondering whether he’d get attacked
mid-omelette.

But he especially enjoyed
Julian’s penchant for kissing between bites.

Jones elected to go sit with the car and his takeaway
coffee when they went up to the hospital, but Julian came along on Alex’s arm,
making him feel very dapper indeed. He used his cane, but it felt less
necessary today, as though he’d turned some sort of corner by using his leg
normally so much for the past two days.

“Mr. Benedict, good to see you haven’t
killed yourself yet,” said the nurse, as they walked into the little
reception area. “Dr. Chesterfield will be with you in just a moment.”

“Thank you, Ana, this is Julian St.
Albans, my…” Alex paused, cocking his head at Julian.

Julian giggled. “Boyfriend,” he said
firmly, shaking the nurse’s hand. “For now.”

“Oh! But weren’t you two engaged just last
night?” asked Ana, curious as always about the gossip.

Alex chuckled and made a melodramatic face. “Julian
has had his Courtship nullified for magical interference, and so I must now win
him merely with my wit and charm.”

Julian giggled. “This way I don’t have to
be his consort if we decide we don’t want to do that, and he doesn’t have to be
head of the St. Albans household.”

“A fate to be avoided at nearly any
cost,” said Alex, patting Julian’s hand where it rested on his arm.
“Julian would’ve been worth it, though.”

Ana chuckled. “And now we see why you got
to stay the boyfriend,” she said, going back behind her desk.

Julian grinned. “I know, right? And he
doesn’t say that stuff unless he means it.”

“It wouldn’t do either of us any good to
lie about it,” said Alex. “Otherwise, we’d just end up stuck in a
situation almost as miserable as the one we saved you from.”

“I helped save myself,” Julian
clarified. They’d talked a bit, last night, about Julian’s feelings regarding
Willoughby and the knife he’d left in the man’s side, and Alex was pleased that
Julian felt little guilt for defending himself with whatever had been at hand.

“I’d read that, too, stabbed him right in
the gut,” said Ana with bloodthirsty approval. “Too bad they’re
pretty sure he’s going to live.”

Alex laughed. “He won’t like prison much,
I expect.” Someone like Willoughby would be fitted with an anti-magic
charm, probably a cuff or bracelet similar in some ways to the cold iron
shackle that Duckworth had used on Con. It seemed fitting, but Alex did wonder
what might come out the other end, should Willoughby escape a life sentence.

He was spared from anything more when Ana’s
phone lit up, and she answered it, then gathered Alex’s chart. “Back you
go, are you bringing him, too?” she asked curiously.

“If he wants, he’s
welcome,” said Alex, looking to Julian.

“Please,” said Julian, smiling shyly.
“I want to hear about when you’ll be better and how to take care of
you.”

Alex melted a little and gave him a smaller
kiss than he really wanted, which seemed to amuse Ana rather than offend.

“Then come on, Doctor’s waiting,” she
said, leading them back to the exam room.

Dr. Chesterfield was indeed waiting, and he
chatted amiably with Julian while Alex changed into one of the silly gowns for
his examination. Chesterfield talked more as he examined Alex, explaining
everything he was looking for to Julian and then chatting with Alex about his
leg and general state of health.

“All right, you go get dressed while I
correlate your data,” said Chesterfield. He’d taken a number of readings
with obscure medicomagical instruments, and sat down at the desk to put together
a profile of Alex’s magical health after he’d repeatedly exhausted his personal
resources.

“And no helping,” teased Ana, who’d
stayed to help with the examination.

“Spoilsport,” said Julian with a
false pout; he and Ana got on like a house on fire, and Alex felt ridiculous
pride that Julian had come so much out of his shell.

Alex went and got changed, emerging to find
that Julian had charmed Ana into going with him to the staff lounge to get tea
for all of them. “We’ll move to my office for your results,” said Dr.
Chesterfield, standing. “I’m basically done, I want to run a few things
through the computer in there.”

“Excellent, there’s better chairs in
there,” said Alex with a grin, gathering up both their coats and following
the doctor to his office. “I’m in for more potions, I assume?”

“Oh, yes,” said Chesterfield, wryly
amused. “Different ones, I think, you’ve got some interesting spikes that
I want to even out.”

“Well, I’d hate to be boring,” said
Alex wryly. He took a seat without being offered, as he was starting to feel
the pull of that exhaustion, though both Julian and his cane helped to support
him, in very different ways. He had pretty much decided to keep it as an
affectation even after he no longer needed its physical support, because the grounding
magic built into it had proven very useful indeed.

“Just let me run these numbers, they’ll be
back with tea in a minute,” said Dr. Chesterfield, sitting at his computer
already distracted by the interesting puzzle that was Alex’s health.

Alex just relaxed, eyes closing, and he was
surprised to be kissed back to himself a short time later. “Mm, that is
the best medicine ever, thanks,” said Alex, taking his teacup.

Julian sat next to him. “You looked so
peaceful I hated to bother you, but I figured you could use a pick-me-up.”

“Just for that, I’m going to take you to
lunch somewhere ridiculously posh,” said Alex teasingly, leaning in for
another kiss. Ana hadn’t stayed, apparently, though there was another cup of
tea steaming next to the doctor.

Julian grinned, “Good,
I deserve a treat.”

“And here I thought I was the treat,”
said Alex, taking a sip of the tea and finding it far superior to the awful
stuff they usually got out of the machines.

“You’re more than a treat,” assured
Julian with a soft, sweet smile and an even sweeter kiss.

“You’re also definitely suffering magical
exhaustion,” said Dr. Chesterfield, looking amused as he turned back to
them and sipped his own tea. “You’ve got a few areas still almost healthy,
mostly to do with sensing, and your healing magic isn’t nearly as bad as I’d
feared, but I don’t want you doing any spell work beyond activating your wards
until you’ve had another week’s worth of potions and another set of
tests.”

“Yes, Doctor,”
said Alex. “But it’s okay to listen to things, still?”

Dr. Chesterfield nodded. “As long as you
don’t take another case until I’ve cleared you for duty, yes, you can use your
magical senses as normal.”

Alex relaxed, because he’d worried about that,
a bit. It was instinct for him to listen just a little, all the time, and he’d
have had a hard time giving that up. “I can do that, then.”

“I’ve sent your prescription down to the
apothecary here, but it’s a custom item, so you’ll have to go donate a few
drops of blood and then come get your potion after lunch. This one should be
daily, rather than at meals, anyway.” Dr. Chesterfield smiled wryly.
“I have to say, I didn’t think your case would give me such interesting
things to look into when it was brought to me.”

Alex laughed and said, “Well, I’m glad to
have kept up your interest, I know your time is very valuable.”

“As is yours, I suspect,” said
Chesterfield. “I’m certain your expertise is just as much in demand as my
own.”

Alex grinned, surprised. “It is, in its
way, though I don’t have the same infrastructure you do to bring me
clients,” he said, waving his hand to indicate the hospital. “Do let
me know if you need an amulet, though. Or a murder investigated.”

Julian giggled. “He’s
quite good at the latter.”

“So I hear,” said Chesterfield. He
stood and shook hands with them. “Just head down to the apothecary,
they’ll be waiting to take their sample.”

“Thank you again, Dr.
Chesterfield. I’ll see you next Tuesday, then?”

“Yes. Potion before you come,”
instructed the doctor. “Ana or someone will get you set up.”

They said goodbye and headed out, making the
appointment for the afternoon and then heading down to the apothecary, where
Alex gave a small blood sample, this time taken from his arm. Lunch was
expensively delicious, the potion tasted as awful as ever, and Jones was happy
to ferry them back and forth. The afternoon was spent at the Agency giving
statements and Alex’s bill, which didn’t get so much as a blink from Smedley
despite the impressive total. There was a lot of teasing and congratulations and
then false sympathy when it got around that the engagement was off, and all in
all Alex felt more at home after all that had happened than ever before.

~ ~ ~

“Emmy’s invited us out to tea,” said
Julian, where he was lounging in Alex’s reading-chair in the work room. It had
been a couple of weeks, and after getting a clean bill of health and then
constructing some new parts, Alex was ready to repair Horace today. “She
wants us to meet this mysterious new beau of hers.”

“At least we know it’s not Willoughby,”
said Alex teasingly. He was hunched over his workbench, carefully removing and
replacing Horace’s bent beak with a new, improved model in a sturdier metal.
Several of the feathers being replaced were actually perfectly good still, but
Alex wanted the upgrades to be symmetrical, adding a bit of a pattern to both
wings rather than just looking like a patch job.