Kane’s jaw dropped as he managed to catch a glimpse of it. A tiny whimper escaped from the back of his throat.
The knife wasn’t sharp enough to hurt anyone. Everet was able to trail the blade across Kane’s skin without worrying that it would do the other man any harm.
“Feel good?” he asked.
“It would feel even better if you’d do it where I could watch properly.”
Everet was sure Kane was right, but that wasn’t the point. “I can see fine from here,” Everet said. “You don’t need to see, you just need to feel.”
Kane huffed.
“Close your eyes,” Everet ordered.
“Why?”
“Because I told you to. I warned you that I like to boss my lovers around. It’s time you got used to obeying me properly when we play.”
Everet walked around to face Kane. The magpie raised an eyebrow at him, but he made no attempt to cover his erection and hide how turned on he was by Everet’s orders.
One last moment of mutiny, and Kane finally closed his eyes. Everet rewarded him by touching the handle of the knife gently against each eyelid. Kane’s breath caught in his throat. He licked his lips. Nerves, Everet wondered? No, excitement, that was it.
“Can you feel it glittering against you?” Everet whispered. “It feels good, doesn’t it? Smooth and clean, and so shiny…”
He let the silver brush against Kane’s lower lip. “Taste it.”
Kane opened his mouth in acceptance and Everet offered the blade slowly, slipping it past his lips until it touched against his tongue. The look on Kane’s face was little short of pure ecstasy.
Under no pressure to maintain a somber expression while Kane was blind to everything that happened around him, Everet grinned.
When he took the silver away, Kane frowned. He kept his mouth open for several seconds, obviously hoping to feel the silver slip inside him one more time.
“Tell me what it tastes like,” Everet ordered.
Kane licked his lips. “Good.”
“You can do better than that.”
Rather than open his eyes and argue, Kane closed his eyes even tighter and frowned in concentration.
“Shiny,” he whispered, his tone more uncertain than Everet had ever known it.
“Good,” Everet said. “What else?” He moved to stand directly behind Kane. With his free hand, he reached around the magpie’s torso and guided Kane to lean back against him.
Kane didn’t try to fight whatever Everet wanted to do with his body. He was far too caught up in what Everet did with his mind.
“Silvery,” Kane offered.
“Yes,” Everet said, encouragingly. Keeping one hand on Kane’s abs to hold him in place, Everet brought his other arm around Kane as well, and guided the knife to rest against Kane’s collarbone.
A shiver ran down Kane’s spine, so fierce, Everet felt it, too.
“Cold?” Everet asked.
Kane huffed. “You bloody well know that temperature has nothing to do with it.”
“True,” Everet allowed, as he slowly traced the blunt point of the knife around one of Kane’s nipples. The little bud immediately peaked and hardened for him. “It’s all to do with how good the silver feels against you, isn’t it?”
Kane tried to take a deep breath, but he couldn’t force enough air into his lungs. His head spun, but that had nothing to do with a lack of oxygen, temperature, or any of that bull. It had everything to do with an overload of silvery-ness.
His mind swirled with sparkling clouds. “It’s almost like being high.”
“It is?”
Kane hadn’t realized he’d made the confession out loud until Everet uttered his reply. It was too late to take it back now, pointless to curse himself for an idiot. Kane simply nodded. “The silver, it’s…” He shook his head. There were no words to describe the way the element seemed to seep through his skin every time Everet traced it over his body.
As Kane stood there, naked and mute, Everet moved the knife down. It moved around to the side of his stomach in an effort to circumnavigate Everet’s other hand and, suddenly, it was on his thigh.
It was right next to his cock.
Kane gasped and thrust forward his hips.
Silver against his cock. His mind came dangerously close to disintegrating at the prospect.
“Tell me what you want,” Everet commanded.
The knife. Sex. You. Silver. Everything. So many things sprang to the front of Kane’s mind, but if he could only have one thing then there was really no choice for him to make. Only one of those things was truly essential to his future happiness.
“You.”
Everet hesitated, as if Kane’s answer had caught him completely off guard.
“I want you,” Kane repeated, with complete conviction. “I want your cock buried in my arse, your body pinning me down and your lips against mine. I want you wrapped around me, filling me, grabbing me, everything. You said you own me. I want you to prove it.” By the end, Kane’s words tumbled out so fast he had no control over them and barely any breath left to say them.
Everet made no immediate reply. Kane tensed, pleading with any deity who might be inclined to take pity on him.
Still without saying a word, Everet very slowly began to slide the silver knife blade up and down Kane’s shaft.
Kane dropped his head back until it rested on Everet’s shoulder. He parted his lips and gasped up toward the ceiling, but he didn’t open his eyes—not while he lacked permission to do that.
The raven’s touch was so controlled, so determined. Then, without any warning, it changed into something so different, it was almost impossible for Kane to believe he still shared the room with the same man.
Everet pushed Kane forward. Instinct made Kane open his eyes, there was no way he could stop the lids flying up as self-preservation kicked in. He reached out to break his fall. His hands slid against the spoons and knives laid out across the table. Silver caressed his palms. As he lost the last of his balance, his whole torso came to rest on the disordered rows of freshly polished silver.
Even before his brain had processed what had just happened, Kane reached out to touch and caress the hoard. Everet caught hold of Kane’s wrist and twisted it up behind his back, stopping him short, forcing him down against the silver. His cheek pressed down on the bowl of a spoon. A blunt knife pushed along the line of his neck.
So much silver. So much sparkle. So much perfection…
Everet soon had two well-lubed fingers working inside Kane, preparing him for his cock. Kane couldn’t figure out what felt better—what happened inside him, or what pressed against his skin.
It was too much for any man to be able to take in silence. Kane didn’t even try to control the words that left his lips anymore. He had no idea if he praised Everet or cursed him, if he told the other man he loved him or hated him. Silver, quicksilver, submission, sex. Everything blurred together in his mind.
It was only when Everet thrust deep inside him, lodging his shaft in Kane’s arse to the hilt in one harsh movement that events crystallized into one solid reference point that he could depend and focus upon.
Kane cried out as he bucked against the table and silver stroked the whole underside of his body. Even the head of his cock rubbed against a highly polished surface.
Kane squirmed, relishing every bit of it. Everet strengthened his grip around his wrist, sending another wave of bliss through him.
Eyes closed again, Kane watched flashes of silver and gold explode in the darkness. He couldn’t do much except flex his muscles around Everet’s cock and try to make sure Everet enjoyed the ride, too.
All too soon, Kane felt the ice crack beneath him. He crashed down into the arctic water beneath the winter freeze. There was no air now, just pleasure, so sharp and brittle it felt more like pain. Water splashed above his head. He had no idea if he was waving or drowning, if he wanted to be rescued or not.
He cried out, but heard nothing past the ringing in his ears. Finally, he managed to drag a full breath into his lungs. He gasped and spluttered, his whole body shaking as he pulled himself back to the surface and came face to face with the real world.
Everet’s hand tugged at Kane’s wrist, forcing him to stand long before he was physically capable of attempting such a mammoth undertaking. He immediately stumbled.
Both Everet’s arms slid around him, but they didn’t hold him up, they merely made his descent toward the bare wooden floor of the silver room a little more controlled.
Everet went down with him. Wrapping his arms more firmly around Kane, he held him close to his chest and cradled him there. Everet made a noise in the back of his throat, which he probably intended to be reassuring. It sounded more like the kind of sound a saber-toothed tiger would make if it tried to purr like a tabby kitten.
Kane closed his eyes. He didn’t need so much fuss made over him, but he couldn’t deny that it was very nice to have a strong warm body to rest against while he came down from his high.
He smiled. He knew Everet would let him get high sooner or later. It involved silver, and there had even been a certain sort of quickness involved, on Kane’s part at least. He was reasonably sure Everet hadn’t held back either.
“Don’t look too pleased with yourself,” Everet whispered in his ear.
Kane raised an eyebrow. “You came too.” He had no doubt about that. The other man’s softened shaft pressed against his skin, sticky with the residue of both lube and his cum.
“Yeah, I did,” Everet agreed. “I wasn’t talking about that.”
Kane sluggishly lifted his head. “Then what?”
“I mean, before we leave the room, someone is going to have to clean the silverware you just came all over.”
Kane glanced up toward the table. Damn. He had, hadn’t he? He shrugged. “Was worth it.”
Everet pressed a kiss to the top of Kane’s head. “Yeah. It was.” He chuckled then. “How about you wash and I help you dry?”
* * * *
“Good evening, sire.” It took all of Everet’s self-control to look straight at Ori and not immediately turn his attention to Kane.
“Hello.” Ori smiled. “Did you have a good day?”
“Yes, thank you, sire.”
Everet knew what a poor liar Ori was. If anything had gone wrong for Kane during the day, it would have shown plainly on the swan’s face. Everet didn’t need to ask the same question in return.
The tiny bit of tension that had lingered in Everet’s spine dissipated. This made it twelve days in a row that Kane had proved to be an exemplary worker—a true credit to his master and his nest.
Everet had made conversation with a man who thoroughly deserved his respect—not to mention his thanks for the silver-room suggestion. But, now, Everet would have his reward for being polite to Ori. He allowed himself to turn toward Kane.
Hard work suited the magpie. Nothing else had ever made his eyes shine so brightly—not just with pleasure but with pride as well.
“Did you have a good day?” Everet asked.
Kane nodded rapidly. He strode across to fetch Everet from his place by the door, just as he had every other day.
Everet dutifully followed his somewhat polish-stained lover across the room and happily praised the progress Kane and Ori had made on cleaning and polishing a huge silver punch bowl. The thing was monstrous. Filled to the brim, it would have held enough to get every avian in the nest thoroughly sloshed.