Death of Trust Part 9 (Patreon)

Citizens trickled into the amphitheater taking up seats in the tiers.

Men, women, young, old.

Laughter traveled on currents of air flavored by baked goods.

Going there to see the plays had become almost a weekly ritual since Giovi granted Alton's his freedom. Almost as if the performance was a shared celebration. That first time Alton had been too overwhelmed by the realization he was a citizen and no longer a slave to take in the play. The urge to walk down to that stage and announce his freedom to the world left him trembling but the fear of it all being a lie kept him rooted to his seat. It had taken weeks for him to finally accept Giovi had truly uttered those words and Alton hadn't somehow made it up in his mind.

A trio of small boys darted between Alton and Giovi. A broad smile painted the mans lips.

“You should consider having children.” Giovi still watched the boys who wrestled each other until their mother corralled them into the seating area.

It wasn't until Giovi looked at Alton that he realized the man meantheshould consider children.

“Uh, I'm not really the parenting type.”

“All men say that until they hold that small, squirming life in their hands.” Giovi sighed. “There really is nothing more beautiful.”

“Are you hungry?” Alton nodded at one of the vendors. “I'm hungry, would you mind if I...”

Giovi squinted at Alton.

It didn't surprise him Giovi saw right through his ruse. Alton tugged on his tunic.

“You can still have male lovers.”

Alton stuttered to a stop.

Giovi huffed. “Now Alton, surely you didn't think I wouldn't notice. It's never the women you stare at.”

Heat burned a path up Alton's cheeks. Giovi was right, it wasn't, but his assumed reasons were not what drew Alton's gaze to the crowds in the market place. It wasn't an attraction to men that had him searching every man's face.

But over the years Alton saw no signs of Cael. Sometimes the burn of copper flashed in Alton's periphery, but the boy was never there when he turned. Yet he still looked. He still longed. He still dreamed of the Doxie who'd tended his feet all those years ago. Dreams that left Alton tangled in the sheets, covered and sweat, cum drying on his thighs.

“I'm going to grab a pastry.” Alton backed away.

“Fine, but I'm not saving your seat and you can watch from the gates if you're late.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And this conversation isn't over.”

No. Giovi never left a conversation unfinished no matter how embarrassing the topic. Alton made his way over to the pastry cart were several people waited for the baker to take their coins in exchange for a slice of sugar dipped bread.

Alton let several people in front of him while he pretended to look for his money in his belt pouch. The sooner he paid, the sooner he'd have to return to the play, Giovi, and the man's dissecting stare.

A breeze tickled Alton's cheek with a lock of his hair. Then the sweet flavor, subtle yet distinct enough to cut through the rich odor of butter and icing, drew his attention. There'd only been one other time he tasted that honey flavor on the air.

People shuffled past. Children tussled. A man with a cart pushed it down to a side entrance to the amphitheater.

Absolutely nothing about the lithe form wrapped in a shawl with a cowl to make them stand out but Alton couldn't pull his gaze away.

His heart squeezed, his mouth watered, and heat moved from his cheeks to his groin.

Alton didn't even know he walked towards the figure who now stood in the shadows, peering through a dip in the tiered platforms. A swatch of sunlight skipped off the edge of their cowl catching copper locks that managed to escape.

He stopped a few yards away. The murmur of the citizens rose and fell.

The figure straightened up, his shoulders pulled taught, the he jerked his head around. Eyes round, mouth parted, the mask of fear quickly softened under a rose blush.

“Cael.” Alton had to say his name just incase this was another ghost conjured up by thinking about him.

Cael smiled and dropped his eyes.

Alton closed the distance between them. He held the other boy's face. Cael's exhale shuddered.

“Hi.” His smile widened.

He hadn't changed. But Cael had said he'd been born before that ancient temple in the woods had fallen. And he'd looked so young then, not he seemed even smaller.

A man laughed and Cael turned his head. The cowl slipped down concealing his face. His jade eyes tracked the movements of a cluster of older citizens as they slapped each other on the back in response to their companion's joke.

“You're scared of them.” Alton had no idea why he asked it was obvious.

“I'm scared they'll see me.” Cael took Alton's hand and pulled him farther along the outer wall of the amphitheater where the sunlight lost its battle with notches in the wall. Old doors filled the back. Heavy iron padlocks held them closed.

Cael led Alton into the fourth alcove. The Doxie jostled the padlock and it opened. He slid it from the latch and shouldered the door open.

Alton stalled at the thresh hold. Crates of brightly colored fabric, strange wooden sculptures, along with rope and pulleys lined the shelves.

“It's a prop room.” Cael climbed up onto a table at the far end where sunlight found its way through the slivers of windows. He knelt on a pillow. A drum thundered and the crowd quieted.

“Hurry up and shut the door.”

Alton stepped inside and pushed the door to. The frame stopped it so he leaned his weight into the wooden barrier forcing it into the frame.

“Are you here with someone?” Alton joined Cael on the table. He handed Alton a pillow.

“No.” Cael removed his shawl. “I'm not supposed to come to the theatre.”

“Why?”

Cael folded his arms on the skinny ledge. The beam of sun cut a glowing line down his cheek. He smiled. A chorus filled the air and people clapped.

Alton put the pillow under his knees, but it wasn't the play he watched.

“Why aren't you allowed to come to the theatre?”

Cael's Adam's apple bobbed and he shook his head. Cheers from outside filled the silence.

After a long moment Cael dropped his shoulders. “I'm not allowed. That's why I couldn't...I couldn't say anything to you.”

Alton furrowed his brow.

Cael flicked him a look.“I saw you.”

“Huh?”

“In the market, sometimes when you walked back to Giovi's Domus.”

“You saw me?”

Cael chewed his bottom lip and nodded.

Alton struggled to swallow. “I looked for you. I don't know why but...”

“I know. Sometimes I thought you might have seen me but...” Cael shrugged. “I'm really good at hiding.”

And why would he need to hide?

Almost against his will, Alton took the other boy's hand. No calluses, no scars, just a smattering of freckles over his pale skin. He counted the speckles where they spilled down Cael's wrist.

“You were scared of someone that night in the woods.”

Cael petted the back of Alton's hand.

“Is that why you didn't tell me you saw me?” An ache beat in Alton's chest. Years. Cael had watched him for years and Alton had only wondered if the glimpses were tricks of his mind.

“Yes.”

“I never told anyone about that night.”

“I know.”

“But you still watched me?”

Cael sniffled. “I get lonely. I want...” He inhaled deep enough to lift his shoulders. “I want to be wi-- I mean around people. I miss my friends.”

“Are you a slave?”

Cael huffed a laugh. “I told you I'm a Doxie.” His smile faltered. “I'm less than a slave.”

Alton wrinkled his brow. “What?”

“We should watch the play, it's really good, one of my--”

“Who says you're less than a slave?”

“My master.”

“Did he take you from somewhere?” Maybe Alton could help Cael get back. He was a citizen now with enough money he could buy passage to somewhere else.

“Yes, but he did it to save me from a very bad person.”

“But he won't take you home?”

Cael tilted his head. “I forget you're just a godling. There's a lot you don't know.” He fondled the edge of the sleeve of Alton's tunic. “It might be better that way. Then you'd never have to worry about being seen as a threat. There aren't many of us and the gods fight.” He leaned closer. The flush in his cheeks going from pink to crimson. “Sometimes they don't though. Sometimes there's peace between them and they come together to...” He tipped up his chin.

“To what?”

“Share us.”

“What do you mean?”

“It's why I'm lonely, he won't let me be with anyone else.”

Cael traced a path across Alton's chest. Lower to his navel, lower again to his cock. He didn't even realize how hard he was until Cael rubbed him through his tunic.

He gasped.

“Cael...” Alton tried to pull away but his grip closed over Cael's upper arms.

“Gods and Doxie are meant to be together.” The Doxie exhaled a warm breath against Alton's chin.

Alton rocked his hips. Cool air brushed his legs and the fabric separating them moved aside. Cael's fingers seared Alton's skin, tightening around his cock.

“Are you waiting to take your first bloom?”

It took Alton a moment to process the question. “Yes, Pavle said I should...” A shiver ran down Alton's spine he moved his hold to Cael's wrist. “Tighter.”

Cael obeyed and Alton dropped his head back. Just like his dreams only clearer. Sounds, colors, and the feel of Cael's skin, the warmth of his body as sharp and bold as the music ringing through the amphitheater.

“I can hold back.” Cael feathered his lips along Alton's collar bone. “I know how. I can be with you and not make ambrosia.”

Make ambrosia? The question shattered under the rush of euphoria. Alton slammed his free hand against the wall to keep from falling forward. His pulse beat down his cock and the mellow scent of cum mixed with the perpetual honey bleeding from Cael's skin.

Alton heaved in breath after breath. He didn't realize he'd closed his eyes until he opened them.

Cum dripped over Cael's hand and had splattered on his thigh.

“I'm sorry.” For the mess maybe but not for the pleasure.

Cael lifted his hands to his lips and licked his fingers.

A strangled cry bubbled in Alton's chest.

“I like how you taste.” Cael licked his palm. “Gods taste different from mortals. Even when they've taken from me they never taste the same.” He sucked his thumb.

Alton's tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth and and odd hunger coiled in his chest. The need to touch Cael had him pushing up the boy's tunic.

No, not touch him. Taste him.

Alton pushed Cael back. He made a startled yelp but as soon as his butt hit the table he spread his knees. Alton didn't even take a moment to taste the beads of fluid collecting at the boy's slit. He simple swallowed the Doxie's cock. Cael was smaller than just about any man Alton had been forced to suck so there was no strain to take all of him. And doing so was nothing but pleasure.

Cael arched off the table and tangled his fingers in Alton's hair. “Please, more.”

Alton rolled the Doxie's balls in his hand as be bobbed his head sucking hard enough to hollow out his cheeks. The need to make Cael come had Alton groaning around the boy's cock. Desperation drove him to move faster. The Doxie had something Alton needed. He had no idea how he knew but the want went beyond the need for water, or soothing the pain of starvation, and the absolute necessity of sleep. It reached into Alton's core and shredded his will.

Jets of warmth coated Alton's tongue. The rich flavor of cum barely registering through the drive to take something sweeter.

“Alton...” Cael thrust his hips. “Feels good. Oh that feels...” Cael keened his body going rigid under Alton's hands. Again the boy came, somehow his second release twice as much as the first. Cum coated Alton's lips, ran down his chin. He yanked Cael closer. It was another plaintive cry from the Doxie that slapped Alton hard.

His vice grip dimpled the boy's thighs. More red streaks marked his hips.

Alton jerked back.

Cale collapsed on the table, his glassy eyed stare so full of want. But the marks on his skin kept Alton back.

“I'm sorry. I didn't mean to...” To hurt him.

Cael sat up and crawled closer. “You didn't.” Before Alton could back away he was right there, then their lips connected and the boy thrust in his tongue. The bitter salt of cum faded under the natural sweetness bleeding from Cael. But like his release, the flavor was incomplete and Alton found himself scraping the inside of Cael's mouth, once again searching.

There in the Cael's essence, a star-scape of ambrosia, as bright as the sun, as distinctive as water to air. Alton knew then what he craved. He released Cael's mouth and traced his fingers down the boy's throat to where the collar of his tunic slipped off his shoulder. The bright points, the churning energy of ambrosia followed Alton's movements.

Outside the chorus faded and the drums rolled again signaling the second act. How long had Alton been here? Years, decades, centuries wouldn't have been long enough. With the taste of Cael on his tongue Alton was pretty sure he could go without food and even water for the rest of his life.

“You should go.” Cael nuzzled Alton's neck.

He was right. Alton did need to leave. “I don't want to.”

“I know.” Cael's voice wavered.

Alton cupped the Doxie's chin and lifted his face. “You don't want me to go either do you?”

He shook his head.

“Then I'll stay.”

Cael dropped his gaze the gesture so innocent despite what they'd just done. “You can't, you know you can't.”

“Then tell me where I can find you.” He'd be there every free minute.

The soft smile on Cael's lips fell. “I can't.”

Because he was afraid. Or was it something more? “Please?”

Cael's lips trembled. He took several breaths.

“Even if it's only to talk, even if you never let me...let me touch you again.”

Confusion marred the Doxie's features then slowly the tension smoothed. Cael fidgeted with the

hem of his tunic. Cum made dark smudges across the gray fabric. “Do you know where the alter of Eros is?”

Of course Alton did. It sat near one of the community wells less than a block from Pavle's studio. “Yes.”

“When you want to see me leave a branch of yellow rock-roses on the steps at the base. Then wait in the alley behind the blacksmith on that side of the city.”

“How will you--”

Cael placed a finger over Alton's lips. “I'll meet you there just after sunset.”

Alton nodded and Cael placed a kiss on his cheek.