Rylan stumbled down the stairs, rubbing at his eyes and yawning widely.

He nearly collapsed onto one of the kitchen chairs, too tired to make it to the coffee machine.

He stared at the great god of caffeine, currently so hazy as not to be recognized by his sleep blurred eyes. Hm… That was weird. It was darker than usual. Maybe there was coffee in it? But that meant someone was awake. No way. He was up way early. No one sane was up this early. He just needed to check on the shop and check out Rave’s new hire then he could come back and go back to sleep. Everyone would still be asleep then. So that meant it had to be yesterday’s coffee. Ew. Leftover coffee was gross.

As he mused on all the horrible things about day old coffee, there was a little bit of shuffling that Rylan disregarded, too tired to think properly about anything but caffeine. Suddenly, all he could smell was the bitter life-giving drink.

He blinked as a mug was pressed into his hands. He took a sip and nearly moaned. Caffeine.

Delightful caffeine. Splendid, shocking, marvelous. Oh, what a morning.

He blearily smiled a tiny bit. Haikus were cool. But wait. Where had he gotten the caffeine?

He frowned and rubbed at his eyes hard, finally getting them to focus. Oh. Dimitri. The tall dark fae was leaning against the counter, his own mug of coffee in his hands. Rylan had a sudden surge of affection for his husband. He gave him caffeine.

He squashed it though as soon as the caffeine started to kick in, way faster than it would for any human. The greatest advantage of his fae blood, as far as Rylan was concerned, was how fast it made caffeine kick in.

He should not be feeling nice towards Dimitri. The man had slept with his baby brother. More than once. He suppressed the growl that wanted to trickle from between his lips and instead stayed silent, not thanking Dimitri but not glaring at either.

His eyes fell to the packet on the counter by Dimitri. Finally. The tall fae was being far too reticent.

Rylan nodded at the papers. “You finished yet?”

Dimitri’s hands tightened around the glass and Rylan had to suppress a sigh when the faint scent of fear and embarrassment reached him. Dammit, he really needed to start being nicer to the dark fae. It had never used to be this bad; Dimitri’s wariness of him had reached unprecedented levels when he had nearly hit him a couple weeks ago.

Rylan wanted to dump that entire incident on Ezra’s shoulders but the bout of anger had been all his. He breathed in deeply through his nose and counted to ten. “It doesn’t matter. I’m going to the shop. I’ll be back in a couple hours. Please have it finished.”

Dimitri nodded and Rylan stood with a sigh before going upstairs to get dressed.

He got to his store quickly and opened the door. He was greeted by Rave sitting on the counter, a tall dark man between his legs, leaning into him. Their lips were pressed together but kiss was too mild a word. The dark man looked like he was trying to eat Rave’s face.

He took the step into the doorway, setting off the sensor and making a digital bell ring.

The two broke apart, the man looking towards the door. “Welcome to Interrupted Sleep where we make all your fantasies come true.”

Rylan tensed. This was the employee Rave had hired? Rave finally glanced up, his lavender curls not even in a semblance of order.

His pale pink eyes widened. “Rylan! Hi,” he tacked on hurriedly. He disentangled himself from the dark man, frowning faintly when the man’s hand caressed his ass.

Rylan growled faintly, the jealousy he should have felt last night at Leo touching Ezra rising now sharply.

“This is Max, your new employee,” Rave continued on, hand gesturing a little too quickly. He was nervous. “He applied a little- a little after you called. He was well qualified. He used to work in a sex shop over the border. He has a couple of great references.”

“Rave, shut up,” Rylan snapped, glaring at the tall dark man. He was broad through the shoulders and nearly as tall as Malachi. His skin was dark, but Rylan would never be able to adopt the human habit of calling Africans black; not after seeing Dimitri. Nonetheless, his skin was dark for a human, the color of good dark chocolate. He was in impeccable shape and had a nice face, but Rylan found himself instantly disliking him. It might have been the thin lips that looked made for ordering people around or the scent of dominance that set Rylan’s hackles rising, but he thought it was more likely that he had been kissing Rave and that the twos’ scents were so entwined it was unquestionable they had fucked and recently. Meaning during store hours. That was acceptable to get pissed about even after rejecting Rave’s attentions for years, right?

“Have you two been closing up the store to fuck?”

Rave paled and the tall dark guy winced.

“Uh…”

“That was my fault,” Rave mumbled.

Rylan eyed him, not wanting to believe it, but it was obviously true. At least the pale fae looked guilty.

Rylan glared at him and snapped, “Don’t do it again. You,” he growled at the new guy, “Come into my office.”

He led ‘Max’ into the rarely used office and winced a little. It still smelled of Leo and sex. The human wouldn’t smell it, but it was a little distracting.

He settled into his soft back chair and Leo’s scent washed over him. Ooh, bad choice. He forcibly ignored the scent and tried to focus on the faint scent of Rave mixed with Max’s odor.

“So you’ve worked in a sex shop before Max?”

The man nodded. “Yes sir.” The sir was ground out with great reluctance. Max offered his hand. “Maximus Jacobs.”

Rylan stared at it. “Fae don’t shake hands.”

The man retracted his hand and smiled crookedly. If Rylan hadn’t met him in the circumstances that he had and if he had been into dominant assholes, he might be charmed by that smile. But he wasn’t so when Maximus said, “I’m new to Border Town and am still trying to learn the customs.” Rylan snapped, “Learn them. Quickly.”

“Yes, sir,” Max ground out.

“Do not offer to shake hands, even with humans, go by Maximus and call people by their given name unless told differently. I’m Rylan.” He didn’t give Maximus a chance to say anything. “That’s part of the human culture here now too and many fae will take offense if you do anything else. Don’t insult a fae on his or her looks but don’t lie.” He eyed the human. “Never, ever insult a fae. Not even as a joke. We’re a touchy bunch.”

Maximus nodded seriously. “Rave warned me of that much.”

“I’m sure. No fucking on the job. Think you can handle that?”

Maximus smiled indolently, like a satisfied cat. “If he can.”

Rylan resisted the urge to throttle the man and then throw him out the window. He really couldn’t be here too often. “Get out,” he snapped irritably. He would promptly fire the man as soon as he was able. “Tell Rave to get in here.”

Rave entered a couple minutes later and sat across from him, face painfully pink.

Rylan just stared at him with a raised eyebrow for a moment, fingers steepled in front of him. “Really?” he finally asked.

Rave giggled nervously. “Er… yes?”

Rylan rolled his eyes. “Keep your business to your own time.” He stood up and Rave jumped up nervously. “And you’re coming to dinner tonight.”

Rave brightened, apparently happy he wasn’t going to be reprimanded further. “’Kay. What time?”

“Hell if I know. Just show up.”

Rave nodded and exited the room quickly, trailing embarrassment like an expensive perfume.

Rylan took a deep breath and tried counting to ten. It was supposed to help right? Right? Well, it didn’t. He managed to keep his calm until his door closed and he was able to turn on some sensual jazz that would pervade the store. Then he picked up the chair that Rave had been sitting on and threw it against the wall, watching with satisfaction as it hit with a bang and splintered into a hundred pieces.


Ezra glanced up from his picking at the bedspread as Dimitri came in. He forced himself to still his fingers, not wanting to start another in depth talk like the day before.

Dimitri raised an eyebrow, but said nothing, just perched on the edge of the bed. His hip pressed against Ezra’s side. Ezra suppressed a shudder. Damn. It had been awhile since he had reacted like this with anyone. This was why he didn’t like sleeping with one person for extended periods of time; he got attached and his body started reacting to them just like automatically. That’s partly why Rick had such a hold over him, even now.

Ezra wanted to move his leg, but he couldn’t make himself. He wanted to touch Dimitri. He wanted to fuck him. Or get turned over and fucked. Whichever was easier. Or whichever Dimitri preferred really.

As Dimitri caught his hand gently, Ezra reminded himself that wouldn’t happen. One, Dimitri was so uptight when sober, Ezra wouldn’t be surprised to find there was sledgehammer up his ass. Plus, he was injured and shit.

“No one’s told you why we need you here?”

Ezra tensed up preparing for news of some ritual sacrifice of a slut needed for a fertility spell or something equally ridiculous and painful.

“There’s an investigation by the HRFC into our marriage. We need to pretend like everything’s good so we can stay together.”

“Oh,” Ezra said, sinking back into the pillows. An investigation? Oh. “So I need to pretend like I’m all lovey dovey and happy and want to be here?”

Dimitri nodded and for the first time, Ezra noticed how tense he was. Cute. He thought he was going to freak out.

He tugged on Dimitri’s braid. “Relax big boy. I’m down.”

Dimitri blinked down at him. “What?”

Right. The fae man wasn’t really into the lingo. He still talked like he was in the eighteenth century. He rarely even used contractions.

“I’ll help. Some of you guys are sweet together. On one condition.”

Dimitri nodded quickly and Ezra smiled bitterly. He could be taking advantage of the dark fae hardcore right now if he wasn’t so nice.

“Answer all my questions and as soon as this is over, y’all let me go. I don’t care if the divorce happens or not.”

Dimitri nodded, reluctantly.

Ezra smiled and squeezed his hand. Aw. That was sweet. “So… First question: when’s this investigation?”

--

Malachi glanced up from his book as Dimitri wandered out of the hallway.

“Talking with Ezra again?” he asked, putting his book down.

Dimitri nodded and slipped onto the couch, sliding under Malachi’s arm. Malachi smiled and kissed his forehead.

“Yes. No one had told him about the HRFC investigation.”

Malachi lost his smile. “Oh. How did he take it?”

“Well. I think he expected something worse honestly.”

Malachi raised an eyebrow. “Worse than being forced to stay in a house that he doesn’t want to be in, with people he doesn’t particularly like, and in a marriage he wants over?”

Dimitri nodded. “He has very low expectations.”

Malachi snorted. “No kidding. I’d be freaking out right now.”

Dimitri sighed. “I think he can take most anything in a stride. He has been homeless for over a year. And it looks like he gets beaten a lot. And he has a very serious chronic disease.”

Malachi sighed. “Point. So he’s going to do as much as he can?”

“It seems that way.”

“That’s good, I guess.”

Dimitri nodded and tensed suddenly. Malachi was about to ask why when the door opened. Malachi glanced up and smiled at Rylan. The man did not smile back.

Malachi’s smile slipped. “What’s up?” he asked, sitting up, disturbing Dimitri a little. Dimitri was already too tense to care.

“Nothing,” Rylan snapped. He focused on Dimitri. “Did you finish your fucking questionnaire?”

Malachi sighed as Dimitri didn’t answer and pulled him closer, cuddling the taller man to his side. “He’s been busy. He explained stuff to Ezra. He agreed to help.”
Rylan didn’t answer, just stormed off.

Dimitri stayed tense until Malachi kissed his head and laced their hands together. “Relax, he’s just pissed off about something. It doesn’t really have anything to do with you.”

When Dimitri didn’t respond and didn’t relax, Malachi pulled him on his lap and ran soothing hands down his sides and back. “Come on, relax. It’s fine.”

Dimitri melted against him all at once. He leaned again Malachi’s chest and rested his head in the crook of Malachi’s neck.

Malachi moved his dreads out of Dimitri’s face and settled into the couch, holding Dimitri close. “I love you,” he whispered softly.

Dimitri tensed all over again.

Malachi’s arms tightened, not wanting him to get away. “I love you. I love how insecure you are and all your little quirks and OCD moments and how uptight you are and how sweet you are, especially when you think no one’s paying attention. You are damn formal and it’s adorable. I love snuggling with you and I really enjoy kissing you. You taste like apples. And you are literally the sexiest slut I have ever seen when you’re drunk.”

He grinned and brushed his thumbs along Dimitri’s cheeks. “Don’t blush its totally true and I don’t mean that in a bad way. It’s totally true and I think it’s incredibly, incredibly sexy.”

Malachi smiled at him. Dimitri smiled back tentatively.

Malachi smirked and kissed his forehead. “This is either the part where you say you love me too or it gets really really awkward for me.”

Dimitri smiled up at him. “I love you too.” His voice was soft, tentative.

Malachi grinned at him. “Don’t sound so sure.”

Dimitri grabbed his shoulders and kissed him firmly on the lips. “I love you.”

He pushed Malachi down on the couch and gently continued to kiss him over and over again. “I love you,” he repeated between every kiss. “I love you. I love you. I love you.”

Malachi laughed and ran his hands through Dimitri’s hair. Or tried to. “Damn braid,” he snapped irritably.

Dimitri laughed and tugged the tie out of his hair.

Malachi eyes widened. “Ooh,” he mumbled. “Long luscious locks and they’re mine, all mine.” He ran a hand through Dimitri’s hair, loosening it from his braid. “Sexy sexy hair.” He laughed and ran a hand through it. “You look really pretty with your hair down, love.”

“Thank you.”

Malachi grinned and wrapped his hands around Dimitri, kissing him gently.

Dimitri pulled away suddenly. “I really do need to finish filling that thing out.”

“Mood killer.”

Dimitri sighed and kissed him. “I love you. We’ll finish this later,” he promised gently, smiling tentatively, embarrassed.

“Fine,” Malachi said groaning. “Leave me with blue balls then.”

“I’ll take care of those later too.” Dimitri gave him a quick kiss and was out of the room before Malachi realized what he had just promised.

“Damn!”

There was snickering from behind him.

Malachi glanced back to find Holly leaning on the back of the couch. “Isn’t he sexy as fuck sometimes? And he’ll start doing shit like that occasionally. Just little flirty things like that’ll leave you hard for hours and he doesn’t even realize he’s being hot.”

“How often is occasionally?”

“Very, very occasionally. He’s usually the same person you always see, but he likes sex as much as Rylan does, he’s just quieter about it. And way less aggressive. Usually. Except when drunk.”

“Yeah. I got the more aggressive when drunk bit.”

“I think we all do,” snapped Rylan, wandering back in. “He’s as slutty as Ezra when drunk. Possibly sluttier. Did he fill out the fucking paperwork?”

“He’s working on it,” Malachi said, smiling at him. “What’s got your panties- Sorry, pants-“he corrected with a wicked grin. “In a twist?” Rylan always commented on it whenever Malachi said that. He didn’t wear panties. Hell, Rylan rarely ever wore underwear at all.

“Rave’s fucking the new employee,” Rylan snapped.

Malachi sat up suddenly. “Wait what? Cute, sweet, little Rave? With the lavender hair? And the baby face?”

Holly snorted. “We only know one Rave, moron.”

Malachi snorted. “Jerk.”

“Jackass.”

“Love you, asshole.”

“Love you too, fattie.”

Malachi laughed and then tried to sober up. They all knew Rave had a little crush on Rylan and it slowly seemed to be extending. Malachi could make Rave blush. He hadn’t been able to do that even a month ago. But, what he was realizing and he was pretty sure none of the others had realized, was that Rylan had begun to like Rave back. Not a lot- not love, not even a crush, not yet, but close.

Malachi really liked Rave. He liked him a lot. And it was disappointing to hear he was fucking a guy, unbelievable really. Rave was far too sweet, far too young to be having sex with anyone. But he wasn’t as pissed off as Rylan. Not near.

Malachi shrugged it off. He had other things to worry about. Like Rylan’s emotional state. “On company time?”

“Yeah,”  Rylan muttered.

“That sucks. Did you walk in on it?” Rylan was a big boy; he could take care of his own emotional state. Malachi wanted to know if Rave’s body matched his face.

“No,” Rylan said with a frown, dropping into the seat beside Malachi. “I walked in on the guy trying to eat his face off.”

Malachi bit his lip in a desperate attempt not to laugh. He couldn’t help himself though when Holly grabbed Rylan’s chin and said, “Like this?” before beginning to make out with his cheek.

Rylan sniggered and batted the fire elemental away. “Yeah. Like that.”

“Not hot,” Holly proclaimed, before wandering off. He turned and stopped suddenly. “Rylan, wanna come with?”

“In a sec, firebug.”

Malachi rolled his eyes and laughed as Holly left.

Rylan snorted. “He’s fucking insatiable. Has it gotten even worse lately, or has he just been jumping me more often lately?”

“If by lately, you mean yesterday afternoon and today, then yes. I think I’ve gotten jumped twice.”

“Three times for me.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah, that’s not normal, even for Holly.”

Malachi sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Think something’s up?”

“He can’t just be horny?”

“Well, maybe. But…”

“Yeah, yeah,” Rylan said with a sigh. “I’ll talk to him. Damn. I’ve been enjoying the constant sex. Can I fuck him first?”

“No. Talk first. Then fuck him.”

Rylan laughed. “Got it. As long as there’s fucking.”

Malachi grinned at him. “Go. Now.”

Rylan bent down and kissed him on the lips gently. “We need to fuck.”

Malachi laughed. “Romantic.”

Rylan grinned as he tucked his hands into his pockets. “You dig it.”

“I do,” Malachi said softly as he left. He sighed and shook his dreads back. Damn. All revved up and nowhere to go. To the gym.

--

Rylan walked into his room to find Holly already naked and hard. He was perched on the edge of Rylan’s bed, legs crossed. The dark blue of the sheets was bringing out the electric blue of Holly’s eyes, making them even brighter than usual.

Ryaln smirked ad tackled him, pinning the fire elemental against the bed. Holly smirked and arched up into him, the heat in the room rising.

Rylan shifted his body away. “Anything up, firebug? You’ve been more shameless that usual.”

Holly grinned at him. “Glad to know you pay so much attention.”

“You are impossible to ignore,” Rylan said, before pressing a quick kiss to his forehead. “Now, anything wrong?”

Holly grinned. “Nope. Not with me.” He wrapped his arms around Rylan and yanked him down so their bodies were pressed together. “I’ll explain afterwards, Blondie.”

--

Rylan lay in a panting, sated pile when they finally finished.

Holly smirked at him impishly, looking like a mischievous cherub, tangled up as he was in Rylan’s white terrycloth bathrobe. “Still up for an explanation, big boy?”

Rylan groaned. “Give me twenty minutes to recover. Goddamn, that was awesome.”

Holly grinned. “I know, sweetie. I’ll go get Malachi and Dimitri. I only want to do this once.” He paused on his way out, looking over Rylan’s naked form. “And you might want to cover up. Malachi’s seen it all but you might give poor Darkness a heart attack.”

“Darkness?”

“Dimitri. Fitting right?”

“Yeah. Now throw that blanket over me. I’m not up to moving quite yet.”

Holly grinned devilishly and tossed the sheet over Rylan before leaving, almost sashaying out the door.

--
Holly put his hands on his hips and looked over the three assorted men. Rylan was still naked, covered only by the corner of a sheet. Dimitri was on the opposite side of the room, as far away from his first husband as possible. Malachi was sitting right between them, lounging on his chair. “Right. I’m ninety-nine percent positive Ezra’s daddy was an incubus.”

Rylan snorted. “That explains it. Slut.”

Dimitri was silent and Malachi just blinked. “Can someone explain the whole incubus thing to me? I’ve only ever heard legends and gossip.”

Holly sighed. “Incubi are fae on the low end of the social and magical totem pole who feed off sex. They need it to survive, more than food, water, anything. How often depends on the incubus and they have varying degrees of control over their partners’ body and physical reactions and usually have the strongest glamour of all the fae. And they can heal and be healed by sex, at least to some degree. Also, when they feed, they can take some of their partner’s essence, thus the legends of incubus killing humans.

“Anyways, if one is being deprived of sex, they suffer from the Hunger. It’s uncontrollable skin hunger and lust. It can spread to anyone the person touches but-“

“Well, it’s not affecting anyone who actually touched him so-“

“Shut the fuck up Rylan and let me finish.” He fisted a hand in Rylan’s long blond hair, making Dimitri’s eyes widen. “You want to know why I’m so insatiable lately, right?” snapped Holly, face inches away from Rylan’s.

“Ooh, feisty fire bug.”

Holly grinned savagely and kissed Rylan roughly on the lips before straightening back up. “Anyway, what I was trying to say…. The hunger does not spill over if there’s another person with incubus blood nearby.”

There was a moment of silence. Dimitri was the one who understood first. “You’re an incubus?” he asked softly.

Holly grinned at him. “Like an eighth. And elemental blood is pretty strong so the Hunger’s pretty weak in me. Relatively,” he added with a wink, still focusing on Dimitri. “Ezra seems to need a bit more lovin’ though, if you get my drift.”

Dimitri nodded, face carefully neutral.

Holly wrapped his arms around himself. “Yeah. That’s why I’ve been all over everyone. I’m getting all Ezra’s usual Hunger and the results of his injury and the aftereffects of him being down and out for the count for so long.”

Malachi smiled at the fire elemental and pulled him into his lap. “Why didn’t you mention it sooner, firebug? I, at least, would have helped you out more.” He waggled his eyebrows at Holly, making it clear what he meant.

Holly smiled at him. “You, I wouldn’t mind telling. High court fae don’t like incubi so much though.” His hands tightened around Malachi’s fingers and Malachi glanced over at the two high court fae. Both faces were schooled to blankness.

“Ah,” Malachi said softly, cuddling his husband to his chest. “Well, I don’t care.”

Holly gave him a tightlipped smile. He was slowly looking more and more worried and his body was tensing as well. He had never been good at schooling his emotions and Dimitri and Rylan were worrying him.

Malachi frowned at them and Holly had to push back a smile. Sometimes, having a human in bed with him was a pain in the ass. They were more fragile than fae and less open to kink, although Malachi was extraordinarily tough and open-minded. But then there were moments like these.

Holly pressed a kiss to the side of Malachi’s mouth.

Malachi grinned at him and Rylan sighed gustily. “Fine, fine, over it. I love you in spite of your tainted blood, fire bug.”

Holly stuck his tongue out at him but smiled. The translation of that from Rylan speak was incredibly sweet.

Surprisingly, it was Dimitri who was not speaking up.

Holly looked down. Malachi squeezed his hand and glared at Dimitri.

It took Rylan glaring at him as well before Dimitri said anything.

He slid to the floor and kneeled in front of Holly and Malachi, but his eyes were all for Holly. He took the fae’s hand in his and kissed it gently, leaning his face against Holly’s palm. Holly smiled both at him and Rylan’s reaction. Rylan was surprised, never having seen Dimitri show so much emotion. Dimitri really was trying to be less aloof.

“I love you, Holly,” Dimitri said softly, holding Holly spellbound for a moment with his pale violet eyes.

Holly smiled gently at him and ran fingers down the side of his face. “Are you okay with it?” he asked quietly, almost scared.

Dimitri seemed to catch the fear, as did everyone else. Malachi tensed beneath him and Rylan suddenly looked murderous, his hands actually shaking a little. Ah, that was adorable. Holly wanted to smile at how protective the blond was, but he was frightened.

Dimitri’s eyes widened and completely ignoring the two other men’s presence, like he had never ever done before. He leaned up and kissed Holly on the mouth, kissing him as warmly and as passionately as he ever had. “I love you, my angel,” he whispered. Holly had to strain to hear it, so he knew Malachi missed it, but a glance at Rylan showed curiosity about the pet name. And then Dimitri was kissing him again and Holly couldn’t think until he pulled away.

Holly smiled at him and Dimitri smiled back, but there was still a hint of reticence there, different than his usual aloofness around his other husbands. Holly’s smile faltered a tiny bit.

Dimitri sighed and ran a hand through Holly’s curls. “I love you,” he repeated. “But…”

Rylan looked ready to strangle the dark fae again. His jaw unclenched suddenly at his first husband’s next words.

“I ran afoul of an incubus once.”

Holly froze, as did both of his other husbands. “How?”

Dimitri shrugged. “It was not long after I joined the court.”

Holly knew that meant not long after he had married Rylan. The Zyniph family- Dimitri’s family- stayed out of the main court, sticking to the countryside where they could rule their fief without the direct influence of the fae monarchy. As far as Holly knew, Dimitri had never been in the court prior to his marriage to Rylan.

“I was young and didn’t know much about politics or incubi and he seduced me,” Dimitri said softly, very little infliction in his voice. Holly could tell that there was more to the story. Much more. “He fed off me, my essence, for nearly two years after that. I just thought I was sick. Maybe cursed. I thought the weakness would go away on its own. By the time I realized what was going on, I was too weak to fight him. He nearly killed me when I confronted him.”

Holly snorted. “You knew you were too weak to fight and you still confronted him?” he asked just as Rylan asked, “Two years?”

Dimitri ignored both of them. “He would have killed me if I had not been found. He had slit my throat with cold iron.”

All the men in the room tensed.

Rylan broke it this time, voice reluctant. “Who found you?”

Holly turned disbelieving eyes towards Rylan. Dimitri’s throat had been slit with a cold iron weapon, the only kind of weapon that could bring true death to the nearly immortal fae and Rylan had not known?

But there was no time for questions. Dimitri answered, face still pressed into Holly’s palm. “Jamari,” he whispered softly.

Holly’s mind raced. He knew that name.

“Ry’s brother?”

Aha! Rylan’s brother. Wait, what?

Rylan’s voice was slow. “Jamari found you?”

Dimitri didn’t answer.

Holly stroked his face, feeling worse and worse that he had brought it up. It was obviously not a happy memory for Dimitri.

“Am I missing something?” Malachi asked. “Why is it so important who found him? He just needed to get to a healer ASAP right?”

Dimitri was looking down again, staring very hard at the floor. Kneeling at Holly’s feet as he was, he was currently the shortest in the room.

Holly answered for him. “Dimitri’s old fae, really tough. He could survive it usually, but with the incubus feeding off his essence for so long…” Holly trailed off, trying to think of a delicate way to put it.

“I needed sex,” Dimitri said quietly. “When an incubus feeds off your essence, something of theirs replaces it, usually the Hunger. I had denied it for too long. I did not know I had it until that moment.”

Holly slid off Malachi’s lap to kneel next to Dimitri. He pressed himself against the tall fae’s chest. “I will never do anything like that. I promise.”

Dimitri laughed softly. “I believe you. I learned how to tell if someone was doing that to me after that.”

Malachi ran his hands soothingly through Dimitri’s thick hair, still loose from earlier.

“So you slept with Rylan’s brother?”

Dimitri didn’t answer. Holly cuddled him closer and glared at Malachi, glancing at Rylan out of the corner of his eye. But that paused him. Rylan didn’t actually look pissed. He looked surprised and pensive.

Holly glanced up at Dimitri when he felt the tall fae shift a little. He was now staring at Rylan, eyes wide. “I’m sorry,” he whispered softly. “I did not- I could not think. The Hunger was overwhelming. He- I made him swear to tell no one. I did not think you would find out on your own.”

“I smelled him on you,” Rylan said, pale blue eyes a touch wide.

Dimitri nodded. “I know,’ he whispered.

Rylan looked suddenly pissed. “Mother fucking shit! Do you know how much drama you could have saved yourself if you had just told me?”

Dimitri didn’t respond.

Holly hugged Dimitri. The tall fae smiled tremulously down at him. “Sorry,” he murmured. Holly got the distinct impression he wasn’t apologizing to him.

The blond said nothing.

Malachi glanced between them. “How much trouble was there between you two because you smelled Jamari on Dimitri?”

Neither answered.

Holly swore. “That better not be the only problem.”

Neither answered.

The silence held. It was Dimitri who finally spoke. “We never got along,” he said softly.

“We avoided each other,” Rylan said flatly. “Totally. I took lovers and stayed in their rooms most of the time and he just didn’t sleep when I was staying in our suite. But him sleeping with Jamari was-“ He frowned suddenly, cutting himself off. “What made me want him out of the fairy hills. Nowhere near my brother.”

He focused pale eyes on Dimitri who looked away. “You only fu- slept with the incubus for two years you said. And you said he seduced you right after you came to the courts.”

Dimitri pressed his face into Holly’s curls. “It took awhile for him to convince me to sleep with him,” he whispered.

“Eighty seven years?” Rylan asked, wide-eyed.

Dimitri didn’t answer, just stayed silent.

Holly was gaping at him now.

“Holy fuck, was this Taddeo?”

Dimitri nodded once.

Rylan’s eyes widened. “That’s why you challenged him to a duel.”

Dimitri said nothing.

Malachi spoke up. “Woah, woah, dude. I read up on high court politics before I met you two. Duels are to the death and like, a big deal, right?”

Rylan gave him a half-hearted smile. “Yeah. Huge deal but they can be over pretty small stuff. Dimitri charged him with an insult. I thought that was it. We moved here the day after.”

“Wait, Dimitri killed him?” Malachi asked, a little wide-eyed.

“No,” Rylan said. “That’s why I thought it was an insult. He beat him and left him alive, mostly okay, even. And Taddeo had been hitting on him for ages. He had gotten really forward about it too right before that.”

Dimitri kept his eyes down.

“Shit,” Rylan repeated.

Holly cuddled Dimitri closer to him. “Bastard deserved to die,” he snapped. “You should have killed his ass.”

Rylan eyed Dimitri. “Why didn’t you? It would be within your rights to.”

Dimitri still didn’t answer.

Malachi glanced at him and took his hand, squeezing it gently. “Dimitri,” he said gently. “Were you… Were you ever with anyone before him?”

Rylan tensed and Holly froze.

Dimitri remained silent.

“Fuck!” Holly snapped.

Malachi hugged Dimitri tight, sliding down to the floor as well. “Sorry.”

“It’s not your fault,” Dimitri muttered.

Rylan was silent as Malachi and Holly both held his first husband.

Holly glared at him for a moment, making the blonde look away, uncomfortable.

“Get off, it’s fine,” Dimitri finally said, standing and putting him a full head above everyone in the room, even when Malachi stood. “It was awhile ago. I’m fine.”

Rylan rolled his eyes.

Holly kicked his leg. And then thought of something very, very bad. “Fuck, you two never consummated the marriage, did you?”

Both froze.

Malachi swore. “You two have to, don’t you? Because you’re high fae?”

Holly glared. “You guys’ marriage isn’t legal. The HRFC is gonna bust your asses.”

Neither of the men said anything.

Holly swore again, turned on his heel and stormed out.

---

Malachi waited until the door slammed shit before sighing and sitting back down on the chair. He looked at the two men. They were both tense, arms crossed, looking away from each other. “I don’t suppose you two can suck it up? For all of us? I don’t want a divorce.”

Rylan said nothing.

Dimitri glanced up at him through his eyelashes for a moment, looked away and then caught them. He nodded once, barely noticeably. Rylan certainly didn’t notice.

Malachi smiled at him slightly and mouthed ‘Thank you’ before standing. “You two really need to work this out. I’ll leave you alone.” He paused at the door. “Unless you want a mediator.”

Dimitri shook his head immediately. “No.” He glanced at Rylan out of the corner of his eye. “I think we need to talk.”

Malachi nodded and shut the door behind him, mentally wishing them luck. They were going to need it if they were going to patch up over a century of near hatred.