Chapter 43: That’s How A Prince Does It

“Pepin, you too? Did Tani put some strange ideas in your head?” Kai winced as he took in his mom’s expression. She seemed pretty upset with Pepin at the moment.

However, Pepin didn’t seem fazed by it. Instead of backing down, he walked slowly toward the table. “Tani says the truth, and I can prove it.”

“You can?” Kai and Tani both shouted at the same time. “Do you have magic?” Kai added. “What kind? And why didn’t you tell me?”

“Not magic, not like Sebastian,” Pepin replied. The adults in the room were staring at him, completely baffled. “But I have this,” he said and opened the buttons of his shirt to reveal his chest.

Kai had to crane his neck to look. “Wow, Pepin, is that--”

His mom and Milo’s parents jumped from their chairs and began to speak all at the same time. “What is this? Why is his chest glowing? Is it a prank? Kids, you should know better--”

“No, it is not a prank, I assure you,” Pepin continued.

Not only that part of Pepin’s chest was glowing, but Kai could clearly see the shape of a tiny child inside what had to be the shell of the shard from which he was supposed to get born. And he was breathing, his tiny eyes blinking from time to time.

“This is my and Kai’s child,” Pepin added.

“Mrs. Martin!” Milo’s mom shouted in alarm.

Oh no. Kai hurried to catch his mom, who had dropped into the chair, on the point of fainting. He held her, and she stared into his eyes. “Do you want to give me a heart attack, son?” she asked, but, beyond the shock, Kai could read tenderness. “Is that a child, or just one of your strange ideas of shocking me so that I buy you some crazy computer build for Christmas?”

“No computer build,” Kai promised solemnly. “I’m a grownup now. I need to work to support Pepin and the baby. So maybe you should keep whatever you wanted to spend on my Christmas gift for him.” He helped her back into the seat, and she got a hold of her bearings. She ran her hands through her hair and stared a little more at Pepin’s chest. “Is it possible to touch him?” she asked.

“Yes, he is protected until birth by the magical shard from which he will be born,” Pepin explained.

“He has your hair, Kai,” his mom said. Indeed, the mop of dark hair on the baby’s head looked pretty much like the mess he had to tame each morning without much success. “But Pepin’s eyes, I think,” she added, as she looked closer when the baby blinked. “He’ll be a stunner.”

Not only Kai’s mom but Milo’s parents, as well, moved closer to touch his chest. “It’s warm,” Milo’s mom said in disbelief. “We’re either going to wake up soon, or this is all real. Are you from outer space, Pepin? From a different galaxy than ours? Did you come on a spaceship?”

Milo’s dad pulled her back a little. “Darling, aren’t you asking the wrong questions? What I’m more interested in knowing is whether my son is getting pregnant some ice prince from a fantasy land this very moment.”

“Are you sure this is okay?” Milo asked softly as he moved between Sebastian’s legs, rubbing against him with all his body. “Once I start, I’m afraid that you’ll have to pour ice water on me ... or freeze me with your magic to stop me.”

“Why would I want to stop you?” Sebastian whispered and ran his fingers through Milo’s hair, eliciting small moans of pleasure from his lover.

“Because you’re in no shape for this, and I somehow manage to be just a horny dog, regardless of circumstances. Ah, I should just blame your aunt for putting strange ideas in my head.”

“Don’t talk about my aunt when we’re like this,” Sebastian chided Milo and shivered when another kiss planted on the side of his neck made his pleasure soar. “And this feels so good, I wouldn’t stop you for the world.”

“It feels good? Are you starting to heal?”

“It’s not about that. I don’t feel anything else but you, here, with me.”

Milo bit his ear and licked it. “You’re a romantic, aren’t you? And you’re a hunk ... and are you sure you’re only into bottoming?”

Sebastian wrapped his arms around Milo’s waist and helped him further. For a moment, he squeezed his eyes shut and hissed as his body opened to welcome the other. Milo groaned. “Damn, I think I’m losing my mind.”

“What? Why?” Sebastian asked, unsure of what Milo meant by that.

“You feel so good, Sebastian,” Milo whispered. “I’m totally topping a gorgeous guy ... the most gorgeous guy in Ifigia and any other world I know. And it feels amazing.”

Sebastian didn’t protest as Milo held his hips and began moving slowly to a rhythm they both knew so well. Only that now it was right because they were in the bodies that belonged to them, and there was no strange magic at work, not anymore.

Except for the kind magic that had allowed Milo to come to him and hold him in his arms as if he belonged there for all eternity. Milo stopped from time to time and kissed him for minutes. Sebastian huffed as his frustration was slowly growing. His body demanded satisfaction, but just as he was about to get there, Milo thought it a good idea to take those kissing breaks.

Not that he minded them that much, but his need became imperious with each thrust. Sebastian dug his fingernails into Milo’s shoulders. “Milo, please,” he begged.

His lips were taken again. Their kisses were loud in the silence of a room that had once been the scene of so many sensual trysts. None of them mattered now, Sebastian realized as his lover increased the rhythm of his hips, moving them closer and closer to the release they both desired.

“Seb, I gotta ask,” Milo asked breathlessly. “If I come inside you, will you get pregnant?”

Sebastian groaned and grabbed his naughty lover by the hair. “I’m not a Lelian, you beautiful fool.”

“It was worth checking. Then your mom would have had no choice but to welcome me into the family.”

Were those just the words of a young man prey to pent-up desires? Sebastian no longer had time to think as Milo pressed their mouths together and brought their bodies slowly to the point of no return.

It was morning again, and Sebastian felt solid on his feet as he got out of bed and walked toward the window. He welcomed the chilly air and inhaled it repeatedly. By habit, he touched his chest, and only then, he realized. The wound was no longer there. Incredulous of it, he rushed to the mirror and stared at his body. No traces of the wound could be seen anywhere.

“Milo!” he shouted and turned toward the bed.

A groan was the immediate reply. “Why are you up so early?” Milo complained. “I guess it shows who did all the work last night.”

They had ended up rustling the sheets for a good part of the night, and Sebastian felt responsible for it. He hurried to the bed and kissed Milo on the forehead. “The wound is gone,” he whispered into the wavy hair.

Milo’s head shot up. “For real? Your aunt really said the truth.”

Sebastian laughed. “What did she tell you, anyway?”

Milo snorted. “In a much more colorful language that I’m using right now, she told me that I should keep you awake all night long, and not by reading horror stories to you if you catch my drift.”

“I think I catch your drift quite well,” Sebastian replied.

Milo snickered and hid his face in Sebastian’s lap. “You’re so funny.”

“Funny how?” Sebastian asked airily. “Milo,” he said, only then realizing the situation, “wouldn’t your parents be worried over your disappearance?”

“Oh, shoot,” Milo exclaimed and jumped out of bed. “What time is it? I should be in school!”

“Not for one hour or so,” Sebastian said, well aware of the schedule Kai and Milo had. “I’ll have Adhe take you as close to your world as possible. Ah, and you might have to take that other visitor with you, the one with the discharged phone.”

Milo was putting his school pants on. “So the battery was dead, huh? Listen, Seb,” he said as he buttoned his shirt quickly, “you’ll have to do right by me.”

“Of course. Name anything you want. You healed me,” Sebastian said tenderly.

Milo grinned, hurried to him, and kissed him shortly. “I’m not talking about that, Your Majesty. You’ll have to make an honest man out of me.”

Honest man? But Milo was honest enough, wasn’t he? Sebastian wanted to ask what he meant, but an energetic knock on the door interrupted his train of thought. He pulled the blanket over his naked body. “Come in!” If it was some emergency, it couldn’t be postponed. And now, it looked like he had all the power back, so taking care of the kingdom problems was mandatory.

Reya, Luna, and Fiana rushed into the room, all three talking simultaneously.

Luna was the first to sit on the bed and pulled him to her. “How do you feel, Sebastian? Is your chest still hurting?”

“Seb is fine,” Milo pointed out as he smoothed down his high school jacket. “It looks like your advice worked, Fiana.”

His aunt smiled, full of importance. “Of course, it did. I knew exactly what my nephew needed.”

Reya hurried to him and pulled at the blanket to examine his chest. She felt his skin in what seemed utter disbelief. “It’s gone; it’s truly gone!” Then she pulled Sebastian into a hug, making him stop breathing for a few moments. She released him abruptly and then headed toward Milo, who seemed in a big hurry to be out of there. Sebastian couldn’t blame him. Math was the first class that day, if he remembered correctly. After the stunt from the previous day, Milo was probably in for a lecture and even detention.

“Young man,” Reya said in the most royal voice she could muster, “name your reward. You saved my son, so I am in your debt.”

Milo grinned broadly and looked directly at Sebastian. “No worries. I already did that. Sebastian will just have to make an honest man out of me. Now, for real, Seb, I need to take your dragon to school.”

“Yes, Pepin left that scale somewhere...” he began. He stopped as right at the window, Adhe was hovering, flapping her wings happily. Great, any moment now, the entire palace would rush in and congratulate him while he was still as naked as the day he had been born.

“Off I go, then,” Milo said cheerfully and opened the window.

Sebastian watched as the young man who had healed him and stolen his heart at the same time jumped from the sill of the window directly on the dragon’s back like he had been born to do that.

Too late, he realized that he had forgotten to remind Milo to take the other visitor to him. But a proper means of transportation would be arranged for that young man, as well.

“What does he mean by that?” Luna questioned. “Why does it depend on you for him to be an honest man?”

Sebastian didn’t know, either. But he knew exactly who to ask.

Kai hiked Milo’s backpack on the other shoulder and walked into the courtyard. Next time Milo rushed to Ifigia, he better take his phone with him, he thought. Eventually, he had appeased Milo’s parents and convinced them to go back to their home and sleep without worries. Of course, that hadn’t happened for a solid two hours, time during which Pepin had to offer a thousand of one tidbits of information on Ifigia.

That had definitely worked a lot better than he could have ever dreamed of. His mom had taken Pepin with her to have a talk after Milo’s parents had left, and Pepin was secretive about that conversation. Apparently, it had to deal with what being pregnant meant and stuff like that, so Kai didn’t even pretend that he understood why Pepin and his mom had to be so hush-hush about everything. On the upside, they seemed to get along in the most remarkable ways, and he had heard his mom laughing while she and Pepin were in the kitchen, making breakfast.