This Strange World Needs a Kicking! Ch. 10

Conrad was naked, as they had had to take him out of his tight clothes, but at least he was sleeping soundly. That was one less danger he needed to concern himself with.

However, he wondered if he needed to be ready for fending off attacks from a cute pink nightgown. There was, it seemed, no notion of personal space Pepin was accustomed to. The servant threw one arm over his chest and pressed himself against Kai's body.

The strangest thing was that Kai could feel his body heat. In the dragon's cave, he had been shot at with fire - pure, unadulterated fire - and he hadn't sweated a drop. Yet, now, with Pepin half-wrapped around him, he felt as if ignited from within.

"Aren't you hot?" he asked Pepin.

"No," came the immediate reply.

"Well, I am. How about not suffocating me?"

"How can you be hot? You don't ever feel hot."

It looked like having cute young dudes invading his space and pinning him to the bed provoked an exception to that rule.

"My arm is getting numb," Kai came up with another reason. "And my leg. I can't feel it anymore."

Pepin scoffed. "Oh, stop complaining so much already." He turned on the other side, a bit away, and Kai sighed in relief.

He looked at Pepin's back. It appeared that Prince Sebastian usually enjoyed the risk of fire because they had let a dozen candles or more burning. That, combined with the shy light of a new day rising behind the windows, allowed him to observe the manservant.

Pepin moved and lay on his belly, his head still turned away. Kai let his eyes travel down on his body and stopped at the perfectly shaped mound that had to be Pepin's ass. Was that really a dude's ass? It looked so round and squishy. Curious, he reached for it and grabbed it. So squishy. He grinned.

Pepin gasped and turned his head to stare at him. "Aren't you a bit mischievous, Your Majesty? You could just ask, you know?"

Kai pulled back his hand like it had caught fire. "Sorry about that. I just wanted, um, a glass of water."

Yeah, lame.

Pepin sighed and climbed out of bed. He returned with a glass of water. Kai didn't need it but drank it anyway.

"Anything else?" Pepin glared.

"No. Good night," Kai said primly and gave the servant back the empty glass.

"What's going on?" someone asked in a groggy voice.

"Great," Kai said. "See? Now you woke up Conrad," he told Pepin.

The servant scoffed. "Then he must be feeling better."

"You don't know that." Kai scoffed back.

"Why not ask him? Concubine, how are you feeling?" Pepin asked.

"Pepin, don't call Conrad that!"

"Why not? It's what I am."

Kai groaned and stared at the ceiling in search of answers.

"I feel quite... good, actually," Conrad added.

Kai turned toward him. "You do? That's good."

Conrad's beautiful eyes glimmered in the semi-dark. Yeah, they totally looked like a dragon's sometimes.

"You... saved me?" Conrad asked in a ragged voice.

Kai shrugged. "I did what I could. Let's not make a big thing out of it."

Suddenly, he felt overly conscious of how naked he was. It had to be Conrad's fault who was staring at him with burning eyes.

"Then I should repay your kindness."

"Repay? Oh, no, no, no need for that," Kai protested.

Conrad ignored him and wrapped a strong arm around him. Pepin gasped in outrage and did the same. All right, so he hadn't been that uncomfortable before, but now he was.

"Why are you in the royal bed, you impudent servant?"

"For the same reason you are, you shameless concubine."

Kai didn't dare to look to know that Conrad and Pepin were shooting daggers at each other from their eyes.

"Everyone," he boomed, "to sleep, now! Royal decree! Royal order! Royal whatever, just sleep!"

That had, to some degree, the desired effect. The two fell silent, but none let go of him.

BL hell, what do you have against me?

TBC