Arik’s mouth found Liam’s throat again, teeth grazing the mark while his hand slid down between them. The gold chains whispered against the sheets. Liam’s hips lifted before Arik’s fingers even reached him, seeking contact his body had been denied for a month.
"Greedy," Arik murmured against his skin.
"You have no idea."
The laugh that escaped Arik was rough-edged, barely more than an exhale. His fingers found Liam’s length, already slick at the tip, and stroked once.
Liam’s spine arched.
The bond carried the sensation both ways, Arik felt the pleasure he was causing, and Liam felt the possessive satisfaction curling through Arik’s chest. The sensation made Liam’s hands fist in the remnants of Arik’s shirt.
"Off," he managed. "Now."
Arik sat back on his heels between Liam’s spread thighs. The shirt came away in one motion, discarded somewhere beyond the edge of the bed. Golden ether moved beneath his skin like light under water, following pathways that had not existed before the oath.
Liam stared.
He had seen Arik unclothed countless times. This was different. The Core had changed something profound about how the ether sat inside him, and Liam caught every detail before his conscious mind could interpret what he was seeing.
"You’re beautiful," he said, and meant it in a way that had nothing to do with desire.
Arik’s expression flickered.
Then his hands were on Liam’s thighs, pushing the robe higher, baring the thin gold chains draped across his hips.
Arik’s thumb traced the inside of Liam’s thigh, following the path of a delicate chain.
"You take your time with someone who’s starving..."
The sound Arik made was somewhere between a laugh and a groan. "My Eshara. My brilliant, relentless—"
He didn’t finish.
His fingers slid lower, finding the slick gathering at Liam’s entrance. The omega’s body had been preparing itself since the moment Arik’s pheromones filled the room. Sweet-scented fluid coated Arik’s fingers as he pressed one inside.
Liam’s head fell back.
"Finally," he breathed.
Arik worked him open, adding a second finger while his free hand pinned Liam’s hip to the mattress. The gold chains caught the light with every small movement. Somewhere in the back of his mind, Liam registered that he was making sounds—small, desperate noises he would have been embarrassed about under other circumstances.
The bond stripped embarrassment away.
Arik could feel everything. The relief. The frustration. The month of waiting that had worn Liam’s patience down to nothing. And beneath all of it, the steady pulse of the sovereign ether and the distant weight of the Core moving through their connection like a tide.
"Ready?" Arik asked.
"If you ask me that again, I will—"
Arik pushed inside.
Liam’s words dissolved into a gasp. The stretch was intense even with the preparation—Arik was thick, and the angle made everything feel deeper. Liam’s hands scrambled for purchase on Arik’s shoulders, nails digging in.
"Breathe," Arik murmured.
"I am breathing."
"You’re holding your breath."
Liam forced himself to exhale. Arik slid deeper, and the bond flared golden between them.
Liam felt the sovereign ether before he saw it.
It moved through Arik’s channels and into the bond, following the connection into Liam’s body. Not the overwhelming current from the oath, but something more controlled. More intimate. Arik was deliberately feeding it through their link while he was inside him.
"What—" Liam’s voice broke. "What are you doing?"
"Showing you."
Arik withdrew almost completely, then thrust back in. The ether surged with the motion, settling deeper into Liam’s channels. It pressed against the containment formations around the corruption without breaching them, warm and immense and entirely Arik’s.
Liam understood.
This was what Arik felt constantly now. The Core’s weight. The endless pull of its power. The way it sat inside his channels like something alive, demanding attention, draining his reserves even in moments of stillness.
And Arik was sharing it.
"You don’t have to carry it alone," Liam said, the words slipping out before he could stop them.
Arik’s rhythm faltered.
For a heartbeat, the sovereign’s composure cracked. Something raw came thru: exhaustion, gratitude, and a love so strong it made Liam’s chest ache.
Then Arik’s hand fisted in the chains draped across Liam’s hips, and he pulled.
The metal tightened. Not painfully, the chains were too well-designed for that, but the pressure made Liam gasp. Arik used the grip as leverage, driving deeper, finding an angle that made Liam’s vision blur at the edges.
"Again," Liam demanded.
Arik gave it to him.
The pace built until the gold chains were chiming with every thrust. Slick coated Liam’s thighs, sweet-scented and warm.
Arik’s knot began to swell, catching at his rim with each stroke. The pressure made Liam cry out, his fingers twisting in the sheets. His own length was leaking against his stomach, untouched and aching, but he didn’t care. All that mattered was the stretch, the fullness, the way the bond was singing with golden light.
Arik’s mouth found his ear.
"You wanted my attention," he growled. "Now you have all of it. Every part. Every moment. Until you can’t remember what it felt like to wait."
His hand left the chains and closed around Liam’s length.
The combination of sensations was too much. Liam’s body clenched around Arik’s knot, and the bond went white-hot. His release painted his stomach and Arik’s hand, drawn out by the relentless rhythm of Arik’s thrusts even as his knot locked them together.
Liam was still trembling through the aftershocks when Arik’s rhythm broke.
The knot swelled fully, sealing them together as Arik’s release spilled deep inside him. Through the bond, Liam felt the moment Arik’s control finally shattered—the exhaustion of carrying the Core, the relief of being inside his bond, and the possessive satisfaction of claiming what was his.
They stayed locked together for long moments, breathing hard.
Arik’s forehead dropped to Liam’s shoulder.
"You are going to be the death of me," he muttered.
Liam’s laugh was weak and breathless. "At least it will be a memorable death."
Arik lifted his head enough to look at him. The sovereign ether still glimmered in his eyes, but the exhaustion behind it was clearer now. Liam could feel it through the bond, the constant drain of the Core, the toll it was taking.
He reached up and touched Arik’s face.
"We’ll figure it out."
"I know."
The knot was beginning to soften. Arik shifted his weight carefully, mindful of the chains still draped across Liam’s body.
Liam’s legs trembled as he drew them together.
Then Arik’s expression sharpened.
His pheromones, which had settled into something warm and satisfied, suddenly thickened. Liam felt it through the bond before he recognized it consciously.
Arik’s eyes met his.
"The suppressants are wearing off faster than I anticipated."
Liam’s stomach flipped.
"How long until—"
Arik was already hardening inside him again.
"Now," he said. "We have until now."