brigdh

Title: False Speaking
Author: Brigdh
Ratings/Warnings: PG-13, I suppose, for sexual tension
Notes: Written for the

31_days's prompt, "the curves of your lips rewrite history". 500 words exactly. Also available on AO3.
Disclaimer: All characters and places belong to Ellen Kushner.

***

"Tell me how you killed him," Alec says.

"The usual way," Richard replies. "With a sword."

"One thrust?"

"Of course."

Alec sighs: disappointment, not pleasure. "No," he says. "That's not how it happened. It should have been... slow."

In reality, it had been too fast, leaving Richard still feeling the lack of a climax. But though Alec is outwardly calm, intensity waits in him, and so all Richard says is, "If you like."

"He had time to be scared. He had time to know what was coming." Alec loiters over each word, deliberating on them. "Tell me what he did."

Richard imagines a different fight, a better one, and smiles. "He'd improved. It surprised me. He had this move-" He starts to describe it, but realizes details are meaningless to Alec and settles for a hand gesture. "I didn't see it coming."

Alec stands. "And what did you do?"

"I parried. Took a step back. I had to wait for him to give me an opening."

Alec drifts closer. "Give you an opening," he repeats, though the words are different in his voice, dark and low. He stands very near, near enough for the hair on Richard's arms to rise, and rests his hand on the hilt at Richard's waist. Tension prickles down Richard's spine. "Tell me how it ended."

"He feinted left." Richard feels Alec's fingers curl around the hilt, and it stops him from speaking. He takes a deep breath, then takes another. "But I saw it coming. It left his flank unguarded." Alec draws the sword, and it scrapes his skin raw with the hiss of metal against leather, with the danger of unsheathed steel. It's only a few inches, but each one seems pulled out of Richard's own body.

Alec sways into him. "And then there was the opening." His breath is hot on Richard's ear. "Did he do it on purpose? Did he want you to-" Richard has to touch him, but as soon as he moves Alec pulls away again. "Tell me," he demands, something hungry and possessive in his eyes.

Richard shakes his head but says, "Yes." He's not thinking straight; the space between them is so narrow it fills his mind.

Alec nods. "I would." He says it gently, and drops the hilt; the sword falls back into the scabbard with a thump that hits Richard like a blow. Alec lifts a hand and touches his cheek with cool fingertips. He is staring at him as though he could read meaning from Richard's face; his eyes burn against skin pale as dawn.

They stand like that until Richard cannot wait any longer, can't take another moment; he opens his mouth to hear himself say "Alec-"

"Yes," Alec hisses viciously, and then he is kissing Richard, licking into his mouth, biting, as though he would devour him. Richard catches at him, fingers digging into the flesh of his shoulders, the soft fall of his hair, and then there is nothing more to say.

***