"Lucien, did you... Do something to me while I was drunk?" Julian asked, not because he did not know, but because he wanted to hear the full confession from the Duke’s lips.

"Yes, I touched you," Alaric confessed with little to no remorse in his tone. "And not just that night," Julian’s eyes widened. What? When else did he touch him that he didn’t know? "I did it again the night I slept in your room. I tasted every inch of you until there was no place left that I hadn’t licked."

Julian felt his heart hammering again. What was this? Even that night, too? The night he drank the sleeping potion... Ah, that explains a lot. The swollen lips made so much sense now.

He looked into the Duke’s eyes. Even as he confessed, he didn’t seem to feel remorseful, and Julian swallowed.

"Do you... regret the things you did to me?" He asked, wondering if this man was going to claim righteousness at the end and pretend he would not do it again if the time were to rewind, but to his surprise and satisfaction, Alaric said.

"No, I do not." his gaze sharpened. "For I believe it was due to those actions that I was able to come to terms with my feelings, and satisfy my curiosity on if I can kiss a man, touch a man, and love him with no restraint."

Julian felt he could hear the Duke’s heartbeat. Or maybe it was his own heart making that drumming and frantic beat.

"But in any case, it was a crime towards you," The Duke added, suddenly sliding down and going on both knees, holding Julian’s free hand and pressing it to his forehead. "I shall make no more excuses and apologize sincerely, praying that you forgive my transgression against you."

Julian was short of words. He didn’t know what to say or how to react to what Alaric was doing right now. He watched the Duke while listening to his own heart eat. It was wild.

The Duke was currently on his knees, begging for forgiveness in the same manner a knight would do to their lady.

However amazing and enchanting the feeling was, the Duke kneeling at Julian’s feet was almost too much for Julian’s heart to bear.

The weight of the Duke’s forehead against his hand felt like a heavy, warm brand. Julian looked down at the golden, messy hair of the man who had just admitted to ’tasting every inch’ of him while he slept.

Any other person would have been repulsed or terrified, but as Julian stood there in his robe, all clean and tidy, waiting for this man to just ’take him’, all he felt was a dizzying, dangerous sense of being cherished.

"You are a very bold man, Lucien," Julian whispered, his voice caught between a laugh and a gasp. "To admit to such things and say you do not regret it all while begging for forgiveness... do you not realize how much power you are giving me right now?"

Alaric didn’t move. He kept his face pressed against Julian’s palm, his voice muffled but steady. "I have been yours since the moment I pulled you from that carriage in the woods, Julian. If you wish to use that power to cast me out, I will go. But I will not lie to you about what I want."

Julian’s fingers drifted instinctively, his touch softening as he combed through Alaric’s hair. The anger he thought he should feel simply wasn’t there. Instead, there was a heat spreading through his belly—a realization that the ’sin’ Alaric had committed was born from the same desperate, starving longing that Julian himself was beginning to feel. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

"Get up," Julian murmured, pulling gently on the Duke’s hand.

Alaric lifted his head, his blue eyes searching Julian’s face for a sign of disgust.

Finding none, he rose slowly, his height once again towering over Julian, and his presence filling the room.

"I’ll forgive you," Julian said, his gaze fixed on the Duke’s lips. "But on one condition."

Alaric’s brow arched as he said, "Anything."

"You say you tasted me while I was unaware," Julian stepped closer, the hem of his robe brushing against Alaric’s. He reached up, his fingers tracing the Duke’s lower lip. "Tonight, I am very much awake. If you want to satisfy that curiosity again... you must do it while I am looking at you. I want to see exactly how you ’love with no restraint’."

The air in the room seemed to vanish.

The Duke didn’t respond with words; he responded by dropping Julian’s glass—the wine staining the rug unheeded—and hauling Julian into a kiss that nearly knocked the breath from his lungs.

It was raw, it was hungry, and it was filled with the honesty of his confession.

He swept Julian up, and Julian wrapped his legs around the Duke’s body, the robe slipping down his shoulder. Then the Duke walked, his lips still glued to Julian’s, engaging in a smack, two smacks, and then a slurp, intertwining his tongue with Julian’s, and he didn’t stop until they reached the massive bed.

He laid Julian down like he was placing a crown on a pedestal, his hands immediately finding the sash of the cream-colored robe.

"I warned you, Julian," Alaric rasped, hovering over him, his eyes dark with a mix of reverence and carnal intent. "My love is a siege. And tonight, I intend to take the fortress."

Julian reached out, his arms circling the Duke’s neck, pulling him down.

"Then stop talking, Lucien, and get on with the raid. The gates..." he breathed softly. "...are already open."

Alaric didn’t need a second invitation.

He stripped away the last barrier, the robe, with a hunger that bordered on desperation, his gaze never leaving Julian’s eyes.

He moved his hand over Julian’s body. Every touch was an orison, every breath a conquest, as the Duke began to prove that his restraint had finally reached its end.

He got on top of Julian, hovering over him as he trapped him between his legs. Even if Julian changed his mind now, would he let him go?

To Julian, there was no turning back from here.

If this were a siege, then Julian was a willing kingdom, surrendering his breath to the heat of a King who intended to leave no part of him unconquered.