Would he let Kethaias be discovered lurking outside his bedroom at night's darkest hour?<br/><br/>"It has its appeal," Ryland said with a quick grin. But he laughed, let Kethaias crowd his way in, enjoying the sudden closeness, the warmth, the way Kethaias looked like he was already starting to smile.<br/><br/>Kethaias with his back to a door had a certain other appeal, but Ryland's attention caught on the dark box in the king's hands. When Ryland reached for it, he found it out pulled gently away, until Kethaias was using his height to tease him like a child.<br/><br/>Ryland was not a child.<br/><br/>"You act as though you don't have something I also want--lower than that," he said, sliding his hands down to Kethaias' hips with a smirk. He curled his fingers in the hem of Kethaias' pants. He tugged. Kethaias gave him a look that made him bite his lip against a laugh. Clearly he was meant to want this gift.<br/><br/>Interest piqued, warded off from diversion, he smiled and rocked back and forth on his feet. "All right. I promise."<br/><br/>The box was lowered. Ryland could hear the catch of Kethaias' calluses on the lid as he gripped it, opened it. Ryland had lit his room with golden light, the better to accentuate his own coloring, and it caught the ear cuff in a warm, beautiful glow. Ryland's gaze latched onto it immediately.<br/><br/>"It's gorgeous." He turned his head and brushed the curls back from his ear. "Put it on me."<br/><br/>Then Ryland got to feel the brush of those calluses on the delicate curve of his ear instead. He shivered, smiled, held still. Ryland let his chin be taken in hand, his head tilted so that Kethaias could admire it on him, but only for the briefest of moments. Ryland shrugged out of the grip and moved immediately to his vanity, sitting down and brushing his hair back again to expose the jewels. He was obviously taken with it.<br/><br/>"Why shouldn't I like it?" he said, when he was done turning this way and that to catch it in the light, to watch the pearls sway. "I'll wear it until you're gone, and then probably after, too. It's a lovely piece. There's no fashion for ear cuffs here. I should start one."<br/><br/>He waved his hand vaguely away from himself, turning back to the mirror. "Strip, and go lie on the bed. I'll get to you when I'm ready. Do you like toys? Pick something out." He grinned at him in the mirror. "Maybe I'll send you off with one, to remember<i>me </i>by."<br/><br/>He knew Kethaias was going to move on him, pricked by his cheek, and was already dancing out of the stool by the time Kethaias, deathly fast, had lunged for him. He was laughing.<br/><br/>"<i>I </i>know. There's a stash of honey left over from my tea," he said, dodging another grab at him. "I'll let you lick it off my skin and send you a bottle whenever I want you to remember me."<br/><br/>Fingers closed on his shirt. The fabric rent. Ryland only laughed at that, too, digging his heels in and tearing it further as Kethaias attempted to drag him in. He could feel the flush of color high in his cheeks, his mouth stretched wide in a grin, the way his blood sang that Kethaias wanted him<i>this much</i>, that he'd be chased and hunted down.<br/><br/>The sleeve came entirely off. Ryland had one hand still clutching the end, and he lunged suddenly forward with it. One deft movement had it slipped around Kethaias' wrists, and then it was Ryland's turn to crowd him, to back him to the bed, gripping him by the tight fabric that bound Kethaias' wrists.<br/><br/>"Oh," Ryland said. "You didn't expect that, did you? You shouldn't trust sleek little golden foxes when they invite you to a chase."