Firmly Trapped 4/6?
Title: Firmly Trapped 4/6?
Pairing: Kai/Taemin (Exo/SHINee), [Side Pairings: Chanyeol/Baekhyun, Changmin/Jaejoong]
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: These two definitely do not belong to me, but I'm borrowing them for the joys of this story.
Summary: Taemin doesn't want to be a prince, living in the shadow of his perfect father and his father's consort. He wants to be free, no matter the price he has to pay.
A/N: This story takes place about 16 years after Tightly Bound's epilogue. Taemin is 17 years old at the beginning of this story, with Baekhyun at 18 and Kai at 16. Taemin's older sisters are 21 years old.
Warnings: Prostitution
Part 4: The Broken Trap
Autumn
Taemin stood at the edge of the camp, staring out over the plains of his father’s kingdom. He stared toward the castle, imagining the hills and rivers between it and him, toward what he had thought had been a prison. He understood now how perfect his life had been. He always had food. He always had someplace warm to sleep. He always had the support of his parents and the servants.
But he was not his father. Too many people thought he should have been just like his father. And as he was learning in the towns they went to, many of the people who swore fealty to his father did not actually like him. Rumors abounded about his fathers’ relationship. Had Jaejoong warped his mind? there was no other reason for such depravity. And it had spread to the queen as well, the arrogant woman who refused to live in a castle.
The people followed the king and queen. They obeyed the laws, mostly. But they did not respect them.
Especially in the namsadang. If the king and queen could live such frivolous lives based on sex and riches, then so could they.
Taemin wished he’d seen it to start, but it had been a very well-woven trap. Life with the namsadang had been fun at first, learning to perform, learning to tightrope, learning to dance, and showing off his bow.
But now the leaders kept telling Taemin that he and Baekhyun owed them a debt, that he and Baekhyun had to stay to pay off the food and shelter they had been given. It was extortion.
And over the course of the last few months, Taemin had learned, gleaned from innocent conversations, that many in the namsadang were there because they owed the leaders a debt, imaginary or otherwise, Taemin did not know, but it was a problem. A serious problem. Definitely one he could not solve still being in the namsadang. Definitely one his father was going to take care of.
Though the people had a point. What was stopping them from doing this when the king himself had a male elven lover and the queen herself had a non-noble female lover?
Baekhyun sidled up next to him, arm around his waist, head on his shoulder.
“We need to leave,” Taemin whispered to Baekhyun.
Baekhyun nodded. “I’ve been saying that for a long time.”
“I know. I’m sorry. Kai won’t come with me. I don’t want to do this anymore. I love performing and traveling and acting but ...”
Baekhyun gripped his shoulder. “I know.”
“The Caravan is going southeast, toward the Elven Forests at this time. We’ll cut it off. Apparently, Mother is quite angry.”
Baekhyun rolled his eyes. “Well, duh, you ass.”
Taemin smiled.
Someone shouted for them. Maybe they looked ready to bolt. Taemin was not stupid enough to try to run in the middle of the day. Many in the namsadang knew how to shoot a bow. Not as good as he, but accurate enough to make it painful, if not deadly.
---
They waited another three weeks, just to give the namsadang a false sense of ownership. Taemin even asked the leader what he could do to help pay off their debt. The leader had smirked and said that Taemin was very good already and proceeded to show him just how Taemin could use his body to pay it off. It was a bunch of bullshit because Taemin had been using his body to earn the namsadang way more money than food and shelter were worth.
It had to be spontaneous. It had to be unplanned. They could not draw attention to themselves. They had to wait until neither was being used and then they had to wait until the latest hours of the night, before the sky brightened with dawn. Most in the camp were drunk, celebrating a successful and profitable run of shows. Profitable because of Taemin and Kai and Baekhuyn.
Kai had been yanked from their tent hours before, and Taemin knew that this was going to be their only chance for a long time. He’d been sold right after their show, and Baekhyun had stumbled into the tent just an hour ago. They had to leave. He wanted to hug and kiss Kai goodbye. He wanted him to come with, but he did not want to be denied again. And they could not wait. Taemin would come back for him.
They slipped around the outskirts of the camp, toward the horses.
Just past the leader’s tent, Taemin heard a slap and a cry. He stopped, ignoring Baekhyun’s hiss of protest.
“What is this?” the leader shouted. “Is Taehyun the prince?”
Taemin’s eyes widened and he stared at Baekhyun in horror. Baekhyun silently cursed, too smart to do it outloud, but his glare showed that he meant all the curses he was mouthing to insult Taemin.
“Has he been here this entire time? You ungrateful wretch. Answer me!”
There was another cry, and then the leader demanded, “Why do you have this leaf? Is this from the dishonorable elf, Jaejoong? Is Taehyun really the prince?”
“Hyung,” Taemin pleaded.
Baekhyun glared at him and shook his head.
There was another cry, definitely Kai, and another harsh slap and a thud, like Kai was being kicked.
Taemin flinched and felt himself on the verge of tears. “I can’t leave him, Baekhyunnie. Not now. I ... I can’t ... he ...”
Baekhyun sighed, and then bit his lip and removed his sword. “You ass.”
“They’ll probably kill him.”
“Still, you’re an ass. You can’t miss. We’ll have one shot at this. I’ll cover for you.”
Taemin shook his head. He had never missed.
They circled the tent, slowly quietly, alert. To the front, where the flap lay open. It was too dark to see if anyone was guarding it. Taemin stood away from the opening, just enough to see inside but be hidden in the dark from anyone looking out.
Kai was naked on the floor, his body covered with a series of bleeding welts.
“You knew,” the leader shouted, kicking Kai again. “You knew he is the prince, and you kept it from us. Do you deny it?”
Kai said nothing.
“You could have earned your freedom from this, but now you are going to belong to us for another ten years. We will ransom the prince to his father and get even more money for his life than his used and broken body is worth.”
Taemin swallowed. He pulled back his bow and aimed. Commotion threatened to distract him, but he focused. The leader looked up in surprise at the shout and sound of swords clashing, and Taemin released his arrow.
He had never shot at someone. He had never shot with the intent to kill.
And he had never missed.
The arrow cut through the man’s throat, and he fell backwards, spraying blood all around. Taemin rushed into the tent. He fell next to Kai, eyes jerking quickly, checking for anything serious, but the worst of his injuries were a few bleeding lashes. Nothing life threatening.
“Come on,” Taemin said.
Baekhyun yelled for him. Swords clashed together outside, and Taemin pulled Kai from the tent. Baekhyun fought off three of the men, and Taemin took one down with an arrow. Another man fell to Baekhyun’s sword.
“Go!” Baekhyun yelled. “I’ll buy you some time.”
Taemin rolled his eyes. “I’m not leaving you, you ass!”
There were more noises, more men, and Taemin knew they could not fight them all. They had to leave, before their route to their horses was cut off.
Taemin displaced the third man and then shouted, “Come on!”
But Kai was weaker and more injured than Taemin thought, crawling on the ground, curled up in pain. He flung Kai over his shoulder and ran, stumbling a little with his weight. He heard Baekhyun behind him. It took too many seconds to get their horses free. It took too many moments to get Kai onto Meadow
An arrow pierced Baekhyun’s arm and he screamed and almost fell from his horse.
“Baekhyun!”
“Come on,” he said, through gritted teeth. “Go!”
Another arrow brushed past Taemin. He vaulted onto Meadow’s back and they rode, hard and fast away from the camp.
They rode until Baekhyun almost fell off the horse from the pain, they rode until he could go no farther, and Kai, even though he was injured, rode with Baekhyun, holding him up.
They were followed only for a short time, only until the sun rose. And then they rode faster, farther south. To a river. Still alert for the namsadang men to cut them off.
Taemin stopped them, and then he pulled Baekhyun from the horse, and Kai hurried to the river with Taemin’s shirt to soak it in water.
“Not too bad,” Baekhyun said and coughed. “Luckily it’s just my arm. It will heal.”
Taemin glowered. “You weren’t supposed to get hurt.”
“You weren’t supposed to be the favorite whore of the namsadang.”
Taemin smiled, fighting back tears. Now was not the time to cry. He grabbed the shaft of the arrow, and yanked, and the arrow ripped up Baekhyun’s arm and he screamed, face going pale and ashen, and then Kai was there, still naked, but with the wet shirt and Baekhyun screamed again when it was pressed to the gushing wound.
“Ass,” he ground out.
Taemin grinned. “Wimp.” He looked over at Kai. “There’s another set of clothes in my pack. Get dressed. Quickly. We’ve stopped too long.”
While Kai dressed, Taemin helped Baekhyun up onto Meadow’s back, and then moved up behind him. Kai rode the other horse and the three of them waded through the river on horseback and cantered across the plains until exhaustion overtook them.
---
“Now what?” Changmin grumbled from the bed.
Jaejoong shook his head. “Taemin is ... alive. Hurt? I can’t tell. Definitely worried and scared.”
“I can’t do nothing anymore,” Changmin said. “I can’t just sit here. Even if he ends up hating me, I have to find him. I can’t ... I can’t let my boy just be alone anymore. We need to find him before the winter storms come.”
Jaejoong nodded. “You are right, but ... he’s going south.”
“South?”
Jaejoong nodded and waved his hand in that direction. “That is where the feeling is coming from.”
“That’s where the Caravan is going.”
Jaejoong took a deep breath. “Hopefully that is where he is headed. Between you and his mother right now, I think I’d take his mother.”
“Or he is desperate, because Luna is going to smack him.”
Jaejoong chuckled. “Yes. I ... I’m sorry.”
“For what, my love?”
Jaejoong swallowed and shook his head. “I’m sorry I cannot reassure you more.”
“He is alive?”
“Yes.”
“Then we will go south with the Caravan and wait.”
---
Taemin pushed Meadow to her limits again, her hooves kicking up dust behind them on the road. Baekhyun’s arm did not stop bleeding. He’d lost too much blood. The arrow had ripped up something important.
He could feel his best friend fading.
“There!” Kai shouted and pointed a bit to the east.
A homestead. Finally.
Taemin went a bit faster, and a young man near their age suddenly straightened from his work in a field, and he stared, with wide eyes.
“Help, please,” Taemin said. “Help.”
The boy stood up, tall and older than Taemin expected, but he turned and ran toward the house shouting for his mother. They followed him, more slowly, and Baekhyun whimpered.
“Min?”
“Sh,” Taemin said. “We found help.”
They stopped at the house and Kai jumped from his horse and helped Taemin lower Baekhyun to the ground. Baekhyun stumbled and it took both Kai and the other boy to steady him.
The mother exited and then immediately took charge, ordering the boy “Chanyeol” to find his father with the animals. She shouted inside to a younger girl “Yoora” to clear the sewing off the table, and then to go upstairs for a sheet and an extra blanket.
She looked at Taemin, opened her mouth to shout out an order, and stopped in surprise. “Your highness.”
Taemin jerked like he had been slapped. He swallowed, unable to talk. No one had called him that for over a year and a half.
She smiled and bowed. “At a different time, I would offer you food, but we’ll help your friend first.” She turned to Kai. “You boy. I just put water on for soup and had yet to add anything to it. It is over the fire. Bring it here.”
“I’ll get it,” Taemin said. “He’s injured too.”
The woman frowned, but nodded when she actually looked at Kai leaning against the wall, arm around his stomach protectively.
“Just ... bruised ribs,” Kai said. “Nothing broken.”
“Good, good.”
The girl returned with a blanket and she put it over the table. With Taemin’s help, they settled Baekhyun on the table, and the woman began her examination of the hastily wrapped wound.
“You’ve grown so much since I last saw you, your highness” she said. “You were with your mother on the Caravan about ten years ago.”
Taemin cleared his throat. “That ... that’s where I’m going. Father ... Father said I could travel there myself. It’s not too far.”
“What happened?”
“Bandits,” Taemin whispered. “We ran when we could not fight them off. Baekhyun took this arrow to protect me.”
“I’m glad your father was smart enough to send you with two guards.”
“This is--”
“Jongin,” Kai said quickly.
“It is nice to meet you, Jongin. Now, let’s help your friend.” She started by removing the blood soaked bandages, and then told Kai to cut strips of the fabric off. She muttered to herself, moving around them, dipping cloth in the hot water and applying it before getting a ladle to scoop it right onto his arm. She ordered the girl to start mixing a salve.
Baekhyun had fallen unconscious.
Chanyeol returned with his father, and his father also bowed to Taemin immediately, and went to get a needle and thread he used for stitching up his cattle when they were injured by predators.
“I have this handled. Chanyeol, take the prince and his guard upstairs to your bed and let them rest. You are injured, too, Jongin. We’ll take care of Baekhyun.”
“Thank you so much,” Taemin said and bowed to her.
“It is what anyone would do,” she said, though she smiled from being bowed to by the prince.
“You can change your clothes,” Chanyeol offered once they were upstairs. He motioned to his dresser. It was not much of a room, but instead the attic space. One side had the bed Chanyeol had taken him to, the other side had another bed, larger, probably for his parents. “Would you like me to bring you anything?”
“No thank you. Just some rest,” Kai said.
Or Jongin said?
Chanyeol bowed his way out of the room, and Taemin stripped as soon as Chanyeol was back down the ladder. There was blood on his arms and legs. Baekhyun’s blood.
Blood on his hands. Blood on his soul. He’d killed someone. The image of his throat spraying blood had Taemin swallowing bile.
He staggered to the basin of water on a table.
“Let me,” Kai whispered.
Taemin stood still, eyes looking forward, counting the knots and lines in the wooden logs of the wall, to keep from thinking of other things. Dead things.
He jerked at the cool touch of the washcloth.
Kai soothed him with soft touches. He washed him down in silence, fingers straying for a few moments to caress his nipples, slide up his side, curve around his ass.
“Jongin?” Taemin whispered.
“My real name.”
Taemin nodded. “It’s nice to meet you.”
Kai smiled and pushed Taemin toward the bed. Taemin sat and then lay back. He did not protest when Kai washed his feet and then massaged them. He let tears finally fall, from the corner of his eyes to the pillow under his head.
Kai’s long fingers dug into the muscles of his foot and up his calf. His mouth peppered Taemin’s legs in soft kisses and then he licked at his balls and sucked on his cock.
Taemin sighed, fingers landing in Kai’s hair. “Don’t. You’re injured.”
Kai chuckled against his skin. “Not enough to keep me from worshiping you, your highness.”
Taemin chuckled. He made no other noise than that, and he did not protest as Kai sucked on his cock, the movements soft, slow. He cupped Taemin’s balls and then tugged a little harder. He shifted closer and Taemin hooked his legs over Kai’s shoulders.
Fingers danced down his inner thighs. Fingers pressed against his entrance and Taemin bit back a moan. Kai bobbed his head, teased his tight body open, and drove Taemin mad for what felt like hours but was probably only a few minutes. He tugged on Kai’s hair a little too hard when he came and shuddered, biting his lip as he pumped his release in Kai's throat. Kai sucked him through the pleasure and sensitivity. He pulled away when Taemin relaxed, and then kneeled. Pushing up, hands behind Taemin’s knees.
Taemin smiled and pulled a pillow to his face, moaning into it as Kai thrust into him. He stayed slow, the bed creaking.
"You love me?" Kai asked.
Taemin nodded.
"You don’t really know me."
"Whose fault is that?"
"Mine, I guess."
Taemin laughed. "Indeed."
---
The feelings that Jaejoong recognized as Taemin’s relaxed and disappeared. The sudden disappearance had Jaejoong breathing in relief. Taemin was safe, he was no longer being harmed. There was a wave of pleasure through him, and Jaejoong smiled, glad that Taemin had found someone to be with.
Baekhyun, maybe?
They had been incredibly close for master and servant, much like Changmin and Minho before Jaejoong came into the picture.
The coach jolted on the uneven road, rousing Changmin from his sleep.
Jaejoong reached around him, pulled him close for a kiss and then more than a kiss. He dampened the sound around them and let the rocking of the coach hide the rocking of his hips as he straddled Changmin’s lap and bounced up and down on his cock.
Part 5: The Resting Trap
Part 3: The Pleasure Trap
Part 2: The Hidden Trap
Part 1: The Honor Trap
.
Pairing: Kai/Taemin (Exo/SHINee), [Side Pairings: Chanyeol/Baekhyun, Changmin/Jaejoong]
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: These two definitely do not belong to me, but I'm borrowing them for the joys of this story.
Summary: Taemin doesn't want to be a prince, living in the shadow of his perfect father and his father's consort. He wants to be free, no matter the price he has to pay.
A/N: This story takes place about 16 years after Tightly Bound's epilogue. Taemin is 17 years old at the beginning of this story, with Baekhyun at 18 and Kai at 16. Taemin's older sisters are 21 years old.
Warnings: Prostitution
Part 4: The Broken Trap
Autumn
Taemin stood at the edge of the camp, staring out over the plains of his father’s kingdom. He stared toward the castle, imagining the hills and rivers between it and him, toward what he had thought had been a prison. He understood now how perfect his life had been. He always had food. He always had someplace warm to sleep. He always had the support of his parents and the servants.
But he was not his father. Too many people thought he should have been just like his father. And as he was learning in the towns they went to, many of the people who swore fealty to his father did not actually like him. Rumors abounded about his fathers’ relationship. Had Jaejoong warped his mind? there was no other reason for such depravity. And it had spread to the queen as well, the arrogant woman who refused to live in a castle.
The people followed the king and queen. They obeyed the laws, mostly. But they did not respect them.
Especially in the namsadang. If the king and queen could live such frivolous lives based on sex and riches, then so could they.
Taemin wished he’d seen it to start, but it had been a very well-woven trap. Life with the namsadang had been fun at first, learning to perform, learning to tightrope, learning to dance, and showing off his bow.
But now the leaders kept telling Taemin that he and Baekhyun owed them a debt, that he and Baekhyun had to stay to pay off the food and shelter they had been given. It was extortion.
And over the course of the last few months, Taemin had learned, gleaned from innocent conversations, that many in the namsadang were there because they owed the leaders a debt, imaginary or otherwise, Taemin did not know, but it was a problem. A serious problem. Definitely one he could not solve still being in the namsadang. Definitely one his father was going to take care of.
Though the people had a point. What was stopping them from doing this when the king himself had a male elven lover and the queen herself had a non-noble female lover?
Baekhyun sidled up next to him, arm around his waist, head on his shoulder.
“We need to leave,” Taemin whispered to Baekhyun.
Baekhyun nodded. “I’ve been saying that for a long time.”
“I know. I’m sorry. Kai won’t come with me. I don’t want to do this anymore. I love performing and traveling and acting but ...”
Baekhyun gripped his shoulder. “I know.”
“The Caravan is going southeast, toward the Elven Forests at this time. We’ll cut it off. Apparently, Mother is quite angry.”
Baekhyun rolled his eyes. “Well, duh, you ass.”
Taemin smiled.
Someone shouted for them. Maybe they looked ready to bolt. Taemin was not stupid enough to try to run in the middle of the day. Many in the namsadang knew how to shoot a bow. Not as good as he, but accurate enough to make it painful, if not deadly.
---
They waited another three weeks, just to give the namsadang a false sense of ownership. Taemin even asked the leader what he could do to help pay off their debt. The leader had smirked and said that Taemin was very good already and proceeded to show him just how Taemin could use his body to pay it off. It was a bunch of bullshit because Taemin had been using his body to earn the namsadang way more money than food and shelter were worth.
It had to be spontaneous. It had to be unplanned. They could not draw attention to themselves. They had to wait until neither was being used and then they had to wait until the latest hours of the night, before the sky brightened with dawn. Most in the camp were drunk, celebrating a successful and profitable run of shows. Profitable because of Taemin and Kai and Baekhuyn.
Kai had been yanked from their tent hours before, and Taemin knew that this was going to be their only chance for a long time. He’d been sold right after their show, and Baekhyun had stumbled into the tent just an hour ago. They had to leave. He wanted to hug and kiss Kai goodbye. He wanted him to come with, but he did not want to be denied again. And they could not wait. Taemin would come back for him.
They slipped around the outskirts of the camp, toward the horses.
Just past the leader’s tent, Taemin heard a slap and a cry. He stopped, ignoring Baekhyun’s hiss of protest.
“What is this?” the leader shouted. “Is Taehyun the prince?”
Taemin’s eyes widened and he stared at Baekhyun in horror. Baekhyun silently cursed, too smart to do it outloud, but his glare showed that he meant all the curses he was mouthing to insult Taemin.
“Has he been here this entire time? You ungrateful wretch. Answer me!”
There was another cry, and then the leader demanded, “Why do you have this leaf? Is this from the dishonorable elf, Jaejoong? Is Taehyun really the prince?”
“Hyung,” Taemin pleaded.
Baekhyun glared at him and shook his head.
There was another cry, definitely Kai, and another harsh slap and a thud, like Kai was being kicked.
Taemin flinched and felt himself on the verge of tears. “I can’t leave him, Baekhyunnie. Not now. I ... I can’t ... he ...”
Baekhyun sighed, and then bit his lip and removed his sword. “You ass.”
“They’ll probably kill him.”
“Still, you’re an ass. You can’t miss. We’ll have one shot at this. I’ll cover for you.”
Taemin shook his head. He had never missed.
They circled the tent, slowly quietly, alert. To the front, where the flap lay open. It was too dark to see if anyone was guarding it. Taemin stood away from the opening, just enough to see inside but be hidden in the dark from anyone looking out.
Kai was naked on the floor, his body covered with a series of bleeding welts.
“You knew,” the leader shouted, kicking Kai again. “You knew he is the prince, and you kept it from us. Do you deny it?”
Kai said nothing.
“You could have earned your freedom from this, but now you are going to belong to us for another ten years. We will ransom the prince to his father and get even more money for his life than his used and broken body is worth.”
Taemin swallowed. He pulled back his bow and aimed. Commotion threatened to distract him, but he focused. The leader looked up in surprise at the shout and sound of swords clashing, and Taemin released his arrow.
He had never shot at someone. He had never shot with the intent to kill.
And he had never missed.
The arrow cut through the man’s throat, and he fell backwards, spraying blood all around. Taemin rushed into the tent. He fell next to Kai, eyes jerking quickly, checking for anything serious, but the worst of his injuries were a few bleeding lashes. Nothing life threatening.
“Come on,” Taemin said.
Baekhyun yelled for him. Swords clashed together outside, and Taemin pulled Kai from the tent. Baekhyun fought off three of the men, and Taemin took one down with an arrow. Another man fell to Baekhyun’s sword.
“Go!” Baekhyun yelled. “I’ll buy you some time.”
Taemin rolled his eyes. “I’m not leaving you, you ass!”
There were more noises, more men, and Taemin knew they could not fight them all. They had to leave, before their route to their horses was cut off.
Taemin displaced the third man and then shouted, “Come on!”
But Kai was weaker and more injured than Taemin thought, crawling on the ground, curled up in pain. He flung Kai over his shoulder and ran, stumbling a little with his weight. He heard Baekhyun behind him. It took too many seconds to get their horses free. It took too many moments to get Kai onto Meadow
An arrow pierced Baekhyun’s arm and he screamed and almost fell from his horse.
“Baekhyun!”
“Come on,” he said, through gritted teeth. “Go!”
Another arrow brushed past Taemin. He vaulted onto Meadow’s back and they rode, hard and fast away from the camp.
They rode until Baekhyun almost fell off the horse from the pain, they rode until he could go no farther, and Kai, even though he was injured, rode with Baekhyun, holding him up.
They were followed only for a short time, only until the sun rose. And then they rode faster, farther south. To a river. Still alert for the namsadang men to cut them off.
Taemin stopped them, and then he pulled Baekhyun from the horse, and Kai hurried to the river with Taemin’s shirt to soak it in water.
“Not too bad,” Baekhyun said and coughed. “Luckily it’s just my arm. It will heal.”
Taemin glowered. “You weren’t supposed to get hurt.”
“You weren’t supposed to be the favorite whore of the namsadang.”
Taemin smiled, fighting back tears. Now was not the time to cry. He grabbed the shaft of the arrow, and yanked, and the arrow ripped up Baekhyun’s arm and he screamed, face going pale and ashen, and then Kai was there, still naked, but with the wet shirt and Baekhyun screamed again when it was pressed to the gushing wound.
“Ass,” he ground out.
Taemin grinned. “Wimp.” He looked over at Kai. “There’s another set of clothes in my pack. Get dressed. Quickly. We’ve stopped too long.”
While Kai dressed, Taemin helped Baekhyun up onto Meadow’s back, and then moved up behind him. Kai rode the other horse and the three of them waded through the river on horseback and cantered across the plains until exhaustion overtook them.
---
“Now what?” Changmin grumbled from the bed.
Jaejoong shook his head. “Taemin is ... alive. Hurt? I can’t tell. Definitely worried and scared.”
“I can’t do nothing anymore,” Changmin said. “I can’t just sit here. Even if he ends up hating me, I have to find him. I can’t ... I can’t let my boy just be alone anymore. We need to find him before the winter storms come.”
Jaejoong nodded. “You are right, but ... he’s going south.”
“South?”
Jaejoong nodded and waved his hand in that direction. “That is where the feeling is coming from.”
“That’s where the Caravan is going.”
Jaejoong took a deep breath. “Hopefully that is where he is headed. Between you and his mother right now, I think I’d take his mother.”
“Or he is desperate, because Luna is going to smack him.”
Jaejoong chuckled. “Yes. I ... I’m sorry.”
“For what, my love?”
Jaejoong swallowed and shook his head. “I’m sorry I cannot reassure you more.”
“He is alive?”
“Yes.”
“Then we will go south with the Caravan and wait.”
---
Taemin pushed Meadow to her limits again, her hooves kicking up dust behind them on the road. Baekhyun’s arm did not stop bleeding. He’d lost too much blood. The arrow had ripped up something important.
He could feel his best friend fading.
“There!” Kai shouted and pointed a bit to the east.
A homestead. Finally.
Taemin went a bit faster, and a young man near their age suddenly straightened from his work in a field, and he stared, with wide eyes.
“Help, please,” Taemin said. “Help.”
The boy stood up, tall and older than Taemin expected, but he turned and ran toward the house shouting for his mother. They followed him, more slowly, and Baekhyun whimpered.
“Min?”
“Sh,” Taemin said. “We found help.”
They stopped at the house and Kai jumped from his horse and helped Taemin lower Baekhyun to the ground. Baekhyun stumbled and it took both Kai and the other boy to steady him.
The mother exited and then immediately took charge, ordering the boy “Chanyeol” to find his father with the animals. She shouted inside to a younger girl “Yoora” to clear the sewing off the table, and then to go upstairs for a sheet and an extra blanket.
She looked at Taemin, opened her mouth to shout out an order, and stopped in surprise. “Your highness.”
Taemin jerked like he had been slapped. He swallowed, unable to talk. No one had called him that for over a year and a half.
She smiled and bowed. “At a different time, I would offer you food, but we’ll help your friend first.” She turned to Kai. “You boy. I just put water on for soup and had yet to add anything to it. It is over the fire. Bring it here.”
“I’ll get it,” Taemin said. “He’s injured too.”
The woman frowned, but nodded when she actually looked at Kai leaning against the wall, arm around his stomach protectively.
“Just ... bruised ribs,” Kai said. “Nothing broken.”
“Good, good.”
The girl returned with a blanket and she put it over the table. With Taemin’s help, they settled Baekhyun on the table, and the woman began her examination of the hastily wrapped wound.
“You’ve grown so much since I last saw you, your highness” she said. “You were with your mother on the Caravan about ten years ago.”
Taemin cleared his throat. “That ... that’s where I’m going. Father ... Father said I could travel there myself. It’s not too far.”
“What happened?”
“Bandits,” Taemin whispered. “We ran when we could not fight them off. Baekhyun took this arrow to protect me.”
“I’m glad your father was smart enough to send you with two guards.”
“This is--”
“Jongin,” Kai said quickly.
“It is nice to meet you, Jongin. Now, let’s help your friend.” She started by removing the blood soaked bandages, and then told Kai to cut strips of the fabric off. She muttered to herself, moving around them, dipping cloth in the hot water and applying it before getting a ladle to scoop it right onto his arm. She ordered the girl to start mixing a salve.
Baekhyun had fallen unconscious.
Chanyeol returned with his father, and his father also bowed to Taemin immediately, and went to get a needle and thread he used for stitching up his cattle when they were injured by predators.
“I have this handled. Chanyeol, take the prince and his guard upstairs to your bed and let them rest. You are injured, too, Jongin. We’ll take care of Baekhyun.”
“Thank you so much,” Taemin said and bowed to her.
“It is what anyone would do,” she said, though she smiled from being bowed to by the prince.
“You can change your clothes,” Chanyeol offered once they were upstairs. He motioned to his dresser. It was not much of a room, but instead the attic space. One side had the bed Chanyeol had taken him to, the other side had another bed, larger, probably for his parents. “Would you like me to bring you anything?”
“No thank you. Just some rest,” Kai said.
Or Jongin said?
Chanyeol bowed his way out of the room, and Taemin stripped as soon as Chanyeol was back down the ladder. There was blood on his arms and legs. Baekhyun’s blood.
Blood on his hands. Blood on his soul. He’d killed someone. The image of his throat spraying blood had Taemin swallowing bile.
He staggered to the basin of water on a table.
“Let me,” Kai whispered.
Taemin stood still, eyes looking forward, counting the knots and lines in the wooden logs of the wall, to keep from thinking of other things. Dead things.
He jerked at the cool touch of the washcloth.
Kai soothed him with soft touches. He washed him down in silence, fingers straying for a few moments to caress his nipples, slide up his side, curve around his ass.
“Jongin?” Taemin whispered.
“My real name.”
Taemin nodded. “It’s nice to meet you.”
Kai smiled and pushed Taemin toward the bed. Taemin sat and then lay back. He did not protest when Kai washed his feet and then massaged them. He let tears finally fall, from the corner of his eyes to the pillow under his head.
Kai’s long fingers dug into the muscles of his foot and up his calf. His mouth peppered Taemin’s legs in soft kisses and then he licked at his balls and sucked on his cock.
Taemin sighed, fingers landing in Kai’s hair. “Don’t. You’re injured.”
Kai chuckled against his skin. “Not enough to keep me from worshiping you, your highness.”
Taemin chuckled. He made no other noise than that, and he did not protest as Kai sucked on his cock, the movements soft, slow. He cupped Taemin’s balls and then tugged a little harder. He shifted closer and Taemin hooked his legs over Kai’s shoulders.
Fingers danced down his inner thighs. Fingers pressed against his entrance and Taemin bit back a moan. Kai bobbed his head, teased his tight body open, and drove Taemin mad for what felt like hours but was probably only a few minutes. He tugged on Kai’s hair a little too hard when he came and shuddered, biting his lip as he pumped his release in Kai's throat. Kai sucked him through the pleasure and sensitivity. He pulled away when Taemin relaxed, and then kneeled. Pushing up, hands behind Taemin’s knees.
Taemin smiled and pulled a pillow to his face, moaning into it as Kai thrust into him. He stayed slow, the bed creaking.
"You love me?" Kai asked.
Taemin nodded.
"You don’t really know me."
"Whose fault is that?"
"Mine, I guess."
Taemin laughed. "Indeed."
---
The feelings that Jaejoong recognized as Taemin’s relaxed and disappeared. The sudden disappearance had Jaejoong breathing in relief. Taemin was safe, he was no longer being harmed. There was a wave of pleasure through him, and Jaejoong smiled, glad that Taemin had found someone to be with.
Baekhyun, maybe?
They had been incredibly close for master and servant, much like Changmin and Minho before Jaejoong came into the picture.
The coach jolted on the uneven road, rousing Changmin from his sleep.
Jaejoong reached around him, pulled him close for a kiss and then more than a kiss. He dampened the sound around them and let the rocking of the coach hide the rocking of his hips as he straddled Changmin’s lap and bounced up and down on his cock.
Part 5: The Resting Trap
Part 3: The Pleasure Trap
Part 2: The Hidden Trap
Part 1: The Honor Trap
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