Husband
Title: Husband
Author:
hunters_retreat
Pairing: Jared/Jensen
Summary: His brothers had all inherited lands and titles and a life of luxury. Jensen had been handed a throne he didn’t want, and a tithe-husband he didn’t know how to keep happy.
Author's Note: Written for my marraige square on my trope bingo card.
“What are you wearing?”
“Do you like it?”
Jensen looked down at the man and shook his head. He could see the reaction immediately. Jared’s smile turned into a pout and he threw the fabric off and onto the bed.
“I like it,” Jensen tried to appease his tithe-husband. “I just didn’t expect to see you in something so… colorful.”
Jared ran his hand over the feathered vest and looked up at Jensen. “It’s a Torvanian swallow-breasted feather vest. Only the royalty of the region is allowed to own it. They gave it to me when I was with them last week.”
Jensen nodded but he was out of his depth with this. Jensen was the youngest of the Masortian royal family and the least likely to gain the throne. Until his father had gotten ill and surprised everyone by placing the family crown on his head. He’d said that Jensen alone had the heart of his people, that the others had grown too corrupt or too bitter in the politics of the day to be able to rule them well.
His brothers had all inherited lands and titles and a life of luxury. Jensen had been handed a throne he didn’t want, and a tithe-husband he didn’t know how to keep happy. That Jared had a gift for politics was a god-send. That he was beautiful and talented and strong made Jensen’s head spin and that wasn’t such a boon. The bed Jared sat on was his alone, one that Jensen had not found a way into. Every time he opened his mouth around his tithe-husband he said the wrong thing.
In six months’ time, if Jensen had not consummated their union, he would be obliged to send Jared home. Jensen hated the idea but he refused to take Jared to bed unless they both wanted this to last. Jared hadn’t given any indication that he did. Jensen wasn’t sure how he felt about it either.
“You do your people proud,” Jensen said softly. “You do your king proud.”
He left before he could see what Jared thought of those words.
**
“What is that?”
It was the wrong tone. He could see it from the way Jared’s mouth tightened as he looked over at Jensen. Jensen couldn’t help it though because there was a hat of some sort on Jared’s head that blocked most of his face. It blocked the upper part of Jared’s face and Jensen hated not being able to see Jared’s beautiful eyes.
“The Forarians see it as disrespectful to make eye contact with a tithe-bride. They believe their magnetism is so strong that making eye contact would cause an unclaimed bride to forsake their bonds. If you want me here when you meet with them, it is only respectful that I honor their customs.”
“They’re coming to me for help. If they want my help they can honor my customs. Take the ridiculous thing off, Jared.”
There was a knock behind the door and then the Forarian arrival was made known. When Jensen looked over at Jared, his tithe-husband had pulled the hat down a little lower over his eyes as if to dare Jensen to do something about it.
Jensen let out a deep sigh to settle his annoyance as he focused on the other kingdom’s delegates.
**
“What are you wearing this time?” Jensen demanded as Jared came down the stairs of his ancestral palace. They were surrounded by delegates from the inner and outlying kingdoms. Jensen wore the traditional linen pants and fur lined vest of his people but Jared was in splendid regalia. It was, no doubt, the type of clothing he’d worn when his family has sent him off to university in the far east but it was a long way from the simple fare of his own people. Times like this, Jensen felt the rift between them was far wider than he could ever hope to gap.
“Safotian silk,” Jared said as he took Jensen’s hand and let him lead the way to the dais where their table sat. “My father sent it as a gift. I thought I should get the chance to wear it once before…”
Jared’s eyes darted away and Jensen didn’t quite hide his grimace at the topic that he had steadfastly been avoiding. In two months’ time their betrothal would be over unless he and Jared consummated their relationship. Jensen didn’t know how he would rule without Jared there to keep him from making a fool of himself. He couldn’t ask the other man to stay though. It was obvious that Jared was a creature of other needs and what could the king of a simple kingdom offer to the son of the most powerful ruler in the world? Silk and exotics weren’t beyond his means - they were a simple kingdom but strong and rich in their own rights - but they weren’t his style.
What he had to give, it could only be given in love, and Jared would never see him as anything but a warrior with too much blood on his hands and a kingdom of nomads.
**
“Jared?”
Jared’s eyes turned to his and Jensen had to swallow hard. It wasn’t the black eye or the split lip that made Jensen nervous. It wasn’t the rope burns on his wrists or the bruises on his pale skin that made Jensen’s voice dark.
“What are you wearing?”
Jared’s eyes turned down as he ran a hand over the blanket he wore around his shoulders. It was the soft fur of the Masortian tiger, white with dark splotched to camouflage it in its snowy home. Jensen had taken the pelt as a souvenir. The blanket was a match to the vest Jared wore. The vest had seen better days but it was comfortable and soft and Jensen kept it in a drawer in his room as a keepsake of his younger days. He had no idea how Jared had found it.
“I’m sorry,” Jared said softly, his eyes turned down to the ground. “I should have been stronger. I should have seen that the Forarians had come to try to blackmail you. I … I shouldn’t be dressed like this in front of you but I needed the comfort and I thought you would be gone for some time still.” Jared let out a deep breath and he looked Jensen in the eye then. “I will change into something more suitable.”
Jared began to leave the room but Jensen touched his arm softly and stopped him. Jared’s eyes were wide at the contact and he looked up at Jensen in surprise.
“Jared?” He raised his hand to Jared’s cheek, caressing the soft skin that had been so recently damaged. “You wear these bruises because you would not betray me. I do not know where comes the doubt you wear in your eyes, but there is nothing more suitable to your king than to see you in the furs he has provided you.”
Jensen brought his other hand up to Jared’s hip, his thumb tracing the underside of the vest he wore. “You are so beautiful Jared, and so smart. I have tried to keep my distance because I know that my kingdom could never be enough for you, but I need you to know that I am honored by what you did. What you endured because of the tithing-bond, regardless of the fact that you don’t want to be my husband, it honors me and my people greatly.”
“Why?” Jared stopped and licked his lips as he looked down at Jensen. “Why would you think I don’t want to be your husband?”
“Since the day you arrived, you’ve paraded yourself in the styles and customs of other people, Jared. I might not have learned at the university as you did, but I am not without wit. As much as I could want to hold you to my side, I would never want to see you unhappy.”
Jared let out a shaky breath as he wrapped his arms over Jensen’s shoulders. Jensen didn’t know what his tithe-husband was doing but he had craved this closeness from the moment he’d seen Jared. He gripped both hips tighter and pulled Jared a little closer. His thumbs continued to trace Jared’s skin and he tried to memorize the feel of it before it was taken from him.
“Jensen.”
Jensen looked up at Jared and was surprised by the way the man’s eyes had darkened.
“Jared?”
“There is nothing about you. When I was at the university I studied your people. I was fascinated by them. The Masortian kingdom is the cornerstone to the success of the entire realm. My father knew that and it was why he wanted to tithe one of his children to you. I won the right to be at your side. I fought with my siblings until I had proven that I would be the best match for the Warrior-King. I told my father how they would need a strong spouse to help rule and I made certain he saw me as the best spouse for your kingdom. But when your father gave you the crown, I knew nothing of you. There was no court gossip or stories of the youngest Masortian son. I dressed myself in the costumes of the other kingdoms because your brothers would have wanted me to. I tried to impress you with the rules and rituals of other kingdoms because I knew I could be of service. Until I met you, I have never wanted anything as much as I wanted to rule beside the Masortian king. These are a people I understand and that I could love.”
“And when you met me?”
“All the rest fell away because once I started to know you, I never wanted anything more than I wanted to be yours.”
Jensen was staggered by Jared’s confession but he reacted without thought. Jensen wanted Jared, needed him, and there was nothing to stop him now.
Jensen pulled Jared’s head down to his and crushed their lips together. Jared moaned into the kiss and Jensen took advantage and slipped his tongue between Jared’s lips. He tasted sweet, of Safotian teas and honeys, but with the darker bitterness of the cocoa of Jensen’s own people. He devoured Jared’s mouth, unable to get enough of the taste of him.
He felt Jared push the vest off his shoulders and he let go of Jared for long enough to let the vest fall to the ground. Jensen ran his hands up Jared’s sides then and couldn’t help but run his thumb over Jared’s nipples. Jared gasped as he pulled back slightly, not out of Jensen’s touch but enough that he could look at him.
“Jensen, please,” he begged.
Jensen cut him off with another kiss. He ran his hands up Jared’s chest and felt the softness of his skin as he removed the vest Jared wore. His hands trailed over Jared’s body and the other man was so responsive to his touch. He arched and leaned into Jensen, his own hands teasing over battle scars and the markings of the youngest son of a warrior kingdom.
“Jensen, please,” Jared begged again.
“What is it you want, Jared?” Jensen asked as he pushed Jared down onto the bed where the fur blanket was lying. Jared’s eyes closed as he stretched out along the fur. There was nothing in the world so soft as a Masortian fur and Jensen smiled as he watched Jared.
Jared looked up at Jensen and pulled him against his body, his legs parting so Jensen would fit between them perfectly.
“What I want is to be rid of the tithing bond, Jensen. Claim me. Let me be your husband. I’m good for you and I want to be with you. I won’t … I’ll stop wearing the silly fashions and showing off with the customs. I want to be yours.”
“Will the fields and pleasure of a small kingdom hold you Jared? Can it make you happy?”
Jared smiled at Jensen. “It is not your kingdom I wish to wed Jensen. So tell me this, can you make me happy?”
Jensen smiled back at him. “I would spend my life trying, if you would let me.”
Jared pulled him closer and kissed him gently. “Oh, I would let you. I would spend a life letting you care for me, and taking care of you.”
**
In the morning, Jensen rose to find his bed cold. He splashed water on his face and dressed quickly. He had no idea where Jared was and after taking his as husband and the night before he had hoped to spend the morning alone with him.
He found him in the morning field where Jensen normally took his meals. Jared was there, sitting at the king’s table alone. The line of petitioners that usually awaited him in the morning was gone.
“Jared?”
Jared looked over his shoulder at Jensen but returned to his meal. “The morning petitioners have been seen, My Lord,” he said quietly. “I thought you would like to have a quiet breakfast.”
Jensen took a seat at the table and noticed that the food before him were his favorites. He also noticed that Jared wore the simply furs of his people. What most held his attention though was the sly smile on his lover’s lips.
“A would have preferred a longer layabout with my husband this morning, but it seems the choice was taken from me.”
Jared got up from his seat and dropped into Jensen’s lap. In all the time they’d spent together, Jensen could not have guessed Jared would be so affectionate.
“Jared?”
“Yes, husband?”
Jared kissed him there on the field, where anyone could see. It wasn’t something a Safotian prince should be seen doing, wasn’t something a more civilized culture would allow, but he was the Companion King of Masortian now. Jensen’s people were very demonstrative and Jensen would have eventually asked Jared to make their wedding known publically but he should have known Jared would understand.
“Do you love me, husband?” he asked quietly as he brought his hand up to caress Jared’s cheek.
“I love you beyond reason, husband,” Jared smiled as he leaned into Jensen’s touch.
Jensen knew his people began to gather but he didn’t stop as he brought his lips to his husband’s. The field filled with a crowd and people celebrated but Jensen kissed Jared until his husband was breathless.
“Welcome home, husband,” Jensen whispered against Jared’s lips.
“Is there anything else you wish of me this morning, my Lord?”
“To hear the word one more time from your lips. Always, one more time.”
Jared smiled as he kissed Jensen soundly. “Always and forever more, Husband.”
Author:
hunters_retreat
Pairing: Jared/Jensen
Summary: His brothers had all inherited lands and titles and a life of luxury. Jensen had been handed a throne he didn’t want, and a tithe-husband he didn’t know how to keep happy.
Author's Note: Written for my marraige square on my trope bingo card.
“What are you wearing?”
“Do you like it?”
Jensen looked down at the man and shook his head. He could see the reaction immediately. Jared’s smile turned into a pout and he threw the fabric off and onto the bed.
“I like it,” Jensen tried to appease his tithe-husband. “I just didn’t expect to see you in something so… colorful.”
Jared ran his hand over the feathered vest and looked up at Jensen. “It’s a Torvanian swallow-breasted feather vest. Only the royalty of the region is allowed to own it. They gave it to me when I was with them last week.”
Jensen nodded but he was out of his depth with this. Jensen was the youngest of the Masortian royal family and the least likely to gain the throne. Until his father had gotten ill and surprised everyone by placing the family crown on his head. He’d said that Jensen alone had the heart of his people, that the others had grown too corrupt or too bitter in the politics of the day to be able to rule them well.
His brothers had all inherited lands and titles and a life of luxury. Jensen had been handed a throne he didn’t want, and a tithe-husband he didn’t know how to keep happy. That Jared had a gift for politics was a god-send. That he was beautiful and talented and strong made Jensen’s head spin and that wasn’t such a boon. The bed Jared sat on was his alone, one that Jensen had not found a way into. Every time he opened his mouth around his tithe-husband he said the wrong thing.
In six months’ time, if Jensen had not consummated their union, he would be obliged to send Jared home. Jensen hated the idea but he refused to take Jared to bed unless they both wanted this to last. Jared hadn’t given any indication that he did. Jensen wasn’t sure how he felt about it either.
“You do your people proud,” Jensen said softly. “You do your king proud.”
He left before he could see what Jared thought of those words.
**
“What is that?”
It was the wrong tone. He could see it from the way Jared’s mouth tightened as he looked over at Jensen. Jensen couldn’t help it though because there was a hat of some sort on Jared’s head that blocked most of his face. It blocked the upper part of Jared’s face and Jensen hated not being able to see Jared’s beautiful eyes.
“The Forarians see it as disrespectful to make eye contact with a tithe-bride. They believe their magnetism is so strong that making eye contact would cause an unclaimed bride to forsake their bonds. If you want me here when you meet with them, it is only respectful that I honor their customs.”
“They’re coming to me for help. If they want my help they can honor my customs. Take the ridiculous thing off, Jared.”
There was a knock behind the door and then the Forarian arrival was made known. When Jensen looked over at Jared, his tithe-husband had pulled the hat down a little lower over his eyes as if to dare Jensen to do something about it.
Jensen let out a deep sigh to settle his annoyance as he focused on the other kingdom’s delegates.
**
“What are you wearing this time?” Jensen demanded as Jared came down the stairs of his ancestral palace. They were surrounded by delegates from the inner and outlying kingdoms. Jensen wore the traditional linen pants and fur lined vest of his people but Jared was in splendid regalia. It was, no doubt, the type of clothing he’d worn when his family has sent him off to university in the far east but it was a long way from the simple fare of his own people. Times like this, Jensen felt the rift between them was far wider than he could ever hope to gap.
“Safotian silk,” Jared said as he took Jensen’s hand and let him lead the way to the dais where their table sat. “My father sent it as a gift. I thought I should get the chance to wear it once before…”
Jared’s eyes darted away and Jensen didn’t quite hide his grimace at the topic that he had steadfastly been avoiding. In two months’ time their betrothal would be over unless he and Jared consummated their relationship. Jensen didn’t know how he would rule without Jared there to keep him from making a fool of himself. He couldn’t ask the other man to stay though. It was obvious that Jared was a creature of other needs and what could the king of a simple kingdom offer to the son of the most powerful ruler in the world? Silk and exotics weren’t beyond his means - they were a simple kingdom but strong and rich in their own rights - but they weren’t his style.
What he had to give, it could only be given in love, and Jared would never see him as anything but a warrior with too much blood on his hands and a kingdom of nomads.
**
“Jared?”
Jared’s eyes turned to his and Jensen had to swallow hard. It wasn’t the black eye or the split lip that made Jensen nervous. It wasn’t the rope burns on his wrists or the bruises on his pale skin that made Jensen’s voice dark.
“What are you wearing?”
Jared’s eyes turned down as he ran a hand over the blanket he wore around his shoulders. It was the soft fur of the Masortian tiger, white with dark splotched to camouflage it in its snowy home. Jensen had taken the pelt as a souvenir. The blanket was a match to the vest Jared wore. The vest had seen better days but it was comfortable and soft and Jensen kept it in a drawer in his room as a keepsake of his younger days. He had no idea how Jared had found it.
“I’m sorry,” Jared said softly, his eyes turned down to the ground. “I should have been stronger. I should have seen that the Forarians had come to try to blackmail you. I … I shouldn’t be dressed like this in front of you but I needed the comfort and I thought you would be gone for some time still.” Jared let out a deep breath and he looked Jensen in the eye then. “I will change into something more suitable.”
Jared began to leave the room but Jensen touched his arm softly and stopped him. Jared’s eyes were wide at the contact and he looked up at Jensen in surprise.
“Jared?” He raised his hand to Jared’s cheek, caressing the soft skin that had been so recently damaged. “You wear these bruises because you would not betray me. I do not know where comes the doubt you wear in your eyes, but there is nothing more suitable to your king than to see you in the furs he has provided you.”
Jensen brought his other hand up to Jared’s hip, his thumb tracing the underside of the vest he wore. “You are so beautiful Jared, and so smart. I have tried to keep my distance because I know that my kingdom could never be enough for you, but I need you to know that I am honored by what you did. What you endured because of the tithing-bond, regardless of the fact that you don’t want to be my husband, it honors me and my people greatly.”
“Why?” Jared stopped and licked his lips as he looked down at Jensen. “Why would you think I don’t want to be your husband?”
“Since the day you arrived, you’ve paraded yourself in the styles and customs of other people, Jared. I might not have learned at the university as you did, but I am not without wit. As much as I could want to hold you to my side, I would never want to see you unhappy.”
Jared let out a shaky breath as he wrapped his arms over Jensen’s shoulders. Jensen didn’t know what his tithe-husband was doing but he had craved this closeness from the moment he’d seen Jared. He gripped both hips tighter and pulled Jared a little closer. His thumbs continued to trace Jared’s skin and he tried to memorize the feel of it before it was taken from him.
“Jensen.”
Jensen looked up at Jared and was surprised by the way the man’s eyes had darkened.
“Jared?”
“There is nothing about you. When I was at the university I studied your people. I was fascinated by them. The Masortian kingdom is the cornerstone to the success of the entire realm. My father knew that and it was why he wanted to tithe one of his children to you. I won the right to be at your side. I fought with my siblings until I had proven that I would be the best match for the Warrior-King. I told my father how they would need a strong spouse to help rule and I made certain he saw me as the best spouse for your kingdom. But when your father gave you the crown, I knew nothing of you. There was no court gossip or stories of the youngest Masortian son. I dressed myself in the costumes of the other kingdoms because your brothers would have wanted me to. I tried to impress you with the rules and rituals of other kingdoms because I knew I could be of service. Until I met you, I have never wanted anything as much as I wanted to rule beside the Masortian king. These are a people I understand and that I could love.”
“And when you met me?”
“All the rest fell away because once I started to know you, I never wanted anything more than I wanted to be yours.”
Jensen was staggered by Jared’s confession but he reacted without thought. Jensen wanted Jared, needed him, and there was nothing to stop him now.
Jensen pulled Jared’s head down to his and crushed their lips together. Jared moaned into the kiss and Jensen took advantage and slipped his tongue between Jared’s lips. He tasted sweet, of Safotian teas and honeys, but with the darker bitterness of the cocoa of Jensen’s own people. He devoured Jared’s mouth, unable to get enough of the taste of him.
He felt Jared push the vest off his shoulders and he let go of Jared for long enough to let the vest fall to the ground. Jensen ran his hands up Jared’s sides then and couldn’t help but run his thumb over Jared’s nipples. Jared gasped as he pulled back slightly, not out of Jensen’s touch but enough that he could look at him.
“Jensen, please,” he begged.
Jensen cut him off with another kiss. He ran his hands up Jared’s chest and felt the softness of his skin as he removed the vest Jared wore. His hands trailed over Jared’s body and the other man was so responsive to his touch. He arched and leaned into Jensen, his own hands teasing over battle scars and the markings of the youngest son of a warrior kingdom.
“Jensen, please,” Jared begged again.
“What is it you want, Jared?” Jensen asked as he pushed Jared down onto the bed where the fur blanket was lying. Jared’s eyes closed as he stretched out along the fur. There was nothing in the world so soft as a Masortian fur and Jensen smiled as he watched Jared.
Jared looked up at Jensen and pulled him against his body, his legs parting so Jensen would fit between them perfectly.
“What I want is to be rid of the tithing bond, Jensen. Claim me. Let me be your husband. I’m good for you and I want to be with you. I won’t … I’ll stop wearing the silly fashions and showing off with the customs. I want to be yours.”
“Will the fields and pleasure of a small kingdom hold you Jared? Can it make you happy?”
Jared smiled at Jensen. “It is not your kingdom I wish to wed Jensen. So tell me this, can you make me happy?”
Jensen smiled back at him. “I would spend my life trying, if you would let me.”
Jared pulled him closer and kissed him gently. “Oh, I would let you. I would spend a life letting you care for me, and taking care of you.”
**
In the morning, Jensen rose to find his bed cold. He splashed water on his face and dressed quickly. He had no idea where Jared was and after taking his as husband and the night before he had hoped to spend the morning alone with him.
He found him in the morning field where Jensen normally took his meals. Jared was there, sitting at the king’s table alone. The line of petitioners that usually awaited him in the morning was gone.
“Jared?”
Jared looked over his shoulder at Jensen but returned to his meal. “The morning petitioners have been seen, My Lord,” he said quietly. “I thought you would like to have a quiet breakfast.”
Jensen took a seat at the table and noticed that the food before him were his favorites. He also noticed that Jared wore the simply furs of his people. What most held his attention though was the sly smile on his lover’s lips.
“A would have preferred a longer layabout with my husband this morning, but it seems the choice was taken from me.”
Jared got up from his seat and dropped into Jensen’s lap. In all the time they’d spent together, Jensen could not have guessed Jared would be so affectionate.
“Jared?”
“Yes, husband?”
Jared kissed him there on the field, where anyone could see. It wasn’t something a Safotian prince should be seen doing, wasn’t something a more civilized culture would allow, but he was the Companion King of Masortian now. Jensen’s people were very demonstrative and Jensen would have eventually asked Jared to make their wedding known publically but he should have known Jared would understand.
“Do you love me, husband?” he asked quietly as he brought his hand up to caress Jared’s cheek.
“I love you beyond reason, husband,” Jared smiled as he leaned into Jensen’s touch.
Jensen knew his people began to gather but he didn’t stop as he brought his lips to his husband’s. The field filled with a crowd and people celebrated but Jensen kissed Jared until his husband was breathless.
“Welcome home, husband,” Jensen whispered against Jared’s lips.
“Is there anything else you wish of me this morning, my Lord?”
“To hear the word one more time from your lips. Always, one more time.”
Jared smiled as he kissed Jensen soundly. “Always and forever more, Husband.”