The One You're With

Title: The One You're With part 3: Suspicion, Chapter 3
(aka The One You're With, chapter 3c)
Author: Tsutsuji
Fandom: Kyo Kara Maou!
Pairing: Conrad/Murata, Yozak/Murata, implied Shinou/Murata and Shinou/Daikenja, one-sided Murata/Yuuri and Conrad/Yuuri.
Rating and Warning: Adult (NC17). Angst, graphic yaoi, anal sex, light bondage, and... angst. Spellchecked, not beta'd.
Word count for this chapter: Just over 5000 (sorry).
Disclaimer: Characters and settings are the property of Tomo Takabayashi and associates, and I'm just a pervy fangirl who's not making any money off of this.
All comments and con-crit are much appreciated! ^_^

Summary: The threesome reaches a soul-shattering climax~ ! (Did I really say that??)


~~
The One You're With 3c


In spite of Yozak's enticing words, Murata noticed that he didn't seem to be in a hurry to move just yet. He looked way too content, lying there across Conrad's sprawled legs with the fingertips of one hand resting on a mismatched pair of scars on Conrad's hip. Red hair, tangled and darkened with sweat, hid most of his face, but Murata could see that his eyes were closed and his lips were open next to Conrad's thigh, as if he was breathing in the taste of his skin.

Murata turned to Conrad, whose eyes were just coming into focus on him. He bowed his head and let his lips twitch in strained smile, acknowledging his rather desperate condition and the fact that Conrad remained in control of it.

He hadn't even tried to calm his own breathing, although he was not quite as painfully aroused now that the two older men had stopped... moving, for the moment. Conrad smiled back in approval, gave his leg one more brief squeeze, and then he raised his head and looked down at Yozak. His soft eyes gleamed with a light that Yozak, still resting his cheek on Conrad's thigh with his eyes closed, didn't see.

Then, as if at an unspoken signal, both men sat up and turn toward Murata.

He shrank back, startled by the sudden movement and by their attention now being focused so keenly on him. Yozak's eyebrow lifted and Conrad's smile became more of a smirk, and he realized he was staring, open-mouthed in awe at the two of them, at muscles rippling and skin gleaming with the sweat of their recent exertion - which was, at least on the surface, all on his behalf. He didn't even try to guess what they were going to do together next. The unusually intense heat in Conrad's gaze and touch had been cooled by Yozak, but he was still half erect, and Murata knew by now that Conrad could smolder like this for hours. Yozak, on the other hand, was apparently as hard as could be, if the ridged swell under white silk was all that it seemed.

Murata's breath escaped in a little whine when Conrad sat up with his legs wrapped around Yozak from behind, leaned forward against the other man's back, and placed a kiss on his shoulder. Watching Murata's face, he slid his hand up Yozak's muscular thigh until he reached the ribbon that held the tiny strip of silk in place. Yozak hissed; he caught Conrad's eye and grinned, but he caught Conrad's hand under his as well and gave his head a little shake as a warning.

"Easy with that, Taichou," he said. His voice was lower than usual and vibrated right through Murata's skin. "I'm trying to save it for Ken-chan, you know!"

"I certainly hope so," Conrad said pleasantly. "I'll be very careful, then."

Yozak forced out a shaky laugh, but Conrad was true to his word, and Yozak relaxed a little as gentle fingers untied the ribbon, slowly. Murata realized he was holding his breath, and that they were both watching him and grinning as Yozak's magnificent erection was slowly revealed.

Then their words sank in. Startled again, he looked up at their faces, and Conrad smiled and nodded at him.

"Ready for me, Ken-chan?" Yozak asked archly.

Conrad left Yozak and moved over to him, then, sliding one hand up his leg and pulling him forward with the other.

"He will be ready," Conrad said, breathing hot on his neck, while he moved his hand up from Murata's leg and slipped it under his shirt, pressing rough fingers against his chest. "Soon enough!"

Murata's heart pounded under Conrad's touch; he stared into commanding brown eyes and then past them into sparkling blue ones. He hadn't bothered to guess what Yozak meant when he'd said they weren't done, and he still wasn't sure, but it was clear that his role as a mere observer was over.

~~

Yozak had discovered that, if being watched was more arousing than he'd ever guessed, being deliberately put on display was almost too intense to bear.

"Ah," Conrad had sighed over his shoulder when he'd felt Yozak quiver and jerk after being fully exposed to Murata's view. The breath made his skin tingle, almost enough to distract him from the hand teasing his thigh. "You really do love showing it off, don't you?"

"Well, when it gets this kind of reaction..." he muttered back, tipping his head to where Murata watched them with his mouth hanging open. He felt Conrad's silent laughter as a puff of air on the back of his neck, and didn't bother to add that his current condition had less to do with Murata and a lot more to do with Conrad's hand, and with his legs, arms, and entire body wrapped around him the way they were.

Then Conrad had slipped away, taking the heat of his touch back to Murata instead, and Yozak breathed a reluctant sigh of relief. He still wasn't used to this new, sexually aggressive Conrad - even in their most urgent moments, he'd usually been the more passive of the two of them, even if not always in the more passive position - but if Conrad had spoken a single word of command to him just then, he would have complied without a thought.

Some things were the same as ever, though; years of familiarity meant that he understood Conrad's intention with no more than a glance between them, and he moved over to Murata's side, grasped the boy's arm while Conrad leaned in on the other side, and began the first teasing motions of undressing him. He felt Murata shudder under their hands in what had to be delicious anticipation, judging from the little sighs that escaped with every other panting breath, and from the way he struggled more into their grasp than against them.

Together, they coaxed him up onto his knees, and Conrad held onto him with a warning hand while Yozak worked his pants down off his thighs, exposing a wealth of pale skin and a slightly subdued erection. Yozak caught himself licking his lips as his fingertips brushed smooth thighs and the perfectly rounded curve of his ass. Murata's sharp, whining intake of breath was cut short by Conrad's hand moving under his open his shirt; Yozak leaned over to see one pink nipple pinched between calloused thumb and fingertip, and swallowed hard.

"Ah - aaah," Murata gasped, blinking rapidly, legs shifting under him but trying not to squirm against Conrad's grasp.

"Ken-chan," Conrad said softly, his lips pressed into damp hair at Murata's temple. "Hmm, Ken-chan?"

Murata didn't speak, only swallowed the whining plea and the protest; he dropped his head forward, leaning into Conrad - at the same time, he shifted one leg so that it happened to rub against Yozak's side, but maybe that was accidental.

Yozak waited. He held Murata's shoulder just to steady him, his other hand rested quietly on the boy's hip, although his fingers were getting twitchy with the urge to feel more of that lovely, white skin they'd exposed.

Conrad reached around and pressed Murata's bound hands under his, and whispered something in Murata's ear. Yozak couldn't hear the words, but guessed what it must have been about when Murata wiggled his fingers; then he licked his lips and his throat moved, but he didn't speak, only gave his head a little shake. His choice: the scarf was staying tied around his wrists.

"Good, Ken-chan," Conrad said soothingly. He kissed Murata's temple and the corner of his mouth, and gave his fingers another squeeze before moving his hand away.

Yozak felt an odd flush of heat in his groin from seeing that Murata chose this, though part of the warmth might have been from seeing Conrad ask. At the same time, his practical side noted that if he was really supposed to fuck Murata, that was likely to get in the way. He was just going to have to figure out how to deal with that when the time came.

Murata stayed still, head bowed and eyes closed, while Conrad began to kiss, lick, and softly bite his way down his throat and chest, lips teasing one nipple after the other. Yozak could have watched this indefinitely - he was starting to see why Murata liked being on the viewing end so much - but Conrad touched his hand where it rested on Murata's hip and squeezed it lightly as a signal to continue.

Following Conrad's leisurely pace, Yozak began to feel his way around Murata's body, getting acquainted with the way he moved into certain touches, how his breath caught in little whispered sighs, and with the scent of his damp hair as he pressed his lips into the unruly black waves of it. He was used to the hard curves and planes of Conrad's body, and it had been longer than he could count since he'd held anyone else, but Murata fit surprisingly well into his arms and against his chest.

Time and adventures in Shin Makoku had left Murata Ken a bit more fit and trim than the soft but plucky blond kid Yozak had first met a couple of years before - if it had even been that long; so much had happened since then that it was hard to remember how much time had really passed, but Murata hadn't changed much as far as he could tell. Maybe less time had passed than he thought, or else the kid had started to age as slowly as mazoku. In human terms, Yozak figured, Murata was actually a little older than he and Conrad were when they first had sex. Then again, in terms of memory and experience, the young sage was not, after all, as young as he looked; his soul was older than the ages, even though, at a moment like this, it didn't seem that way at all.

It gave him the moment's pause to think of all the memories of past lovers Murata might have to compare him to. When he'd first revealed himself, the returned Daikenja had made it clear that he didn't think of those past lives as his own experience; still, it was rather as if the boy had read every manual of love ever written. It was a bit intimidating, if he thought of it like that, but even if the only past life Murata considered worth remembering was the one spent with the original king, that was bad enough to be compared to! But that was why they were here anyway: to give Murata Ken his own memories of pleasure, and to soothe the ache of longing for a past that could never be replaced. Yozak had already decided he'd gladly use all of his own mere eighty-something years of experience to do that.

~~

Murata closed his eyes, breathless and almost dizzy with the effort of keeping silent while Conrad and Yozak seemed determined to do make him moan out loud. With their hands and mouths teasing him to distraction, Daikanja's memories blended into the present again, and he suddenly thought of the single time Shinou had watched while others made love to him.

Through that entire time, as arousing as it was to be touched and desired by others, he had only focused on Shinou's eyes as they grew dark with lust, until he was swept away and couldn't focus on anything at all. But, long before they were done with him, Shinou had yanked them all away, and finally he threw them out of the room with a snarl and took Daikenja for himself. As much as it was a relief and a pleasure to feel desired by so many after his life of isolation, all that had mattered to him then was that his beloved king wanted him too much to share.

Unfortunately, for Murata Ken, the present did not match the past in that aspect.

Daikenja's memories and the more recent past of his own longings were pushed away by the caress of sword-calloused hands, by brown eyes narrowing as if they guessed where his thoughts had strayed to, and by hot breath on the back of his neck. He realized that, no matter what he remembered of the past, this body had never been touched and desired this way, by two eager lovers at once. He relished every sensation of the moment as four hands glided over his skin, pulled the shirt and jacket back off his shoulders and helped him crawl the rest of the way out of his trousers. Four strong arms caught and held him in place while Conrad brought recent experience to bear with lips and teeth on his sensitized skin, and Yozak improvised just as effectively.

After tossing his pants away to join the rest of his own and Conrad's clothes, Yozak leaned around and lifted his chin. For a moment Murata stared up into blue eyes, then lost what focus he had when Yozak's thumb brushed his lips apart. Unconsciously, he leaned up into the touch, and the next thing he knew Yozak's hands were gripping his hair to pull his head up.

Their first kiss was sudden, hard, and deep, and left Murata moaning in his throat so desperately that Conrad had to remind him to be silent with sharp nip of teeth to his ribs. Mingled with Yozak's own familiar scent of woods, leather, and perfume, Murata tasted Conrad on Yozak's tongue. He had no idea how much he'd come to desire the man until that taste sent waves of heat rushing through his body. It made him want both of them even more than he already did, and more than that, it made him want to somehow sear the bond between the two of them even deeper, so that neither of them could deny it any longer.

He was breathless and Yozak was swearing under his breath when Conrad finally, gently, pulled them apart and pushed him backward into Yozak's arms. Too dazed to question their intentions, he let them put him where Conrad wanted him. That turned out to be raised up on his knees near the edge of the bed, perched there with his hands bound behind him and with his jacket twisted around his arms as well. He glanced back; kneeling right behind him, Yozak looked over his shoulder, glazed eyes focusing again as Conrad caught his gaze. He could see them making plans without words, understanding each other's intentions even while he wondered what they were going to do with him. Anticipation of their unknown plan was nearly as arousing as all of their touches.

Yozak moved closer, one knee nudging his legs apart and both hands firmly on his hips. Conrad lifted his chin with one hand and kissed him breathless again, while, with the other hand, he helped Yozak spread his legs and maneuver him backward until he was kneeling across Yozak's lap, legs splayed wide on either side of Yozak's broad thighs. Yozak murmured his approval, his breath tickled the back of Murata's neck, and strong hands kneaded his thighs to spread them wider.

Conrad sat back at the edge of the bed, one leg bent under himself and the other foot on the floor, and regarded the two of them. Murata felt like he was the one on display now, spread out before them like this. As hot as it was to watch them, being seen like this was quickly bringing him back to his earlier state of arousal, even without Conrad's hands and mouth teasing him so mercilessly.

In fact, being stared at this way was so stimulating that the full significance of his position only became clear to his hazy brain a moment later, when Yozak lifted his hips and pulled him backward so that the impressive erection he'd stared at a few minutes ago nestled cozily right up underneath him.

Oh! he thought, and immediately felt like an idiot for not catching on sooner. He stared up at Conrad, his mouth falling open in the shape of that exclamation, but too breathless to speak it even if it had been allowed. Conrad just smiled back at him sweetly.

"Are you ready for me, Ken-chan?" Yozak whispered in his ear.

He was, so ready - or at least, he wanted to think he was; after all, Yozak wasn't that much bigger than Conrad, but still...

Murata shivered from head to foot, swallowed hard, and, even if it was a bit of an exaggeration, nodded... yes.

~~

Yozak looked down over the boy's shoulder, amazed and excited by the sight of him like this - pale chest heaving quickly, head bowed, white skin flushed and gleaming. Murata winced slightly when Conrad's teeth nipped at his skin again, and bound hands twitched and grasped, brushing against Yozak's stomach.

He remembered seeing Murata staring up at a man twice his size holding a sword at his throat, and in worse situations than that, and yet he'd never looked as vulnerable as this. It made him want to pull Murata into his arms, kiss him and soothe him, the way he wanted to with Conrad sometimes but never did.

Then Conrad flicked his tongue over the peak of one nipple, sweet and soothing. Murata groaned and arched into the touch, head falling back against Yozak's chest. Black hair drifted off of his face to reveal black lashes fluttering on flushed cheeks. Nothing vulnerable in that face now, Yozak thought, staring down at him; there was only wanting there now, so strong and palpable it rose from him in waves, so clear to see in his parted lips and in the arch of his back and the firm, round ass rocking against him, unconsciously maybe, but undeniably clear.

Conrad caught Yozak's eye, smirked and raised an eyebrow. Yozak realized he was staring at Murata with his mouth hanging open, while Conrad was obviously waiting for him to get on with the plan. Yozak grinned back; well, he'd been the impatient one a minute ago, after all. He cupped his large palms around the sweetly rounded ass cheeks, and felt Murata shudder into his touch as he began to knead and spread them.

"Nnahhh-ahhyaah," Murata panted, almost earning another pinch from Conrad, when Yozak's fingers delved deeper to flick teasingly over his most sensitive area.

Yozak was tempted to make some noise of his own, just by the way Murata squirmed into his hands, clenching and yielding all at once. The promise of that body pressing into his touch made his erection twitch impatiently, but he gritted his teeth, determined to keep control for at least a little longer. Conrad had been right, to a point: Murata was ready for him, but not really ready enough. He caught Conrad's eye over his shoulder and raised his eyebrows in a question of his own.

Conrad understood. His eyes darted to the head of the bed where Yozak thought he'd glimpsed a vial of something thick and liquid earlier, but instead of reaching for it, Conrad took Yozak's hand and brought it up to Murata's lips.

"Nice and wet, Ken-chan," he said softly, "just like always."

Hearing Conrad say it like that was bad enough; seconds later Yozak groaned out loud, not caring if they heard him all the way to the stables, or that Conrad was probably laughing at him. That little bit of sucking on his fingertips that Murata did when he first arrived was a mere hint compared to this hungry, slathering suction of lips and tongue. Murata sucked three fingers into his mouth up to the knuckles, and still seemed eager for more. The heat and pressure of it went right to Yozak's groin. He bit his lip to hold back another, even louder groan, and then when Murata wiggled his sweet ass back against him again, he almost lost all control. He wouldn't even have cared if he did - it was that good.

Luckily, Conrad knew the signs and wasn't as clouded with lust as he was now, thanks to him taking care of that earlier. He pulled Yozak's hand way from that luscious mouth by the wrist, and at the same time pulled Murata up and forward, stifling a whine of protest with his own mouth. With an effort, Yozak remembered the original purpose of the oral stimulation. He quickly thrust his dripping fingers down where they were intended to go, only to meet Conrad's hand there, too, with a palm full of warm, thick gel.

While Murata squirmed and made muffled, anxious sounds, Conrad slicked the stuff onto Yozak's wet fingers where it smoothed into a silken liquid. Slippery fingers pressed one of his own into place, and he grunted with a shock of satisfaction echoed by Murata's gasp when it slipped inside.

Murata sighed. Yozak thought the kid was going to melt into a puddle on his lap, but after a few seconds he started to flex his whole body, trying to get more. As soon as Yozak felt tense muscles yield to him a little, he added a second finger, and then a third, quickly but carefully, urged on and guided by Conrad's touch, and encouraged by brown eyes suddenly turned warm and gentle.

Something about that the sweetness of that look inspired Yozak to bend down and press his lips to Murata's hands, to his spine above his bound wrists, to the lovely curve of his ass below them - and if he could have reached, he would have bent right around Murata and kissed the beautiful smile on Conrad's lips as well.

Instead, Conrad leaned forward and whispered to both of them: "Now."

Murata murmured something in a soft moan, forgetting himself for a moment when Yozak pulled his fingers out; Yozak thought it might even have been his name, but it was quickly muffled by Conrad's mouth. Squirming and struggling for leverage his bound arms didn't allow, Murata tried his best to help while Conrad's hands on his hips and Yozak's on his wide-spread legs maneuvered him back and down onto Yozak's aching erection.

Yozak had every intention of going nice and slow at his point, at least as slow as he could stand without screaming, but Conrad and Murata had other ideas, and the warm oil and gravity took care of the rest. For a few crazy heartbeats it was all he could do to remember to breathe, with the tight heat of Murata's body and the luscious, breathy sounds the kid was making squeezing the air out of his lungs in a rush of wonderful heat.

Murata's legs trembled, stretched and strained wide across Yozak's broad lap. He whined against Conrad's lips, but then Conrad left him gasping out loud as he started to trail kisses down his throat, down his chest and lower. Yozak looked down over Murata's shoulder to see Conrad wrap his hand around Murata's erection with carefully measured strokes, giving the base a squeeze whenever Murata's moans become too sharp and quick.

Almost mindless now, Yozak muttered Conrad's name, then Ken's, between kisses and panting breaths at the back of Murata's neck. Conrad moved lower, until Yozak felt hot breath on his thigh. He looked down again, stared down at them, almost disbelievingly, and yet not really surprised at all by what he saw.

Down on his knees between their wide stretched legs, Conrad's whole manner had fallen from intense and controlling to carefully gentle. He knelt there with his head bowed, damp brown strands falling across his eyes as he placed delicate kisses on the tender skin at the juncture of Murata's body and thigh.

This was the Conrad he knew, Yozak thought; all but submissive himself, and not the aggressive, commanding lover he'd been seeing here. But the change was more than that. The way he touched Murata's chest, hip, stomach, was almost reverent now. He pressed his cheek to the delicate skin of Murata's inner thigh, then his lips to the same place, eyes nearly closed, eyebrows twitching almost as if in pain - then he touched the uniform jacket and shirt that still hung from Murata's arms, fingers rigid and trembling, as if these things were as infinitely precious as the one who wore them.

Yozak winced. He knew, all along, that this was part of it, that it was not really Murata that Conrad wanted to touch and taste like this. He tore his gaze away from Conrad and leaned over to see Murata's face, to see if he knew it too, although he was almost certain that Murata did know, and that this had been part of the offer all along.

He did not expect to see liquid black eyes staring down, not focused on Conrad but on someone else there in his place. A memory of his own, the lost and distant past, Yozak guessed. His heart clenched for the kid, until he saw Murata's lips move, silently shaping a name he'd never heard anyone else say, a strange name from another world: Shi...bu...yaaa...

Then Murata's eyes closed, Conrad's eyes closed completely as he took the boy in his mouth...

Yozak looked away and pressed his face into damp hair at the back of Murata's neck. He felt as if a corset was laced too tightly around his ribs.

You too, Geika? he thought. Just for a moment, he really did hate Yuuri.

It all made him long to be infinitely gentle with Murata, with both of them. It was clear by now, though, that tenderness was not what Murata wanted from him, and it was rarely what Conrad expected of him either. So, instead, he dug his fingers deeper into Murata's thigh and thrust upward sharply. Maybe, he thought, that gave Murata Ken a different reason to wince and cry out; he hoped it was a better reason.

He wanted to give Conrad something else to think about, too, and to yank him back from pointless longing to be with them, here, now, no matter what Shinou might have promised. He lifted Murata's leg higher so he could hook his arm under it and bury his other fist in Conrad's hair, clasped strands of it in tight fingers and pushed down. Conrad stiffened for a second and then relented into his grip, moving into his touch, or maybe it was just convenient to the way he wanted to move his mouth on Murata's length anyway.

Then Yozak gasped, caught by surprise when already tight muscles clenched tighter around his cock, sending sparks up his spine. Maybe that was on purpose, too, he thought, to give him a different reason to close his eyes tightly and bury his face in soft, black hair, to breathe in the deep, familiar scent of Conrad's body - a reason not to think about the fact that, if it wasn't for this strange task Shinou had asked of him, he might not even have this chance to be so close to Conrad now.

It was a torturous kind of reward Shino offered all of them, but what else could he give? Right now, Yozak figured, all he could do in gratitude for it was to fuck the king's sage senseless, and maybe forget himself as well if he could manage it.

He set his mind and body to that task. Bracing his legs against the bed, he began to jab his pelvis upward, as hard and deep as he could manage at this angle, grunting with the effort and the maddening, tight heat of every thrust. Murata twisted and arched against him so wildly that they were soon in danger of toppling off the edge of the bed, and every movement sent Yozak closer to the edge. He wondered if the kid had to hold on until Conrad gave him a command or permission to come; he wasn't sure he could wait, wasn't sure either of them could hold out much longer, but he couldn't quite reach all the way, either; he needed something, just a little more....

He ground out Conrad's name before he realized it, and then opened his eyes to find himself staring down over Murata's shoulder again, and Conrad, with his lips hovering a breath away from the boy's straining erection, looked straight up at him, waiting.

Once more, all it took was a look and a grimace, and Conrad understood and nodded. With a groan of relief, Yozak started to tug on the scarf holding Murata's wrists together.

"Sorry, Geika-chan," he growled, with no idea what he was saying and not sure Murata could even hear him or cared. "You're going to want to grab on to something in a second anyway..."

~~

Murata cried out when his arms were released, more in surprise than anything else. The pain in strained shoulders was far outweighed by the burning pleasure of Yozak's thick length filling him, and by the effort of trying to hold out for Conrad - for both of them, now. He flailed and grabbed for them, reached back and got a fistful of Yozak's hair, and scrambled with his other hand until he clutched the thin ridge of scar that circled Conrad's arm.

It was a good thing he did. The next thing he knew, they were lifting him upward and forward; Yozak pulled back and then with a muffled grunt slammed into him again, and if he thought he'd taken all of Yozak before, he found out he was wrong. It stopped his cries and almost stopped his breath, and then Conrad took him in his mouth again, and that was it.

...The white-hot rush of long denied release was heightened right at the edge when he felt Yozak follow after him, pounding into him faster and harder all at once until he suddenly stopped, and then screamed almost loud enough to wake the whole castle and half the town below if he hadn't plastered his face against Murata's shoulder to muffle it. As the wave of his orgasm crashed over him, Murata's awareness was suddenly split between the intense, nearly painful sensation of feeling every swipe of Conrad's tongue lapping at his sensitized cock, and the incongruous thought that Conrad always said he was too noisy...

Suspended between them, and suspended in time, anchored to the present by Yozak deep inside him and Conrad's mouth on him, by their hands and Conrad's scent and Yozak's hot breath on his neck, nothing else mattered and he could just ... finally ... let go....


~~

Yozak realized that he'd somehow managed to get the oblivion he thought he wanted when normal awareness began to return, slowly. The first thing he noticed, though, was the familiar scent of Conrad's hair, and the soft brush of it against his chin....

He opened his eyes to find that, somehow, they'd shifted around so that they were draped all over each other, all limp and sweaty and panting for breath, perched at the very edge of the bed. Murata had slipped off of him but sat with his legs sprawled across his and Conrad's lap. Conrad held both of them, with his head tucked between Murata's shoulder and his own, stroking their hair each in turn.

Almost as soon as his mind cleared enough to notice this, though, Conrad pulled back a little. Brown eyes looked into his, smiling and warm, just for a second.

Then Murata sighed - happily, Yozak was pretty certain - and started to stretch, and that upset their tangled balance so that they all collapsed sideways onto the bed with one united, relieved, satisfied groan. Murata settled in between him and Conrad, as relaxed as if all his bones had melted.

Task accomplished, Yozak thought. For now, at least.

~~

to be concluded in part 3d, epilogue.