"Arabian Nights"
Part 76
by Beryll
(Note: Special guest appearance by Leonardo DiCaprio as Elijah's brother. WARNING: If you are staunch fan of Leo, you may wanna skip this…)
The corridors of the palace were crowded with people. Nobles, merchants, servants,
slaves, each hurrying along or walking according to their rank and the urgency
of their task. The celebrations for the Caliph's birthday were not only a
chance to pay respect to the ruler and party - it was also a chance to meet
all the other guests, to trade and negotiate, to forge new alliances and break
old ones, a hotbed for intrigue and politicking.
A single slave dashing down those corridors - even if it was an exceptionally pretty one - did not draw much attention. And of the few who had to dodge him maybe one or two noticed that he was blind with tears.
Elijah himself didn't pay attention to anything but his inner turmoil either. Nothing made sense anymore. He loved Sean so much his heart hurt with every single beat and it was beating so fast now that he thought it would burst. Couldn't Sean see how much he was hurting? Didn't he care? Didn't anybody care?
How could Sean be so cruel when Elijah was just trying to protect him? Couldn't he see the evil hunger in that foreigners eyes? That he was going to steal Sean away, that he was going to hurt him, just like he had been hurt before. How could they all trust that man? The prince, Orlando, everybody was charmed by him, almost like they were all under some sort of spell.
But he didn't belong here! It was all wrong. He was taking Sean away, stealing his heart.
And now Sean hated Elijah when he was just trying to do the right thing. It was all a trick by that man, trying to widen the gulf between them. An evil plan to break them apart. To do something terrible to Sean. Elijah was sure of it but nobody was listening to him anymore. They didn't care.
He was losing all of them. How could he have been so stupid to let them close to his heart in the first place? Hadn't he learned anything? As soon as he allowed himself to love it all ended in pain and tears. He should have learned that lesson…
His troubled thoughts were abruptly interrupted as he crashed into another body, suddenly blocking his path. Had he been less confused he might have just dodged away and run on but blinded by his tears he couldn't get away fast enough and was caught by a firm hand on his shoulder.
"What the…" an angry voice started to complain and then stopped just as suddenly.
Elijah blinked through his tears owlishly, suddenly realizing that he might very well just have gotten himself into even more trouble. After all the Prince had forbidden them to leave his quarters unless they were on an errant for him. Too many strangers in the palace who could not be trusted, he had said. The face who stared back at him was strangely familiar, still it took a long moment and the other man speaking again for Elijah to recognize him.
"Lij? Is that you?" the man asked incredulously.
Elijah was just as surprised at seeing his half-brother Leonardo. They had never been close. Leonardo being the son of a minor concubine of their father, he had been trained to be a soldier early on. Elijah had frequently been forced to listening to their father complain how much he wished Elijah was a little more like Leo or one of his other lesser born brothers and a little less like his beloved main wife - Elijah's mother. But birth had settled their places in life and what Allah willed, mere mortals had to accept.
"Leo?" echoed his brother question, only with a lot more confused emotions behind it.
So maybe they had never been close but at least this was a familiar face, someone to cling to when the very ground seemed to disappear under Elijah's feet.
With a small sob the young slave threw himself at his brother who in reflex wrapped his arms around the trembling boy.
Had Elijah looked up at Leo he would have seen a multitude of emotions reflecting on his face and most of them would have warned him to draw away and run as fast and as far as he could. But he buried his own face against the strong chest of the young warrior and hid from what he perceived as the world's cruelty all directed at him.
When Leo gently disentangled him, draping a protective arm around him, he just allowed himself to be led away.
"What happened to you, Lij?" his brother asked, now a worried and reassuring smile firmly in place on his face.
Elijah explanation came out in a jumbled mess. About Sean hating him, about the foreigner, about the Prince not understanding Sean was in danger.
None of it could make real sense to Leo but he was able to read out the details important to him. "So the Caliph gave you to the new Prince?" he asked. "And you are now in trouble with your 'master'?"
Elijah nodded although he wasn't sure why it was this part of the story that caught Leo's attention. Slowly he was calming down and somewhere deep in his mind a small alarm bell rang at these questions. He quickly tried to silence it. Leo was family. He would not hurt him. 'Is that so?' a small voice in his head replied, 'just like your father didn't hurt you?'
Before he could really consider this valid point, Leo was ushering him through a door into what had to be his guest suite and firmly closed that door behind both of them.
"Well isn't that too bad…?" Leo drawled, his compassion and worry suddenly gone from his voice. "Nobody loves poor little Lij."
When Elijah looked up at him, his face was a grin, his eyes glinting with cruel amusement and there was a leer to them that Elijah had never noticed before. He took a step backward but a quick glance around told him that he was trapped. He had followed Leo like a stupid boy would follow a lion into it's den.
"You know, I was wondering if you would still be here," his brother continued, following Elijah. "A pretty boy like you at the hands of the Caliph, I thought he might have used you up by now. Seems he wasn't man enough to deal with a tasty morsel like you. And his adopted son seems just as wimpy. If you had been given to me…" he smacked his lips in a obscene sound, "you'd be fucked so raw by now even the lowliest soldiers wouldn't want you. But that can be remedied."
Elijah kept drawing back and Leo followed him step for step, until Elijah's back was pressed against a cool wall and there was nowhere to go.
"Prince Viggo will… will have you punished if you touch me…" he threatened weakly.
Leo laughed. "The same Prince you just ran away from. The same Prince who doesn't care about you? Yeah, sure… he probably won't even notice you are missing." He leaned forward, bracing his hands against the wall on either side of Elijah's head. "Don't worry my sweet little lamb, maybe I will send you back to him when I'm done with you. We'll see if he will still want you then."
Elijah tried to dodge away but Leo's hand was faster, grabbing him by the throat and pinning him to the wall. His brother was so close that his smell seemed to fill Lij's world - sweat and arousal. There were a million things he should have done - could have done - to try and escape but he was frozen in fear.
"Please," he whimpered, "don't…"
Again Leo laughed. "You silly little twit. You have no idea how long I've been wanting to see these pretty lips wrapped around my cock, to bruise this milky skin of yours with my fingerprints, to grab these slender hips and ram into you until you bleed. I watched you with that lover boy of yours, you know? How you held hands, how you whispered sweet words. Disgusting! How could he dare to touch what should have been mine?!"
Elijah's eyes grew even wider as he realized what his brother's words meant. "You told father…" he whispered, growing cold.
"Of course I told father." Leo sneered. "Had the old bastard in a right rage with just a few words." He leaned forward to sniff Elijah's neck. "Didn't count on him sending you away though. I told him I'd make a man of you but he wouldn't listen…"
Elijah was struggling but his brother's grip was like a vice. Leo snickered evilly. "You can't fight me, brother." He said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "You will do exactly what I tell you too and maybe, just maybe, you will get out of here alive."
Then Leo's fist rammed into his stomach and Elijah saw stars from the sudden pain and tears shot to his eyes again. He was desperately trying to force air back into his lunges, unable to fight, sinking to his knees as Leo let go of his throat.
"Hmm…" his brother sighed, "just where I always wanted you."
His strong hand firmly gripped Elijah's hair and pulled his head up so their eyes met again. "Now listen well, I will fuck any way I want and nobody will come and help you. Either you do what you are told or I will beat you to a bloody pulp before I start. It's up to you. So what will it be?"
Elijah stared up at him, his mind racing like a panicked animal. Leo was right. Nobody would come looking for him. None of them cared. There was nothing and nobody to save him now. He recoiled from that truth but it was inescapable. He was at the mercy of his brother and there obviously was no mercy to be found.
His answer took to long for Leo's liking and Elijah was backhanded hard, his upper lip splitting and blood trickling down.
"Say it, you bitch!" Leo hissed. "Say: please fuck me, brother!"
So this was what it came down to. It was what Allah had planned for him right from the start. To be a fucktoy. He had escaped that fate by some miracle much too long. Still something inside of him balked at admitting to it.
Again Leo hit him hard. "Say it!"
Was this what they had done to Sean? Fresh tears came to Elijah's eyes. Strong Sean on his knees like this, helpless. Had Sean ever given in to them? Never, Lij told himself. And that is why he will never love you, because you're a weak willed boy, not a warrior like him. How can you ever compare to someone like Eric? How can you ever be strong enough for Sean to rely on you? You're a boy, a kitten, a pet! Face it, you are not enough.
"…no…" it came out as a barely audible whisper.
"What was that?!" for a moment Leo seemed in shock, just staring down at Elijah. "You worthless piece of shit! You dare…?!"
"Never." Elijah said, staring back at Leo with all the defiance he could muster.
The next blow was not open-handed but a hard fist, followed by many more, hitting him wherever it hurt. Elijah cried out in pain till his voice was raw, he was sobbing and desperately curling up to avoid the blows. But he didn't speak again. He didn't give in.
At last Leo had vent his rage, having made good on his promise to beat up Elijah. When he grabbed Elijah's hair again, the young slave was to weakened to resist, when his mouth was forced open and a hard cock shoved down his throat there was nothing he could do. But the knowledge that he had been strong.
He nearly blackened out from lack of air as his brother came down his throat and remained like that, revelling in his conquest. He crumbled to a heap as there was a knock on the door and his brother let go of him and turned away.
If you enjoyed this story, please send feedback to: Beryll
go to PART 77