Yozak rose to his feet with a soft sigh. Conrart had been in the other room for the last half a mark and he was beginning to worry about the other man. Conrart had slipped off to deal with a problem that had arisen after Yozak had spent some time exploring the other man's body. Conrart wasn't ready for sex, and honestly he didn't want his mate's first time to be in the frenzy of his season anyway. He wanted Conrart to enjoy his first time, and Shinou he wanted them both in their right minds for it. However that didn't stop either of them from enjoying a little bit of touching.

He'd taken it very slowly, and they'd worked their way up to where they were, at an agonizingly slow crawl. Even now, Conrart refused to let him take down his pants or touch his penis and still ran off to take care of any issues their nightly caresses produced in the solitude provided by the other room.

It was cute.

But still half a candle-mark to jack off – was a little much.

He made his way quietly across his bedroom and over to the door to the living room, he knocked briefly on the door frame before entering. Conrart was pacing the room, trying desperately to ignore his raging erection. Yozak raised an eyebrow, with the way Conrart was acting, he half expected the other man to make a shooing gesture at the 'disobedient appendage', the fact that the smaller man was all but hopping from foot to foot while he paced and muttering "why won't you go away" really didn't help the mental image.

He cleared his throat, and Conrart jumped looking over at him in alarm.

"Y-Yozak," Conrart sputtered, "how long have you been there?"

Yozak raised an eyebrow, "only long enough to notice your problem has yet to leave. Why don't you take care of the problem?" he asked, making a subtle if crude hand gesture as he spoke.

Conrart's bewildered expression was truly cute, particularly when coupled with the fact that he was attempting to hide himself with his hands while determinedly not touching.

"I am taking care of it," Conrart replied in a slightly exasperated tone. "It normally doesn't take this long for it to go away. Could you leave please? You're making it worse Yozak."

"Alright," Yozak replied flippantly as he turned and walked out of the room. "I'll leave you to it. But you really should handle the situation." He couldn't help it; he sent his mate the mental image that had been replaying in his head since the smaller man had run off to the other room. Conrart's horrified cry of 'ewww Yozak' was not the response he'd expected, but it was amusing none the less.

Almost half a candle-mark later, Yozak slipped out of bed and made his way back to the other room. Conrart was, were he'd left him, quietly pacing the living room. He turned slightly and Yozak got a good look at the smaller man's pained expression and the still swollen cause of his discomfort.

Yozak sighed, that had to be painful.

"Conrart honey, come to bed." He said gently, "you can ignore it just as well there as you can here. At least in bed you won't run the risk of catching cold." He walked cautiously over to the other man and gently placed his hands on Conrart's slender shoulders.

His mate whimpered softly, "It won't go away." He said in a plaintive voice, "It hurts."

Yozak rubbed his shoulder gently as he steered him towards the bedroom. "I know it hurts," he replied soothingly, "but unless you actually take care of it, there's nothing that can be done about it."

"I – I don't know how." Conrart replied softly, his bare skin turning an almost cherry red under Yozak's hands.

Yozak froze, he hadn't expected that. "You've never –"

"No! It's wrong." Conrart interrupted sharply. "It's dirty, a noble doesn't waste his seed and –"

Yozak couldn't help it, he laughed. "I've seen plenty of nobles 'waste their seed'," he retorted.

Conrart glared at him over his shoulder. "Only after their first Rutt not before; and a Submissive isn't…" he trailed off and looked down in embarrassment.

Yozak settled Conrart down onto the bed, climbed in behind him and pulled the covers over them both. He wrapped his arms gently around Conrart and lowered them both down. "Try to get some sleep, Conrart." He said soothingly. "The pain will have passed in the morning." As an afterthought he added, "Or I could take care of it for, you if you'd prefer."

Conrart shook his head almost franticly, before settling himself against Yozak's chest and attempting to sleep. Yozak lay in bed, gently cradling his mate to him, he closed his eyes and attempted to get to sleep, however the prospect was made somewhat difficult by his squirming mate.

Almost five minutes later Conrart whimpered and whispered "Yozak, please?" in a small voice.

"What is it?" Yozak enquired gently, propping himself up on one elbow so that he could look down at his mate.

Conrart flushed, "I – I didn't know you were still awake." He admitted softly.

Yozak chuckled, "You are such a prude," he told the other man gently. After a few seconds he added, "My offer to take care of it for you still stands."

Conrart shifted against him for a moment, "Okay, please Yozak." Conrart whimpered.

Yozak shifted slightly and reached into the drawer beside his bed, it didn't take him long to liberate a small vile of oil. He doubted it would take much to make Conrart cum, but he wanted to make sure the experience was one Conrart enjoyed. Deftly he coated his hand in oil, before reaching down and slowly running his fingers over Conrart's straining erection in a feather light caress. Conrart shuddered and arched his back slightly as Yozak trailed his fingers gently back up the vein that ran along the underside of Conrart's throbbing penis. Conrart arched into him, gasping "Yozak," in a soft breathy voice as he came. Conrart collapsed against him, his eyes sliding closed as he shuddered and gasped in reaction, before … simply falling asleep.

Yozak smiled at his sleeping mate before quietly setting about cleaning up the mess Conrart's orgasm had made. That task completed he shifted Conrart's still sleeping form into his arms and pulled the covers back around them both.

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Conrart yawned as he climbed up out of the arms of sleep. He'd had an interesting and truly lovely dream. It couldn't have been anything else, he knew from experience that anyone touching … there hurt. Still it was nice to imagine that it could be an act of gentleness and love and not an act of domination. He snuggled happily into Yozak's chest, mewing softly as his mate stroked his long hair, gently massaging the base of his skull and petting his way down his tresses to caress his hip.

"How did you sleep?" Yozak asked quietly.

Conrart made an inarticulate noise in reply while snuggling deeper into Yozak's chest. "I had a nice dream." He admitted sleepily.

"Oh?" Yozak enquired keeping up his gentle attention on Conrart's hip. "What about?"

Conrart flushed and ducked his head.

Yozak laughed, "Oh, so it was one of those dreams."

Conrart sputtered inarticulately, and felt his flush getting deeper.

Yozak smiled down at him, "It's not surprising considering what we did last night."

"That actually happened?" Conrart squeaked his voice cracking at the end.

To his absolute shock Yozak fell off the bed laughing.

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Yurri sighed as he glared at the information that had come out of small Shimeron via their information network. It seemed that Belar had gotten over whatever had been keeping him quiet all these years. He didn't know the specifics of what Yozak had done – and honestly with his beloved godfather bedridden after being tortured, he hadn't much cared. By the time he had, demanding the specifics had seemed childish… he did know that Yozak had set a small fire to distract the bully while he got Conrart to safety.

True their information network had taken something of a hit when Yozak had been Chosen, but he respected the insight and the skills of his spies enough that if they told him there was trouble brewing in Dai Shimeron, then Shin Makoku was going to batten down the hatches and prepare for a storm.

He hated war, hated death and pain and injustice, but he had grown up quite a bit since he'd first been –literally - flushed into his world. Frankly seeing Conrad come home on a stretcher after being quite brutally tortured by a megalomaniac had made him realize the reality of something people had been telling him for years: not everybody was inherently good, and war didn't respect boundaries you were not prepared to defend.

He still didn't condone war, and had no intention of using this information to start one; in fact he had every intention of stepping on any such ideas coming out of the Ten Noble Lords. At least he didn't have to worry about that damned teddy bear that was standing in for the von Grantz family - as a somewhat amusing form of protest over the whole Adalbert situation - arguing with him.

More than he could say for the rest of those opinionated Lords and Ladies.

Although if he was fair he knew there would be at least three families firmly on his side, Gwendal and Günter out of respect, and Stöffel… well out of his desire to impress.

Still the whole issue was grating because now he was going to have to spend time he'd cleared for their diplomatic mission into Valdemar, dealing with Belar. He sighed, he'd have to talk to Gwendal and see what could be done to protect their people, and since he had already sent word to the Monarchs in Valdemar he was going to have to send a delegation.

They did have several trained and seasoned diplomats; much as he didn't want to he'd have to let them handle Valdemar.

A pity as he knew he wasn't the only one looking forward to that trip.

Wolfram was as well.

Wolfram didn't come right out and say it, he was far too proud, and more than a little emotionally constipated when it came to Conrart to really show it, but he did worry over his older brother and wanted what was best for him. He was also all too aware of how badly he'd treated said brother for the better part of a century.

It left him feeling utterly uncertain around the older man; it embarrassed him to no end - which made him angry.

The Blonde never had been very good at apologizing. Although Yurri was fairly certain that Conrad was aware of his little brother's flaws and didn't hold them or his earlier actions against him.

Perhaps he should have Wolfram accompany the delegation?

That seemed like a good idea.

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Gwendal sighed, as he waited for the two men he'd summoned to arrive. Honestly he didn't understand his king sometimes. Yurri insisted on giving people second chances, and while that had endeared him to them all, it was currently somewhat annoying. Yurri had decided to send Stöffel – of all people – to Valdemar as a representative of Shin Makoku. Yurri was certain that Stöffel's desire to stay in his good graces would keep him from doing anything 'too silly'.

Frankly Gwendal thought his king was being naïve… again.

He was going to have to send a more qualified envoy along with Stöffel to ensure the idiot didn't find a way to destroy the relationship they were building with Valdemar. As such he'd sent for Lord Eckhart Bhaltair. The young lord had once held the military rank of lieutenant. His military career had been short but distinguished. He'd graduated from the Shin Makoku Royal Military Academy at the age of 115, and had been assigned to Conrart's guard on the recommendation of his teachers, and the captain of Conrart's guard – Lord Odalis Gwilherm, at 116. He'd served as a member of Conrart's guard until Conrart himself had gone off to military school.

He'd helped to save Conrart's life the Beltane night before he turned 85, although what his little brother had been doing out in the woods on Beltane night he didn't know, and he'd rather severely castigated the boy for stupidity 'that could have gotten him killed and had been the ruin of a promising career' after he'd learned of the incident.

They'd never caught the perpetrators behind the ambush, but Conrart's guards had done their duty well. They'd managed to get the young prince to safety with only some bruises to show for his ordeal, despite their own injuries; young lieutenant Bhaltair however had broken his hip in three places that night. Three months of rehabilitation and healing had seen the man back on his feet, but the bone just hadn't healed properly.

The limp he'd developed had made it impossible for him to advance further militarily; however it hadn't kept him from protecting his prince. He'd only been 120 when they'd offered him an honorable discharge with a hefty severance pay. Surprisingly, Odalis had insisted on keeping him on as Conrart's guard until his services were no longer required, clamming even injured he was better than most.

He'd served as Conrart's guard for 10 more years, despite a pronounced limp and severe pain.

The premature ending of such a promising military career was regretful.

However the man did not let that stop him and chose instead to become a diplomat. He rose swiftly through the ranks until he was one of their most decorated and sought after envoys.

Unfortunately, the decades had not been kind to the young man, resulting in the need to include a healer in any diplomatic mission he attended. That was where the second man, Lord Odalis Gwilherm, came into things. The military healer had decided to try his hand at diplomacy after the war, having failed due to his inability to compartmentalize, he'd rather quickly become reattached to his old subordinate as his primary healer.

Surprisingly they worked just as well together now as they had when Conrart was a boy.

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Yozak smiled as he gently ran his hand along the shaft of Conrart's penis, it had taken nearly a week before Conrart was ready to be touched so intimately again, and another week to bring them to the point where Conrart didn't cum at the slightest stimulation. Despite himself Yozak was a bit giddy. Conrart was currently leaning up against his chest moaning in time with his touch. Yozak nuzzled the mate mark on the other man's shoulder as he gently ran his fingers across Conrart's erect member, his left hand applying gentle pressure to the area between Conrart's left hip, navel and groin; an erogenous zone that was rather unique to their species.

Or so he'd heard.

Male humans didn't have a womb; as such he doubted that gently stimulating that area would do anything for them.

Conrart was responding to the gentle stimulation with little mewls and soft breathy, yet somehow almost soundless gasps. He shifted slightly sliding his left hand down to lay feather light caresses along the inside of his thighs.

Conrart moaned, leaning further back into him as he continued his gentle petting, drawing his knees up his legs parting even further as Yozak fondled his testacies. Yozak's right hand, until now occupied with gently stroking Conrart's length, slid its way tantalizingly up from the root of his erection across the soft wisps of mahogany pubic hair and up across the hard plains of his abs to gently tweak and rub Conrart's nipples as he deftly rolled and tugged the smaller man's balls with his left hand.

"More," Conrart whimpered, "Yozak, more. Please." His legs fell open as he bucked into Yozak's hand, moaning and mewling at the gentle touch.

Yozak shifted slightly and grazed his teeth across Conrart's mate mark. As Conrart squirmed against him, writhing and softly pleading for more, with mind and voice; he couldn't help wondering – was Conrart ready for more?

Actual intercourse was out of the question until Conrart was safely out of Heat and fully in control of his senses, but perhaps Conrart was ready for something a little more. Carefully he lowered Conrart down to the bed sliding out from behind him, he continued his gentle assault on Conrart's mate mark, ignoring the smaller man's straining erection in favor of gently stimulating Conrart's nipples as he stroked his way across his chest and back down his body in soft tantalizing caresses. Listening to the smaller man moan, and mewl at his ministrations, he made his way slowly back down to Conrart's parted thighs and began to gently rub circles, deliberately ignored the quivering organ.

Slowly he kissed his way from Conrart's mate mark, up the line of his throat and along his jaw, until he could press their lips together in a kiss that was anything but chaste. He did his best to keep the bulk of his weight off of Conrart as the smaller man writhed against him, softly pleading for more. Gently he began to trace his way down Conrart's body with his tongue and his lips. Kissing, licking and suckling his way across Conrart's skin until he'd reached his prize. He shifted again moving his hands back down until he was once again gently teasing Conrart's straining erection, while the other hand deftly fondled Conrart's swollen balls. It didn't take long, with one hand gently teasing Conrart's erection and the other gently stimulating his testacies Conrart's erection was soon weeping.

Deftly he pinned Conrart's hips, and kissed the head of Conrart's erection before engulfing it in his mouth and beginning to suck gently in time with his soft strokes. Conrart gasped and came almost immediately.

Yozak closed his eyes savoring the flavor of Conrart's seed on his tongue for the first time. Carefully he climbed back up the bed so that he lay at his mate's side and gathered the shaking man into his arms. He gently stroked circles on the inside of the other man's thigh and listened to his soft wanton cries as Conrart settled against him utterly spent.

"Yozak?" Conrart's voice was soft, and full of concern. "I don't think that was sanitary."

Yozak blinked, and started to chuckle despite himself, he'd grown rather accustomed to Conrart's somewhat cute attempts at understanding the physical side of their relationship. He'd expected a demand for information, not a quip about sanitation.

He kissed the top of Conrart's head, not entirely sure how to respond to that. Conrart shifted against him slightly. "I'm serious." He said softly. "What if you get sick?"

That's it –

This was officially hilarious!

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Wolfram glanced around the corridor leading down to Conrart's quarters from his place in the shadows were two hallways met. Once he'd made certain that no one would see him, he made his way down the corridor, clutching the water pitcher to his chest as he went. He slipped quietly into Conrart's rooms and made his way over to the window seat, carefully he opened the window and began to water his elder brother's beloved plants.

Conrart wouldn't have wanted them to die because someone wasn't caring for them.

Beside it was all he had left of his elder brother, other than his own memories.

And they were a poor substitute.

Conrart had always been kind to him, even when he was being a brute. It wasn't until almost a year into Yuri's reign that he'd began to allow himself to see Conrart as something other then what, his own father, Waltrana and Stöffel painted him as. He'd always loved his brother, but he hadn't allowed himself the perceived weakness of showing it. Even now he had problems with it. Both of his uncles had seen to it that he'd been properly taught how much Conrart's existence shamed his mother, shamed her house.

He'd also been told it was Conrart's fault his parents had never married.

It wasn't until recently that he'd realized that was a load of manure.

Still after years of mistreating his brother, and having Conrart silently take it while still being there for him when he was needed – he found he had a hard time knowing how to act around the man.

The soft sound of the door opening got his attention and he turned around to see Murata standing in the doorway. "You know, you can still go with the delegation to Valdemar." The Great Sage said softly.

Wolfram sighed, "My place is at Yuri's side." He paused, "besides Conrart wouldn't want me to leave our king unprotected." That said he turned and headed out of the room.

"Perhaps your relationship would benefit from a letter?" Murata suggested as the other boy walked past him.

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A.N okay sorry for the long wait, life has gotten ridiculously hectic hopefully I will get the next chapter up faster. Also I am revising chapter 50 as upon rereading it I discovered it made no sense and gives off the wrong impression of Conrart and what is going on after I attempted to edit it. So please keep an eye out for the revised version of that chapter.