Nico lay upon a grassy hill outside of the palace, one that he had taken to calling his hill since he came there so often.

Nico had his arms folded behind his head, eyes upturned to the heavens, rather the city that the hill overlooked. Nico sighed, glad to be out of the stifling clothes that the masquerade had demanded. Contrary to the heat of the day, the night breeze was cool and refreshing.

Nico enjoyed his solitude for a moment, accompanied only by the gentle rustling of grass and the chirping of crickets to the night sky. Then, he heard footsteps approaching, each footfall seemingly light and hesitant. “Who goes there?” he said, not rising from where he lay stretched.

“A prince,” said a strange lilting voice that Nico did not recognize, but one that he found immediately alluring all the same. Warmth rose to his face at the thoughts. He had not even seen the owner of the voice, yet. Nine forbid it was a hideous creature approaching him to take his soul.

Nico had to admit that Perseus was exceeding his expectations—barely, but exceeding them nonetheless.

By the time that Perseus had managed to fit three fingers into Nico’s hole, the prince was a mess. He was shaking so badly from want and need. He wanted to get fucked, period. Whether it was Perseus or someone else was irrelevant. Granted, he did find the curve of Perseus’ cock rather intriguing.

Regardless of Nico’s thoughts on whether it was appropriate to fuck one of the contenders for his tournament, he couldn’t help but melt into Perseus’ arms when he felt the blunt head of the knight’s cock at his hole. “Who would have thought that Aides’ son would be such a slut for cock?” said Percy, voice gravelly and low, just like Nico wanted it.

Nico looked about him, silently cursing the climate of the Southron realm. The heat of the early morning sun was already enough to make sweat drip from his brow despite the relative shade of his current circumstance.

Truthfully, Nico was thankful that his father had planned this stunt for early in the morning. He was not so sure that he would have survived the heat if Aides had been insistent on starting the joust at noon.

Nico noticed that the knights that were supposed to participate in his tournament were spending the early morning milling about, talking to each other, and making acquaintances.

When the crowd that had gathered for the early morning had begun to disperse, Nico vaulted over the banister, landed on the dusty yard, rolled across the ground, and then jumped to his feet, arms raised to either side of him as though he had just performed a great acrobatic feat.

What few spectators remained politely clapped their hands as they laughed. “Fantastic form,” said Rakan, walking up behind Nico and patting him on the shoulder with enough force to make him pitch forward and almost lose balance.

Nico looked about and spotted the field of tents that had been set up behind the royal stage for the knights that had started coming in some two or three weeks prior to the tournament.

Nico tilted his head at Will, trying his hardest not to laugh at the knight on bended knee in front of him.

“None of that, now,” said Nico. He motioned upward with his hand and smiled as Will rose to his full height. Nico felt a stirring somewhere in his loins at the sight of Will’s stomach muscles flexing. “Approach your prince,” he said, without a second thought.

Nico could see the hesitation in Will’s every step, but eventually, Will came to stand in front of him. Will loomed over him by a full head in height. Inwardly, Nico couldn’t help but grit his teeth. They had been the same height when they were younger. What the fuck had happened to make Will significantly taller than he was?