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Less than Six Percent

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            Thomas woke to the delightful sensation of Drake’s teeth upon his nipples.  He stirred, stretching languorously, or at least as languorously as he could with his hands tied behind his back.  He wasn’t too terribly restrained; there was no real need for it, save his own satisfaction.
            Drake nuzzled his neck, his ears.  Thomas ( Read more... )

            Thomas was ashamed of himself for being so afraid, but he still could not suppress an involuntary shudder.  It certainly wasn’t the thought of travel which disquieted him; he had returned from the circumnavigation a seasoned mariner.  It was the thought of braving again the Atlantic - the memories of that first crossing, long buried, ( Read more... )

            While Drake was away, Thomas saw to the household.  For all intents, he ran Buckland, from managing the finances down to supervising the kitchens: the half-dozen household servants reported to him, all but Mary Drake’s companion, Anne.  Everything about Drake’s public appearance he carefully orchestrated.  The intimate details as well ( Read more... )

            “Quite enough, methinks,” Drake grumbled.  He pretended to be annoyed, but secretly he liked the women fussing about his dress: his wife Mary, her “hired companion” Anne, and Maria, mother of his nephew’s son.  He admired himself in the looking glass, then spun suddenly, flouncing his embroidered cloak.  “What dost thou think, John?  ( Read more... )

When Leicester makes a cutting remark, Doughty keeps his head. m/m explicit.

“’Tis not so simple as Drake makes it seem.  He is a mariner right skilled with rope,” lectured Leonard Vicarye in a voice well-practiced from much use at the bar.  He faced neither clients nor prosecutors, but a fascinated circle of fellow debauchees at the ( Read more... )

            Leonard Vicarye looked as if he might speak, but the Black Queen silenced him with a glance.  To Doughty’s credit, there was but a moment of panic and revulsion on his face before he composed himself into a sullen, yet beautiful mask.  If Drake had decreed this - if the Queen herself decreed it - he would bear whatever happened to him, ( Read more... )

            I. The morning of April 11, 1580.

By the time they reached Plymouth Harbor, they were expected.  A fleet of four ships is a difficult thing to conceal even if word of their remarkable success hadn’t preceded them.
            Upon the shore, they could see the jubilant crowd.  Banners waved, and in the ( Read more... )

Drake takes a lesson from Vicarye. m/m explicit bdsm.

“Harder, Francis, harder,” Vicarye urged.  “Thomas is the type of man who must be driven to the very edge of what he can bear.”
            Drake complied, bringing the cane sharply once again across the backs of Thomas’ naked thighs.  Doughty whimpered; he clutched spasmodically at ( Read more... )