Under Eleven Moons | An MM Science Fantasy Romance

Gay romantic fantasy in a sci-fi setting with high spice.

TEASER: He was sent to spy on the prince, not fall for him. But on a special night on the far away planet of Astraedane, Elias’ true feelings come to light. He has the best night of his existence…and it could ruin both of their lives.

Or worse.

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Author’s Note:

This story is a prequel to a yet-to-be-released project I’m working on. Hopefully, it will give you a taste of my mix of worldbuilding, character-driven plotting, and unapologetic queer spice. What began as an experiment to flesh out backstory quickly became something I couldn’t put down.

Now, I’m sharing it as a way to invite you into this universe—and to hopefully hook you on my writing. Did it work? Did it bore you? Hornify you? Make you angry? Make you feel anything at all?

I’d love to know.

Your feedback here, at the start of my publishing journey, is priceless to me.

If you decide you want more, consider subscribing.

Thanks for reading,

Josiah B Vale

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Elias stood alone on a rarely used upper-level terrace at the Veiled Collegium, the most prestigious university on his home planet of Astraedane. The sky above shimmered with the planet’s signature eleven moons, each one a subtly different pale hue: silver, blue, amber, green…no photo had done it justice. You couldn’t usually see all eleven from one spot on the surface of Astraedane; this was a rare alignment. Poets called it a blessing. Scientists called it an anomaly. Elias wasn’t sure.

He leaned forward and let the railing press into his stomach. His hooded cloak, part of a uniform trimmed in the school’s colors of green and black, flared behind him in the wind. Though, he felt nothing on his face, as it was hidden beneath the regulation psionic veil—a mask that distorted any recognizable features into an abstract blur. It was required for all on this world to hide their face, and right now, it happened to help him accomplish his goal.

No one here knew who he truly was.

His gaze drifted below, where the white crystalline walls of the Collegium stretched like shards of broken mirrors in the twilight. Soft psilight orbs pulsed in the gardens beyond, casting reflections on the polished white and grayish marble streets.

A faint ping rang in his mind. A pop-up became the focus of his vision. A message on his psionic veil’s inner interface: OBSERVATION REPORT DUE! SUBJECT: CAEL. STATUS: UNDER EVALUATION.

Elias swiped the message away with a blink. His fingers twitched, just slightly, as they gripped the railing. The Sovereign Prime, the sole ruler of this galaxy of Vaerenthis, had sent him to the university under a fabricated name, with a false scholarship, for one simple purpose: watch her son and tell her everything.

And she meant everything.

Every breath. Every sip of water. Everything must be tracked and reported.

He glanced at the bottom left of his mask’s inner interface, where Cael’s vital signs pulsed and a small circular map tracked his every move.

He was approaching.

When it came to actually meeting Cael, he was nothing like Elias had expected. He’d thought Cael would be a spoiled, arrogant prince, full of the same cold calculation that glittered from the Sovereign Prime. After officially befriending Cael, which came easier than expected, he quickly learned he was a rebellious little bundle of chaos, who often stole contraband books from secret underground libraries and came back to him giddy, dying to speak of forbidden tales of mythical creatures. He didn’t expect him to throw a spear at his head like he meant to kill him when they argued in combat training.

He certainly didn’t expect Cael to fall asleep against his shoulder during tactical theory lectures, mumbling something about an underwater city, making him smile for the first time in years.

Light, confident footsteps approached from behind.

“Gods, you really do love to brood, don’t you?” said a familiar voice.

“Good evening, Cael,” Elias said without turning around.

His voice was slightly muffled by the veil, as always, unless he chose to psionically amplify it.

Cael stepped beside him, close enough for their robes to brush. Cael’s veil glowed faintly in his signature blue, his face also blurred under the psi-shimmer.

Elias was ashamed at how often he fantasized about what was behind that mask.

Cael sighed and leaned against the railing, looking up at the moons. “You know this alignment only happens once every forty years? We’ll be lucky if we see it four times. And what does the university do? Make curfews earlier. All because of some made-up prophecy that it might give people ideas.” Cael scoffed.

He was never one for the rules.

Oh, he would make a show of being the teacher’s pet; he knew how to cover his tracks. But the moment eyes were off him, he was breaking laws left and right.

“You want to go for a walk?” Cael asked, coy.

Elias stiffened. “What kind of a walk?” He knew it wasn’t going to be as simple as it sounded.

“I know a way through the locked-off perimeter vines into the forbidden gardens. An opening they use to import and export banned plant life malfunctioned earlier, and it’s stuck open without power until maintenance is back to work after the glow of the moons fades,” Cael said as if it was nothing.

Elias hesitated. “The forbidden gardens? They are probably forbidden for a reason! Banned plant life is probably, like, be poison or something, right?”

“Come ooon,” Cael grabbed Elias’ arm. “There’s no sensors, no guards. Just us and the moons. And you should know by now, just because my mother bans something doesn’t mean it’s actually dangerous. It usually just means it’s finally something worth exploring!”

Elias was supposed to stay on campus. Stay professional. Stay distant. And yet—

“Fine,” Elias grumbled.

“Let’s go!” Cael said, already pulling him down the stairs.

They moved like shadows through the outer halls. Even the guards were ordered to stay in their quarters tonight. Which made sneaking around even easier. Their boots left no echo due to Cael’s slick use of telekinesis. Cael was much more advanced than Elias in that subject. He led Elias with the ease of someone who had broken the rules before and gotten away with it. They slipped through a gate surrounded by overgrown vines. Most likely the reason for the malfunction.

“The garden is all plant life from the countless worlds my mother has conquered,” Cael whispered, his usual playfulness gone from his tone with the statement.

That made sense, Elias thought. The garden now felt in equal parts tragic and beautiful. Just like everything else that was happening.

They reached a series of paths where the eleven moons cast warped shadows through strange flowers from a hundred worlds. As they went deeper, they became surrounded by plants Elias had never imagined possible. Some glowed faintly with bioluminescence. Others twitched in reaction when they brushed past. One pale pink tree was dropping thick green fruit that smelled deliciously sweet. Though Elias wouldn’t dare touch it.

“Come on,” Cael said softly, grabbing his hand. “There’s a spot near the back where you can see the moons the best.”

“So you’ve been here before?”

“Once or twice.”

Elias felt the thud of his heartbeat in his throat, and sweat forming at his brow. It felt like the fear of disobeying the Queen’s orders, but it also felt like the truth of something else that was overriding that fear, so he let himself cherish the feeling of Cael’s hand pressed against his own and be led further into the forbidden gardens.

They ducked beneath a low-hanging tendril that hissed at them when disturbed, all while dodging thorned blossoms that shone in violet light at their sharp tips, and stumbled into a clearing with floating petals that pulsed in…every color imaginable—and some colors Elias wouldn’t be able to describe if he tried. They hovered in the air like a still-life painting of a spilled bouquet, only shifting out of their way slightly as they passed. A broken statue loomed on a platform from the far side—head cracked off and missing, arms folded in a way that made Elias feel judged.

Old gods of a forgotten society, maybe, he thought.

They were encircled by dark blue alien trees, as if a planned, simple backdrop to give room for the petals and the moons to glow. Here, the moons did certainly seem to be at their brightest, blessing or a curse. Under their boots were long rectangular stones cobbled together in a circular pattern, with blue grass blooming sparsely between cracks.

Cael stopped at the center like he was about to put on a show.

“Talkative as ever, aren’t you?” he poked.

“Sorry,” Elias muttered.

Cael turned to face him, inching closer. “I hate the veils,” he said, quiet as a prayer. “Don’t you?”

Elias’ throat tightened; he tried not to cough. “They serve a purpose.”

“Sure they do,” Cael replied, pacing now, “just another way to control us…”

Then Cael did something truly treasonous. He let down his hood…and lifted his mask with a thought. The psionic veil dissolved in an instant, fluttering away like evaporated smoke. His uncovered face was revealed to Elias as he stepped toward him again. Golden blonde hair curled slightly at his temples from the heat of the walk and spilled almost to his shoulders. His skin was pale with accents of pink flush in the cheeks and lips. Gods…his lips. His eyes were a piercing shade of blue that Elias didn’t think could ever be recreated. They weren’t cold or clinical; they were luminous and alive. Like lightning in a cloud.

“Your turn,” Cael said.

Elias froze.

He hadn’t removed his mask outside of bathing since he arrived here. Not in sleep, not in private, but tonight…he wanted to be seen. Just once.

He let down his veil.

It dropped with a faint crackle and flicker. Cool air kissed his skin. He met Cael’s gaze, even more vivid without any kind of barrier.

Cael inhaled softly. “Huh,” he let out.

“Huh? Huh what?” Elias’ chest clenched.

“I pictured your jaw sharper, your eyebrows thicker,” Cael looked him over. “But your eyes…” He smiled. For the first time, Elias got to see Cael smile, and it nearly made him fall to his knees. “I was so right about your eyes,” Cael said.

They stood gawking at each other and the sensation of bare skin in the moonlight for a long while. Just…looking. Just Elias and Cael.

Cael, of course, broke the silence first. “You know, I’ve been trying to guess what you looked like since the day we met.”

“That seems…counter to the Sovereign Prime’s rules of etiquette,” Elias responded, looking down.

“Exactly, which is what made it worth doing,” Cael said, his smile shifting a little crooked. “You are not what I expected at first.”

“Neither are you,” Elias responded plainly.

Cael tilted his head. “What did you expect?”

“A cocky prince. Cold, distant, annoying, trying to perform—”

Cael laughed. “Yes, I’m performing constantly, but distant?” He shook his head. “I’ve been trying to get close to you for months.”

Elias felt his pulse beat through his eyes now. “That’s not wise.”

Cael’s smile faded a touch as he turned away. “No. It’s not.” He stepped onto the platform that held the statue and posed, standing there like some ancient hero, bathed in moonlight, unmasked and unafraid.

Stepping back down slowly until they were close again, face to face, he asked, “You ever wanted something you knew you shouldn’t?”

Elias didn’t answer. He didn’t have to. Cael could probably read it all over his uncovered face. Cael’s fingers brushed his cheek—just enough contact to set every nerve inside Elias alight.

“You can say no,” Cael whispered. “If you want to stop this. Please tell me now so I can get over it. Get over you. Because I’m too fucking enamored with you for normal friendship, I’ll tell you that much.”

But Elias didn’t want to stop. So he let his true self take over and leaned into Cael, and Cael leaned in too, until their lips touched.

The first kiss was tentative. Testing. They both held their breath.

The second kiss was not.

Cael surged forward and caught Elias’s bottom lip between his own and sucked gently. Elias gave in to him without hesitation. Their tongues met, noses collided, and hands searched desperate.

Elias found himself gripping Cael’s hip, pulling him closer. Cael responded in kind, slipping one hand under the back of Elias’s neck and threading his fingers through the short hair at the base. The kiss deepened. Cael made a soft, hungry sound against Elias’s mouth that he swore he felt all the way down his spine. They broke apart only when breath demanded it. Elias’s chest heaved. Cael’s eyes were wild and bright and burning.

“You don’t want to stop?” Cael asked.

Elias shook his head. “No.”

“I want to see all of you.”

Elias stilled.

But Cael was already unfastening his robes. And Elias drank in the view like a man who was almost dying of thirst. The moment Cael’s lips touched his, any part of him that could fight this was silenced.

Cael looked up at him with mischief. “You can still say no.”

“I won’t.” Elias unfastened his own uniform and let it hit the floor.

Elias exhaled as the night air met his bare skin, cool against the heat rising in his chest. His cock stood already hard, aching, and flushed, twitching from the tension of the moment.

Cael leaned in with wide eyes and a smile.

Then dropped to his knees.

Elias gasped, fast and helpless, when he felt Cael’s tongue trace a line from the base of his cock up to the tip, slow and exploratory. It was devastating. When Cael took him fully into his mouth, Elias’s hands flew to Cael’s shoulders. Not to stop him, but to steady himself.

It was better than anything he could have imagined.

And gods, he had certainly imagined.

Elias had spent hours wondering what it would feel like to be wanted like this. To be seen. And now he was.

His cock pulsed on Cael’s tongue, and Cael sucked deeper, jaw slack, eyes closed like this was worship. One of his hands gripped Elias’s hip while the other cradled his thigh, anchoring him and coaxing him further in. Elias groaned as he was pulled deeper, feeling his balls on Cael’s chin.

The moons above them pulsed in their strange rhythm. Eleven colored lights shimmered across Cael’s bare shoulders, across his lips, his perfect hair. The surrounding plants responded—leaves fluttering, the mysterious petals drifting around them in a lazy spiral, glow fading from bright to dim with feedback. Cael’s head bobbed, slow and purposeful, and Elias felt his control slipping. His body arched forward just a little, hips twitching toward that wet, unrelenting heat, balls hitting Cael’s chin over and over with a gentle slap.

Cael moaned softly around him in enjoyment, and the vibration nearly undid him.

“Fuck, Cael—” Elias let out a noise like a man cracked open.

Cael pulled back just enough to let him breathe, his tongue teasing the head. His blue eyes flashed upward, and Elias saw stars reflected in them.

Elias muttered, panting. “You’re…fuck, that felt good. You’re fucking beautiful.”

Cael chuckled, then stood, pale skin glowing in the moonlight. He was slim, yes, but strong, defined.

Elias, by contrast, was broader. Everywhere. He was thick with muscle earned through years of discipline, his body powerful and solid beneath a soft layer of fat that made him feel human instead of carved.

He wasn’t elegant the way Cael was. He was heavy…grounded. Built to hold.

Moonlight painted Cael’s chest. His cock hung heavy, flushed and hard, bobbing gently as he moved, the tip already leaking with arousal. Elias stared—before dropping to his knees without hesitation. It was his turn.

“Let me taste you,” he said, voice hoarse with need.

Cael arched a brow, grinning. “No complaints from me.”

Elias leaned forward and tasted.

He started with a kiss to the base, his hands anchoring against Cael’s hips. Then a slow lick upward, savoring the heat, the salt, the impossible realness of it.

Cael’s breath hitched above him as Elias wrapped his lips around the head and sank down slowly. He filled his mouth, stretched his throat, and Elias welcomed every inch, his curious and exploratory tongue and throat working in rhythm, swallowing Cael deeper each time.

Cael gasped, a ragged sound that made Elias’s cock twitch in response. He reached up with one hand to stroke Cael’s thigh, feeling it tense beneath his palm.

While the moons shimmered above, the garden bloomed brighter around them. The light pulsed with every sound Cael made. Every moan. Every breathless gasp of Elias’s name.

And Elias had never felt more alive.

Cael groaned as Elias pulled back, lips flushed, jaw wet, hands still cradling the backs of Cael’s thighs.

“Stars,” Cael whispered, voice wrecked. “I wasn’t expecting that.”

Elias rose slowly until his face was inches from Cael’s again. He reached for his jaw and pulled him into a slow, dragging kiss—open-mouthed, hungry, and messy.

When they broke apart, Elias looked into his eyes and said something quiet, but certain. “I want to know what it’s like to feel you. All of you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Feel you…inside me.”

Cael blinked. “Wait—are you—” He faltered. “You want me to—”

Elias nodded, heart thudding. “Yes.”

Cael stared at him like a man who had just been handed every answer to every question he hadn’t dared ask.

“I can’t believe my damn luck,” Cael whispered.

Elias gave him a look that was part smirk, part dare. Then he turned around, bent over and gripped the edge of the statue’s platform.

He heard Cael suck in a breath. “Your ass is fucking perfectly…thick,” Cael muttered behind him.

Elias flushed, but didn’t move. His ass was broad, high, solid muscle under curve. People usually assumed he had the kind of body that should’ve pinned someone down, not bent over for them. But here he was.

And gods, he wanted this.

He felt Cael’s warm hands slide over him. They gripped both cheeks, spreading him gently apart.

“Stars above,” Cael breathed. “You’re…incredible.” Then his mouth replaced his hands.

Elias gasped.

Cael’s tongue traced over his hole with maddening patience, slow at first, then more confident. Lapping inside him in quick, wet spurts.

Elias whimpered, sharp and broken. “Fuck, Cael—”

Cael moaned against him in return, spread Elias wider, and dove in deeper, tongue fucking him slowly, steadily, savoring every reaction.

Elias had never been touched like this. He pushed his hips back into it, wanting more. He didn’t care how exposed he was. The garden around them felt like it approved.

When Cael finally pulled back, Elias’s legs were shaking.

“You okay?” Cael asked, voice rough, cock visibly hard between them.

Elias looked over his shoulder, breath ragged. “I’m fucking amazing.”

Cael stroked himself, spitting into his hand, slicking up his cock. The sound of it made Elias shiver.

Cael whispered, “Tell me what you want.”

Elias swallowed, then let it out. “I want to feel you inside me. I want you to fuck me, Cael.”

Cael cursed under his breath as he stepped closer. Then slowly, achingly, he pressed in. The head of his cock slid between Elias’s cheeks, slick and hot. Elias bit his lip hard as the stretch began filling him deep. Cael didn’t thrust. Not yet. He held Elias’s hips steady and just eased in, inch by inch, breathless and overwhelmed.

“You’re taking me so fucking well,” Cael murmured. “Gods…”

Elias whimpered, forehead pressed to his forearm. Each inch was its own revelation. Each second an undoing. When Cael finally bottomed out, they both stilled, shaking and gasping, suspended in moonlight and breath.

Elias had never felt so full, so wanted, or so real. Cael stayed buried deep inside Elias, both hands gripping his hips like Elias might vanish if he let go. He couldn’t stop shaking. The stretch ached in the best way…Cael was thick and long, filling him like nothing ever had.

Then Cael pulled back. Just slightly. And thrust forward—slow again, careful, like Elias might break—before burrowing all the way in.

Elias groaned, loud and unguarded. “Fuck.”

Cael gasped. “You feel…gods, Elias—”

“Move,” Elias begged. “Please. Don’t worry. Fuck me like you mean it.”

Cael obeyed.

The rhythm started slow. Measured. His cock sliding in and out, every thrust somehow deeper than the last. Elias rocked with it, bracing against the stone, surrendering completely. His body adjusted, opened, took every inch like it was meant for this.

Cael’s hands wandered…gripping his waist, then trailing up his back, then grabbing those thick, muscled ass cheeks again with reverent disbelief.

“You’re…perfect,” Cael breathed. “Every inch of you.”

Then he fucked him harder. The pace quickened. Each thrust hitting deeper, wetter, sharper.

Elias moaned through gritted teeth, thighs quaking as Cael slammed into him again and again. “Cael, yes—more—”

Cael groaned behind him, his rhythm fraying. “You like this?” he rasped. “Me taking you like this? Filling you like this?”

Elias could barely form the words. “Yes—yes, gods—don’t stop, don’t stop—harder—”

Cael’s hips snapped forward with every stroke now, fast and relentless. Elias’ ass rippled in response to every thrust. The sound of their bodies meeting was drowned only by Elias’ cries. Elias reached between his legs, stroking his own cock, slick and leaking with pre-cum. It took only a few strokes in time with Cael’s pounding thrusts to bring him to the edge. “I’m close—Cael—I’m—” he choked out.

Cael’s voice broke behind him. “Me too—fuck—I’m so close. Do you want me to finish—”

Elias nearly sobbed. “Yes. Yes. Please, Cael. Cum inside me. Fill me.”

That was it. Cael drove in one last time—impossibly deep—and came with a moan so loud the plant life around them seemed to flinch. Elias felt the way Cael’s entire body went taut as he emptied inside him. That pushed Elias over too. He spilled into his hand, almost collapsing forward against the statue, but holding himself firm with his other arm.

They stayed like that for a long moment, connected, Cael deep inside, shaking, glowing under eleven moons.

The luminous petals started dancing around them, as if putting on an after show. And Elias, panting, aching, marked from the inside out, realized something terrifying: he wanted to stay in this moment forever…

Because the next one would have to be a lie.

He had been sent to watch the prince. Instead, he was falling for him. And he couldn’t stop. He was falling in love with his target.

And someday, that secret could break them…or worse.

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So…did you liked that? Maybe? Well, at least you finished it. Unless you scrolled all the way down here before you were done. If so…go back up and finish it! Or not, I guess.

Maybe you’re emotionally ruined. Or horny. Or disgusted. Or plotting elaborate fan art (my dream).

Either way, that was just one little slice of Elias and Cael’s journey. Things get bigger, hotter, and a lot more dangerous…and I want you in on it.

If you’d like to be part of this crew, subscribe here:

If you’d like to always get the full story, before anyone else, become a paid subscriber!

Come on. Let’s make bad choices together…and maybe change the fate of a few worlds while we’re at it.

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Four male roommates. One apartment. And a secret tension that’s been building for far too long.

One night, a few coils of rope and a dare turns into something none of them can explain away.

Suddenly, Evan and Milo aren’t just roommates playing with knots … they’re starting to feel something deeper. Something real. And in an apartment where privacy doesn’t exist, feelings don’t stay hidden for long.

Roommate Bonding Time is a filthy, addictive MM romance packed with kink discovery, roommate chaos, found-family vibes, bisexual awakening and the kind of emotional tension that hits just as hard as the spice.

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Find more from Josiah B. Vale at JosiahBVale.com