Page 9 of Silver & Gold

But there was no time, not right now. There was Julian and the book. There was also the possibility—the likelihood—that Prince Rahim would pursue them.

And yet, it felt desperately important that Seth stop Raider as they left the grove. It felt absolutely essential that he hook his arms around Raider from behind, pull Raider against him, and hold tight for a moment.

A huge breath expanded Raider’s chest. He let it out and relaxed against Seth. His hands came up to rest on Seth’s forearm bracers. He leaned his head back slightly.

Seth spoke quietly into Raider’s ear. “Everything’s going to be okay. We are going to be okay.”

He heard Raider swallow. “I wish we could just …”

“I know,” Seth said when Raider trailed off. “Me too.”

Raider sighed. He rested against Seth for a moment. Gods, Seth loved the weight of Raider’s body against his own.

Then Raider said, “We should run.”

“Run?” Seth echoed, recoiling slightly.

Raider’s head lifted. “Um … yes?”

“You think that’s necessary?”

“I mean, we’ll get there faster. Why, what’s—” Raider twisted in Seth’s arms, facing him. His hands started roaming over Seth’s body. “Wait, are you hurt?”

“No, it’s not that. I just … I hate running.”

“Oh.” Raider chuckled and pecked Seth’s lips with a kiss. Then he took off.

Grumbling, Seth set into a jog behind him. Raider, obnoxiously, tried to talk to him as they ran. He drew unnecessary attention to how heavy footed Seth was by pretending to be sympathetic about Seth having more gear and weapons to carry, blah, blah, blah. (Seth didn’t hear all of it. He was concentrating.)

But even in his misery at the mile-long jog to the town, past the town, and all the fucking way to the vineyard, Seth had never been so happy to be annoyed. Because every time the moonlight caught Raider’s face, it revealed a grin that said Raider was very much enjoying giving Seth shit.

And after a day that had been just a little too fucking hard? It amazed Seth to see it. It also reminded him that all this shit had been in Raider’s past the whole time Seth had known him.

All along, Raider had been dealing with this. Seth didn’t know the details, but he knew, he realized now, that it was pretty fucking bad. Yet somehow, despite that, Raider was more full of life than anyone Seth had ever known.

How the hell had Seth gotten so lucky to find this man?

Raider, thankfully, slowed to a walk as they reached the vineyard, where a large house commanded a hilltop above the rows of vines. Several outbuildings dotted the sleepy property.

Seth dug the arcane shackles from his pack and clipped them onto his utility belt for easy access.

When Raider pointed, Seth followed his finger to the pale shape of some kind of pavilion at the vineyard’s far edge.

“I can see the ifrit,” Raider whispered when it was obvious that Seth had no idea what he was looking at.

“Ah.”

That telescopic arcane eye. Had that, too, been done against Raider’s will? Seth’s blood ran cold at the thought.

As they drew closer, making their way between rows of fruiting vines, the multi-level pavilion revealed itself to be a winepress. In a few months, grapes would be piled into the crushing pit and stomped. Channels cut into the rock would carry the juice to the fermenting pools below.

The ifrit, Seth could now see, was lounging beside one of the empty, wine-stained fermenting pools. A jug large enough to have held several gallons of wine lay broken on the pavement. The ifrit was crouched over a curved shard of the jug and lapping from it like a cat.

That jug had undoubtedly come from the shed a little way up the slope. Given the building’s low profile, indicating that most of the structure was belowground for temperature stability, it was a wine ageing shed. Julian must be in there.

After all these months. After all these miles. Was Seth really about to accomplish what had seemed an impossible task? Was this really the end of his mission?

It felt surreal.

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