Page 52 of Bull Moon Rising

Instead of suspicious, I feel a surge of sympathy for her instead. I imagine a small Aspeth, young and bossy and desperate for knowledge to make up for the lack of companions. I picture her with her annoying, shedding cat in her lap, a book in hand as she sits by the fire.

It would explain why she’s so terrible at the physical aspects of guild life. It would explain a lot of things, actually. It would explain why she married a Taurian. She has no people knowledge, just books. I grunt. Things are falling into place. I squeeze Aspeth’s shoulder. “Let’s just get home, all right?”

“Am I in trouble? Is the team in danger?”

“No and no.”

We walk through the curving streets in companionable silence, and I keep my hand on her shoulder. It feels good to have her at my side. Feels strangely good to realize that Aspeth might need a friend and that I can be that person for her. Not that I lack friends, but there’s something different about Aspeth. She’s infuriating and a know-it-all…and incredibly vulnerable, too. Returning to the dorm, everyone hugs Aspeth, Mereden cries, and Gwenna fusses over her like a mother hen. Magpie is still with the others, but silent. At least she has her clothes on properly now. I’m a little surprised she’s still awake, but am too tired to deal with it. “Aspeth and I are going to bed,” I tell them. “You should all do the same. We have drills in the morning.”

They all groan. Kipp disappears into his shell house and the others scatter.

SEVENTEEN

HAWK

The cat iswaiting in our quarters, and Aspeth pets it and feeds it as it howls and makes a ruckus while I fill the copper tub near the fire. I’ve never heard such a loud creature, but she pets it (and fur flies everywhere) and talks to it as if it were human. “I know,” she tells the orange beast. “You’ve been sorely neglected today but I promise I’ll make it up to you. What do you think of that?”

I pour the last of the water into the tub and then shuck my clothing, glancing over to see if Aspeth has noticed me. She’s still petting the cat, utterly focused. I yawn, extending my arms out. By the bull god, I am fatigued.

“Oh, big stretch,” Aspeth coos, startling me. I turn and she blushes, her face bright red. “The cat!”

“Right.” I adjust my cock, stepping into the tub, and notice that her gaze follows me as I move. I sink into the tub and groan as the hot water soaks into tired muscles. Gods, it’s been a long week. I relax in the water, and then grab the cake of soap and rub it into the washcloth I’ve hung on the side of the tub.

Aspeth clears her throat. “Should I wash you? Since we’re married and I should be learning about your anatomy?”

I glance over at her. Her cheeks are pink and flushed, her eyes bright. I don’t know at what point she became attractive to me, but I can’t look away from her. There’s something so very earnest about Aspeth. It’s as if she puts everything she has into whatever task she’s focused upon, be it guild business or something else. I suspect that she’d put all that enthusiasm into bed, too, and the thought makes my cock harden. “While I appreciate the offer, you should know that if you touch me, it’s not going to stay just a wash.”

“Oh.” She sounds dazed.

She also doesn’t get up from her spot on the edge of the bed, which tells me everything. We’re not there yet. We’re not at the carnal stage of our marriage, and I fight down the lick of impatience that curls up my spine. She’s gone through a lot in the last week. Hells, I’ve gone through a lot, too. It’s perfectly fine to wait. It’s only the moon—and the knot I’ll be forming—that’s making me addled with lust.

“How was your trip?” Aspeth asks in a bright voice as I scrub at my skin. “Was it a rescue mission?”

“Oh, it was.” My tone sounds bitter, even to myself. I try not to let guild politics get to me, but this season I can’t seem to get away from them. “It took us two days of hard tunneling to find a brand-new team laid out with three broken ankles. They weren’t even in a newer tunnel, or a deeper one. Just idiots doing idiotic things, I guess.”

“Did they find anything?”

I turn toward her, immediately suspicious. “Cave mushrooms, hence the broken ankles. They started hallucinating and ran off a ledge. Luckily it was a short drop. Unluckily for us, we had to carry them back.”

She makes a sympathetic sound. “So no artifacts? That’s a shame.”

“Why is it a shame?” I’m still prickly, thinking about Tiercel’s comments from earlier. About Aspeth being a spy…

Aspeth sighs heavily. “I’m vicariously dreaming through them, I suppose. I’ve always wanted to find an artifact. Not just any artifact, but something important. Something world-changing.” She chuckles, her expression wistful. “I suppose I should settle for ‘any artifact’ before I start going on about world-changing ones, right? It’s just…it must be so exciting. I can’t imagine wasting your time in the tunnels with getting high.”

I relax, because I understand what she means. There’s a rush you get when you first discover something of importance. It’s a heady feeling that’s only compounded when you turn it in to the guild and find out what it truly is…or you’re devastated to find out that it’s a dupe. Or broken. “This is a heartbreaking business,” I tell her. “It gives you the highest of highs and the lowest of lows.”

“More highs than lows, I hope.”

I think of Magpie, and how often she returns to the bottle despite swearing that she’ll quit. “That’s the hope, aye.”

“Mmm.” She’s quiet for a long moment. “May I ask you something, Hawk?”

“Of course.” I dunk the washcloth again, trying to focus on getting clean.

“Do Taurians kiss?”

And there goes my focus. My cock stiffens, surfacing through the water like some sort of hungry leviathan. Aspeth isn’t thinking about artifacts entirely. “Kissing is a human invention. It’s not as comfortable for Taurians. Our mouths don’t work quite like yours. We prefer tail play to show public affection.”

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