Page 14 of The Ivory King

“She shall never know. Now, go on, my lord Aelir. You were saying…”

Curse the man. I blew a strand of hair from my face. The currant berry stems that I’d tucked behind my ears to match my tunic and trousers were annoying and did little to keep my hair from my face.

“I was saying that I acted immaturely. I awoke to find you gone, and it stung. I had hoped that we could continue to pleasure each other in the dawn’s light.”

I stepped closer. He held my wrist still, tucking it between us as I pressed in tighter. Now I needed to tip my head back to see him. His dark eyes held me. I could see the fight taking place inside of him.

“Aelir, we should not pleasure each other again.”

“I disagree. We should pleasure each other as often as we can, for I love you. I have loved you for years, and I shall always love you. When I am as old and wrinkled as Umeris, my heart will still belong to you.” His eyes closed. His breath danced over his parted lips. “Look at me and tell me that you do not care for me, V’alor. Tell me that you do not wish to lie with me. Tell me that you do not wish to awaken in my bed. Tell me that my love is not reciprocated and you are free to return to your barracksand never know the sweetness of holding me in the night ever again.”

“Your tongue is far too honeyed, Aelir. You know I cannot say those things, for they would be lies and I shall not,will not, lie to you.”

“Then kiss me, protect me from the shitwits.” One corner of his mouth twitched. “Love me well, and on the morrow, we shall return home. I long to ride you in my own bed.”

His nostrils flared as mischief danced in his brown gaze. “For a future statesman and Ruler of the vills of Renedith, your apology was lacking.”

“As a future statesman, I think I did an adept job of skirting the issue entirely. Nowplease, will you kiss me, then peel me out of this finery?”

His lips fell to mine, tentative at first, and then with raw passion that saw two dozen buttons of hammered gold fly across the room in short fashion. The tailor back in Renedith would not be pleased when he was called up to repair the tunic.

His loving that night was anything but short, though. It was mad passion that carried me to our lovely sister moons.

When I awoke, I slept alone, but beside me on his cold pillow lay a short note in his brusque script.

We stand at the ready to depart at your word, my lord Aelir. I too long a lengthy ride when we return to Renedith—V’alor

Wearing a smile all morn, I soon lost it when I straddled my mare for the long ride home. Perhaps I should have rung for the valet after all…

Returning home was always welcome. Being the heir to the vills of Renedith called for me to travel over much of Melowynn, and while I enjoyed seeing the people of our lands, I enjoyed falling into my own bed at night just as much. And now that V’alor was lying beside me as the nights grew shorter and the air crisper, home was where I wished to linger forever. I entertained the idea of tending to my duties in bed, but V’alor turned a frightening shade of puce when I playfully suggested it one morning. I hated rolling over to find him gone or even worse, waking up to watch him dressing while the stars still shone.

Yet, I understood his departure. The men who served under him and the rest of the staff did not need to witness my guard captain sneaking through the halls as the castle readied to break its fast. Protocol must be adhered to. While I was sure that everyone in Castle Willowspirit, from the lad who cleaned the chamber pots to Umeris, knew that V’alor and I were lovers, we had to behave decorously in front of others.

A naked personal guard captain tiptoeing out of my room would bring down the wrath of my grandfather. He, like most elves be they noble or not, cared nothing about the fact that I slept with another man. Such intolerance was more of a human religious facet. Elves had elevated themselves above such stupidity centuries ago. Whatdidmatter to Umeris was that whoever I bedded, we were discreet and no bastards would come forth. There was no chance of a misbegotten babe when one lay with one of the same sex, so Umeris was silent on the matter. Truth be told, he had other things to occupy his mind. The king’s coronation anniversary celebration for one as well as some troubles with roaming bandits that were plaguing the deliveries of goods from one vills to the other.

This was where Kenton, who had returned from Knight’s Way with his husband, four students, and hundreds of smallwooden boxes filled with insects, seeds, and animal droppings for study at a later date, was most handy. While the city elves and the wood elves were worlds apart in many ways, we could pull together when need called for it. In truth, I wished we were closer, but change took time. Eradicating hundreds of years of mistrust and bigotry did not disappear like the fog at the touch of the sun’s rays.

But progress was being made. The wood elves now had a small school with a chapel for the worship of their goddess for city elves that wished to take up the druidic ways. The chapel, small as it was, had taken months of bickering with our church elders to assure them that elven hearts were big enough to allow more than one deity within the confines of a vills. Permission had been grudgingly granted, but I still got unpleasant looks when I attended morning prayers.

The bird cages in our gardens were now empty of feathered souls. And there was a decree being drafted by Beirich, which would close the menagerie in the center of Renedith. I did not expect it to please my grandfather, who still took great pleasure in viewing the caged beasts when his health allowed him to walk through the meticulously tended park. I was prepared to argue for its passing as not only a way to keep relations good with the wood elves but also to save money. Feeding and tending to the animals was incredibly costly. We would see if my grandfather preferred seeing spotted Sandrayan wild cats or saving gold. I hoped it would be the latter. I suspected it might be, for there was little Umeris disliked more than fiscal waste. Unless it was my radical ideals.

This led us to this day as I sat in a meeting with Kenton, his father the wilder warden Dyffros Amergin, Umeris, and Jassin Runewind. The great chamber was a large, airy room roughly half the size of the great hall. It was where Grandfather, and now I as well, met with visiting dignitaries, invites thelocal government in for an emergency meeting, and where my grandfather and I ate our evening meals. The windows were open, with the sun shining in on the twin long tables of dark wood. Wind ruffled through the chamber to make the tapestries on the cold stone walls shift in the strong breeze. Rain was in the air, or so said our druid friends. Cold meats, cheese, and wine sat atop embroidered table runners of scarlet, needlepoint swans decorating the thin tablecloths.

With two days left to settle this bandit situation, before the castle nobles and envoys were to leave for the coronation anniversary gala, this issue of who would pay for food and horses for the men necessary to track these brigands needed to be settled today.

Jassin was not making it a simple task.

“Surely you can at least see that Renedith paying stipends to the wood elves that sign on to aid the city is fair,” Wilder Warden Dyffros stated calmly. “For it is not our food and goods that are being stolen. We do offer our people out of the goodness of our hearts to help further diplomatic ties with Renedith.”

“Surelyyoucan see that your clans harboring these ladrones in the Glotte wood lends your kind to be responsible for this dilemma. If you drove them out instead of turning blind eyes to their actions, we would not be facing this dilemma,” Jassin blustered, his temper frayed after several hours of being locked in a room with two elven cousins with skin tones he disliked.

“Again, they do not disruptourfood chain. Perhaps if you were not so dependent on the wood and stone from other parts of Melowynn for your ever-expanding borders and learned to utilize the gifts that Danubia bestows on us with gentle care of the lands and trees, then we would not need to jeopardize our sentries to ensure that your people can continue to erect moreand more unneeded towers to your god,” Dyffros replied with slight ire.

Umeris sat at the head of the table in discreet green and white day robes, his brow furrowed, his sharp gaze coming to land on me.

“What say you, Aelir?” Grandfather broke into the tense discussion like an assassin’s dagger. “Surely you have thoughts?”

“I do yes. I think that the sentries that the wood elves are generously offering to track down these bandits and bring them to justice should be compensated by the Renedith coffers,” I said as I sat forward in my chair to place my forearms on the table. I looked at Kenton, who nodded for me to continue. We’d discussed this issue, and others, in long hours spent in the gardens or on lengthy walks with his eager students. I’d found little to give me as much joy as sharing the wonders of the natural world with my closest friend. Lying with my cheek on V’alor’s strong chest perhaps came first now, obviously, but walks with Kenton were a close second. “Again, if we closed the menagerie, we would have ample funds to cover such contingencies.”

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