Page 10 of The Ivory King

“It was the night of your eighteenth birthing celebration. Umeris had just removed the circlet of the regent of Renedith from your head and replaced it with the silver crown of the heir apparent. I recall looking at you and seeing you as the man that you had grown into and being both drawn to your beauty and sickened that I could view you in such a manner. I had wiped your nose when you were just a toddler, carried you over bogs and brambles when your skinny short legs tired on excursions, and stood outside the nursery door for nights untold as you slept.”

“You still stand outside my chamber far longer than need be,” I whispered, my fingers moving over his stomach in small, sloppy circles. “I hear the change of guards nightly and wish that you would come through my doors instead of walking away.”

“My entering your chambers would not be fitting, Aelir.”

I huffed. “Please, do not drag us back intothatquagmire. Just for this night, let us be men who love each other.”

A long moment passed. “Apologies. I do love you, Aelir. Know that if nothing else. My passion for you burns brighter than the sun that warms our lands. Tonight we shall be men who love the other and nothing more. On the morrow—”

“On the morrow, we shall still be men who love each other. Naught will change.” I nestled closer, my eyelids growing leaden, and let out a long, sleepy sigh. I fell asleep after making that declaration, snug and safe with my love beside me.

I came awake with the sun shining on my face and a cold place in my bed where V’alor should have been. Wiping the hair from my eyes, I rolled to my side, away from the sun that had finally burned through the rain clouds. Another knock on my door rang through my chamber. Smiling at the image in my mind of it being V’alor coming back from the kitchens with something to break our fast, I yanked the covers up to bare my flank, situated my knotted hair that he so loved to touch in a hopefully seductive way, and called for him to enter. My head was so full of romantic fluff, as was my heart, that I never thought to see anyone other than V’alor step through the door.

Pasil gawked at me with wide blue eyes, then spun as I flailed to cover my backside.

“I beg your forgiveness, my lord Aelir, but you called to enter and I…well, I entered,” Pasil, clad in soft leather armor bearing the Stillcloud swan on the chest plate, spoke to the back of the door as I scrambled to cover myself properly.

“No, it is my fault. I thought you to be—” I paused. “I thought you to be the valet come with my bath.”

“Ah, no, my lord, I am here to…well, I am here to inform you that…well, perhaps I should not have come at all, but since it has to do with V’alor and—”

My attention flew from trying to tie a sheet around my waist to the ebony-haired elf speaking to a door.

“Is he not in the kitchens or barracks?”

“No, my lord, he is having an audience with Lady Si’ofra.”

My mouth fell open. My sheet slid down to my ankles. I hurried to pull it up over my ass.

“What is he meeting with her about?” I asked and got a shrug of a strong shoulder.

“I dare not say, my lord Aelir, but he seemed most set upon seeing her as soon as she rose from her night’s rest. If it pleases you, may I turn yet?”

I cinched the coverlet into a knot at my hip. “Yes, please face me.” He peeked over a rounded pauldron then turned fully. “Was there some sort of upset at the gates?”

“No, my lord, not that I am aware of, he simply announced to me as he changed into his armor that he was off to speak to the lady of the keep as well as the castellan.”

I blinked like an owl. The lady and the castellan? What need would V’alor have to speak to Lady Mossbell or the man in charge of the castle guards?

“Perhaps a fight broke out between their men and ours?” I asked once I found my voice.

“If so, I am not aware of it, and as I am V’alor’s lieutenant and he was not in the barracks last night, any such dispute would have come to me in his stead.” I stared at Pasil. He gave me the merest hint of a smile. “Not that I am insinuating that he is not allowed to rest his head on softer pillows than what we have in the barracks…” So he suspected that V’alor had been here with me. I felt a flush of heat rush to my face. “Or whom he shared those soft pillows with, but I do have eyes in my head, my lord, and many is the night that he has sent me to my bed so he could stand outside your chambers. While I am not a highly educated noble, only the son of a tanner, I can add two and two to arrive at four. I hope I am not speaking out of place, Lord Aelir?”

“No, you speak as his second and his most trusted friend. Thank you for bringing this to my attention. I shall speak to V’alor about it when we ride to the archery range after the midday meal.”

Pasil placed a fist on his chest, lowered his head in deference and respect, and then left as silently as he hadentered. Confused greatly, I padded across the room to ring for my valet. When he arrived, I was staring out the open doors at the grounds below.

“Draw me a bath. Lay out my ruby under clothing and then rub some rendered bear fat into my armor. I am going to compete today in the archery games. Oh, and send word to the stables that my mare is to be saddled and ready after the midday meal.”

“Yes, my lord Aelir. Do you wish me to braid your hair? The lords Mossbell have taken to wearing their hair plaited like therheasdo to keep it from their faces when they—”

“I will tend to my own hair. And you are not to use that slur in my company again.” I glared across the expanse of my chamber at the servant. He paled and then nodded vigorously before backing out of my room to round up hot water and bear grease. While I bathed and nibbled on dark bread, cheese, and hard-boiled quail eggs, I mulled over my lover. I could smell the rank fat that Joralf was working so diligently into my armor as I sat in the hammered copper tub, water covered with tiny flakes of wintergreen flux seed tickling my chin.

Coming awake to an empty bed had not surprised me. It disappointed me, yes, but I knew V’alor would not chance being discovered in my chambers. Even though there were no rules against a noble and a commoner having sex. Just the opposite. Many of the villagers and workers in all the grand elven houses dallied with the titled. The towns and farms near every keep were overflowing with bastards. All that mattered was that those who would rule the vills were noble born. And over the past few generations that was becoming difficult to maintain. My main worry was why V’alor was meeting with the lady of the house and her castellan. The only reason that I could conjure was that he was speaking to them about a position here at Castle Moonsweald. What other cause could there be? He hadobviously come awake beside me, fell into a panic about station, age, duty, and the other nonsensical reasons he had for keeping us apart and saw no other way to ensure he would not weaken as he did last night. He surely was going to leave the employ of the Stillclouds to come here just to avoid any deeper romantic entanglements.

I scrubbed my face with soap that smelled of beach wood to scour away the tears that rolled down my cheeks. Hurt beyond rational thinking, I swore I would find him and explain just what I thought of his cowardice. It was despicable of a man to bed someone who adores him and bolt come the first rays of the day. When I located the heartbreaker, I would—

“My lord Aelir, would you wish me to have the fletcher bring you some new yew arrows for the competition?” Joralf asked, his voice floating over the top of the changing screen imported from the Black Sand Isles. “Fletcher Q’inth is renowned for his skills.”

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