Page 125 of Bloom
“You’re going to hear a lot more words!” Zacharie shouted.
A few started eating as though they’d rather pretend nothing was happening. Jaime put a hand on Aleric’s upper back as they stalked toward the door. Lord Monet lost his composure and started yelling at Zacharie. A hunched old lady pushed up her spectacles and asked why everyone was so upset.
“I guess you’re pissed you can’t have my future husband,” Zacharie yelled as he stood.
Aleric paused and made a move like he was going to march over there to make him shut up the hard way. Jaime slid his arm around him. “Nope. Come on. Let’s go.”
“If you can’t have Gautier, you’ll take his son. That’s how much of a whore you are.”
Jaime almost paused that time as Gautier yelled at Zacharie, and the Hall practically exploded. The young courtier from earlier shouted.
“What kind of insult is that?”
“He’s insane.” Jaime pulled Aleric immediately to the right in the entrance Hall toward the stairs. He didn’t expect Aleric to suddenly pull free. “What?”
Aleric backed away as he squinted at Jaime.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Why would he suddenly say you’re Gautier’s son?”
Jaime’s mouth almost dropped. “Are you serious? There is no way you can be suspicious-”
“I didn’t think about it before, but you have orange eyes like him.”
“I know who my Father is, thank you very much, and it’s not that sack of shit sitting by Zacharie. You could go into the city right now and find a bunch of fairies with orange eyes.”
“You’re too-” Aleric cut off.
Jaime hated the guarded look. It was Zacharie’s fault for spewing bullshit that Aleric’s doubting mind would immediately latch onto, although in their case, it was a bit extreme.
“Tell me right now,” he demanded in a low voice that Jaime had to struggle to catch with all of the racket from the Hall. “Are-”
“For Elira’s sake! Zacharie’s being absolutely ridiculous, and you immediately believe him? I know you’re used to expecting the worst, but I know who my parents are!”
“Did you run away from home, or are you a higher-up who was set aside by his Father?”
“No!”
“You don’t act like a commoner at times. You barely ever called me or Father m’lord or anything. You’ve pretty much been comfortable from the start, and…were you born as a commoner in a village with two common parents?”
Fuck. Jaime swallowed as he tried to think of how to admit it. He’d lied about his past like before to many. With his future husband staring at him and directly asking, he couldn’t bring himself to say yes. Aleric had even worded his question a certain way, showing he suspected something wasn’t quite right about Jaime’s earlier story. How could he say yes to his face and tell him an entirely different thing later?
At Jaime’s hesitation, something in Aleric’s face broke. “You lied to me. Didn’t you?”
“I swear, I was going to tell you.”
“Fuck this.” Aleric hurried for the stairs.
“Aleric! I wasn’t born in a village, but I swear to Elira I’m not Gautier’s son.”
“I don’t need to hear more shit while you’re trying to cover up whatever.”
Jaime went after him. “Aleric, please! I’ll show you my sword. You’ll see it’s not Gautier’s name on the hilt.”
Aleric paused on the first landing and glanced at the wrapped hilt as a muscle in his jaw twitched. “You told me you grew up in a village, and your parents died of fever.”
“I grew up in a village from seven onward. A couple raised me. My parents are dead, and they were both murdered.”
