Page 20 of Dead Crown
Elswere stood and bumped the table in his drunkenness. Lumi slid off the Prince’s lap and quickly looped his arm in Elswere’s to steady him.
“You can stay here, Lumi. I’m tired tonight.”
“Oh, let me have a few more minutes with my favorite.”
“You never give me flowers.”
“I give you far more than flowers.”
The glasses must have been quite full of strong whiskey. Lumi had been busy with his beans and getting lords and ladies to guess riddles, but it was best if he stayed with Elswere for now in his state.
“Were you drinking before dinner?” Lumi asked once he helped the King outside and around a patch of ice to keep him from falling on his face.
“No, no. Of course not.”
Lies. The King grumbled about letters he’d gotten, and Lumi only half-listened on the way.
“Give me a quick suck before I go do-before I go to sleep,” Elswere mumbled as they entered his rooms. “I need your mouth on me.”
“It’ll be my pleasure.”
The King lay on his bed and started snoring before Lumi could even undo his belt. So much for that. Lumi pulled off his boots, rolled him on his side, and tugged the blanket over him.
“You should cut back. Your half-nephew is an adult, but he doesn’t need you getting sloshed and drowning your failures in four glasses of honey whiskey, plus whatever else you had earlier.” Lumi paused. "Take care of him. At least he tried. Nobody..." He cut off.
He slipped out and went to his room where he picked warm clothes to wear although he wouldn’t be permitted to keep them. He knew the rule: he could take nothing back. Not even the reen quill. The glamor soap for his hair and the dye for his ears and tail would stay tucked behind the baseboard behind his bed.
He wasn’t allowed to have anything unlesshesaid so.
Before he left his room that night, he thought about going to Prince Jaki and confessing. Paused in the empty hall, he imagined letting the facade fall away entirely and admitting every damn thing. If he cried, would the Prince hold him and try to make him feel better?
Since he’d offered that much, he probably did care. It didn’t matter when Lumi couldn’t accept it.
The guards said nothing when he left on his horse with his hood pulled low. They probably assumed he was a lord going to a whorehouse for a bit of late-night debauchery.
Havaska was mostly asleep when the horse’s hooves marched over the snowy streets. Lumi kept his hood up and knew staying on the ones lit with torches was safer in those times. A drunk wandered by while singing to himself. The Temple far to one side was lit up as always.
Why didn’t Elira watch over and save him? Why did he have to be abandoned? Why did someone have to dangle a way out in front of him when he couldn’t accept it and had to return tohim?
Someone huddled in a dark doorway came out as the horse drew nearer. “Please, if you have a kop or anything-I’m starving. I have no money. Even a piece of bread...”
Lumi hurried the horse by and saw the glint of steel in the man’s hand.
“Fuck you too! I hope you starve like me one day.”
Lumi would have taken a dagger to the chest or throat if he had dared to slow and hand over a coin to that person. Even on the lit streets, one had to be careful at night. Hunger creates desperation.
A hundred feet away from the city gates, he paused the horse and looked behind him. The lit Hall caught his eyes, and he thought about Prince Jaki in his rooms. He was probably waiting but not truly expecting to see his half-brother later.
He could still turn around now, go back, and pray to Elira the Prince would make sure the hands that had warped him for years never touched him again. The price if he failed was too great.
He nudged the horse forward again.
Chapter Five
Lumi rode for a good hour and came to the edge of the nearby forest. He dismounted and patted the horse’s furry side. The northern beast would be fine outside. “You can go back later, so I won’t tether you. When you get hungry and cold, you know where home is. You’re a smart boy.”
The horse snorted.
