Page 22 of Corin and the Courtier
Aster barely managed to get a hand shoved down into the front of his trousers, awkwardly trapped by his chest, before he soaked the fabric all over again.
He spent all over his hand andalsosoaked his trousers all over again, subsiding limply into the bed with a moan, head spinning. Opening his eyes gave him the edge of the linen pillowcase and a bit of stone wall, also spinning.
But as his heart rate slowed, so did the movement of the bed and the wall and the pillow, and his stomach settled with them. Fine. He’d come a third time without Corin’s touch—or even much of his own. He could accept that without having to crawl into a hole and hide from everyone in the world forever.
Although to be fair, living in this tower might not be much of a step up from that.
Deep breath in. Corin’s scent blended with the faintly bitter aroma of his own come, a heady mixture that had his eyes trying to flutter shut.
God.
He shoved himself up, determined to stay that way this time, and rolled out of bed before he could change his mind.
Time to get it together. Who knew where Corin had gone, but Aster might not have long to get clean, organized, and…not quite as pathetic? His hungover brain struggled to come up with anything less nebulous than that, but he knew what he meant. Basically, the next time he saw Corin he needed to smile, say something suave, and not come in his pants.
There. He had a plan. Now to implement it.
Of course, that turned out to be easier said than done. A first trip all the way down the stairs to use the garderobe and fetch his saddlebags, which he’d seen near the back door of the hall, turned into several minutes of puzzlement over a whole set of Corin’s clothing which appeared to have been scattered around the hall by a high wind. And once he’d hauled his bags all the way back up again, he found that the water pitcher and basin on Corin’s dressing table were both empty.
He made it all the way down again before remembering he’d forgotten to bring the pitcher. And he had no idea where to find a water bucket downstairs.
God, his head hurt, and now so did his thigh muscles.
Back up. Get the pitcher. Still cold, still with throbbing temples and an unsettled stomach. And at last, he shoved open the back door, freezing air smacking him in the face. The wind had died down completely. Everything lay still and blanketed in snow.
At last his head started to clear. He tipped it back and sucked in deep, cleansing breaths, washing away the fog of brandy and sex and confusion and embarrassment.
Aster squinted and shaded his eyes with a hand, peering at…the great trampled area in the center of the courtyard, looking as if an army had marched through it. But wait, no. No army could’ve left that massive claw-tipped track in the snow.
Well. That explained the discarded clothes. Corin had stripped and transformed while Aster lay drunkenly sleeping it off. He gazed up at the sky again, staring until his eyes burned and he could see nothing but unfathomable pale gray, not so much as a speck that could’ve been Corin, wheeling above in his dragon’s body. Sometimes the vastness of the heavens could make a man feel tiny and insignificant—but never more so than at that moment, when he knew Corin had the freedom to glide through it all, master of the air.
Aster shivered and turned his attention down again. Corin could soar above him, above the clouds, even, but Aster was stuck down here plodding through the churned-up snow to the pump across the courtyard. And perhaps that was as it should be.
But he’d never felt so small and cold and lonely all the same.
Finally cleaned up a bit, and with the fire stirred for later, he went back out again to spend a few minutes petting and soothing Etallon in the little shed Corin had set up for him. Corin had fed and brushed him, too, while Aster lay snoring, yet another source of shame.
Etallon’s whickers and nuzzlings comforted him more than he’d have been willing to admit, though; the ten minutes he spent with his arm around the horse’s neck left him almost calm.
Several cups of water and an apple—shared with Etallon, of course—left him feeling almost human.
He could do this. When Corin returned, Aster would be cool as a cucumber, unmoved, wearing trousers and drawers that didn’t have any come in them and a sophisticated, sardonic smile.
To that end, he went back down to the cellar and retrieved a bottle of what looked like a lightish wine, something restorative. He carefully arranged a chair by the fire, poured himself a cup of it, and sipped.
Yes. Mmm. All right, all the cells in Aster’s body sat up and took notice as that hit them. Corin might have fled the court and chosen to live in a dirty, drafty hole in the mountainside, but he’d clearly not lowered his standards ineveryway. The pale wine had the faintest hint of a far-off summer orchard, soft and fruity. Perfection.
The sudden banging of the shutters in a gust of wind startled him into nearly dropping his cup, and he sat up, alert, heart pounding. A heavy thump echoed from the courtyard.
Corin. The urge to run to the door and catch a glimpse of him in his dragon form nearly overwhelmed him.
He resisted, distracting himself by refilling his cup with a shaking hand and settling back in his chair, assuming a carefully casual pose. While he hadn’t precisely packed a full wardrobe when he fled home, he had managed to dig out a relatively pristine pair of pale gray trousers and a light blue tunic that brought out his eyes. Dark colors would’ve been more practical for a journey, something he’d only considered once he’d spent a couple of days riding and then sleeping on the ground and marinating in dirt, but now he was glad he’d brought these foolish garments. He might even look more or less handsome in them. For him. Anyway, they were doing their best.
Several tense and silent moments passed. Surely Corin had shifted back to human by now, especially because there would’ve been more noise if he hadn’t: of heavy clawed feet, of flapping wings.
And then the door slammed open.
Aster had noticed the clothing on the floor. He’d even figured out its cause.
