Page 119 of Heart of the High King
Chapter 46
Rafe had a left a message for the dragon trainer, Jeremiah; then Aleksander had handed him his tablet and left him alone. His other half wanted to take Mortis outside to play, and he was doing laundry along with other mundane tasks while Rafe searched voraciously for sites about demisexuals. It was like discovering himself on the bright screen of Aleksander’s device. For Rafe, it put in concise terms what had always existed inside him, and he wished he’d learned of it a long time ago instead of worrying about why he was so strange.
Although he’d never thought there was anything wrong with sex, he hadn’t felt the need to seek any out. It was perfectly okay with him to take matters into his own hands, and he couldn’t imagine sharing his body with someone he didn’t know. Unlike Sullivan’s assessment that he was a prude, he was just not interested in random strangers. It wasn’t until he’d grown to know Aleksander that it had unlocked the chemistry that existed between them. Aleksander had a stunning face, but Rafe had been more interested in what was beyond that right from the start.
There was no broken switch inside him waiting to be repaired; it was simply the strong connection he lacked, and he considered himself lucky to find that in Aleksander. As if he’d summoned him, the High King swung the door to the bedroom open and strolled in armed with a basket full of clean clothes.
“I think Mortis wanted me to tell you he said hi,” Aleksander informed him, setting the laundry on the padded bench at the foot of the bed. “He ran around in circles when I mentioned your name, so I’m just assuming he’s thinking of you.”
Rafe laughed, putting the tablet on the nightstand and snagging a T-shirt out to help Aleksander. “You know, he can tell me himself. He’s just being lazy. It’s okay if he comes in here for a couple of minutes later, right?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Good, I miss him,” Rafe replied, setting down the top and pulling out more clothing.
“Babe, seriously?”
“What?”
Aleksander tugged Rafe’s boxers from his fingers and refolded it into a neat square. “You folded it wrong.”
“I imagine there are infinite ways to fold laundry.”
“Yes, but only one right way.”
“This is an interesting quirk.”
A second later, Aleksander pulled the pajama bottoms from Rafe and fixed them to his liking. “If you don’t do it right, it takes up unnecessary space in your dresser.”
“Are you going to give me a class on proper laundry folding?”
“If necessary. Fate’s sake, Rafe…now you’re just doing it wrong on purpose.”
Rafe laughed heartily because he was indeed slapping the pieces of clothing together as obnoxiously as possible. “The prissy look on your face is killing me. You’ve got your nose stuck up in the air like the snob most people probably imagine a High King would be.”
“Anyway,” Aleksander retorted with his eyes narrowed, making Rafe chuckle harder. “Did you talk to Jeremiah?”
“I left a message for him. Then, I looked up that demisexual thing on your tablet. I think…no, IknowI’m exactly what they describe.”
“Does it make you feel better, knowing that there’s a word out there that describes what you are?”
“It does. It’s such a relief that I’m not fucked up or something. You told me you didn’t come out while you were at Court Ethelin because of your father. Was it easy to let go of that burden and tell your real family?”
Aleksander grabbed the stacks of clothing and put them neatly away. “I kept it a secret until you showed up here.”
“You did? Why?”
“I don’t really know. I think, in the beginning, even after we left Court Ethelin I was still scared. Brogan was out, and so were Larissa and Madeline. You’d think that would be a comfort and give me the bravery to tell the truth about myself, but I just didn’t. As the years dragged on it got more awkward, and as I grew insular it no longer mattered. I buried it. You walked in, and I realized I had no choice but to announce it. I didn’t give myself any chance to debate it. I just got it out there, and it was such a relief to no longer have that secret looming. I didn’t even grasp how much I needed to say it until I did.”
“Sander, I know I was your first kiss, but are you telling me you’re a virgin too?” Aleksander nodded slowly, and Rafe grinned like an idiot. “I don’t know why that makes me so happy, but it does.”
To his immense pleasure, Aleksander walked to him and Rafe rose to his knees as they embraced. “I’m a seven-hundred-and-fifty-three-year-old man who has never had sex. So, no complaints when our first time is over in ten seconds.”
Rafe ignored the voice in his head demanding that he tell Aleksander not to hold him too tight since he didn’t want his still substantial swelling to remind his mate of those days when he was thick through the middle. “Wait. How are you younger than me?”
“What year were you born?”
“1188.”
