Page 121 of Heart of the High King
“I did get a paycheck from the emperors. It wasn’t much but if these things aren’t that crazy, I might be able to afford one.”
“You’re annoying. And we need to finish the discussion on your weight. You’re too skinny.”
“I know that. I just don’t want to go back to where I was. Is that so wrong?”
“I don’t care what the fucking scale says, Rafe. I care about your health. You’re going to be in the range Dr. Suricata recommends. Which means you’re going to need clothes. You have barely enough pants and shirts to make it through a week, and they’re the wrong size.”
“I was going to ask her what weight I should be,” Rafe responded, miffed that Aleksander refused to admit he was chubby. “I’ve never shopped for clothes before.”
“Never?”
“No, Sullivan bought everything. I didn’t even realize at the time how little control I had over my life.”
“I don’t want to irritate you any more than I already have, but we’re always honest with one another. Did he buy you things to purposely make you look foolish?”
Rafe couldn’t hold back his chuckle at the wariness on his mate’s face. “I hated my clothes. Another thing I’d never heard of was color-blindness. I can’t see red or green.”
“Not at all?”
“Hang on, let me search for the fancy word,” Rafe said, bringing up the search screen on Aleksander’s tablet. “Yeah, it’s called deuteranopia. I’m probably butchering the pronunciation, but I don’t have any working green-cone cells. I see green as beige and reds as brownish-yellow. So when I was getting dressed, I was trying to match those things. Sully would always buy me a mix of tans like what I saw after I’d describe the colors to him, and he’d throw in tons of green and red stuff. Always in prints and stuff. I know it was awful; my father was always bitching.”
“Were there no tape measures or rulers in your house?”
“You mean you didn’t enjoy getting to see my socks and calves?” Rafe asked with a chuckle. “Sullivan bought me a pair of pants once that I thought were too high. From that point on, he gave me shit that was higher and higher to piss me off and make me look stupid.”
“He’s a fucking dick.”
“I thought he was my friend.”
“It was a betrayal on every level for you, wasn’t it?”
“I never saw it coming. Will you help me shop for clothes when I gain weight? We can do it online.”
“Nope, not helping you.”
Rafe was taken aback by his refusal. “Why the fuck not? You always look nice. Fucking hell, there I go with that word again.”
“Larissa picks out everything. I can’t match shit, and I don’t even have colorblindness. I’m just fashion challenged.”
“Really? These little quirks of yours are awesome.”
“Lie back down here, I was enjoying our cuddle time. I found some night-lights we can customize. I’m going to make some with the D’Vaire emblem—which we’re going to have to update with something that represents you—for in the hall and in here, but I think I’ll do one with a picture of Mortis for the living area.”
With a little scoot and a wiggle, Rafe managed to get into his comfortable position leaning against Aleksander again. It was unnecessary for it to be changed for him, so he ignored the comment about the D’Vaire emblem. “Why in the hall?”
“I don’t know. Midnight snack or something? That way it will be lit enough for you to find the light switch. We can do something fun in the closets. What do you think about a tasteful nude?”
“You aren’t putting naked pictures of yourself on the internet, and why in the closet? I’m not going to get up in the middle of the night to change clothes or something.”
“It would be pictures of you, not me, and I just want to be thorough. Maybe I’ll do an ‘A’ for my closet and a fancy ‘R’ for yours. Hmm, thoughts on the bathroom?”
“No way in hell is anyone going to take naked pictures of me. But you could do a photo of you wearing a towel in the bathroom.”
“You, maybe, not me. Just you wearing a towel. You can put on your crown if you want to get fancy.”
“I don’t have a crown.”
“I know, we’ll get Madeline working on it. What do you want it to look like?”
