Page 29 of The Mage on the Hill
About someone else, it might’ve sounded like an insult. About Darius? Toby could only find relief hearing it. Parts of the original were still in there, and that hope hit him between the eyes with stunning force.
“Guess I should go rest too.” Toby heaved himself up from the bench and held out a hand for Elias’s empty water bottle.
“Hmm. Yeah.” Elias held his gaze before handing the bottle over. “Look, it’s not my business, but I hope you’re being careful with him.”
Toby rubbed at his suddenly queasy stomach. “What do you mean?”
“You see he’s attached to you, right? That this isn’t just a student/teacher thing anymore. He barely talks, but he doesn’t have to say much for anyone to see that.”
“I didn’t, I mean I guess….” Toby had to look away from the intensity of Elias’s gaze. “I’ve been trying so hard to keep things, you know, separate. Because he’s… and I’m…. But it’s hard when he glomps onto me in his sleep. And when he looks at me sometimes. I really like him.Likelike him, you know?” Toby finished off with a helpless wave at the universe. “But the age difference. The teacher thing. This isn’t a thing that can happen.”
Elias put a hand on Toby’s arm, his tone considerably warmer. “Then you be careful with you, too. And if those things end up not being that important? Don’t make life harder than it has to be.”
“Yeah. Okay. Thank you.” Toby wanted to tell him that he was wrong. That both he and Darius were too messed up to know what they wanted and it was just a comfort thing. That the mentor aspect made it really wrong. But the more he fought against it, the more he felt himself sinking into more complicated feelings for Darius.
He shook his head at himself as he went inside. Maybe it didn’t have to be so complicated? Maybe he was too tired to think. Curled up beside Darius, he arranged the blankets around them both and decided to put off the whole thinking thing until later.
Chapter Nine
IT HADN’Tbeen a wasted visit, even if definitive answers still eluded him. Darius frowned at his own thought as he sat beside Toby’s sleeping form. Terrible. Seeing Elias again should’ve been reason enough to come up. He’d tossed all of his friends and allies by the wayside years ago and shuffled forward in this blind morass he’d built of his self-loathing.
He reached out to smooth the bit of shocking white hair out of Toby’s eyes, speculating on when his hair had changed color.Probably during his first magical incident or soon after. Who knows? Maybe he was born with it.
Why hadn’t he asked? Such a little thing. He could’ve managedthat, at least. Communication was still difficult, though, and imparting the most basic and the most important things had taken priority. For Toby, he had to do better.
He didn’t even wonder where the thought came from anymore. Stupid of him, maybe a little self-destructive, but he was hopelessly besotted. Tobias Freelander Jones had arrived as a guttering candle who had still managed to burn off the dark fog surrounding Darius’s home.Bright spark, persistent flame….
“You still up, old man?”
He turned, the moonlight giving him enough light to pick out Elias in a nearby chair. “Didn’t… hear you.”
“I can be quiet when I need to.” The smile came through loud and clear in Elias’s voice. “Are you staying for a while? He seems to be doing all right here.”
“No.”
“No? Come on, Valstad. You can give me more thanno.”
Darius swallowed hard and moved across the room to sit by Elias before he could answer. “Dangerous. For you.”
“More dangerous for Toby. And you.”
“Yes. Not that.”
Elias patted his arm. “Take your time. You know I won’t rush you.”
After a few deep breaths, Darius tried again. “They’re hunting him. The guild.”
“Right. They came after you at Arden’s place, Toby said. But no one’s going to come up here. Arden I could see. You were colleagues, thick as thieves, and it made sense for you to go there.”
“Known associate.” Darius poked a finger at Elias’s chest. “They’ll come. Have to… keep ahead.”
“To keep ahead of them until Toby’s channeled, is that it? Dar, what do you think they’ll do if they catch up? And how is it dangerous to me?”
“They’ll take him.” Darius had to swallow twice before he could say it. “Hospice.”
“So it’s true, then. Your methods aren’t allowed anymore.”
Darius nodded, uncertain whether Elias could see him clearly. “It’s true. I’m… running. Acting outside… guild law.”
