Page 49 of Ryld's Shadows
Ryld lifted his hand up a little higher, so he was eye level with the fairy. “You are so beautiful. I love your color.”
Kai had wandered closer again and had stopped at a nest that a particularly insistent fairy wanted to show him. Craning his neck, Hank could make it out, a larger one, but instead of a down-lined hollow at its center, the nest had been filled with flower petals.
“What’s happened here?” Kai asked the insistent green fairy. He listened—his forehead creased in concentration. “Oh dear. I am sorry. No, no, I’m not a healer. That’s very sad.”
“What’s sad, Kai?” Hank called over, though he was afraid he knew what the answer would be.
“This little queen has lost half her troop. The petals cover their bodies until they can have a proper burial.”
“So many…?” Ryld murmured. “What happened to them? Were they attacked?”
Kai bent his head to listen again. “No, they simply died in their sleep. It’s…unusual to happen in such large numbers, but she says it simply happens sometimes.” He returned to them slowly, some of his entourage peeling away to join the flocks in the glade. “I do wonder, though. I hope there’s not an epidemic brewing. We’ll ask Lady Jessamine to send a healer out to be sure.”
By the time they got back, it was still early but felt much later. A long day filled with highs and lows. Ryld looked positively ashen, and Hank told Kai they would meet him later for dinner, if he was free, and took Ryld back to their rooms.
“What would you like, sweetheart?” Hank asked once he’d closed the doors. “Hot bath, some food, or a nap? Or all of those.”
“A bath. One of my favorite things used to be to go down to the hot springs. Have you ever been to hot springs?”
“I can’t recall ever going. Maybe Mom and Dad took me when I was little, but we didn’t have any nearby.” Hank scratched his head. “I don’t know if they have them here, either.”
Of coursethatwas solved simply by asking one of the servants passing in the hall, and it turned out that yes, they did, and yes, it would be down the same staircase they’d taken to meet the twins that morning, first door on the left.
The trip back down all those stairs was worth it. They had the chamber to themselves, and Ryld was obviously pleased. There were niches carved into the stone walls that held oil lamps and low wood benches near the pool of steaming water. Pegs were conveniently anchored in the walls to hang clothing.
Ryld shed his clothes quickly, then dipped his toes and oo-ed and hissed at the heat, but still seemed to be enjoying himself.
Hank shrugged out of his clothes at a more leisurely pace, taking in their surroundings. There were steps in places, little shelves beneath the water that could serve as benches. All rather well constructed. He sat on the edge of the pool and let his legs dangle, trying to work himself up to actually getting in.
Ryld stepped down onto one of the ledges, the water coming up to his knees. “Oo, ah…hot…” He took another step down, the water coming up to his waist this time. “I wish our apartment had a hot spring.”
“That’d be an interesting thing to try to convince the building owners to do.” Hank slid in and sat on the top step, letting the water lap around his body and telling himself he was not a crab in a pot. “I guess some people have hot tubs, which are like tiny hot springs.”
“Yes. I would like a hot tub.” Ryld’s fingers glided across the surface of the water as he moved toward Hank. He sat down on the shelf next to him and leaned back with a contented sigh. “Does your shoulder still hurt?”
“Sometimes.” Hank sank a little lower into the water, now that Ryld had him thinking about the remaining stiffness. “Mostly when I forget and pick up something heavy.”
Ryld leaned over and kissed Hank’s shoulder, just above the edge of the water. “Now the pain will go away.”
Hank grinned. It had been a long time since anyone had kissed his boo-boos better. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
He opened his arms and waited for Ryld to duck under and settle against him, the comfort of holding Ryld going a long way to improving what had been a really odd and anxious sort of day.
Ryld squirmed around to face him. Hank was more than happy to open his knees and let Ryld settle between his thighs, his heartbeat kicking up as their cocks settled together in the best way.
Ryld moved against him, flexing in such a way that ground pelvis to pelvis. “Hank…”
“Mm-hm?”
“My heart always wants to be near your heart.”
For someone so literal to say such a poetic thing, about him, for him, Hank’s eyes stung with the threat of tears. He tightened his arms around him and buried his face against Ryld’s throat. “Mine too, hon. Mine too.”
Ryld wrapped his arms around Hank’s neck, the full length of their bodies from neck to hips pressed skin to skin in the heated water. For a while they stayed just like that, the steam rising around them. When Ryld did move again it was more of a wriggle, a sway of his hips that did delightful things where they touched under the water.
Hank lifted his head, and Ryld cupped his checks with both hands, looking at him closely before closing his eyes and kissing him. To an outsider, Ryld probably seemed aromantic, but once Hank learned his language it was easy to see that wasn’t the case. He spoke in small ways, like showing him the patterns he made, then making one just for him. By paying attention to the things he liked and remembering them for later, even though he had difficulty paying attention. In his own way, Ryld tried to take care of Hank, and he had from the start.
