Page 40 of Zel
“Hessen House. A bit rowdy at times, but it has the best options for food and drink.”
“I do not know it. I can blink us out of existence to arrive somewhere new in an instant, but I can only do so to places I have been before, much like how the orb works. Once in the city, you will have to be our navigator to this rowdy tavern known for its food and drink.” Ulrich took Zel’s arm, and as he did so, his simpler elven guise overtook him, also forming more appropriate attire for a young man of the time. Sorcerer robes were not the current fashion. “Do you have everything you require?” he asked.
Zel squeezed Ulrich’s arm and looked up at him with a bat of those alluringlyingeyes. “I do.”
Nine
ZEL
The trip was instant and jarring with the change in scenery, going from the walls of the tower to a claustrophobic alleyway that Zel assumed Ulrich had chosen because it was unlikely to have anyone down it. The smells of the city hit Zel just as suddenly, some pleasant like desserts baking for after the evening meal, some rank like rotting garbage and excrement in the deeper slums of the back streets. Either way, he was home.
As he and Ulrich ventured onto a more heavily traveled thoroughfare, Zel got his bearings and turned them in the direction toward the tavern. It wasn’t far from where they’d arrived, a familiar area to Zel, though thankfully far enough from any Thieves Guild entrances that he hoped to not seeanyone he knew. The goal of the evening, however, was worth the risk.
Most shops were closing and street vendors heading home, but as they passed a flower seller, Ulrich stopped her.
“My good lady, might I purchase the remainder of your stock?”
“You want the lot?” She tilted her basket. “They’re not the freshest, mind you, but I can give you a discount.”
“They’re suitable enough,” Ulrich said. “Whatever you think is fair for them is fine.”
He made the exchange with the seller, a mere pittance of coin for Ulrich, and then, in the shadows of another side street, he removed the glove from his right hand so he could trim the stems with his claws.
Zel hadn’t noticed the glove until now, and Ulrich only wore the one. It seemed that even in disguise, he couldn’t hide his blackened arm with magic, but had to wear a glove to hide it. Zel had noticed as much all those days ago during their stroll through the wood, but since Ulrich hadn't worn a glove then, he hadn't taken note of the importance. Here there was a much greater chance of curious eyes and questions.
Whatever Ulrich did to the flowers next, they came out bound together into a perfect miniature bouquet and seemed rejuvenated where their petals had previously looked brown and brittle. They were cornflowers, now a lovely shade of indigo, as if untouched by the Great Famine.
“It’s temporary but should last the night.” Ulrich tucked the flowers into Zel’s bodice as a nosegay. All the unpleasant smells of the city faded with its presence.
“Thank you, my lord. And here I thought someone who had never known love might not know romance either.”
Ulrich fitted his glove back over his cursed hand. “I’ve been keeping up on my reading.”
Zel chuckled.
“One other thing.” Ulrich reached inside Zel’s cloak so suddenly that he gasped, and tension filled his body, though it was different from the tension that had once made him recoil from the sorcerer. Zel felt overheated, even in the autumn chill, growing colder as the sun set.
But all Ulrich did was pull Zel’s hair from out of hiding beneath his cloak and perform a little extra magic.
Cornflowers like the ones in Zel’s bodice bloomed from his braids, adorning the length as well as parts he couldn’t see but could feel, like at the crown of his head.
“Now, you are even lovelier,” Ulrich said.
Zel instinctively stroked the braids, careful around the blossoms. It was his little gesture of comfort, yet with Ulrich, the flutter of nerves he felt was its own contentment.
No one, save perhaps Rudy, had ever done something for Zel so spontaneously sweet. But not the flower pendant when Zel and Rudy first became friends nor the gold and emerald version as a token of Rudy’s feelings evoked in Zel what he felt receiving this gift from Ulrich.
He needed to remember who was meant to be doing the seducing here.
“Lead on.” Ulrich let Zel’s braids fall back behind his shoulders and took his arm.
It was strange having lived here all of his life but having been away for weeks. It felt the same and yet foreign to Zel too. He had known a taste of freedom, even while on a mission.
Passing more and more people heading home or out to various taverns, Zel realized that Ulrich’s hold on him tightened the longer they walked.
“If you worry I might wander off or flee from you—” he began, but Ulrich hushed his concerns.
“I believe if you wanted to do either, you would have done so already.”
