Page 30 of Gilded Lies

No, it wasn’t, because there was no fucking way he could have gotten here. Those men had traveled for days while taking turns driving the cart. They’d switched out the beasts when they were too tired to plod on no matter how much the whip was cracked. A single man couldn’t have gotten there by now unless he skipped a lot of sleep and wore his horse down.

Aurelius wasn’t worth that much.

Jari had shadows under his eyes, and his brows were knitted as he drew closer. His whole face was strained, and his shirt, which looked like something a laborer would buy ready-made from a tailor, was wrinkled and untucked.

“Do you recognize me?”

Aurelius’s throat tightened as he grabbed the top plate. If he made more gold, maybe the hallucination would stop. He wasin shock from seeing and killing Corvo. That was it. After the porcelain changed under his fingers, Jari was still there.

The pained green eyes blurred as he struggled to keep tears buried inside of him where they belonged. Jari suddenly rushed up onto the dais and around the table although he slowed as Aurelius tilted away. He’d vanish any second.

Jari set his sword on the table. “Your eye…” His shaggy hair looked real, and his rose smell was there.

He put out his hand, and a sob finally burst from Aurelius. People didn’t come for him. They didn’t save him. Once he was gone, they wrote him off as lost and went on about their lives. Yet here was his guard who must have pushed himself without stopping to get to his Prince despite everything.

Jari gripped his shoulder as his eye flicked to the necklace. “Aurelius, I’m here, okay?”

“G-go away.”

He’d do it anyway at some point once he realized how far the Prince had fallen. He wasn’t worth saving, and he’d learned that cold truth once he realized that no one was coming to rescue him from Corvo all those years ago. The other part of his mind said he’d never been higher or better. He didn’t need his guard or anything except for gold.

“Stay away from me.”

“I need you to listen to me,” Jari said in a gentle voice. “I’m not going anywhere without you.”

Aurelius’s breath came in ragged gasps as he tried to steady himself. “Go.”

“I’m not.”

“You will anyway!”

Jari kneeled by the chair and grabbed Aurelius’s hand. “Look at me.”

Aurelius didn’t want him to ever go, but he would. Everyone did, so why would it be different now? He should turn Jari goldtoo so he’d always be there, solid and dependable. He shouldn’t want that, but he wasn’t the man Jari had last seen in Morning Glory either. Jari’s hand tightened as he remained kneeling, maybe so he’d seem less threatening even though he wasn’t the dangerous one.

The salt cellar.

“Jari…” Aurelius grabbed at it as the toneless whisper told him no. He couldn’t touch that because it wasn’t for him. He needed to gild Jari. “It wants…I-we want.”

“Whatever that thing is telling you-”

“I can’t turn the salt.”

His eye welled up because he wasn’t sure how long he could fight the urge to make his handsome guard forever beautiful and preserved. One part of him wanted that warm body against his. He needed the hand on him to slide everywhere, ground him, and make this all real so he could feel something else.

The other wanted to keep Jari cold and unyielding, but forever there.

If he took his hand away from the salt…

“Help me.”

The silvery blur came at him so fast, he flinched and froze. That was enough. The rose tried to snag on his hair, the pull was gone, and he heard a tink come from somewhere behind him. The urge lessened a little, and Jari was suddenly on him in the chair with his knee shoved between Aurelius’s legs.

Grit hit him in the face a second later as something screamed in his head. Or maybe he screamed. His eye burned, and Jari pushed his forearm against his neck to pin him against the back of the chair while he fumbled at the locket.

“Not that! Not that!” Aurelius couldn’t lose that too.

More salt was thrown in his face, including his eye, and he struggled to see so he could push Jari away. The urge lessened, but it was hard to breathe, and it was too much.

---