A Suitable Bodyguard, page 23
Tahlen took Zelli’s hand but did nothing more than hold it. “Are you trying not to think of it now?”
Zelli nodded sadly. He was doing a terrible job, which Tahlen could clearly tell. “Is it always like this, or is this my lust-fever returning?”
“We should find out before we leave,” Tahlen said, serious and grave, then pulled Zelli close and snuck his hand efficiently into Zelli’s clothing to tug Zelli’s cock until Zelli was gasping and spilling over Tahlen’s wrist. Then Tahlen backed Zelli into the bed and brought him off again, using his mouth and keeping Zelli unfairly pinned down so Zelli couldn’t touch him.
Tahlen’s braid was pristine when he finally let Zelli up. Zelli, flushed, sweaty, dazed, let himself be straightened, then took Tahlen’s hand and bit it.
Tahlen, his cheeks a few shades darker, his breath coming faster, let him.
The staff of the inn were the only ones present when Zelli finally followed Tahlen’s sure path down the stairs and through the main room. Mayor Sar was awake. She greeted Zelli warmly but gave Tahlen a frostier look. Tahlen paused to talk to her despite that, speaking of horses, so Zelli stopped next to him.
His face and hands were chilled. He was hot beneath his layers. His thoughts were still on his bed and the sport which had occurred there. As a Tialttyrin, he ought to do better, so he tried to smile for the mayor. He froze when she returned it and then put her arms around him, but he found he didn’t mind the embrace.
“Zelli,” he requested she call him, surprised he hadn’t already, and after she accepted, stepped around her and Tahlen so they could resume their discussion. The mayor’s disapproval of Tahlen returned.
The kitchens were warm and seemed to be bustling. Zelli went to the front of the inn and stepped outside.
The former guards of the Lyralinah milled around in the foggy street, muttering to themselves and adjusting the saddles and reins of the horses Tahlen must have arranged for them. The sun had not properly risen but the sky was starting to lighten. Lanterns had been hung for them above the inn’s entrance.
Vint noticed Zelli first, pausing in his tasks. The others followed shortly thereafter. Fy’s eyebrows were raised high.
Zelli shivered, missing his cloak. He told himself the others could not see his reddened face although he thought they could.
The window had been open. But even if it hadn’t been, Zelli had not been able to hide his desires yesterday and the others would certainly suspect how he had spent the night and who he had spent it with. Because Zelli had feelings and couldn’t seem to hide them.
He coughed. “I apologize if I’ve kept you waiting.” He looked at Let instead of Fy. “I hope you all slept well and had breakfast.”
“We did. Thank you for thinking of us, Tialttyrin,” Let answered.
“Amazed he could think at all, from the sound of it.” Fy’s mutter would probably not have been audible at a different, busier time of day.
Vint reached over and smacked Fy on the back of the head.
Zelli looked down, then up quickly when Mayor Sar came to the doorway behind him.
“I’ve packed some biscuits for you,” she informed Zelli. “For all of them, but particularly for you. Tahlen,” the name was crisp, “asked for them for you.”
Zelli had not thought his face could get so hot outside of a lust-fever. He nodded his thanks and offered her a parting smile before stepping over to where Lemon Blossom stood patiently. Tahlen was there next to her where he hadn’t been a moment ago.
Wain slapped Tahlen lightly on the back. Tahlen didn’t seem to notice. He looked steadily at Zelli until Zelli was close enough, then knelt down to make himself a mounting block for Zelli once again.
Someone made a small noise and was firmly shushed. Zelli did not glance around to see who it was. He was more occupied with trying not to wince as new pains made themselves known.
Tahlen stood as Zelli gingerly settled in the saddle, then removed his cloak and held it up.
Zelli stared at him with wide eyes but kept the cloak bundled to his chest until Tahlen gently took it back from him and indicated Zelli ought to wear it. Which, yes, made more sense. It was large enough to hide any of Zelli’s more embarrassing reactions throughout the day.
Tahlen tugged the ends down to let it drape over most of Zelli’s body before looking up. His expression, and he had one, hot and proud, made Zelli briefly forget the various aches, pains, and humiliations of the morning.
Tahlen had kissed Zelli in between their sport last night. Zelli thought Tahlen wanted to kiss him again now. Zelli wouldn’t mind, even with his embarrassment. But that might not be appropriate. The others already thought Zelli had used him.
“Thank you.” Zelli could not raise his voice. “You don’t have to.”
“With my body.” Tahlen bent his head and put his lips to Zelli’s knee. “Gladly.”
Even at a busier time of day others would have heard him.
“Well,” remarked someone breathlessly. It might have been Fy.
Tahlen met Zelli’s stunned stare and smiled beautifully when Zelli said without looking away from him, “Terribly sorry, everyone, but I think we will need to travel fast.”
A few hours might be too long.
“Understood,” Let replied dryly, signaling to the others.
Tahlen left Zelli then, going to Starfall.
Zelli finally glanced around, bewildered and aroused, and caught a glimpse of Mayor Sar, smiling at Tahlen fondly again at last.
But Zelli’s attention was already skittering back to Tahlen. He gave the mayor an absent nod and urged Lemon Blossom forward when they all began to ride.
Sixteen
Zelli spent the morning trying to think of how best to explain himself to Grandmother. He had to do something to take his mind off everything else, and the issue was pressing. Tahlen seemed to think Zelli was persuasive. Zelli was not convinced.
But even a fleeting thought of Tahlen would make Zelli look for him, and find him, usually riding somewhere close, and then stare at him until Tahlen would look back.
Then, growing hot, Zelli would turn away only to begin the whole process again.
Tahlen must have recognized the problem. He didn’t seem insulted, anyway, when Zelli couldn’t look at him. He did sometimes ride closer and offer Zelli a hand to hold when he must have judged that Zelli’s first problem outweighed the second. Occasionally, he’d also offer water, or say, “Have a biscuit, Zelli.”
The command made Zelli even warmer and he glared at the side of Tahlen’s face for it. But he ate the biscuits each time, just as Tahlen ignored his continued sulking, and in that fashion, they rode on.
By the time the sun was high, Zelli was aching more than a little. He was tired from his mostly sleepless nights, he was hungry but not for biscuits, and he itched beneath his skin for more of Tahlen’s touch yet could not think of it without squirming. He also wanted a bath.
With Tahlen’s cloak’s hood up over his head, he slumped in the saddle, disliking everything but thoughts of Tahlen and the night before—which he could not think of without sighing loudly and drawing someone’s eyes to him. Usually Tahlen’s, sometimes Fy’s, who would wink.
They stopped for a short time to rest, all of them chatting with Tahlen about the weather and how much longer the sunny days would last while Zelli paced to ease some of his restlessness. It wasn’t enough. He chided himself for wanting Tahlen in his bed tonight when Tahlen was undoubtedly as exhausted as he was and also had made no promises to be there. Zelli had told Tahlen the lust-fever was better today than it had been last night, and it was, comparatively. But there was still Zelli’s wish-induced problem to consider. The more Zelli thought about it, the more possible it seemed that he would have to ask Tahlen to help him through the night, or spend several more miserable hours even after he arrived home.
At least he could bathe properly once he was there. He tried to cheer himself with that.
“Vint thinks I have no manners,” Fy said slowly and clearly. Zelli turned to consider Fy in confused astonishment.
Tahlen was not far away, probably listening, but he hadn’t glared Fy off.
Zelli did his best to focus on Fy’s merry countenance. “You have manners, but they aren’t palace manners,” he remarked as lightly as he could.
“Which means none, to Vint. Very proper, my brother. Meant to be the sort of guard to follow around The Lyralinah himself.” Fy’s smile did not slip but somehow felt false.
Zelli glanced toward Vint. He looked not at all like Fy, but that happened in families, even without fae blood. Many also adopted. Even the rulers liked to choose their heirs.
“Our parents came together when Vint was around thirteen years,” Fy explained, as if he’d seen Zelli’s questioning look. “He found me very annoying, always, and I was. Am.” He shrugged. “No manners, as he says.”
“But he’s here with you,” Zelli reminded him. “Or are you with him?”
“He’s with me,” Fy said, quieter now.
Zelli frowned, though he had been frowning long before Fy had decided to speak to him. “He was meant to personally serve The Lyralinah, but he came with you when you broke your oath? What of…?” Zelli didn’t let himself ask the question. Sworn guards often served a family for generations. Fy and Vint’s parents might still serve the Lyralinah, might even be with the Villucatto chasing them, although Zelli hoped not.
“He’s a very proper kind of person,” Fy reiterated. “But there was this time he and one of the kitchen workers decided to get friendly. Nothing improper in that, but they chose a spot between buildings, and forgot it was a balmy night and windows were open. And well, half of the kitchen staff heard them, as well as anyone else in the kitchens. Which was a great deal of us, since a shift had just ended and people were hungry.”
Zelli put a hand over his mouth. “Oh no.”
Fy winked at him again. “Which is to say nothing of how all the guards who are unattached and live with the main Lyralinah branch of the family stay in the same barracks, so we tend to hear things from time to time.” Fy inclined his head toward Zelli. “We do not deal with the fae as easily as you do.” Zelli made a frustrated face which Fy didn’t seem to notice. “But we recognize that fae gifts—bless them and keep them—can be tricky.”
Zelli blew out a breath. “I was hot. I didn’t think about the window,” he complained. “But thank you for this, Fy. You have manners, even if you are the only one who knows the rules to them. Perhaps you would be kind enough to tell me about how those on the coast deal with planting seasons.”
Fy blinked rapidly several times.
“There are many around here who would be interested,” Zelli added in explanation. “And… I would appreciate a distraction.”
“Ah,” said Fy, and began to gesture to Wain. “I can tell you what little I know, but Wain’s people were grocers and he might know more.”
“That will do,” Zelli said earnestly. “I thank you again.”
Despite the lecture from Wain, Fy’s jokes, and Tern’s interest in how warmth was made and the different varieties within the valley, Zelli began to lose track of the conversations. He stared at Tahlen too much and had to bite his lip when Tahlen offered his hand to hold.
They passed the small waystation and Zelli forgot himself while imagining Tahlen taking him there as the others rode ahead.
The sound of Tahlen calling his name pulled him from the daydream. Zelli kept his head down after that, and his arms crossed, and wore Tahlen’s cloak like a tent.
Their odd little force began to ride faster, leaving Zelli to wonder if they’d all exchanged annoyed or despairing glances above his head and decided to pick up the pace.
“What sort of impression of the Tialttyrin I am giving?” he worried out loud to Tahlen, who was riding alongside Zelli once again.
“You’re hurrying home despite your obvious discomfort, for them, and they know that,” Tahlen answered. “Don’t mind the rest. We’re almost there.”
“I don’t feel well,” Zelli informed him, very softly.
Tahlen answered in the same manner. “I know. Do you want to stop?”
Zelli closed his eyes. “Do not tempt me.”
“Should I have Fy distract you again?” Tahlen wondered, dryly playful.
Zelli looked at him, then at all the backs deliberately turned to them to grant the illusion of privacy. “They’re trying to be kind, even though they all know something of my situation. I think they’re wonderful. Did they bother you this morning?”
“Bother me?” Tahlen was visibly surprised, then eased his shoulders down and turned his face up to the sun for a moment, smiling faintly. “I think you are wonderful, Zelli.”
Zelli stared at him, torn between demanding Tahlen explain himself and basking in the sight of Tahlen happily soaking in sunshine. He finally wrangled his hand out of Tahlen’s cloak and held it out, keeping his eyes down to conceal some of his pleasure when Tahlen took it.
“This has been a strange adventure,” Zelli mused, trying not to think of how else Tahlen’s hand might be used, “but not an altogether bad one. I might want another someday. Aside from….” He shook his head. “I might want another someday.”
“Just let me rest first,” Tahlen replied, dry like before.
Zelli was so delighted to hear Tahlen joking—twice—that it distracted him from his every other complaint for a good while.
Seventeen
The moment of ease did not last.
Zelli was too shaky to enjoy the remarks from the Lyralinah guards at their first sight of the fortress carved out of the foothills, and then too nervous to reassure them.
By the time their group was visible to the guards at the lower gate, the fog was beginning to roll along the river and the sun had not set, but was nearly hidden by the distant mountains. The gate was already shut and did not begin to open until one of the guards in one of the towers, Hari, Zelli thought, from her voice, had a shouted exchange with Tahlen, which Zelli had finally interrupted by asking if Hari had her dog with her on duty again.
It wasn’t against the rules, but Ric thought the puppy was a distraction.
Zelli supposed it was. When the gate was finally opened and they all were inside, Let, out of all of them, was the one to drop from her horse to go fuss over it.
The floppy ears were very cute. Zelli could admit, though at the moment he just stared blearily at them.
“Ah! Those puppy teeth!” Let cooed as the dog nibbled her, making Zelli swing his gaze to Tahlen, who glanced to Zelli in the same moment.
“You’ve got a poppet made of rope!” Hari scolded the puppy without real ire. “Don’t be chewing people now.”
Zelli tore his gaze from Tahlen, his face burning hot.
The guards in the second gate tower came down to study the six guards Zelli and Tahlen had dragged in with them, but did not leave their post. The guards in the first tower came down as well, three instead of two, because two, armed and ready, were possibly training the third.
The third, unarmed, in pants rolled up at the cuffs and a cloak clearly several years old, was Bree.
She was descended upon by several of the former Lyralinah guards within moments of recognition. They all had questions, and they were so obviously ecstatic to have found each other that Zelli left them to it. Tahlen said something to the tower guards. Zelli hunched into his cloak.
When he could see the torch lighters making their way down from the fortress, putting up and lighting the torches that allowed villagers, guards, and servants to walk the streets and the winding path up to the fortress without getting lost in the fog, he finally cleared his throat.
“Bree.” He smiled. “It’s good to see you. You’re thinking of staying?”
Bree immediately pulled away from her conversation with Tern and stood straighter, like a sworn guard on duty. But she smiled, smaller than Zelli’s, but still a smile. “It seemed a place to try. This is only my probationary period, and the first night at that. Thank you, and Tahlen, for this, and for bringing me some of my friends. I understand why your absence from this place has been so lamented.”
“Oh?” Zelli asked anxiously. “Really?” He coughed. “I’m sorry we can’t linger for your reunion, but we must attend to things. My grandmother will retire for the night soon and I need to catch her first.”
“I’m on duty anyway.” Bree nodded respectfully to him, then to Tahlen, then to Let, before smiling widely for the others. Hari waved her back into the tower, whistled for her puppy, then gave Zelli a look, eyebrows up, before disappearing inside as well.
“You have a funny relationship with your guards here,” Let commented after Tahlen had moved on, an act which silently told them all to do the same.
“They watched me grow up.” Zelli sighed. “And Grandmother is only formal when she chooses to be. But when she does…”
“We should all listen,” Let finished as a guess, but glanced pointedly at the others, who each gave a nod.
The way up to the fortress was never as easy as the way down and the horses were tired as well. But some of the torch lighters greeted them in between the murmurs of the Lyralinah guards about the fog. Thick as chowder, they said. He didn’t ask what they meant.
The nasturtiums hanging from the walls were not in bloom, but Zelli imagined plucking some and nestling them into Tahlen’s braid. They would probably fall out, he reflected sadly. It was a shame Zelli did not have the sort of funds to have jeweled versions made. Perhaps he could manage colored glass or enamel if he put off his own purchases for a while, but then Grandmother would say something about the discretion he was supposed to be learning.
Putting flowers that reminded Tahlen of Zelli into Tahlen’s hair was quite indiscreet, actually. Zelli considered it longingly anyway, and what might transpire afterward.
