Ginn Hale - Lord of the White Hell book Two

Most of them slumped forward in their seats, their faces planted against the tabletop, sleeping. Javier slouched in an ornately carved chair, looking exhausted but awake.

"Kiram, join us." Javier kicked out a chair next to his own. Elezar scowled at the noise as the legs grated across the stone floor.

Kiram dropped into the seat, glad to get off his feet after enduring Master Ignacio's marching drill. He envied Nestor, who had possessed the good sense to volunteer to help tidy the chapel as an escape from combat practice.

"You were in the dormitory last night" Javier said. "You didn't happen to notice an imp scurrying about and depositing gifts in certain students' rooms, did you?"

Kiram flushed with a mixture of guilt and happiness.

"I'm afraid I have no idea of what an imp looks like so I couldn't say."

"This one would have been slim, golden-haired-" Javier's description was broken off.

"-sneaky, scrawny and loaded down with loot. You might have noticed him while you were walking past a mirror or something." Elezar pulled his bloodshot eyes open and gazed levelly at Kiram.

Kiram laughed but admitted nothing.

"Well, if you do see him tell him thanks" Elezar yawned. "He's a fair judge of a good knife."

"If I see him I will certainly tell him," Kiram replied.

"Yes, and ask him why he didn't leave anything for me." There was only a trace of hurt in Javier's tone but Kiram responded to it immediately.

"What? But I did-" Kiram stopped as he caught Javier's smug expression. He scowled at Javier. "I left a fart on your pillow."

Elezar snorted at the response. Javier just smacked the back of Kiram's head lightly. His hand lingered for a moment, almost making a caress of the blow. Belatedly Kiram saw that Javier wore one of his Solstice gifts: a simple gold ring with a Mirogoth knot design forming the centerpiece. Kiram felt a sudden flush of pleasure and something like conquest at the sight of Javier wearing the ring.

Not that they had exchanged oaths or ever would, Kiram reminded himself. But for an instant he sensed the pride that he might have taken in their pledges and rings. Then he felt foolish for choosing to give Javier a ring and making himself melancholy.

"Something wrong?" Javier asked.

"No." Kiram pulled his gaze from the ring and leaned on the table. "I'm a little hungover, that's all."

"Hungover?" Atreau groggily shoved an oily strand of his black hair back from his face. "How come you get to be hungover when the rest of us just have to be exhausted?"

"Just one of the advantages of being barred from chapel," Kiram replied.

"Yes, well you left our room quite a wreck, and you've hardly begun copying my history essay"' Javier stood and stretched. Their room was fine and Javier's history essays never required a rewrite to tidy them, but he didn't object. "I expect that you'll have all in order by the time I'm done with my nap, Underclassman Kiram"

"Yes, Upperclassman." Kiram let a heavy sigh serve as his feigned protest. Atreau weakly waved after him as he followed Javier out of the library.

Once they were up in their room, Javier pulled Kiram into a hard, possessive kiss. Kiram returned his force and desire but then drew back, taking in Javier's wide dark eyes and naked longing. He smiled, and when Javier tried to kiss him again, he offered a teasing evasion.

Javier pinned him against the wall, forcing Kiram to open his lips to him. Pleasure pulsed through Kiram's groin as Javier slowly pressed their hips into contact.

"I missed you last night." Javier kissed him again but this time with a slow sensuality. The buckles of their belts clinked and ground as they pressed themselves closer.

Javier's hands closed on the small of Kiram's back and then cautiously dropped lower to caress Kiram's buttocks.

There was intention in Javier's touch, but neither certainty nor skill. Raw hunger made his grip almost bruising. His strong fingers dug in. It was not the first time that Javier courted a deeper intimacy, but this was by far his most direct overture. Whether he did not know the words or simply could not bring himself to speak them, Kiram did not know, but Javier never voiced his desire and when Kiram quietly evaded him, Javier always quickly relented.

Javier knew what he wanted, Kiram thought, but he didn't know exactly how to have it. Kiram could have taught him. Running his hand over Javier's taut body, Kiram ached to have him but wasn't sure that he knew Javier well enough to trust where such exchanges might lead them. He had heard too many Cadeleonians-Javier among them-use the word 'bender' as a byword for a weakling or a coward. Kiram wouldn't risk Javier viewing him as either. Nor did he wish to force Javier to accept such an identity.

So Kiram ducked to the side, caught hold of Javier's hand, and pulled him to the bed. He pushed Javier back onto the bedding and straddled his legs.

Kiram's hands had grown skilled at working open the delicate gold buttons of Javier's trousers. A soft moan escaped Javier as Kiram bowed over him.

There was such pleasure feeling Javier's entire body respond to the slightest motion of his tongue and the tension of his throat. There was power as well, working him to the height of ecstasy and withholding his release, again and again. Kiram exulted in Javier's ragged breathing, his desperate grip and even the moment when Javier's control broke and he rolled Kiram beneath him and thrust hard. Then Javier fell back, breathing as though he'd run miles.

Kiram laughed and wiped his face. Javier threw his arm around Kiram and pulled him down into a kiss.

"You are too good at that, Kiram," Javier whispered. "I feel like a novice compared to you."

"Well, they do say that the best way to learn is practice and instruction," Kiram replied.

"Yes, well, I need a little of both." Javier rolled onto his side and traced the line of Kiram's chest down to his hips. Kiram leaned back into the pillows.

That night and many after it they nearly missed dinner. When they did arrive, Kiram's lips were still tender and the taste of Javier's flesh lingered in his mouth. Despite their fatigue, an eager lust overcame them both as soon as they were in their room alone.

Kiram expected his desire for Javier would wane as the winter months passed, but instead it seemed to grow. During the New Year celebration they slipped away between the scholars' speeches and returned with sticky hands. Twice they went riding through the orchard and pleasured each other against the bare apple trees. It was dangerous and yet they couldn't seem to stop themselves.

In part Kiram understood that desperation drove them. Once spring arrived the academy year would be at an end. Kiram would return to Anacleto, and Javier would go to Rauma. If they met again it would not be until midsummer and by then Kiram had no idea of how much would have changed between them. The few weeks left became precious. But they passed all too soon.

The snows melted and red crocus flowers pushed up through newly exposed soil. Icicles crashed down from the eaves of the dormitory like thunder strikes. In the infirmary, Kiram's engine stood complete though not yet linked to Scholar Donamillo's mechanical cure. All around Kiram students chattered about their families and homes. Nestor calculated the days until he would see Riossa again.

"Six days to Anacleto if the weather holds and none of the roads have washed out." Nestor scowled at the wet ground. "As many as eighteen if the mountain snows melt all at once."

Kiram nodded but he was hardly listening. Already private coaches had arrived at the academy; among them stood a glossy carriage with the black Tornesal sun emblazoned upon it. Javier would leave within the hour, once his luggage was loaded. They'd already wished each other farewell as best they could with both Nestor and Elezar standing beside them.