Ginn Hale - Lord of the White Hell book Two

Kiram's mother and father just nodded, not even seeming to hear him, their attention focused on the game. Kiram could see at a glance that Siamak was on the verge of winning a nice sum in coins. She wasted no more than a cursory wave on Kiram. Dauhd, on the other hand, raised her brows questioningly but the mulled wine had slowed her enough that Kiram managed to pull Javier out of the ballroom before his sister could comment.

He rushed Javier up the stairs despite Javier's statement that there was no point in hurrying.

"You're just getting old and tired," Kiram teased.

"Well, I have been riding for six days straight," Javier replied. "But if I thought there was a reason to rush up here I would."

"There's my bed," Kiram whispered. He pushed the door to his bedroom open.

"And your brother," Javier added.

Kiram scowled at Majdi. He stood in the middle of Kiram's large bedroom with several pinstriped pillows and two quilted blankets at his feet.

"What are you doing here?" Kiram demanded.

"I'm sleeping in your room. Auntie Fahad's taken my bed. and Auntie Easham and Vashir have the two guest suites." Majdi looked past him to Javier. "Didn't Lord Tornesal tell you?"

"I didn't get the chance," Javier replied, "because I'm so old and tired."

"Very funny." Kiram dropped down onto the corner of his bed and pulled off his shoes. "Javier and I get the bed," he told Majdi.

Majdi glanced to Javier and nodded.

"Well, come in, Javier." Majdi defaulted to Cadeleonian for Javier's sake, then belatedly he asked, "Do you mind if I call you by your given name?"

"Not at all."

He strode into the bedroom and sat on the bed very deliberately, watching Majdi intently as if expecting some attack or accusation. Majdi simply spread his blankets out over the pillows and stretched out on top of them. Kiram purposefully flipped back his own blankets and fluffed his pillows as if somehow these actions would reassure Javier.

"There's water in the basin if either of you want it." Majdi pulled off his vest and then his pants and then rolled his blanket around himself. Kiram didn't miss how quickly Javier averted his eyes from Majdi's naked body.

"Is there anywhere else that you could sleep tonight?" Kiram asked in a quick whisper of Haldiim.

"Maybe," Majdi replied. "Tell me something first. Does Uncle Rafie know about you two?"

Javier's entire body tensed and his expression locked into cool disdain but he said nothing. Kiram flopped onto his stomach and stared down at his brother from the bed.

"Why do you want to know?"

"Because someone should warn the two of you about how dangerous this romance of yours could be."

"We've been warned." Kiram couldn't help the exasperation in his voice. Why did all his relatives think he was an idiot? "And yes, Rafie told me about his failed, affair with a Cadeleonian-"

"Your uncle had an affair with a Cadeleonian?" The information seemed to shock Javier out of his rigid composure.

"Yes," Kiram answered. "It was when he was young and the other man got frightened and confessed about it. He accused Rafie of seducing him and Rafie had to flee to Yuan until the warrant for him expired."

"Tenyears," Majdi supplied. "He had to live in exile for ten years."

"I won't do that to your brother," Javier spoke each of the Haldiim words carefully. "I swear."

Majdi nodded then looked to Kiram. "You know Mum wants you to settle with Hashiem, right?"

"No," Kiram replied. "I had no idea because I'm an imbecile and I've been living in a pickle jar for the last two years."

Majdi rolled his eyes, then glanced to Javier. "He's a smart ass, you know."

"I've had reason to suspect as much," Javier replied.

Majdi sighed. "Well, I'm not Mum and I'm pretty certain that there's a couch that's a lot more comfortable than your floor, so I'll be going." He stood, gathering his blankets around him. "If anyone asks, I never knew anything about this. The two of you have a good night."

Majdi lumbered out of the bedroom and then disappeared down the stairs.

Javier stared after him as if unable to believe what had transpired. "Did your brother just give us."

"The go ahead? Pretty much." Kiram closed and locked the door, then bounded back to the bed.

"His blessing was what I was about to say." Javier spoke with such a tone of quiet wonder that it gave Kiram pause. He suddenly realized that such approval would be unheard of-utterly unimaginable-in a Cadeleonian household.

"We probably shouldn't waste it." He drew Javier into his arms.

The sex was fast, their hands gripping and working with a rough desire that staved off exhaustion only moments past its climax.

"I'm glad you're here," Kiram whispered.

"I am as well." Javier didn't open his eyes and his expression seemed soft and sweet, almost as if he were dreaming.

For the first time in many days, Kiram woke to the familiar sensation of the hot weight of Javier's thigh flopped over his own and for a moment he thought he was back at school. Then the perfume of adhil bread and butter permeated the air and he could hear his mother and Siamak discussing something about sugar out in the courtyard.

He opened his eyes and gazed up at the ceiling of his own bedroom in Anacleto, a good place made better by the fact that Javier had come to him. The man lay sprawled across the bed, utterly bereft of the inhibition that restrained him while awake. As Kiram shifted, Javier's long fingers gripped his hip and Javier pushed his face into Kiram's shoulder but didn't open his eyes.

Briefly Kiram toyed with the idea of waking Javier with a kiss or something better. But the continuing sound of his mother's voice deadened Kiram's arousal.

Javier probably needed the sleep anyway. So Kiram decided to use the time to write to Scholar Donamillo about his mechanical cure.

Carefully, he disentangled himself from Javier. After relieving himself in the water closet, he sat down at his desk and composed a letter inquiring after Fedeles' health and happiness as well as the prayers Donamillo used for his mechanical cures. While he waited for the ink to dry, Kiram came across a note he'd left for himself fully two days ago.

He needed to request an extension for his entry into the Crown Challenge. Only a brief explanation was required and yet Kiram hesitated. He wanted to win the challenge and he had no doubt that his engine would, but for the first time he found himself wary of where success would lead him.

An appointment to the royal court in Cieloalta inevitably awaited the winner. Prince Sevanyo had said as much, but he had also spoken of an arranged marriage with a Cadeleonian girl and religious conversion. The prospect of either gripped Kiram with dread.

The ink dried on his pen nib and he dipped it in the inkwell again. The royal court offered him recognition and money. As a Haldiim son he would need his own income if he ever wished to claim his independence and do something rash like refuse to marry a pharmacist or decide to travel to Yuan.

He wrote the letter quickly and neatly, went to wash and dress, and by the time he returned the ink had dried. He folded both letters and sealed them with green wax and a gold thread.

Outside a loud clang sounded from Kiram's father's workshop. Javier bolted upright on the bed, his eyes wide and his breath coming fast.

"Just noisy mechanism," Kiram reassured him. "Father's working on the pump for a fountain."

"I should have been up by now anyway." Javier wiped his hands over his face and pushed his hair back. He glanced curiously around the room, seeming to search for something.

"Water closet is the second door on the left down the hall," Kiram offered.

"Thanks." Javier rose and started for the door, then paused in front of Kiram's bookshelf, plainly surveying the titles. Half were textbooks but many of the remaining volumes displayed provocative titles, such as, The Passionate Adventurer, Among the Untamed Men of Mirogoth and Yuan: Kingdom of Blood and Desire.