Ginn Hale - Lord of the White Hell book Two

Nestor bounded to Riossa's side and Elezar strode after him. While Nestor beamed at his bride-to-be, Elezar thanked her with a polite formality that Kiram couldn't ever remember him exhibiting before.

The same display of good manners certainly would have been useful out on the street. Though it hadn't really been Elezar who'd been the problem.

Kiram moved just a little closer to Javier, whispering, "You have got to stop going for your sword every time someone says something you don't like."

"Your friend Musni went for his knife first."

"It was just bravado-you of all people ought to be able to recognize that."

Javier's jaw clenched and Kiram guessed that he was suppressing some cutting remark.

Kiram continued, "People are already talking about us as it is"

"Does that matter?"

It was telling that Javier asked the question in Haldiim. Clearly it mattered what his fellow Cadeleonians thought.

"The last thing either of us needs is a street fght-"

"Javier, my dear boy!" Lady Grunito cut off Kiram's whispered reply as she turned and held out her hand. "I was terribly worried for you."

"Forgive me for troubling you." Javier went to Lady Grunito. He bowed over her outstretched hand and kissed her fingers. "I only behave so badly to attract your attention. Really you should pay me no heed at all or I'll be all the worse for it."

Lady Grunito laughed.

"I have no doubt that's true, dear boy, but you are terribly hard to ignore." Lady Grunito's gaze flickered past Javier to Kiram and her easy smile wavered. Kiram wasn't sure if it was curiosity or suspicion that played in her expression but it was gone in an instant. Dauhd proffered a tray of candied flowers and Lady Grunito gave a murmur of delight after placing one of the delicate violets in her mouth.

"You must taste these, Javier," Lady Grunito announced. "They are absolutely the finest sweets. We're just deciding which ones we will have made for Nestor's wedding feast."

"I like the marzipan," Nestor said.

"You like anything," Elezar muttered. Lady Grunito gave him a warning glare.

"It's true," Elezar said with a shrug.

"Kiram, we can use your help." Siamak slipped up beside him like a shadow and drew him back from Javier and the Grunitos. Kiram followed her to the marble candy tables but was then sent back into the kitchen to have tea brewed and served to their illustrious customers.

Kiram wasn't allowed to take the tea out himself; his mother retained a skilled serving boy for such work. Instead, he was chided not to get underfoot and sent back to the house to inform his father and Majdi that dinner would be late.

Throughout the following weeks Kiram saw Javier often but almost always in mixed company. His mother, sisters and father took pride in associating with Javier and many of their friends followed suit so that even when Kiram managed to secret Javier away from the house, family acquaintances approached them on the street, insisting on treating Javier to expensive bitter wines and challengingly rarified dishes. Javier behaved politely, engaging foods that even Kiram tried to feed to lapdogs. But the attention wore on them both.

A hunted look flashed through Javier's expression every time a Haldiim mother called out a warm greeting. More and more, Kiram found himself leading Javier through the shabby back streets where no decent Haldiim would travel just so the two of them could steal a few moments of intimacy out of sight of his mother's acquaintances.

A year ago he couldn't have imagined himself purposefully rushing between a tanner's dung pots and oily racks of drying fish to reach a dim alley, much less leaning back against a decaying wall in a passionate embrace. But now that he'd spent more than one evening listening to Hashiem Kir-Naham drone on about dry poultices while surrounded by beautiful furnishings and soothing music, he'd discovered that location mattered far less than the company he kept.

Now the smell of smoked fish and leather almost excited him. And on several lonely afternoons he caught himself gazing into the deep shadows of dank streets with a kind of longing.

Still, he was not fool enough to think that the recesses of the Haldiim district were where he belonged. Along with tanners, fisherwomen and soot mongers, thieves and cutthroats populated those winding narrow streets. When he ventured there, Kiram kept his coin purse hidden in an inner pocket of his vest. He dressed simply and carried the knife that Alizadeh and Rafie had given him.

Javier seemed to take a certain pleasure in dressing down. He claimed to have won his faded leather pants and slashed coat from a Cadeleonian sailor. In combination with his fine sword and riding boots, the wardrobe lent Javier the air of a mercenary, a street snake as Kiram's father called them.

Kiram supposed it was telling that he'd now seen enough of such men to recognize their characteristic fast hands and clean weapons.

"Knowing you has certainly broadened my horizons," Kiram whispered to Javier as they shimmied between racks of drying river fish. Two fisherwomen watched them pass as if he and Javier were hungry cats.

"I could say the same to you," Javier replied. Ahead of them drying nets formed a canopy over the walkway. River gulls, ravens and doves fought for remnants of fish and riverweeds caught in the rope. Their cries and the noise of their wings filled the air. Then Kiram heard a terrible screech and looked up to see a cluster of bright blue jays settling among the other birds. He felt suddenly wary of walking past them and instead led Javier down a cramped lane where plumes of pungent smoke drifted from kitchen fires.

Javier looked oddly amused.

"What are you smirking about?" Kiram asked.

"Just wondering if we're hiding from birds now too."

"Not necessarily," Kiram replied. "Maybe I just wanted to get you somewhere more private."

"And to think I once imagined I would corrupt and seduce you." Javier paused near the mouth of an alley they had used before. "It's been quite the opposite, really."

"I haven't corrupted you," Kiram objected and Javier just gave him a lewd grin.

"Not this afternoon, you haven't," Javier whispered into Kiram's ear. "And it seems a pity since it's all I've been thinking of."

Kiram laughed and then drew Javier into the shadows of the alley. In the alcove of a back doorway, he opened the front of Javier's trousers and Javier slipped his hand past the loose waist of Kiram's pants. They stroked and thrust into each other's hands with rushed, furtive need. Javier pulled him close to kiss his mouth as Kiram brought him to climax. There was nothing beautiful in their surroundings and yet the moment felt precious to Kiram. Later in the evening when he was alone he would press his hands to his lips and remember the heat and taste of Javier's body.

Eventually opportunities for even these clandestine afternoon excursions grew scarce, as Nestor, Elezar and Riossa began accompanying Javier on his regular visits to the Haldiim district. Kiram always volunteered to escort them through the Haldiim district while Javier supposedly consulted with his father over the design of the water clock; in reality Javier simply looked in on Kiram's father and then sprinted across the district to Rafie and Alizadeh's house. While Javier fought to wield the raw power of the white hell, Kiram entertained and distracted the Grunitos as best he could.

Nestor was usually satisfied with a tour of some scenic area where he could sketch and sample authentic Haldiim food. But Elezar bored easily and often wondered aloud about Javier's prolonged absences. Archery and wrestling at the gymnasium occupied him for a time.

Riossa on the other hand grew daily more enthralled with the freedoms that the Haldiim district afforded her. There were entire bookshops and teahouses as well as trade offices that she could enter freely while the men were not allowed inside-not even a Cadeleonian lord of Javier's stature.