Ginn Hale - Lord of the White Hell book Two

Kiram nodded. Javier continued to stroke his cheek and then ran his hand along Kiram's neck. His motions were smooth but very deliberate as he restrained the raw power of the shajdi so that it soothed and warmed Kiram gently. Beads of sweat rose across Javier's brow, but he continued to caress Kiram.

"Lady Grunito feels that it would best for her other guests and you as well if you continued to room with me since you're Haldiim," Javier informed him with a slight smirk. "Apparently, it's now widely agreed upon that being Haldiim makes you immune to my nocturnal corruptions."

"Hardly." Kiram laughed but then he asked, "Did you tell her why I'm here? About my family?"

"No, I told her that you'd come to visit Nestor but didn't feel lively enough to be presented at a formal dance." Javier gazed down at Kiram and smoothed a lock of his hair back from his face. "You do look better now."

Kiram nodded. He felt warm and languid under Javier's hands. As he studied Javier, the light radiating from him receded and gave way the flickering glow of the fireplace.

"I certainly don't look as good as you" Kiram ran a hand over the embroidered silk of Javier's trousers. Silver suns glinted beneath his fingers.

"Maybe not tonight," Javier conceded. "But I'm not the one who was beaten and thrown out of his house."

"I was thrown out of the house first" Kiram clarified. "And then I got into a fight for a completely different reason." It wasn't absolutely the truth. Both arguments had stemmed from his refusal to be what other people wanted.

"Really?" Javier raised a brow. "Your brother didn't do this to you?"

"Majdi?" Kiram almost laughed at the idea of his brother bothering to abuse him. "Never. Beating an unruly son isn't the Haldiim way. Much too straightforward. They just throw you out and make sure no one in the entire community will help you with anything."

Kiram tried not to think on how effective that course of action could be.

He had no idea what he would do for money. How would he even return to the Sagrada Academy or pay for his tuition? Hundreds of anxieties crawled through him but he refused to think on them. Not now.

"But why would your mother do that?" Javier asked.

"It was inevitable." Kiram sighed and leaned his head against Javier's thigh. "Sooner or later she had to realize that I wouldn't ever settle down with Hashiem or anyone else like him. I guess it was sooner rather than later."

"She threw you out for that?"

"She was angry about me breaking her promises and embarrassing her but, yes, what it really came down to was that I wouldn't marry the man she chose." He didn't want to recount the full argument, because to do so would mean passing his mother's insulting words on to Javier. And he felt too ashamed that his own mother could have said such things to do that. When Javier had first come to his house he'd assured him that his people weren't so bigoted as to disdain him for merely being Cadeleonian. At the time he'd feared that Javier might insult them for their strange Haldiim ways. He couldn't have been more wrong.

Javier said, "So she discovered that you and I are lovers?"

Kiram glanced to Javier's face in surprise. He couldn't remember Javier ever outrightly calling them lovers before. Certainly he'd never used the Cadeleonian word.

"Yes," Kiram said. "She found out that you and I are lovers."

"Would it do any good if I talked to her?" He stroked Kiram's shoulder absently.

"No. She's in no mood to listen." Kiram watched the firelight dance across the gilded walls and felt Javier's strong fingers play over his skin. The moment seemed almost perfect. But it couldn't last.

"I don't know what I'm going to do." Kiram's voice failed him.

"What do you want to do?" Javier asked, as if it could be that simple.

"I want to be a mechanist," Kiram replied out of habit, but then a deeper longing came to him. "I want to travel and see the world. I want to be your lover."

A proud smile broke through Javier's concerned expression. "I'd be happy to fulfill your third wish this very moment."

"Very generous." Kiram laughed briefly but then felt cold fear close in on him once more. "That's fine for one night but tomorrow-"

"We'll still be lovers tomorrow." Javier leaned close and kissed him.

Kiram longed to allow Javier's desire to eclipse his own anxiety. But Javier drew back. He straightened and lifted a gold chain from around his neck. As he held the necklace out, Kiram recognized the lotus charm. Alizadeh had blessed it for Kiram and Kiram had given it to Javier with the hope that it would ease his troubled dreams.

"Do you remember the night you gave this to me?" Javier slipped the necklace over Kiram's head.

Kiram nodded. He couldn't have forgotten. It had been the same night that Javier had first called himself a bender and accepted Kiram into him.

And suddenly Kiram realized that on that day Javier too had faced the loss of so many certainties that had once been his assured future. He'd been terrified that night and yet he hadn't backed down-not from the physical reality of sex with another man and not from the loss of his Cadeleonian faith.

Kiram touched the medallion. It still felt warm from Javier's body.

"Do you want to go back to your mother's house?" Javier asked and Kiram could see the fear beneath his composure.

"No, I want to stay with you," Kiram said, realizing that this was what mattered most. He'd wanted Javier and he'd wanted independence and now he had them both. "I made the right choice. I know I did."

Kiram flopped back on the bed and gazed up at the gleaming gold blessings above him. "I'll worry about tomorrow when it comes. Tonight, it's just us."

All the tension drained from Javier's careful expression and he smiled an easy, seductive smile.

"Let's make the night last long then" Javier rose from the bed and then returned with a jar of sweet oil. He rested it on the bedside table as if leaving its use to Kiram's discretion. Javier's generosity and trust touched Kiram deeply. He could hardly believe that at one time he'd felt too unsure of Javier to share his body with him. Now it was all he wanted. Just the thought of taking Javier deep within himself, feeling him so close, sent a shock of longing through Kiram's body.

"You're far too formally dressed for this occasion," Kiram informed him.

"Indeed?" Javier arched a brow and smiled. "Shall I call for a valet?"

"I think it would be wisest if you learned to live with my untrained services." Kiram slid the opulent jacket from Javier's shoulders. He stripped away Javier's silver raiment, taking care with the costly clothes at first but then growing more desperate as Javier kissed and caressed him throughout the ministrations. Kiram gave a soft groan as Javier's hands slid under his nightshirt and skimmed over his loins.

"I'm never going to get these stockings off you at this rate." Kiram laughed breathlessly.

Javier simply grinned.

At last Kiram tossed aside the silver-threaded stockings, leaving Javier beautifully naked. Together they fell back on to the embroidered pillows and made the night last as if another might not come.

In terms of representing Cadeleonian family life, Javier's desolate townhouse in Zanconda had in no way prepared Kiram for the exuberance, noise and population of the Grunito household. Here the multitude of relations and houseguests who had gathered for Nestor's wedding stirred up gangs of playful young children and excited the indulged dogs. The prim Cadeleonian social restraint that Kiram had grown to expect seemed banished.

At breakfast a veritable pack of lanky hounds bounded beneath the huge table, licking people's fingers, sniffing their crotches, and gobbling up any morsels that the younger boys and Lord Grunito secreted to them. Nestor waved wildly at Kiram from the far end of the table and tossed him a hard candy before Lady Grunito called for a prayer.