A clerk had been receiving notes, but at Paole’s approach, rose from his chair, bowed and left them.
“Take a seat,” Yveni said, unsmiling, waving casually at the vacated chair.
Paole obeyed. “How are you feeling?”
“Fine, thank you. You?”
The formal manner threw Paole off. “Uh…I’m all right.”
“Good. I was convinced you had to be suffering some hideous and disfiguring illness and that my sisters and friends were lying to me to spare my feelings. Now I see they weren’t.”
“Um…Yveni. I would have come sooner but…”
Yveni gave him a wide-eyed look. “Yes? I think I deserve an explanation. I mean, you saved my life and I’m incredibly grateful, but I’m also angry at you. Please make me not feel angry, Paole, because I hate it.”
“I can’t. You’re right to be. I’m a coward.”
“Why?” Yveni reached out to touch his face. “Why are you scared of me?”
“Not you, sweetness. Well, yes, partly. Of hurting you.”
“But you did hurt me, by avoiding me. I couldn’t think what I’d done to offend you.”
“Nothing! Yveni, it wasn’t anything to do with you. I…needed to think.”
Yveni folded his arms. “And have you finished? Because I have a lot of things to talk to you about, but I’d better hear what you’ve decided.”
Paole took a deep breath. “I’m going back home. I need a role here, and you have all the spaces filled. Best friend? Gil. Adviser? Too many to name. Those to love and protect you? Your sisters. A duty, a future, your duchy. What role can I have, except to love you, and there are so many here who do that. You won your fight, and now I need to go back and get on with my life.”
Yveni stared at him with those eyes he felt so powerless to resist. “I see. Well then, that makes what I had to say utterly pointless. When will you leave?”
“Er.” Paole had expected tears or raging. Something more than this icy calmness.
He hated it when Yveni closed down like this. He had no weapon to crack the mask. “Well, there’s no hurry.”
“Raina will finish her studies in a month and will have to make decisions about her future. She wanted to study here. Since you’re no longer interested, I should make the offer to her for this year. You can bear my message.”
“Oh.” Was he angry? His tone was so flat, but nothing he said was rude. Yveni always became rude when he was angry. So…did his departure really not matter? “Of course. Yveni—”
Yveni held up his hand. “No. No apologies or explanations. You made your choice, and I respect your right to do so. You’re free, Paole. A free man, not just a freedman any more, and a citizen of this country as well as Uemire. That means you have the right to do what you want within the law.”
“You’re allowed to express an opinion.”
“Yes, but I am also allowed not to.”
“What if I want you to?”
Yveni shook his head. “You don’t.”
“Yes, I do. Please. Even if it’s of no importance to you at all. I want to know what you think.”
“I said ‘no’.”
“Please, sweetness?”
Yveni heaved a great sigh. “Very well, but remember you asked. My opinion is that you’re a great, stupid nitwit with the brains and sensitivity of a dead kardip and if you’d bothered to talk to me instead of sulking on your own and picking flowers with my sisters, I could have answered some of your concerns. But now you’ve made up your mind, so go home and good luck. The duchy of Sardelsa renders its deepest thanks to you, etcetera etcetera. You bastard.”
Paole sat back, slightly stunned by the stream of abuse. Yveni stared steadily at him. “You asked,” he added politely.
“Yes. A dead kardip?”
“A dead
rotting
kardip.”
Paole’s lips twitched. “That’s pretty stupid.”
“Yes. Paole, being with me doesn’t mean you need me to make your life for you. I thought you wanted to become a trained healer or a doctor. Doctor Kardwil’s eager to have you working with him, and believes even without your gift, you have a real talent for the profession. If you don’t want that, you could set up a herbalist shop like you did in Horches. You and Raina could work in tandem. As for a position, I’ve asked Lord Timur to consider ennobling you, Gil and Sofia as a reward for your role in the restoration, and he’s firmly in favour of it. You could have a title, a career, a house and property as part of your reward—whatever you want.”
“I don’t need all that. I wouldn’t know what to do with a title.”
“You don’t need to
do
anything with it, but it would be a poke in the eye to all those who were so ready to attack your people. Oh, and I should tell you a bit of good news. The Unity have threatened trade bans with Karvis unless they agree to end all slave labour. I’ve submitted my testimony in support, and yours will be asked for. The response so far has been positive. The Karvin king is aware the role of their mercenaries did harm to the relationship between Karvis and the Unity. He’s agreed to accept a group of overseers who will work with the governors in Horches to bring the slaves and ex-slaves home. We think he’ll agree to end child slavery at the very least.”
“That’s wonderful,” Paole breathed. Was this the end for the cruel trade? If Yveni could do this, in so little time, what more would he achieve over his lifetime?
“It’s not on your account, in case you think it was. I wanted those children sent home before they lost touch with their parents. I haven’t given up on yours either. I want to increase ties with Uemire and strengthen her, because that will protect your people and mine. I’ve asked Lord Timur to put it to the Unity that it would be of benefit to us all to lay a telegraph cable, possibly even a telephone line, between Tuelwetin and Uemire, as exists between Tuelwetin and Karvis. If the Unity won’t fund it, I’ll push for it to be laid from here.”
Lying there, so young and harmless, Yveni looked very little like a ruler of anything, but his mind worked so fast. Paole, not for the first time, felt like a lumbering oaf beside him. “You have big plans.”
“Yes, I do, and you could be part of them. Or not, as you wish. If you remain and want to be my consort, that position will be enshrined in the constitution. I’ve told Timur I won’t marry and that when I come of age, I’ll rule with Serina. Her children, or Olana’s, will be my heirs.”
Such a simple solution to a problem which had tormented them both for years. “And he didn’t argue?”
“It’s amazing how cooperative people become when they rid themselves of a despot and the lawful heir manages not to die,” Yveni said wryly. “But Timur reminded me there have been similar arrangements for similar reasons in the past.”
“You never said—”
“You never asked, idiot.” Yveni folded his arms again and glared. “But you’re going back to Horches so it’s all irrelevant, isn’t it?”
“I didn’t want to be a useless hanger-on, like some damn castle pet.”
“I don’t keep people as pets. And I don’t want some useless ninny sitting around and gazing up at me adoringly. I want a partner, a friend, a lover and I want you, you…you moron!”
Paole grinned. Never had an insult sounded so loving. “You have such a way with words, sweetness. All right, I’ll stay, on one condition.”
Yveni cocked an elegant eyebrow at him. “Oh yes?”
“That you let me pick you up, carry you to your bed and make very careful love to you.”
“Hmmm. You drive a hard bargain, Master Paole.”
“Sorry, but I’m firm on that score, Your Grace.”
“Oh, very well. If you drop me, let me remind you I have a very big army and lots of heavily muscled friends.”
Paole stood and stooped to pick Yveni carefully up into his arms. The lad had lost weight, but to hold him again felt right and perfect. With his gift, he checked the healing wounds and judged they were doing well. “I won’t drop you, Yveni, because I intend to never let you go again.”
“Oh. Well then. Carry on, Master Paole. I’m your willing slave.” He tucked his hand inside Paole’s shirt, forgiveness and affection in a simple caress. The burden on his heart Paole had carried for weeks disappeared like mist.
Paole grinned and kissed him, relishing the familiar feel of those familiar lips. “Now the only question is, do I need to chain you up?”
Yveni rested his cheek on Paole’s shirt. “You already did that when I fell in love with you.” But then he looked up, lips pursed, haughty as Paole had ever seen him. “Now be
careful
.”
“Yes, your gracefulness.”
He carried Yveni to the huge bed and laid him gently down on it. “Strip me,” Yveni commanded.
“As you wish.”
Yveni stared at him the whole time, unnerving Paole somewhat. He slid the trousers down Yveni’s legs and folded them carefully on a chair. He hesitated at the sight of the scars, memories of that terrible night and seeing Yveni’s blood on his hands and clothes, overwhelming him. “Are you in pain, sweetness?”
“Not at all. Can’t you tell?”
“I can see your wound has healed, and you seem to be healthy. I can’t see pain.”
“I’m fine, unless I exert myself too much. I want something from you, and I don’t want you to be stupid about it.”
Paole couldn’t hold in his grin. “Might be difficult.”
“Try. I want you to…to fuck me.”
“Yveni—”
“Please, Paole. I know it might hurt a little, but it’s the first chance we’ve had where I’m not about to go horse-riding, and we can be private and comfortable. Doctor Kardwil…”
The boy suddenly flushed redder than Paole had ever seen him, and he had to laugh. “You actually asked him about this?”
Yveni nodded. “And, um…he gave me…in the dresser.”
Still vastly amused, and not a little touched by Yveni’s determination, Paole opened the drawer and held up the pot he found. “This?”
“Yes. He, um…well, he said it was best.”
“Sweetness, there’s no hurry. You know I’m bigger than you. It might hurt anyway.”
Yveni set his jaw. “And I don’t
care
. Paole, you keep pulling away from me like you don’t believe this is real, what we have. Well, I want to prove it’s real. Give you something as real as I can. I don’t know what else to do. I’ve asked Lord Timur to examine the marriage laws to see if there’s any legal reason we can’t be wed, but it will take so long and I want you
now
.”
“You’d really marry me?”
“You can be
so
stupid sometimes.”
Paole’s grin was so wide, it hurt. “The ring on offer is usually made of gold, sweetness. Ow.” The flung cushion had hit him full in the face.
“Paole, fuck me. I command it as your…your…”
“Nearly duc?”
“Yes,” Yveni snapped with narrowed eyes. “And lock the door.”
“Won’t that worry people?”
Yveni’s glare could burn a hole in wood. “Do I look as if I give a damn?”
Sometimes Yveni’s imperiousness was a real pain in the arse. Today, Paole found it irresistible. He locked the door and returned to the bed. His erection strained at his trousers, and Yveni’s cock was unashamedly needy.
“I could just use my mouth.”
“Only to say, ‘yes, Your Grace, I will fuck you’.”
“Yveni, this could
really
hurt. Like the original injury.”
“No. I trust you. Use your gift, and your love.” He held his hand out towards Paole. “Come.” Paole sat on the bed and took Yveni’s hand. “Every time you’re afraid of hurting me, you hurt me through being afraid. Don’t be afraid, and it’ll be fine.”
“I wish I had your confidence.”
“I’ve enough for both of us. It will be fine, I promise you. Now strip because it’s been too long since I saw you. And let me look, because you’re beautiful.”
Now Paole flushed, something he wasn’t prone to, but how could he not in the face of such naked and heartfelt admiration? Yveni watched him, eyes burning in their intense gaze, as Paole slowly undressed, wishing now he
had
taken the time to put a clean shirt on, to remake his braid. How could he be so careless of the most precious thing in the world to him, while Yveni had taken such care in preparing for this?