Chapter 23 #2
“Does he know the magnitude and weight of this secret?” Saemund asked, gesturing at the office around them.
“It appears to be minor, a mere magical curiosity to some, but this secret drove our people to functional extinction. We are so few. I won’t see us sent to the abyss because your crush let the truth slip to the wrong person. ”
“I won’t say anything, you have my word,” Ezra said from the doorway of the office, having heard them.
He pocketed his phone and put his hands on his hips, Lilith sitting at his feet, both of them staring hard at Saemund.
“I care about Raum and I refuse to let anything happen to him, or by extension, his family. This secret will die with me before I tell another soul.”
Saemund contemplated Ezra for a long moment before relaxing, nodding once. “Very well then. I will trust my grandson and his faith in you. But I will warn you—I will protect my family, from anyone, and do so with extreme prejudice.”
Ezra grinned. “Understood.” He looked at Raum. “I got you permission to see the skull. The sergeants are willing and able to take us to the MERS base, whenever you two are ready. That is, if you’re both willing to attempt this with me.”
Raum spun to his computer, brought up his scheduler app, and canceled office hours for the day, the app alerting his students to the change. “I’m ready now. Grandpa?”
“I had nothing else planned for the day. Let’s go wake a goddess.”
Ezra
The sergeants arrived with alacrity, informing them that Major Grendel would meet them at the MERS base, and Ezra was grateful for the large SUV the sergeants were driving as they all piled in the back.
“I need to swing by my room at Sacred Threshold,” Ezra said as he buckled his seatbelt. Lilith climbed off his lap and jumped to the front seat, crawling onto Chase, who cooed at her in greeting.
“Not a problem,” Harlan assured him as the SUV pulled away from the curb in front of the library. “We’ll go there now.”
Saemund sat in the rear third row of seats, and Raum was next to Ezra.
Raum took Ezra’s nearest hand and held it, and Ezra flushed with pleasure at the gesture, staring at Raum, who met his gaze with something Ezra fancied might be affection or fondness.
He wasn’t sure, but Raum was showing him how he felt with physical gestures, and he really appreciated it.
Took the ambiguity of emotions out of the equation—Ezra needed blatantness. Subtlety was not his forte.
They reached the hospital in a few minutes, and Ezra and Raum exited the SUV, Lilith remaining in Chase’s lap, and they headed inside Sacred Threshold. The recovery wing was empty, their steps echoing off the tall ceilings and wide halls.
Ezra reached the seating area near his room, the one with the relief of Hecate over the fireplace, and he paused for a brief moment, certain he saw movement in the stone.
Eyes watching him.
He stared back, but the carved eyes of the goddess were truly stone, unmoving. Probably just stress having him see things. He felt nothing in the ambient magic fields, either. Not that he was sure he would be able to sense it if a goddess was moving through the world.
“Ezra?” Raum stopped a few feet away, looking back at him.
“Sorry, had a weird moment there,” Ezra hurried to catch up. “It’s nothing.”
They reached his borrowed room and Ezra went right for his curse-breaking gear.
He stripped out of his clothing, kicking off his boots, naked but for his boxer briefs.
He dug out his leather pants and corset, checking the straps and the spellwork on his garments before pulling them on, securing the buckles and buttons, the strings on the corset in the back already threaded through the hooks and eyelets.
All he had to do was reach behind himself and tighten the silk cords, but big, warm hands beat him to it.
He blinked over his shoulder at Raum, who was tugging the cords and tightening the corset with fierce intent, brows furrowed. Raum saw him looking and gave him a wicked grin. “I’m really digging the outfit.”
The leather pants clung to him like a second skin, the belts wrapped around his hips defined his lean waist, and the corset—well, it did what any decent corset would do, accentuating everything.
Ezra blushed. “Thanks.”
Raum tugged a bit more and reached the bottom row of hooks, his fingers tying off the excess cord. “How do you want this tied off?”
“Wrap the excess around the last hooks then tie a double knotted bow. It’ll hold.”
Raum followed directions and then those big hands gripped his hips, Raum stepping up behind him, body pressed along Ezra’s back and ass. A soft kiss landed behind his ear on his neck, and Ezra shivered in heightened awareness.
“Later,” he said, knowing it was a promise, quiet and intense. “After.”
Another kiss, and Ezra sighed happily. Raum spoke in his ear. “I’ll hold you to that.”
Raum stepped away, and Ezra tried not to mourn the loss of his body heat.
He turned and flushed hot at the appreciation in Raum’s expression.
He was never one to fish for compliments, but a part of him felt vulnerable and needy.
Raum must have seen as much in his aura, all without Ezra saying a word, because Raum smiled and said, “You look amazing and incredibly competent. Let’s go wake a goddess. ”
Ezra grinned.