Chapter Twenty-Six #2
Nick heard the soft sound of hooves on dry dirt.
From the trees appeared General Valor atop a black horse, striding confidently onto the road.
The horses nickered out greetings to one another.
Unease trickled through Nick. Kit’s doubts were suddenly very immediate, very real.
Behind them, the castle had disappeared behind several bends in the road.
“You lied.”
“At worst, I misled,” Seche replied casually.
“The lie was necessary,” Valor said. He was dressed similarly to Seche, but rather than brilliant blue, his cloak was an earthy brown that blended with his surroundings.
His tail twitched towards Seche, who nodded and turned his horse.
By some unspoken command, Julia didn’t follow him and instead fell in step with Valor’s horse, and they continued on the path.
“If Kit were to get me alone, I do not know what would happen. I cannot endanger not only my own life, but our cause, simply because I want to ease his mind, no matter how badly I wish that.”
Nick considered Valor. The trick was annoying, but he also saw that they were deeply afraid of Kit and what he might do. “The plan is still the same? We’re going to the river to flag down the merfolk?”
Valor nodded.
Nick settled himself. General Valor, husband to Desre and leading the rebellion seeking to overthrow her.
His nephew, her number one agent. Nick had a thousand questions, and finally a man in front of him who had the answers.
“You shouldn’t have let her have him.” What came out wasn’t a question; it was an accusation.
Valor’s expression didn’t change. “I could have cut his throat.”
Nick jolted.
“I tried to keep him from her,” Valor said.
“I have tried time and time again. The problem with saving someone from Desre is she simply needs to touch you to get every answer she wants.” There was a heaviness in Valor’s voice.
Nick saw pain in his eyes, even if he kept his expression controlled.
“Before now, the only true escape would be to claim his life. And that, I will never be willing to do.”
“Does that mean all of this, your civil war, isn’t about saving your people from starvation, it’s about Kit?”
Valor turned in the saddle, meeting Nick’s eyes. “I need men. I will use our situation to my advantage to get them, but it is not about them and never has been. You care for my nephew?”
“Yes,” Nick admitted.
Valor considered that. Considered him. “If Kit is one thing, it is sensitive to those who wish to make use of him. I believe he would have sensed if you were simply humouring his crush for your own advantage.” They reached a fork, and Valor tracked left, the path narrowing through denser trees and thicker shade.
Nick scowled. “I’m not humouring anything, and I’m pretty sure I like him a lot more than he likes me.”
Valor cocked his head, surprise flitting across his expression. “What makes you think that?”
Kit had hummed, stroked Nick’s chest, and ugly fears had come unspooling out of him. Things he barely acknowledged, and Kit had somehow eased the ache of them anyway. Made it better, made him cry, but not feel lesser for it.
“The details of our relationship aren’t any of your business.”
“He wouldn’t have scent-marked you if he didn’t wish to spend his life with you.
I do not think his ‘like’ is lacking,” Valor said.
And then he continued to talk as if he hadn’t dropped a bomb on Nick’s pieced-together understanding of the situation.
“I admit it is a pleasant surprise. I worried that part of him might have been closed off to the possibility of connection, that Desre had left him unable to trust someone enough to follow his instincts.”
“Let’s back up a bit.” Nick’s voice sounded strange even to his own ears. “Scent-marking equates to a lifetime thing?”
“Not always. But the kind he’s done to you? Yes.” Valor must have seen Nick’s confusion. “It is a declaration of intent. It is usually soothing to both parties to scent and be marked in turn.”
Nick knew that when Kit scent-marked him, he was relaxed and settled afterwards. What he didn’t know, what he hadn’t been told, was just how serious it was. Nick was thinking boyfriends. Kit had leapt right ahead to forever without so much as a heads-up.
“Jesus Christ.” Nick dragged a hand across his face, mind catching on the possibilities suddenly unfolding before him.
But he thought of Kit’s admission; he had a list. A list of things he wanted to do in the future that included Nick.
His confusion quelled. Kit wasn’t deceptive.
Lies stood out on his body like neon signs, and he had told Nick in his own way.
“You consider your relationship with my nephew temporary?” Valor’s tone was just threatening enough to make Nick drop his hand and glare. More than threatening enough to strike a nerve.
“I don’t want to hear about how serious he considers us from a stranger,” Nick said, voice biting.
“And to be perfectly honest, since I was kidnapped, I’ve been more focused on things like my safety rather than my relationship status.
” He turned abruptly away from Valor’s considering eye.
“I’m not discussing this with you. Tell me what I was taken for in the first place.
What is this stupid symbol actually supposed to do?
” Nick gestured to his inner wrist, at the symbol Kit, Desre and Valor had all recognised.