6. A New Love #5
“I’m not one to defend the history of elves,” said Romy, tucking her hair behind her pointed ear as if it helped make her point. “But I think getting kissed at midnight after your birthday is an adorable thing we do! Orcs do something similar, right?”
Aria knew, of course—he’d been with his orcish boyfriend for two full years.
“They press their hearts together.” Naked, Onyx had insisted, but Aria had since learned that wasn’t necessarily a requirement.
“And humans blow out candles.” He tried to recall if horn-bearers had something like this, and came up blank. He’d have to ask Morgan.
“The point is that this potion will help you get that kiss.” And then she winked.
Aria giggled, feeling flush. “I don’t think it’s likely this year.”
“I mean, there’s always Noble…"
Aria said, “I doubt he knows our tradition. And besides—we’re friends, Romy.
I’ve told you, he doesn’t like men the way that I do.
” And, no matter how Aria’s soul quivered in his presence, Noble did not share in any of his amorous thoughts.
Aria had actually done a fine job in moving on.
“He’s not really my type. I think I’m done with the nobility for now. ”
She frowned, skeptical. “He could still kiss you, though. You don’t have to be kinsme—or his adame—to kiss.”
Aria chuckled. “I’m not looking to kiss anyone right now. I’ve just got to get back on my own two feet. Find some new work, figure out where I’ll be long-term. Then, maybe, I’ll consider it. With someone who isn’t Lord Yves St. Clair.”
“Hmm. That’s fine, but I’m going to hug you now.
” She jumped up from the bench and crashed into Aria, a warm tangle of hair and her rosy perfume and bubbly laughter.
She squeezed Aria tight and settled back down at his side.
“What do you plan to do with your night?” Since he wouldn’t be kissing anyone, Romy said with her gray-blue gaze.
“Noble got an invite to something called a bread party? He said we could skip it, since it’s my birthday. He suggested dinner at Rev.”
Romy pursed her lips and said, “You said yes to that, and you’re going to go dine at one of the most expensive restaurants in all New Hieroph. You know they’ve champagne cake. The icing fizzles against your lips.”
Aria laughed, and a foggy cloud of his breath filled the air. “No. I chose the party.”
“What even is a bread party?”
“Everyone in attendance brings a selection of breads, and you leave with a sample of many.”
“Sometimes I want to let the nobles know they can throw a party just because. Not everything has to have a theme, or purpose. Where’re the ‘let’s smoke cigars and make out’ parties?
” Romy paused, eyes narrowing thoughtfully, and said, “I want to have a cigar and make-out party for my birthday next year.”
She said it with full sincerity. Aria made a mental note and said, “Whatever you’d like.”
“You’re a good friend.” She reached out, squeezed Aria’s leg, and stood up. “I’ve got another viewing. I’d better head out.”
“Another one?” Aria asked. “You went to see an empty house this morning, did you not?” Romy had been trying to move out of Fordham’s co-op since he passed away. The memories were heavy for her there. But even with her newfound wealth…
“The housing market is as chaotic as a harpy nest, Aria, dear. You’re lucky to have landed on your feet as you have.
” She groaned. “The one I’m looking at in twenty minutes—a brownstone that’s not even technically for sale yet.
But I know a friend of the man who owns it.
He’s debating leaving for the countryside in his retirement. ”
“I wish you luck. Use all your gifts. You’ve got this.”
To agree with his point, Romy adjusted her breasts within the low cut of her long plaid dress. And she leaned in, kissed Aria’s cheek, and took off. Halfway across the park, dodging kids running through all the fallen leaves, Romy called out, “Happy birthday, beautiful boy!"
Aria laughed and ducked his head, hiding from the glances of everyone else at the park. When the focus wore away, he lifted the love potion from its box, and his heart swelled affectionately at the misspelled, handwritten label. Written, no doubt, by the vendor that gave it to Romy. Lov For You.
He sprayed it as instructed and basked in the scent of it until he had to rush home himself. He had to find something nice to wear to the bread party.
He should have chosen Rev.
Aria had eaten too much bread for the wine to do anything other than settle in his gut and make him feel heavy and tired.
He would have signaled for Noble—they’d a silent language when one of them was ready to depart—but Noble had three separate ladies seated around him in the sunken den of this viscount’s home.
They twittered and smiled and fanned themselves, hanging on Noble’s every word.
No, even though he was tired, and it was his birthday, Aria had to do what was best for Noble.
He deserved a happy life, and a happy wife.
His kindness was the single bright spot in Aria’s last year.
He could only hope, as he entered the next one, that he managed to find a lover with half of Noble’s charms.
One of the women leaned forward as she spoke, her breasts all but spilling from her corseted top.
Noble leaned in her direction, too, and Aria couldn’t see his face, but he knew he’d turned on that Sun God grin.
It seemed possible that on this night she would get a midnight kiss and more. And she wasn’t even an elf.
To keep himself from dozing off, Aria slipped from his seat at the bar, and wandered down the hall. He heard a few partygoers chatting in a room.
“The library is formidable.”
“Here? Where?”
“Upstairs. I can’t believe you missed it.”
“I mean. It’s just books. Who cares?”
Aria cared. He redirected his path to the stairs in the central chamber of the house.
This was one of the few freestanding homes in New Hieroph.
Of course it had a library. Not many places in the city had room for one.
He hummed as he stepped onto the upstairs landing, and approached each of the presented archways.
The second one, on the left side. He could smell the books before he even peered inside.
A boule of bread had been abandoned on a red velvet sitting chair by the door.
Aria smiled at it and wandered in. Empty.
Well—empty of people. It was filled to the brim with books.
The enormous bookcases went from floor to ceiling, built around tall stained glass windows.
The moon outside filtered through, adding stripes of color across the lush brown carpeting.
A few flameless candles—powered by short-term magic—floated around each shelf.
He approached one case and read the spines. Medical books.
The next had history texts. The third had math books.
Aria circled the entire room before he found one single shelf of fiction.
But that’s all he needed anyway—it wasn’t as if he would be able to finish more than a few pages of anything he picked.
A navy tome stood slightly taller than the rest. He pulled it free.
Susanna & Girl. He’d not heard of it. He opened to the dedication.
For Patience.
Aria couldn’t help but laugh. Here he was, seeking patience to wait out the next several hours for his friend who may find love downstairs. Elysium truly pulled him across its world, a hapless pawn of little power.
“What’re you laughing over?” Noble asked, leaning in the doorway of the library.
Aria gasped, startled, and dropped the book. He huffed as his face flushed red. “Goodness, Noble Yves. You scared me. What’re you sneaking about for?”
Noble chuckled as he approached, crouching to lift the book, and return it to Aria’s grasp. “The Everet’s library is one of the prettiest. Second to my uncle’s, I’d say. So—when I noticed you were gone—I knew you’d be here.”
“Mm.” Aria closed the book and returned it to the shelf. “You should return to the soiree. You’d amassed an audience.”
Noble huffed. “I suppose. Is it odd that I feel most of these girls are…girls?”
“They’re too young?”
“No. I’m too old. I’ve done too much already, and they’ve barely begun to live.” He combed a hand through his hair, pulling the curls from his face, revealing the smooth golden skin and his beard growing thicker with the colder season. “But women my age are already wed.”
Aria reached out to place a hand upon Noble’s arm. “I’m sorry.”
Noble eyed Aria’s hand for a moment before he broke into another grin.
“May the Sun God strike me dead. I’m complaining on your birthday.
” He closed his hand over Aria’s, and tugged him close.
“Have you at least had a little fun?” Aria meant to lie, to be polite, but he’d been spending far too much time around Noble.
He hesitated a half-beat too long, and Noble hissed between his teeth. “That bad?”
“No, no,” Aria said, fingers tightening against the sleeve of Noble’s sapphire suit.
“I promise, it’s been fine. Honestly, though, if I’d known about the library before…
I would have been in here long ago.” A clock from somewhere within the house rang.
Aria looked towards the windows on the far wall of the library, at the moon that continued to stretch high into the sky.
“Midnight already?” Perhaps he’d been occupied well enough. “I didn’t realize it was this late.”
Noble’s eyes went wide as the clock continued its sixty-second chime. “Midnight. That’s right—elves kiss at midnight on their birthdays. Do they not?”
Aria shook his head in surprise. “How do you know about that?”
Noble scoffed, and then grinned, and said, “I grew up in two of the most diverse cities in the world.”
Aria rolled his eyes. “Yeah, alright, Noble. Yes, some elves do. I’m not one of them.”
“What? Why not?” Noble’s brows pinched close, like he hadn’t yet realized Aria had no one with whom to kiss on this night.