Chapter 4 The Moon And Stars
The Moon And Stars
“What is your absolutely favorite thing?” Aquilan asked.
“To eat? I would say that chocolate mousse is pretty much in the top five. I’d asked for some more if I thought I wouldn’t burst,” Declan answered.
“Thank goodness for stretchy pants,” Aquilan chuckled.
Declan grinned.
While his answer was true, it wasn’t the answer.
Not if Aquilan was asking him what–of everything–was his favorite thing in the world.
For that would be easier to answer than the mousse.
It would be this moment. Their clasped hands were stretched above them as they were lying on a daybed, looking up at the stars.
His hand. Aquilan’s hand. Fingers intertwined. The stars glowing between them.
Aquilan’s skin was warm. Though he was a king there were calluses from where he wielded his sword and a bow. But the rest of his skin was silky soft. Those rougher, tough patches made him seem so much more real to Declan.
Declan turned his head so that he could see the Sun King’s profile. For his night-attuned eyes he could see every aspect of Aquilan’s beauty as if it were under full sunlight. “What about yours?”
“Oh, I’m torn. That beef was lucious. But the mousse was… mmmmmmm,” the Sun King made a delightful moan that turned into a drool sound. Declan couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped him. Aquilan turned towards him. His golden hair trapped beneath his chin. “What? Am I being silly?”
“Yes.”
“Ah, well, I’ll try to be more serious. More kingly–”
“No!” Declan half rose up. “No, don’t do that.”
Aquilan’s eyes widened a fraction. “You like my silliness?”
Declan loved his silliness, but he couldn’t say that word. It caught in his throat like most words did, but more so.
“It’s… you’re… perfect,” Declan finally got out. “I wouldn’t have you change a thing.”
The skin around those wide eyes crinkled as Aquilan smiled.
Declan wanted to trace those fine lines with his fingers, but though they had kissed–and they were holding hands–he wasn’t sure what was allowed.
He’d never done anything like this before.
He wished there were still cellphones at that moment so he could text Finley and ask him a series of frantic, desperate questions.
Not that his friend had much more experience than he did.
But Finley read. And read widely. He’d know something more than Declan.
“I suppose I’m used to people–well, maybe not people–more like Vesslan telling me to be more serious. And he’s right to! I’m not complaining about him,” Aquilan quickly explained. “Most rulers of the Aravae have been far older than me. I’m considered about your human age in terms of maturity.”
“My human age…” Declan fell back against the plush pillows of the day bed. “I’m not really in my twenties, am I?”
“No, no, you cannot be,” Aquilan said softly.
“There’s a whole lot of my life I simply don’t remember. Decades of it,” Declan said as he took in that thought. “Well, if it was decades at the Venomthorn maybe I’m glad I don’t remember.”
There was a long pause before Aquilan said, “I understand why your mother wanted you to be trained. As Vex’s son, you would be in constant danger. And training can be quite… difficult. But to tell you that you were–what was that word you used earlier?”
“Jadir. Bloodless. Basically, it’s the worst thing you can say about someone in Kindreth society, I think.
That was my reaction at the time. You’re the lowest of the low if you’re jadir.
Because while children are rare among the Aravae, they’re even rarer among the Kindreth,” Declan explained a little haltingly.
His brow furrowed as he strove to remember his reactions to being called this by Vulre and the other children at the Venomthorn.
“Basically, if you’ve been disowned then there’s something really wrong with you. ”
Aquilan let out a soft breath. “Why would she let you believe that?” Then Aquilan squeezed their joined hands. “I’m sorry, Declan. There is, undoubtedly, a good reason–”
“No, don’t apologize. I don’t know her reasoning.
She might have told me, but I don’t remember,” Declan said, knowing that Aquilan’s reaction came from a place of caring, not criticism of his mother.
Their fingers stretched out together to seemingly brush over the moon before he said anything else, “She couldn’t say I was hers.
She was too associated with Vex. So if people knew she had a child, they would think I was Vex’s or that she had cheated on him with someone else. Bad ideas all around.”
“True. And if she asked for another couple to raise you, she would have to trust them with her secret,” Aquilan said slowly.
“No one trusts like that in the Kindreth Empire. Not unless they’re bound to like Vulre was to her as a Blood Knight,” Declan answered with a sigh.
“And if she did trust them with something like that then she’d have cared for them.
But taking me–Vex’s son–into their home would put them in incredible danger. ”
“Yes, that makes sense,” Aquilan admitted.
“Part of me wonders why she couldn’t have simply told me the truth, but had me pass as jadir among others. But that answers itself.” Declan shook his head. “Being treated like garbage would cause anyone to want to yell the truth out. I’m not jadir. I’m the son of the king.”
“A secret like that would be impossible to keep for an adult let alone a child,” Aquilan agreed.
“I’d like to think that she didn’t know how badly I was treated there by Vulre and the others, but…
she knew my life was going to be hard,” Declan said.
“Who I was meant I’d always be in danger.
Who I was meant that people would try and take advantage of me.
So maybe she wanted me forged into the hardest of steels so that I could survive. That’s what I tell myself.”
He felt more than saw Aquilan looking at him out of the corner of his eye. “Your incredible self-possession and fighting skills are proof of this, I think.”
Declan turned towards Aquilan. Their lips were just six inches from one another.
His body tingled all over when he gazed at those plush, full lips of the Sun Elf and remembered the press of them against his own.
He shifted his legs awkwardly as his sex ached.
He didn’t want them to do more than kiss on the one hand, but on the other, he wanted…
Well, he wanted things he couldn’t even name.
He was glad that his father didn’t appear to be in his head at that moment.
Or, if Vex was, he was being quiet. Having his father give him lover’s tips would definitely have killed the mood.
“How do you feel about being Ailduin reborn?” Declan asked.
Aquilan had told him all of the things that he had discovered in the Under Dark, including the bargain that Aquilan’s parents made with Vex and the bargain that Aquilan himself had made with the Night King.
He so wished Aquilan had never made that last one, but he understood why.
If–no, when–his father came to collect on it, Declan would do everything in his power to pay it for Aquilan.
The Sun King should not be beholden to the Night King because of him.
Or for any reason. But definitely not for him.
“I don’t know. I have no sense of being him. I suppose that is because of whatever spell Vex used on me to keep me from dying.”
Aquilan gestured with his free hand towards his left temple.
The wind blew and stirred his long hair.
Declan naturally reached over and tucked some of the strands that obscured that beautiful face behind one pointed ear.
Aquilan smiled. A silent thank you. And Declan felt a certain sense of possession.
He could touch the Sun King. He alone could do this.
“I don’t really understand how remembering your past life could do that,” Declan admitted.
“Nor do I. I intend to research that starting tomorrow.” Aquilan’s lower lip jutted out. “It is supposed to be a beautiful day tomorrow though.”
“Well, then what about taking those research books outside? Have a picnic? Finley always says that mixing scholarship and the outdoors makes him feel twice as satisfied.” Declan frowned then.
“But I wonder if he just said that because I always wanted to be in the woods and would drag him along. There were countless times I had him up trees with his school books.”
Aquilan chuckled. “I think Finley was telling the truth. There is little I like better than reading in a field of flowers.”
“Then we shall do that tomorrow,” Declan said. “You can read. I will watch your back.”
Aquilan opened his mouth. Declan had a momentary qualm that he had overstepped suggesting they spend a whole other day together. Maybe the Sun King would prefer to be on his own.
“I would love that, Declan, but only if Rhalyf agrees that you are ready to have any spells cast upon you to protect you from the Sun,” Aquilan said. “If not, I shall read in my chambers with you.”
“I will be fine. Actually, I think if Rhalyf casts both the glamour and the sun protection on the Adiva, it won’t be a problem,” Declan found himself saying.
“He’ll likely object saying that if I lose the necklace then both spells will fail and want to anchor them to me with the necklace augmenting–what? ”
Aquilan’s eyebrows had been rising. “I do believe you are remembering some things, Declan. For you sound like a mage.”
Going back over his words, Declan blinked. “You’re… you’re right. I didn’t… I just knew… Well, I hope I’m right.”
“Your logic is sound. And it wouldn’t put any burden on your body–at least not as much–if the spells were anchored to something you wore,” Aquilan guessed. His lips opened and closed several times before he said, “You mentioned a glamour… do you not wish people to know you are a Night Elf?”
Declan stared at him. “There is no other option.”