16. Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Sixteen
Rafi woke and could tell from the sunlight streaming into the room that it was too late to meet Viau for a bout of sparring.
It was also near to the hour he was supposed to be pummeling younger students in the Arms Room, so despite the lingering tiredness from the night, his sticky, dry mouth, and the sense that he should have had a much worse headache than he did, he rushed from the bed in order to find his clothes so he might dress and then bolt to his room to bathe and change.
He saw the pitcher and cup on a tray on Viau’s desk and drank some of the fresh water as Viau likely wished him to, but Viau himself was absent.
In a hurry, Rafi spent only a moment or two imagining that Viau had walked to the palace for his mount or perhaps to talk with Bellai since their evening together had been cut short.
It wasn’t until Rafi stumbled into the Arms Room, tucking in his shirt, his hair an unbound mess, and Instructor Guen shouted to him, “Tizzan! Were we keeping you from something?” that some of the details of the night before slammed into him.
Rafi was left to gape at the scowling instructor.
The tittering of some nearby first-years brought him back to the moment, and he hurried over to wrap himself in padding while tying his hair from his face, seeking to focus on his task.
He had never been late or failed any assignment and he wasn’t about to start now.
If he wanted to find a placement in the palace, he would need to be the best.
In the palace? The thought stopped him dead, such a surprise that he almost didn’t notice his second thought: Viau already thought him the best.
“There you are.” Katoh greeted Rafi with a sour sort of cheer; she preferred more sleep than she’d probably gotten.
“We thought Viau might have tied you to the bed.” She leered but didn’t put much effort into it, probably because she’d managed to stun Rafi again and he was still recovering from his last two shocks. “You should try that sometime.”
She’d correctly guessed from Rafi’s expression that he and Viau had not done anything like that.
Rafi had enjoyed being a hole—several holes.
Being used and valued at the same time was already appealing without also thinking of Viau physically keeping him in his bed for it.
Rafi had to turn away from Katoh as he put on some leathers and a padded shirt so she wouldn’t see his flush.
Tied to the bed. Rafi was beginning to reach for things he probably shouldn’t.
Or should. Because Viau would do beautiful things to him if Rafi asked.
Rafi’s mouth was so dry.
“Are you here to help me beat up first-and-second years?” he wondered with a noticeable rasp.
“Yeah. I....” Katoh wrinkled her nose. “Last night, you made me realize that the better I am, the more likely it will be that I can choose a good placement. Or have more choices available to me, so Laure and I can…. If we stay together.”
“Laure said you would, and you know he wouldn’t lie about it.
” Rafi enjoyed Katoh’s sweeter smiles, though they were rarely seen when she was around so many others.
“But I don’t know what you mean. What did I do last night to…
?” He had a sudden, strong memory of straddling Viau’s lap to look into his eyes while Viau stroked his hair from his face, all in front of countless strangers and after almost challenging someone to a duel.
“You aren’t going to let him go. Not you.” Katoh gave Rafi’s padded shoulder a light punch. “He looked like he’d been knocked onto his ass. Which is how he probably ends up around you all the time anyway so you’d think he’d be used to it.”
“Did I say I wasn’t going to let him go?” Rafi had been drunk, but not so drunk that he’d forget something like that. He’d been in a hurry all morning and had no chance to stop and marvel that Viau had begged Rafi to keep him.
To keep him. That had to be the heat of passion. How was Rafi supposed to keep him? The favorite? The ideal?
“Raf. To all the terrified first-and-second years, you look highly displeased right now. To me, you look worried.” Katoh got in his face until Rafi focused on her.
Then she crooked a smile. “Viau seems to think you’re going to work for the king someday.
Which sounds good. Exactly where you ought to end up.
Slightly more risk, definitely more work, but you gain honor and privilege and, importantly, you could stay with him. ”
“Is that a certain thing? That I would?” Rafi probably should have stopped for something to eat, or to ask after Viau to reassure himself that Viau would return.
No. Of course Viau would return. Rafi had no doubt of that even though they hadn’t spoken since the middle of the night.
Viau had asked to keep him. Begged, in truth, even though Rafi had been the one used and available for his pleasure.
Rafi had threatened to kill someone for him.
Regrettable, in the light of day, but not enough for Rafi to worry over it.
He suspected he would do it again if the situation reoccurred.
Rafi knew how he felt in his heart but Viau ought to know it too.
He should have felt it when they had—Rafi drew in a sharp breath.
They had shared aer as kissing lovers might share breath.
“Is it certain that you will work for the king?” Katoh gave him a distracted, puzzled look.
“No. But if you try, it’s likely. And Viau will get you whatever you ask for, Raf.
You must know that by now. You might fret over saying it, over it not being true, but…
. Do you want to be parted from him? I don’t think you’ve wanted that from the first time you got a nose full of his scent. ”
She hadn’t been there for the first time. She meant that first aedis when they had brought Viau to him in the garden.
“You said that was inspiring.”
“Oh, it was.” Katoh widened her eyes and nodded dramatically.
“For one thing, you both look how you look, and it was a garden, and spirits bless, it was like a painting. He hid you in his cloak and you either gazed at him with eyes made of stars or hid your face against his throat. And he kept you away from others and did the sort of things Laure does in private, but Viau did them in full view of everyone. When he didn’t even know you!
But it was as if he did know you, and you trusted him, and you kept stopping to let him adore you.
Frankly, if the breeze had carried any more blossom petals to the two of you, I would have assumed you were soulmates if I hadn’t already.
Every myth about aertotius was right there.
That’s why the younger students called you that, you know. They all saw it too.”
“Aertotius,” Rafi echoed in disbelief. This was Katoh, more prone to be earthy and practical than romantic and dreamy.
She left that to Laure. Laure, who thought it mattered that Rafi found so much in Viau’s scent.
“As if I recognized my soul right away in the shape of Viau’s? Viau’s? That’s madness.”
“Would he say so?” Katoh was annoyingly knowing. “Or would he say, ‘Rafeli, my darling, never leave me! We are the matched wings of a butterfly! And… then probably something about the rain. Then he’d put flowers in your hair. Ooh, did he actually do that? You’re blushing.”
“Katoh.” Rafi was too tired for this. His head was spinning.
Thankfully, a new speaker demanded both of their attention.
“Rafeli!” Instructor Daloit was at the other side of their section, walking toward them while rolling up his sleeves as if he was about to give them a lesson, though his pupils were probably the third-years streaming in beneath one of the stone arches.
“That padding can’t be for Viau? He’d never allow it, lunacy though it is to go against you without it.
But then, you two enjoy flirting with danger, don’t you? ”
Rafi straightened, a habit when talking to instructors, but then frowned, which he thought was slightly insolent. “It’s not danger.”
“Merely flirting?” Daloit returned, waving a hand to make it clear he meant no harm.
“Foreplay,” Katoh coughed into her hand, as if joking with instructors was something they did now.
Maybe it was. Rafi and Katoh were both nearing their final year and most of the instructors were not much older than them.
Daloit was Viau’s age, and if Viau no longer intimidated Katoh, Daloit certainly wouldn’t.
“A dance of a kind,” Daloit agreed pleasantly. “With some guarantee of safety, at least.”
“We use practice weaponry.” Rafi did not lose his frown, though it was mostly confusion now.
“As though that can’t still sting. But that isn’t my meaning.
” Daloit half turned to observe as his class gathered in a corner.
“I’ve watched you two, and for all that you seem wild—and your form does slip in those moments, Rafeli.
Correct that—you two move as if you have sparred together for years.
Almost as if you know each other’s thoughts. ”
About to insist that that was Viau’s doing with how he watched the aer of others, Rafi remembered that Viau didn’t publicly share that he did that, and so he closed his mouth and nodded. “I will correct my form.”
He would. No matter how Viau prodded him or dared him, Rafi should strive to keep his form correct so at least he wouldn’t injure himself that way.
Daloit nodded back at him and then at Katoh before spinning on his heels to stalk toward his class. He moved more like a cat than Rafi did.
“Viau watches the aer,” Rafi said to Katoh, slow to take his eyes off Daloit. “That’s how he knows what people are going to do in a fight. He’s as a strong as a mage.”
“Then how do you surprise him?”
Rafi froze, then slowly turned to Katoh in amazement. “I do surprise him.” And not only when sparring. Yet Viau’s aer had felt like the least surprising thing in the world when pressed to his and curled around him.