Chapter Thirteen
When Austin woke, he felt unusually calm.
And hungry. But the hunger wasn’t lethal, just a pang in his stomach that gently asked for filling.
Austin washed his face and changed into fresh clothes.
He took the time to sit and lace up his leather sandals from ankle to calf, getting the pressure even on either side, then gazed into the mirror as he tidied his hair.
Without plaits, it fell to his jaw in silky, silver strands.
Satisfied, he ventured out of his room.
Eli was pacing just outside the door and startled at his appearance. “Sir.” He bowed his head, already braced.
“Austin,” Austin corrected as he breezed past. “I’m eating in the dining hall.”
“Yes!” Eli scrambled off, likely to get the cooks to ready him a meal.
Austin took his original chair from the first day and was picking through a selection of dishes when Tristan joined him. Without missing a beat, Tristan slid into the chair right next to Austin, surveying what he’d eaten, and then studying his face.
Gauging his mood, Austin was certain.
“I’ll meet your brother,” Austin said. He would grant Tristan this request and take the merman up on his offer to help Austin cross the ocean tomorrow.
There was a little red mark on the side of Tristan’s neck, right where Austin had bitten him.
Tristan hesitated.
Austin hardened. “Is there a problem?”
“No.” Tristan’s gaze slid down Austin’s body. To his silver-bound sleeves, exposed flashes of pale skin. From his expression, even Austin’s sandalled feet were an issue. “Hal will…” He hesitated again, then sighed. “It’s not a problem.”
“You are the one who asked me.”
“My brother has a weakness for ornamented beauties. It’s second only to his passion for justice.”
Understanding clicked into place. “The issue is he’ll like me?”
There was almost a sulky look in Tristan’s eyes. He leaned in, mouth finding a gap in Austin’s sleeve to brush against the bare skin of his shoulder. Shivers prickled across Austin’s skin.
“Yes. He knows you are here, but I’ve managed to keep your beauty from the reports. Once he sees you for himself, I fear he will plague my estate with visits to deliver all his missives in person in hopes of catching glimpses of you. He is the one person I cannot turn away.”
“Aren’t you stronger than him?”
There was an odd look in Tristan’s eye as he straightened, as if he’d never been asked such a thing, nor considered it before. “Yes…” he answered at length, puzzled by the relevance.
“But he’s your older brother and you don’t like to refuse him?” Austin guessed. The little he’d learned of Hal was enough to see that Tristan was not only fond of his brother from childhood, he admired the man too.
The puzzled look eased, and Tristan nodded.
Austin considered Tristan’s reluctance. He’d been rather demanding of the merman, and Tristan had been incredibly accommodating, truth be told.
“I’ll wear something plain if you like,” Austin offered.
Tristan’s hesitance deepened, his eyes sliding to Austin’s sleeves, the hints of skin beneath silver string.
“Oh, but you like me dressed like this too.”
Austin stood with a sharp grin. He caught Tristan’s chin, holding him still as he delivered a swift kiss to his cheek. “In that case, I shall dress exactly as I like, and you’ll get to look…alongside your brother.” A goading note found its way into his voice.
Tristan caught Austin’s hips with an unhappy rumble.
“I want to visit the market street today too,” Austin added.
“The one down by the main docks.” He remembered watching the street through a gap in the boards of the stable.
Market stalls lined the street, and all sorts of men and monsters lingered, bartering over a dizzying array of goods.
Twice Austin had spied a stall with all sorts of instruments arrayed, and twice he’d been painfully tempted to leave his hiding spot to go and have a closer look.
He could always pick out sweet notes that drifted from the stall as customers plucked at strings, even all the way across the rambunctious street.
“Very well.”
“Are you busy? I can take Eli as a guide if you are.”
“I will accompany you,” Tristan said. “My business can wait.”
Austin hummed. “I’ll go change.”
Back in his room, Austin called in Eli and gestured to the sheer shirts he’d arranged on the bed. “This is what’s worn in Hal’s court?” Next to the shirts, he’d laid out the jewelled body chains.
Eli nodded.
Austin considered his options. He gravitated to the silver-and-blue jewelled chain and picked it up. This, he would be happy to wear, but he disliked the sheer, sleeveless shirts meant to show it off.
“There’s this one.” From one of the racks, Eli pulled out a long-sleeved shirt in the style Austin had been wearing the past few weeks, but the fabric was silvery-sheer.
“Yes,” Austin said, immediately pleased. He still refused the shorter shorts, going for a longer cut that fell just before his knees. Eli pulled out a pair of sandals threaded with silver strands, and when he wound them up Austin’s calves, they looked like a piece of jewellery too.
Eli plaited and pinned his hair, and when Austin glimpsed himself in one of the long mirrors Tristan had attained for him, he found a hedonistic, indecent creature staring back at him.
Silver eyes glittered as brightly as the jewels adorning his body.
This was not a creature that could be locked up.
It was one that was powerful and stood at the precipice of hierarchies.
A pleased hum vibrated in his throat. An answering gasp fell from Eli’s lips.
He reached for his ears, like those who fell prey to Austin’s voice often did, but his expression was one of singular delight, not pain. Goosebumps spread across Eli’s arms, his eyelids fluttering.
Austin stared in surprise. “What did that feel like?”
Eli looked half dazed. “Divine. Like the first listen of a beautiful ballad. Do you ever sing?” His gaze fell upon Austin’s mouth. “A siren song…”
“I don’t sing.” Growing up, the idea was to avoid drawing Cessair’s notice, and singing would certainly have done the opposite. By the time Cessair was gone, his voice was something to be strangled silent to prevent harm. Sing. Austin snorted. As if.
Eli’s nerves about yesterday seemed to finally be gone.
Austin turned back to him. “Where are you from?”
“Vere. That’s to the east,” Eli added at Austin’s blank look.
“Just on the edge of Prince Hal’s territory.
” He caught his lower lip with his teeth and hesitated.
After a second, he continued. “I grew up in the Vere fighting pits. Not as a fighter, obviously.” He flashed a self-deprecating smile that faded instantly.
“My family ran the fights there for many years, and I helped. I came to the city a year ago and have been working and training to be an attendant ever since.”
His efficiency at arranging the fight made sense, as did his ease with organising. “What made you leave?”
Eli’s amusement was well and truly gone now. His lips parted like someone was forcing his mouth open. Austin turned away from him, purposefully dismissive and uninterested. “You don’t have to answer.”
???
Behind the tall main building was a large barn and stables, surrounded by green fields that stretched over a gentle slope and ended in a solid wall of thick forestry.
Sweet, fragrant oats were knocked from a stablehand’s outstretched palm as the black horse he was attempting to feed threw up its head, jingling its harness.
Three more similar beasts pranced in place, jostling a large carriage as black and formidable as they were.
The only break in the dark colour was the whites of their eyes flashing.
Oran leaned against a garden wall, eyes fixed on Reba, whose wings were tucked tightly to his back. “What job is it you’re supposed to do?”
Embarrassment twisted Reba’s features, shrivelling his entire body as three more stablehands joined the first to try to calm the horses. “I can follow from behind.”
Oran’s grin was nasty. “And what are you going to guard back there?”
Reba’s cheeks reddened, but stubbornness ticked his jaw. He fixed a determined glare on Oran.
Next to the carriage stood Captain Inx, resplendent in vibrant blue, except for brown leather boots and a dark leather scabbard securing a long sword to his waist. His head was inclined towards Tristan, though his pointed, unimpressed gaze was on Oran.
Gravel crunched beneath Austin’s sandalled feet as he stepped forward.
Attention shifted to him. Tristan glanced over his shoulder.
His eyes dropped at once to the sheer shirt, through which the gemmed chain glittered with every step.
A possessive rumble rose from the merman, and Inx quickly jerked his stare away.
He marched to the other staring Troop members, twirling his finger in an urgent, silent command. Look away.
Reba tucked himself into a doorway, hiding himself from the horses, who quickly settled. Oran snorted.
Austin joined Tristan. “I want a personal guard.”
Tristan tracked the body chain’s design beneath his shirt. It fastened like a choker around Austin’s neck, then fell in a straight line across his sternum. Tristan’s eyes shifted right, following the delicate chain across his ribs. Austin swore he felt something like breath against his nipple.
Tristan’s hands rested on his sides, gripping tightly. All of him was tense. He blinked. “Very well. Do you have someone in mind?”
“Reba.” Austin looked meaningfully at the carriage door.
Tristan opened it and offered his hand, guiding Austin up the steps.
The inside was velvet and plush, the walls a soft black fabric.
There was a windowed door on either side, but coloured glass was used, so Austin doubted those looking from outside could see them clearly.
When the door shut, it was very difficult to make out any details.
Just outside the door, Tristan exchanged a short word with Inx.
Austin thought he heard Inx say, “I think Prince Hal might decide to personally oversee our training after today,” to which Tristan replied with an ill-tempered growl.
Austin peeked out, catching a flash of an amused grin as Inx turned away.
Tristan followed Austin into the carriage, claiming the spot directly opposite him. A long, appreciative look slid over Austin’s body, and Tristan’s fingers twitched, as if he was envisioning taking hold of him.
Austin lifted his brows. “Problem?” Of course, dressed like this, nothing out of his mouth would be taken for anything even close to innocent.
“No,” Tristan said.
He spent the entire carriage ride staring at Austin.