8. Chapter 8
Rowan
Rowan came back that evening, aggravated he hadn’t been able to stay with Milo and help him settle in.
After lunch, he’d been informed there’d been a recent attack from the Drachifel on the northern outskirts of town, resulting in two guards being injured, and he’d had to redo the patrol units to make sure areas outside the ward were covered.
It was an important task but it still grated.
The second he opened his bedroom door, he looked for Milo.
He only half expected him here, as it was almost the dinner hour.
But there he was, stretched out on the couch, with a…
What was that, anyway? It was a very thin board, balanced against his knees, and he was either drawing or writing something.
Oh, it was one of those artist boards for drawing, it seemed.
As soon as Milo realized he’d entered, he lifted his head, and the most beautiful smile lit the man’s face. Rowan felt his heart do that skipping thing again at the sight of his smile. He’d do evil things to keep it on his lover’s face.
“Well, hi there, handsome!” Milo set the board aside, revealing a drawing of some sort, but Rowan’s attention was mostly on him. “All done?”
“For tonight, anyway. You’re unpacked?”
“Perfectly. Well, not the work room, that needs more things, but yes. I am for the most part. Thanks for the furniture. I wasn’t sure how to unpack or where to put things until I saw your note.”
The note had clearly pleased him, too, since Rowan had considered Milo’s circumstances despite his duties. Milo wasn’t used to someone taking care of him. A fact Rowan was determined to change. “Hopefully it was enough space. What are you doing?”
“Designing the new ward. The inscriptions of the last ward are so worn down I can’t even properly read parts of it.
I’d rather start from scratch so I know it’s made correctly.
Also had a thought to run by the whole family.
Oh! You can answer a question for me. The watchtowers, are they in any kind of configuration? ”
“Eight-pointed star.”
“Really, a star layout?” Milo’s expression turned dreamy. “Oh, I can do a lot with that.”
“Why?”
“I’m thinking of creating two wards.”
Rowan blinked. Of all the things his lover could have said, he hadn’t anticipated that at all. “Why two?”
“I’ll explain at dinner. I want to explain it all at once. But the layout will be stronger, for one, and give you a fallback. Plus more space to safely put people if things go to shit.”
“That does sound beneficial,” Rowan admitted. “For now, dinner?”
“Sure! One of my favorite meals of the day.”
“Along with breakfast and lunch?”
“You know me so well.” Milo rose from the couch and stole a kiss before skipping right out the door.
Amused, Rowan followed, then realized Milo seemed to already know the way. “You know where to go?”
“Raina showed me to the most important places. After watching me eat lunch, she made sure the kitchen and dining hall were two of those places.”
His eldest sister had always been wise.
They walked to the dining hall and found the rest of the family.
Well, those currently home. Raina, Troy, Ruben, and the twins were already seated at the massive dining table, with servants placing dishes down on the table as Rowan and Milo walked in.
According to what Raina had said earlier in the afternoon, shouldn’t Riley have been back by now?
Well, likely she was delayed if the roads she’d taken were in poor condition, like they’d experienced on the trip in.
Rowan was not worried about his sister. Nothing was scarier than Riley.
“Ah, here’s our new mage,” Raina greeted warmly. “Milo, come meet my husband, Troy.”
Milo, not having a shy bone in his body, did just that, a hand outstretched. “Hiya, nice to meet you.”
Troy immediately shook hands. His eyes were thoughtful on Milo’s face, but he had a welcoming smile. “Nice to meet you, too. Come, meet my daughters. This is Reagan and Roana.”
Milo greeted them just as easily. “Hi, hi. Wow, the ginger runs strong in this family.”
It really did. Troy’s dark hair and gray eyes hadn’t stood a chance of winning.
The twins were sixteen, and both had the same ginger hair and tall, slim build as their mother.
Reagan had her hair in a curly bob, while Roana styled hers in a long braid over one shoulder.
Other than that, they looked nearly identical.
The girls were just as interested in Milo, their blue eyes following him as he sat down. Rowan, of course, sat right next to him, which meant they were directly facing both girls.
Knowing food was a serious business for Milo, Rowan made sure he had a mounded over plate with smoked ham, scalloped potatoes, and roasted asparagus with dinner rolls before he bothered with his own plate. Milo tucked in with a happy hum and then groaned in gastric pleasure.
Rowan had never been so thankful they employed good cooks. Milo might stay for the food alone.
Troy caught his eye, his face saying what are you doing?
Rowan shrugged. What did it look like he was doing? He was taking care of his lover.
For some reason, this silent shrug amused Troy and a smile played around his mouth as he ate.
For all that he’d known his best friend since diapers, Troy had rarely seen him interact with a lover, so his puzzlement made sense.
Outside of work, Rowan didn’t actively care for another unless they were family or a lover.
Somewhere around his third plate, Milo slowed down, more playing with his dinner roll than eating it. Rowan judged it safe to ask questions now.
“Milo, design?”
“Oh, right! Sorry. Food was so delicious I totally forgot.” He oriented himself to speak to the table at large. “So I had a thought while designing your new ward. What if I actually did two wards? One anchored against the watchtowers, and one covering the fortress itself.”
Raina was immediately intrigued. “Why two? I like the idea, but why?”
“Couple of reasons. One, wouldn’t you like more room to put people and beasts into when shit has gone seriously fucky?
You’ve got that whole town right outside the walls, and I know they’re meant to retreat into the fortress if something bad goes down, but wouldn’t you want more space to put people so they’re not all crammed in?
You can also think of it as a first line of defense.
The way the towers are laid out, they make the perfect eight-pointed star, which is one of the stronger wards.
Really, it seems a shame not to use them since they’re already there.
Plus, if for some reason the ward connected to the watchtowers fails—which it can do if it gets overwhelmed enough—you have a second line of defense to fall back on inside the fortress. ”
Reagan tucked a short curl behind one ear and piped up with, “What can make a ward fail?”
“Well, for instance, an earthquake. If the land the ward is tied to falls apart, then the ward will as well. I saw one ward taken out by a house fire. The ward can’t prevent things that are happening inside the building, so if, say, your kitchen breaks out into flames, then it’ll dismantle the ward from the inside. ”
Rowan hadn’t known any of that. “Can you do something about fires?”
“Sure, I can put fire-suppression charms up on the walls around places like the kitchen. It’ll keep the fire from spreading.
Done right, they can even suppress fire that goes outside of certain boundaries.
” Milo’s eyes roved over his face before tacking on dryly, “I just gave you a whole new nightmare by mentioning fires, didn’t I? ”
Rowan grimaced and nodded. Yeah, he really had.
“Then I’ll make sure to do those fire-suppression charms. Anyway, there’s also the added benefit that each ward will be on its own power supply, so if the sigils powering one ward fail, it’s no biggie, you’ve got another ward on a completely separate system.”
Troy whistled softly. “Now I like that idea even more. Milo, do you normally engineer redundancies?”
“Honestly? Whenever I can. I’ve seen too much shit fail when it shouldn’t. I’d prefer a backup plan, especially when people’s lives and Rowan’s sanity are on the line.”
And it was this consideration that drew Rowan so strongly to him. Milo was very much a man who cared about the people close to him. He actively sought ways to help and protect them. Rowan hadn’t needed to be around him for more than two days to figure out his boyfriend had a heart of gold.
“I’m sold on the idea,” Troy admitted. “Dear?”
“Oh, I’m absolutely approving the plan,” Raina agreed with a firm nod. “Milo, do it. Also, do you know any healing magic?”
“Quite a bit. Mostly with potions, but I do have three healing spells as well. Uhhh, the way you asked that question alarms me. Why do you ask?”
“We had a Drachifel attack while you two were still on the road here,” Raina said, filling him in with an aggravated groan. “Two of our guardsmen were injured. We only have basic healing potions and we did give those, but they’re still going to be on the mend for another two weeks.”
“Ouch. I’ll look at them after dinner, see what I can do to help.”
Rowan kicked himself for not thinking of that earlier. Milo had mentioned he knew healing magic; he should have remembered that. Well, hopefully his potions could do something more, as Rowan didn’t like the idea of his people hurt.
Much later that night, he lay next to Milo, both of them breathing a touch hard and wallowing in afterglow.
The window was open, so the sea breeze floated over their skin, cooling the sweat that had built.
A single mage light hovered next to the bed, the lighting soft and mellow, suiting Rowan’s mood perfectly.
Making love with Milo slowly grew more addictive with each round.
Rowan wasn’t sure if he was just learning more how to please this man or if his heart was slowly falling for him. Could be both.
There was a lot to love with Milo.