Seeming to realize that, Shafiq pulled Ender back into his embrace, gentle words falling over Ender as he clung tightly, shaking and crying. He barely noticed when he was moved, laid down on the world's softest bed, exhaustion dragging him down immediately.
When he woke, he felt sore, grimy, and utterly confused.
Oh, gods. He'd cried all over Shafiq.
Pushing away the soft blankets covering him, cringing at the dirt and sand he'd left all over them, he climbed out and pushed to his feet.
This was not his room. This was most definitely Shafiq's chambers. If the spacious, beautifully appointed bedroom wasn't enough to give that away, the luxurious gardens he could see from here, the fountains and pools keeping the chambers cool, definitely were.
"You're awake!"
Ender looked up sharply, confusion turning into low-level panic as he stared at Nadir and everything that had happened before his kidnapping, the conversation with Berkant after their reunion, crashed down on him. "You—"
"It's all right!" Nadir rushed in, grasping his arms and pulling him close. "Ender, please, you don't have to run."
Laughing-crying, Ender just kept trying to break free. "Yes, I do. I shouldn't—" He froze as Nadir cupped his face with one hand. "Nadir…"
"Breathe, little star."
That was an endearment Ender had heard many times, but never addressed to him. "I thought I was a meerkat."
Nadir laughed as he looped their arms together and led Ender through an archway to a beautiful bathing chamber. "Oh, you are, never doubt it. Come on, I'm sure you'd like to scrub away all that dust. Gods knows after I got home aftermykidnapping—"
"I'm concerned that seems a continuing theme around here."
"Not as concerned as Shafiq and the poor royal guards suffering his wrath. I had quite the, um, adventure that I hope to never repeat," Nadir said, mouth twisting. "Come on, let's get you scrubbed and in the bath, and I'll tell you all about it."
"I cannot wait to be clean." He didn't even want to think about the filthy bedding he'd left behind. When they reached the washing area, he immediately set to scrubbing, until his skin practically squeaked and his hair was smooth and free of tangles. Satisfied with that, he slid into the blissfully hot water, only barely biting back a moan. "This is divine." The water even smelled nice, instead simply of the usual minerals that gave Tavamara's famous bathwaters their unique scent.
Sitting there with his eyes closed just soaking up the heat, he could almost ignore all the tumult still roiling his stomach, the fact that he could reach out and touch his twin brother, that he was in the king's chambers…and so many other things that were way past too much for a humble scholar born to—well, raised by—carpenters who had no business even being in the royal place.
Soft splashing drew his attention, and he dragged his eyes open, resigned to the conversation he needed to have with the brother he did not have remotely brotherly feelings for.
"Got you a dressing robe for whenever you're finished," Nadir said. "It's one of mine, actually. Though it might fit."
Ender laughed despite himself, and heaved out of the tub, even though he could have lingered there forever. This wasn't, however, a discussion he wanted to have naked. He took the robe and slipped it on while Nadir looked politely away, then followed him to where tea and food had been arranged.
When he'd had some of the food and drink, Ender tentatively asked, "Why were you kidnapped?"
"Same reason as you: to hurt Shafiq, to interfere with his effort to stop people trading in children," Nadir replied, and related the story of his parents who were not his parents, the scandal of their trafficking, and his own kidnapping. "As you have seen firsthand, being a concubine is not entirely the soft, cushy life that everyone imagines. We will always be at risk of kidnapping, assassination, and more—and you and I will always be the target of whispers and rumors, as to the outside world we are twin brothers."
He could not be implying what it seemed. Then again, Ender was here, alone with a concubine, in Shafiq's private quarters. "I—I don't know why anyone isn't horrified by me. By what I feel. Especially you," he added, looking down at his hands.
Gentle fingers touched his chin, nudged his face up, and as Ender did so, soft lips pressed against his in a sweet, barely there kiss that burned through him like fire. "Nadir…" he said as Nadir drew back only barely.
"Why should I see you as a brother when we are strangers, hmm? We were not raised as siblings, why should we act like something we never were and have no reason to be?"
Ender's heart pounded in his ears. "Nadir."
"Kiss me again, and let us be lovers rather than brothers."
How was he supposed to say no to such a pretty request that gave him everything he wanted? Ender obeyed, closing the distance between them to kiss him with far more heat, gentle atfirst as they learned each other but with increasing fervor, until Nadir had him half-bent over the low table and they were both panting.
Nadir smiled. "I think this will work nicely. Especially once Shafiq and Berkant join us, hmm?" He laughed and withdrew, letting Ender sit up. "Which reminds me, there is a question in want of asking, even if the answer is obvious?"
Ender licked his lips. "Entirely obvious."
Laughing, Nadir pushed to his feet and strode off, vanishing behind a large tapestry that clearly was not simply covering a bit of wall.
