He looked wanted.
But there was no one and no thing in the woods around him, save the birds and the deer. Martin’s stomach rumbled, which was only another reminder that he had been foolish to storm out here last night. He hadn’t even brought a cloak for warmth, much less food, and he hadn’t told anyone where he was going.
He looked around again, but he remained alone. So, he finally washed and redressed through his shivers before heading toward the path that would lead him back to town. He walked slowly, dragging his feet, until he reached the path and the new growth of shy pansies peeking out from between the rocks.
“Oh,” Martin breathed the word.
The wide, flustered smile only left his face when he reached the well-tended start of the path into town.
THE TOWN was still in a state about the dragons. Martin’s mother was furious with him for staying out, saying he would have lost his chance to win a dragon if an envoy from the palace had come to town. She had said last night that no dragon would want him, which Martin had reminded her of, and she had chastised him for talking back and then marched from the house to go join the others in their arguments over who to offer to the royal family.
Martin tidied up and went to bed, where he did not sleep though the mattress was soft and giving. He was busy the next day, finishing projects that he had left sitting since last winter. He stayed occupied the day after that, cooking and baking with one eye out the window, looking toward the trees, until his mother had asked if he really thought sweet breads would be good enough to catch a dragon’s eye and make them overlook the rest of him.
Martin breathed deeply and said the breads were for Alyce, and then early the next morning, after leaving his mother’s house in order, he put on his big brown cloak, hefted the basket over his arm, and walked out into the woods.
It had been two days. In that time, mist had dampened the ground and left tiny pools in the animal tracks that crossed the path.
Martin had a knot in his stomach that not even streams of sunlight could banish, and it only grew worse as he got farther and farther from town and there were no flowers along the path, and no shapes hiding among the trees.
He stopped when he reached the point where he had to choose a direction, to Alyce or to Joseph or to keep going until he was in the mountains.
Or to turn back.
He trembled at the idea. He had not left his mother’s house with no intention to return, not deliberately, not as more than a suggestion in the back of his mind. But he knew now that he had, because he was suddenly very certain that he could not take one more day with her. He could venture to Alyce’s, or Joseph’s, and only visit these woods, or he could stay here as another oddity, but he could not go back.
His knees went weak even before the harrowing, metallic scream carried through the forest. Martin sank down in the middle of the path when that sound echoed around him once again, then exhaled in relief when it was followed by stomping footsteps, only to gape when two of the largest elk he had ever seen emerged from the greenery.
They moved slowly, peering at him with nothing more than mild curiosity. Martin stared at the male for several long moments as he realizedthatwas the source of the rusty screeching sound. He barely had time to blush in embarrassment before the creature itself followed the elk out of the trees, making no noise as it approached the path.
It hadn’t made noise when it had found Martin at the tree, almost as if the heavy footsteps were its way of announcing itself. It was also completely naked, as Martin had predicted, with some dirt on its feet and ankles that Martin tried to focus on instead of the rest of the tanned body on display. But then he looked up, and, while the remembered feel of that cock made him shiver, it was catching sight of the creature’s face that stole his breath.
It was much too handsome for Martin, Martin recognized with immediate dismay. It had a strong jaw and deep blue eyes, powerful, curling antlers surrounded by glossy curls only made more beautiful by the leaves in them. There was no way someone so lovely would want Martin.
The creature stopped in front of him, unconcerned with red marks or white rocks, exactly as Martin had suspected.
Martin pushed the basket forward and upward without raising his head, because he was a fool. “I brought you this. My best, um, tarts and breads. Which I like to make, though I am not the greatest….” He stopped when the creature bent down to take the basket and to tip Martin’s chin up.
That curious, hungry gaze made himache. “I’ll always be the wrong one,” Martin explained quietly. “I’ll end up living out here somewhere like Alyce. In a house, you see, for I am human and I like one. I also like to make sturdy fare and sweet foods, and have a fire, sometimes. On cold nights.” It was presumptuous of him to say these things, but he thought he would still stay out here if the creature did not want him. “My mother will protest, but I have no value to her except as something to wound, and I would rather be at your tree than with her, if you will allow it.”
Silence answered that, though the creature did not look away. One of the elks bent down to sniff at the basket and Martin focused on it desperately. He reached over to open the basket and offer it something, and the elk sneezed.
Martin startled and fell backwards. From above him came a strange sound, like laughter, and Martin blinked up in surprise at the sight of the creature smiling. It was amused at Martin, but so were most people. That shouldn’t have hurt. But it did, a little.
The other elk nosed at Martin’s hair before the creature leaned down to offer Martin a hand. The creature had a nice smile, and a nice laugh, and it pulled Martin to his feet without that smile fading. It had witnessed Martin in more embarrassing situations, especially if it had watched him come and go from these woods for years. Yet it was still here, Martin’s basket on one arm, holding Martin’s hand.
Martin smiled back, all his hurt feelings melting away as if he was standing in pure sunshine.
“Martin,” he said, patting his chest. Then he waited.
“Martin,” echoed the creature, watching Martin intently and with unbelievable pleasure, as if the curiosity and hunger were all for Martin.
Its gaze now made Martin blush. “I’mMartin. What do I call you?”
Tipping his head to the side, the creature made a series of sounds that Martin did not think he could repeat. Then it frowned and tried again, only pronouncing the last few syllables. “Iyan.”
“Iyan,” Martin repeated in awe, both for the name and the smile he got for saying it. “Iyan, did you… understand any part of what I just said? Should I take it back, or….” He was kissed before he could finish, and swayed toward Iyan when Iyan pulled back. “Mmm.” Martin approved dazedly. “Should I call youhe? I wasn’t sure if you wanted that, or if that is too human, or not what you feel is….” Iyan kissed him again, softer, but lingering. It didn’t seem to disapprove of being called he, and if that changed, Martin had no complaints. “Will you take me to your tree?” Martin asked at last, breathless after so much kissing.
Iyan stepped back toward the trees, watching him, smiling when Martin took the hand he offered. He could have led Martin anywhere, but Martin thought they were headed to their oak. He did not object. He could think of many things to do beneath that magnificent tree on a day like today.
