He still had not crossed over the threshold, Robin noticed.
“It stopped raining.” Lucas got around to the second question. “One of my cousins who doesn’t drink offered to give me a ride here before it started again.”
“How did they know you wanted to be here?” Robin was nearly breathless. “Spiders didn’t land on all of them too.”
“I spilled wine on my sleeve, and I set aside a piece of cake and a plate of food to take to you on the stairs as if you were with me. The candles burned too high and the fire too hot.” Lucas didn’t seem embarrassed by this. He was proud, if anything. “They thought it was funny.”
“I did—do—want you here!” Robin assured him quickly. “I mean, not just here, buthere.” He patted the cushion he was sitting on, though it wasn’t big enough for two. “I was going to text you but I couldn’t figure out what to say, and then I thoughtit would be…. Oh, all my worrying, and you went and saw an omen anyway.”
Or possibly had just made up a reason.
Robin decided he didn’t care which it was. He reached out. “Come down here. Wait—bring a cushion.”
Lucas’ patiently bemused expression was familiar, but he went to the couch for a cushion, fully ignored by his familiar and her mate, who were close together and grooming each other as if to make up for their time apart.
He dropped the cushion next to Robin when Robin shifted some of the blankets to make room, then removed his boots, coat, and scarf before sitting down.
His cheeks seemed a touch darker. His smile was not quite hidden. A Greysmith, or several of them, had definitely offered their mystic some Yuletide refreshment, and Lucas hadn’t spilled it all on his sleeve.
Lucas looked at the room again. “Did the couch need bossing around too?”
Of all the questions.
His shoulders were loose. He was a sight like this, relaxed enough to tease.
“Yes,” Robin answered smartly. “Shush. It was important. How much did you have to drink?” He reached out to cup Lucas’ cheek so he could better study the shine in his eye. “Did you fill up on sweets?”
“Enough. And I thought so, but I brought some of those back with me for you. They’re in the hall. How much didyouhave?”
Robin could feel Lucas’ smile forming and smiled back at him for it. “Too much. I don’t usually, you know.” Robin was moreinterested in Lucas’ day. “So, no dancing, but you had some fun? That’s good. I wanted you to.”
“You thought about me.” There was nothing secretive about Lucas’ cheer now. Or maybe it was pleasure. “What else did you do today?”
“Oh, well.” Robin took his hand away from Lucas’ face to wave vaguely at Flax. “You left a bird here, by the way. And he refused to let me do anything except cook. I had leftovers and artichoke puffs, which you are welcome to if the dairy isn’t too much. I took a nap and I had…. I thought about things.”
“And you decided to bring a spinning wheel in here?” Lucas reached around Robin to pick up each cup and examine the contents. “I can tell from the other baskets in here that this was sometimes a workroom, but I could’ve brought it in, if you’d waited.”
“I can lift a spinning wheel, Lucas.” Robin put his chin in the air, but only for a moment. “I am still resting, you see,” he confided, and felt like he should be whispering and also that he wasn’t. “This is…. It’s…. It shouldn’t only be the workroom for me. And it’s time to… to draw, if that makes sense to you. For new thread and a new project, and… I can put it back after Yule is over, anyway.”
“But you didn’t do anything today?” It was the gentlest of prompts.
Robin shook his head. “I did so much today. I did nothing. It was exhausting. Here.” He handed Lucas the mug of wine and then picked up his tea. “I realized what I will do to remember them.” He did whisper that, holding onto his cup with both hands. “And my sacrifice for the year. I will give them away to keep them with me. My family, I mean. Their work. I will give them to your family and a few others, which my familywould like. And then, I will sell some of the rest. Their work,” he elaborated again when Lucas raised an eyebrow. “I will give away some pieces and sell some of the rest, so that I can have time to recover. Anything else, I can give away to those who need it. This house has so many blankets, for one thing. So many. They would like that too. And the others approve. I asked them.” Not in so many words, but they’d understood.
“Ah,” Lucas sighed it. “You have been busy.”
“Yes.” Robin’s tea was cold but he drank it regardless. “And I will spin something for you and make it throughout this new year, if you don’t mind.”
“The wheel is here for me?” Lucas asked with surprise, as if Robin hadn’t just said that. “I don’t mind.”
Robin put his empty cup down as far away from himself as he could without straining. “Did you want to learn any of it? You came here once to learn something about the business, didn’t you?” he continued, because Lucas looked confused. “You must’ve had something in mind then.”
Lucas stared at Robin for a good, long while before throwing back the last of the wine. He held onto the cup. “You mean, when we were younger? Blessing, I came here that summer to help out and because I wanted to see how some parts of the business worked. But also because I had feelings for you and I suspect my mother knew and arranged the whole thing. She has a meddling streak.”
Robin scoffed. “You don’t say.” He was about to comment more on Mallory’s meddling “streak” when the rest of the words and Lucas’ stare hit him. “What?” Robin glanced wildly about the room but not a shade or shadow was to be seen. “But… I thought that was why my family invited you here. I mean, not your crush. I meant mine. Which I don’t think I gave away to them onpurpose, but I must have donesomething. And I had told them about me that spring, and looking back, I realized…. Oh.” Robin wanted to be irritated at the light in Lucas’ eye but he couldn’t manage it. “We didn’t do much with it, did we?”
It was no wonder his long-dead relatives had rattled the house when he’d invited Lucas into his bedroom; Robin could have done it over ten years ago.
“Well,” Robin remarked and then couldn’t think of anything else to say.
