The tea had soothed Zelli’s throat, although he didn’t feel any other effects yet. “I mean,” Zelli went on, “should I have thanked you more? Or do you feel you should have gotten to enjoy yourself more? I know others have treated you badly. Maybe not in your morning-afters, but perhaps in general? Which could affect morning-afters. I don’t want you to feel as though I used you. You did offer,” Zelli reminded him, peering up in question.
Tahlen worked his jaw. “Zelli.” He worked his jaw again. “I shouldn’t have accused you of thinking better of me only once you learned my family name. That I did was because you’re right; others had. I didn’t think it bothered me as much as it did.” Tahlen took another moment. “When Esrin and I were first looking for what to do, Morry, our guard, suggested we conceal our family name or choose another. We didn’t because it wasours. It was what we had left. But hearing it makes most people look at me differently. Even you.” He met Zelli’s gaze squarely. “Although, with you it wasn’t about sudden respect.”
“I’ve always respected you.” Zelli thought that was more than obvious. “Everyone does after knowing you even just a short while. You’re incredible. In general,” he added through his blush, “and not only for how you made me feel. Much of the night is like a dream, but I know I felt good.Sogood. Thank you.”
Tahlen took a further step into the room. “You were pleased?”
“Oh, Tahlen.” Zelli inched closer to him, reaching out without touching. “Pleasedisn’t the word. But I can’t think about it now or….” He shivered. “We’re leaving soon, so Ishouldn’tthink about it.” He suspected he would anyway.
Tahlen inclined his head, eyes very bright. “Would it help for me to touch you again now, or should we wait?”
Zelli could not breathe with the memory of Tahlen’s hands on him. “I have no idea,” he admitted honestly. “I’ve never done this before. I want you to, but perhaps then we wouldn’t leave at all. From what I remember, once you touched me, all I wanted was you inside me.”
Tahlen inhaled deeply. “I can still do your hair.”
“I’m afraid all the oil is gone.” Zelli stared at him raptly, watching Tahlen lick his lips at the reminder and feeling decidedly hotter than he had a moment before. “It won’t even hold a simple braid now, except maybe for you.”
“Everyone will see all your colors?” Tahlen carefully drew his fingers through Zelli’s hair. Even barely combed and with no oil to smooth it down, Zelli’s hair refused to tangle for him.
Zelli raised his chin, but only because Tahlen was closer now. “Do you think they’ll mind?”
Tahlen shook his head slowly. “They’ll wish their hair was a sunset too.”
Zelli pursed his lips, but it felt silly to object. “It’s not like yours, which is brown yet shines like gold.” He sighed at the remembered beauty of it. “And so sleek. It would never dare knot. The first time I saw it down, I had to fight not to reach out and touch it.”
The first time he’d seen it down had been in Tahlen’s room only a few days ago, when he’d assumed Tahlen had disliked him.
Tahlen bent his head, which seemed to be an invitation for Zelli to touch his hair now. Zelli took hold of the fattest part of the braid and let it slide through his fingers. When he went to do it again, he stopped. There was a tiny braid behind Tahlen’s ear, woven into the rest of design.
Tahlen had deliberately put Zelli’s braid back into his hair. “You never told me the meaning.”
Nasturtium trailing from a battlement.Zelli licked one of the points of his teeth. “It means Mizel Tialttyrin was once permitted to touch Tahlen Vallithi.”
“Only once?” Tahlen asked, watching Zelli from the corner of his eye as Zelli stroked the little braid and then the spot beneath Tahlen’s ear.
The sound in Zelli’s throat was a growl though he tried to turn it into a huff. “If I am careful,” he began, avoiding Tahlen’s eye, “I should be able to at least somewhat use my mouth on you. Someday. If you’d like.” He had ideas, spurred largely by fevered memories of Tahlen’s mouth, and Tahlen should know it.
Tahlen took Zelli’s hand but did nothing more than hold it. “Are you trying not to think of it now?”
Zelli nodded sadly. He was doing a terrible job, which Tahlen could clearly tell. “Is it always like this, or is this my lust-fever returning?”
“We should find out before we leave,” Tahlen said, serious and grave, then pulled Zelli close and snuck his hand efficiently into Zelli’s clothing to tug Zelli’s cock until Zelli was gasping and spilling over Tahlen’s wrist. Then Tahlen backed Zelli into the bed and brought him off again, using his mouth and keeping Zelli unfairly pinned down so Zelli couldn’t touch him.
Tahlen’s braid was pristine when he finally let Zelli up. Zelli, flushed, sweaty, dazed, let himself be straightened, then took Tahlen’s hand and bit it.
Tahlen, his cheeks a few shades darker, his breath coming faster, let him.
The staff of the inn were the only ones present when Zelli finally followed Tahlen’s sure path down the stairs and through the main room. Mayor Sar was awake. She greeted Zelli warmly but gave Tahlen a frostier look. Tahlen paused to talk to her despite that, speaking of horses, so Zelli stopped next to him.
His face and hands were chilled. He was hot beneath his layers. His thoughts were still on his bed and the sport which had occurred there. As a Tialttyrin, he ought to do better, so he tried to smile for the mayor. He froze when she returned it and then put her arms around him, but he found he didn’t mind the embrace.
“Zelli,” he requested she call him, surprised he hadn’t already, and after she accepted, stepped around her and Tahlen so they could resume their discussion. The mayor’s disapproval of Tahlen returned.
The kitchens were warm and seemed to be bustling. Zelli went to the front of the inn and stepped outside.
The former guards of the Lyralinah milled around in the foggy street, muttering to themselves and adjusting the saddles and reins of the horses Tahlen must have arranged for them. The sun had not properly risen but the sky was starting to lighten. Lanterns had been hung for them above the inn’s entrance.
Vint noticed Zelli first, pausing in his tasks. The others followed shortly thereafter. Fy’s eyebrows were raised high.
