As for the braying jackass in front of him, no matter how many times he kept insisting he wanted the Balylithan histories from before the time of the first ruler, Tiiran couldn’t help him.
“There was no Balylithan family before the time of the first ruler,” Tiiran explained, bringing his gaze up to meet the noble’s imperious stare. It got noticeably less imperious when Tiiran stared back with his eyebrows raised. “Do you not know that names of four beats did not even come into the official records untilafterthe first ruler took power?”
“Perhaps,” Nikoly cut in, suddenly there next to Tiiran, tall and broad-shouldered and calm, when he should have been at a desk, “you are seeking the earliest information about that family? Or maybe about their ancestors, such as the Bal or the Lith? If so, I’d be happy to help you narrow your search.”
He smiled.
The pompous lobcock before them turned fully toward Nikoly, looking a little dazzled.
Tiiran let his shoulders drop and crossed his arms. Nobles were supposed to study the histories of other nobles; Tiiran had no idea why, but they were. They loved to come into the library and reference events and people from the past and then be surprised when the librarians knew precisely who and what they were talking about as most other commoners did not. The librarians often even knew it better.
Nikoly’s tone was kinder than Tiiran’s had been, but he was hardly complimenting the man either, pointing out his ignorance like that. But now, of course, the noble was practically blushing and letting Nikoly guide the conversation instead of sneering at Tiiran.
“Itiscomplicated,” Nikoly agreed with whatever the noble had said, leaning in ever so much closer to turn the pale twit an even darker shade of pink. “Because the earliest records are much sparser, we have to rely on the later descendants of those families and what they wrote. And what the Vallithi thought of the Lith and what the Balylithan, as one example, thought of them, can be quite different. Maybe you’d like to look at the earliest records of the Balylithan that we do have and go from there?”
“A marvelous idea,” the noble answered, so breathless that Tiiran scoffed.
Nikoly pointedly nudged the stool Tiiran sat on, though his attention stayed on the noble as he handed him a pencil and paper for his information so Nikoly could see what was available and inform him when it was ready without the noble having to wait.
“I’m not staying in the palace,” the noble, Reese Finnaltultin, if Tiiran interpreted his upside-down handwriting correctly, stopped after handing Nikoly the paper. “You may find me in the capital,” Reese added, bobbing his head like a bashful guard on his first assignment in the library before hurrying out.
Tiiran flattened his mouth but waited until the library doors had closed before snatching the paper from Nikoly’s hand.
Nikoly was watching Tiiran intently when Tiiran finally looked up from the Finnaltultin’s loopy writing, in which the useless noble happened to have informed Nikoly that he was home alone in the afternoons.
“I’ll send a palace runner with the information,” Nikoly said before Tiiran had even opened his mouth.
Tiiran shoved the note back at him. “It’s none of my business how you handle a request as long as it gets done. You don’t answer to me.” He didn’t know why he kept talking or why his voice kept getting sharper. “If you did, I’d say you could do better than a supercilious shithead who didn’t even ask your name.”
“Oh.” Nikoly gazed down at him, hotter than the sun. “Who would be better for me then?”
With difficulty, Tiiran looked away from the very pretty sight of him. “Any outguard in here would serve you well. Or so I hear.” That last bit was a barely audible growl. Tiiran reached up to deal with his loosening knot of hair, then gave up and yanked out the wooden pin, sending his hair tumbling down into his face and around his ears.
“Honey,” Nikoly exhaled, so quietly Tiiran wasn’t sure he’d heard right.
He gathered his hair back up, twisted it, then shoved the pin back in. Several end strands popped out, but it wasn’t as if Tiiran had expected it to look good.
“But thank you,” Tiiran told him. “For dealing with him. That took much less time than it would have if I’d done it.”
Nikoly’s gaze returned to Tiiran’s face. “He interrupted you and he wasn’t polite. That was quite the sting you gave him.” He sighed mournfully.
Tiiran pushed his confusion to the side for now. “If we didn’t have to rely on one piss-stain of a Master Keeper,” who still had not shown up for the day, “and if we actually had a Head of House for the palace, I wouldn’t be working while answering questions at the desk. That’s all.”
“I could do it for you.”
Tiiran placed both hands on the top of the desk and looked into Nikoly’s eyes until he realized that was all he was doing—sitting there, gazing at Nikoly. For a moment, Nikoly had been as earnest as Mattin and it was equally lovely on him. Maybe even lovelier, because Tiiran had never wondered if Mattin would still look like that with Tiiran’s seed all over his face.
Thankfully, Nikoly had no interest in Tiiran, or in Tiiran’s cock being anywhere near his face, and would probably laugh if Tiiran let any of his thoughts show.
Tiiran swallowed before glancing away. “Are you teasing me because I’m not the best at talking to people?”
Even Orin would have laughed at that choice of words. ‘Not the best.’
Nikoly blinked several times, then gave a slight shake of his head while frowning. “I’m offering, Tiiran. I’vebeenoffering. Did you think it was teasing this whole time?”
“Oh.” Tiiran glanced around but couldn’t focus on one thing long enough to avoid looking back up at Nikoly. “Yes. I thought that. Obviously.”
“Obviously?” Nikoly was still frowning.
