Rupert felt...he didn’t know how he felt, and that was really weird. But he didn’t like seeing his husband, who was still essentially a stranger, but his husband, nonetheless, go through so much pain.
Winter would be fine within twenty-four hours. The red marks on that very attractive torso were already receding. But for some reason, instead of making his excuses and heading for bed, like a sensible person would do, Rupert found himself unwilling to leave the quiet calm of Winter’s bedchamber.
There might have been a few sexy thoughts involved, but they were quickly squashed as Winter writhed and gritted his teeth for the umpteenth time. The treatment for shetherin would do that to a person.
Rupert had ordered some coffee and had loosened the top buttons of his robe, but apart from that, he was still fullydressed. “You know, now would be a good time to tell me some of your secrets,” he suggested, because Winter was clearly not going to be able to sleep either as the tonic moved through his system.
“I thought I said I would do that when I healed.” Winter chuckled and then groaned again. “Damn, I think sometimes the treatment is worse than getting the darn infection in the first place. But at least I can feel it’s working. I suppose that’s a positive.”
“Tell me where you were when you encountered this animal that gored you.” Rupert could take the side road around to finding out something - anything. He couldn’t help it. He just wanted to know.
He’d been thinking about when he’d come back to the castle from the hunt. In particular, how Winter had greeted him in a sleep robe. Now he knew why. Clearly, Winter was not somebody who usually stayed in bed until lunchtime. He’d already been injured by the time Rupert got back to the castle. But by what? How? Where had he been? Had he gone hunting something by himself, and if so, again, why? Rupert even wondered if Winter would have incurred the wound if he had stayed at the castle after their wedding instead of going off hunting.
“The creature is not a native to Simigile,” Winter explained slowly. “This is why I don’t believe you’d believe me if I told you what it was.”
“There’re a lot of believes in that sentence," Rupert said. “I’m sure I said to you at some point earlier tonight - I’m sure I did - that I prefer blunt speaking. I realize I act like an ass and as if I haven’t got two brain cells to rub together, but I have apologized for that. Given the chance, I can prove to be quite intelligent.”
“I wasn’t questioning your intelligence, Rupert dear. I do believe from what I’ve seen and heard that you simply lack a few social cues, and that’s not a reflection of your intelligence. For example, I understand you upset King Consort Jax of Monce a while ago, sending him inappropriate gifts, so I heard.”
Rupert felt his face heat up.My husband is distracting me, so he doesn’t have to answer my questions.But now he could see that, Rupert accepted it and decided a straight answer was called for.
“That was Tristan’s advice. All right, admittedly, the garters weren’t, but I was trying to be practical. A man needs something to keep his... stockings up? I don’t know. I don’t wear garters. I just saw them in the shop, and I thought they were a good idea at the time.”
“Garters are a very personal gift.” Winter didn’t seem surprised. “Any item of underclothing is.”
“I thought they’d be a practical gift. I would have also thought that if somebody sent another a keepsake to wear on their person, wasn’t that a romantic thing to do?”
“Ah,” Winter said. “I didn’t hear what gifts you had sent exactly, only that they weren’t favorably received. But yes, in those situations, if you were courting, they would probably be considered acceptable gifts. But you had already taken back your marriage contract for Prince Jaq, hadn’t you? So why did you send them, Rupert dear? You mentioned my being blunt. I would hope that would apply to things you say to me.”
Rupert was hardly going to admit his infatuation with another man’s husband to his own husband. There was a difference between being blunt and being rude. Even Rupert understood the difference, although it wasn’t often he cared. Like now. “I genuinely thought if I sent him gifts, he’d forget that I took away the marriage contract. I didn’t realize he didn’t like hunting.Tristan hadn’t told me that. That first date I was supposed to have with Prince Jaq was Tristan’s idea.
“And he told me.” Rupert pointed at Winter as he remembered another valid point, wagging his finger. “Tristan told me back in my room at Middlethorp, before I left to come home to the castle. He told me that he had set that date up that way because he believed that Prince Jaq should understand who I am and what I like to do. But surely, I’m more than just a person who hunts all the time? I only do that because nobody gives me anything else to do.”
Winter seemed surprised by his outburst, but for Rupert, it was like somebody had lanced a nasty boil on the side of his neck and everything just came pouring out. “I admit, I don’t understand why people do the things they do,” he said. “I’m not proud of that, but I’ve adapted.
“I keep doing the things that I’m doing because those are the things that I get praise for. I’m a good hunter. I can ride my horse. I’m good at that. I dance beautifully. I can...” Rupert quickly amended what he was going to say. “Do other things with people that don’t need to be discussed here, but there are things I’m good at apart from hunting,” he finished quickly.
“But this rigmarole about courting somebody, following rules I don’t understand. Even having somebody close to me for more than an hour or so - my friends were never that close to me, no matter what Tristan said.
“He was rarely ever in my bedchamber, and only then it was usually just to give me advice or pass on messages, but that was all. I just, I fear…”Shit, am I actually going to say it?Rupert was feeling reckless. “I fear I’m not a very good crown prince, and when that is found out, then I’ll have let my father down.I’m terrified of doing that, especially now he’s going to leave me, too.”
Winter was quiet for a moment and Rupert wondered whether or not his husband was thinking about annulling their marriage. In a way, Rupert wouldn’t blame him. For all that he sailed through life determined to be confident and as loud-mouthed as his friends, there was a deep part inside of Rupert that genuinely wished that somebody would care about him…the way his mother had done and more.
Tristan had been right, in a way, when he arranged the date with Prince Jaq, who hadn’t shown up. Yes, Rupert could have shown Jaq how good he was at hunting, but in hindsight, Jaq wouldn’t have learned much else about him. There was a huge part of who Rupert was that his friends didn’t see.
Quiet music. Good books – not the heavy policy stuff, because they did give him a headache. But Rupert loved to read stories of dashing heroes who went off and found new lands and did amazing things. There were a lot of parts to him that his friends never saw, because if he ever so much as mentioned it once, he was so sure they would laugh at him. So Rupert had kept himself to himself.
Until now. In Winter’s bedchamber, knowing that Winter had secrets he was going to share eventually, Rupert felt that it was only right that Winter understand who he was.
Winter winced and groaned again, turning slightly on his side as another wave of pain racked through his body. Rupert knew that would happen for at least another hour or so.
“Can I get you some water? Juice? A coffee? Something else?”
“That’s sweet of you to offer,” Winter said, reaching out with his other hand. Rupert took it, resting their joined hands on the bed.
“I think both of us might have been under a few misconceptions about each other,” Winter said softly. “I, obviously, did my research on you before I signed the marriage contract. But all I ever heard about you concerned your public facing persona. And I imagine the same could be said about what you might have learned about me.”
Rupert nodded. Truth be told, he hadn’t done a lot of research at all. What he knew about Winter could be scribbled on the back of a napkin. But he was keen to learn, and that had to stand for something.
