Page 18 of The Moon Blessed King
‘Yes. Don’t expect much. They’re in the worst part of the palace.’
‘They are quite out of the way.’
‘Yes,’ Elician murmurs. ‘Isolated from all the rest of the world.’ He leans forward, pressing his brow to the cool stone wall at the window. ‘You should get some sleep. It’s late.’
Cat slides his chair back into place behind his desk. He tidies mindlessly, little things here or there. Elician’s back grows more tense the longer he takes. Cat glances at the door. Closed when they’re both in here together but always left open whenever Elician is alone. ‘May I stay?’ Cat asks.
Elician’s eyes drift to the door and back. ‘Do whatever you like,’ he replies hoarsely.
‘I’d like to stay with you.’
‘Why? It isn’t comfortable.’
‘That’s all right. There are worse places to be.’
‘Yes. There are.’
Cat returns to the couch. He sits down and holds out his hand. For several long moments, Elician does nothing but look at him. Then, he crosses the room and tugs each of Cat’s fingers one by one from the glove until he can peel the whole garment free. He does the same for Cat’s other hand. He kneels at Cat’s feet, undoing his boots and setting them off to the left. He toes off his own too before slumping on the couch beside him.
Cat closes his eyes. He breathes deep. Elician sits far too rigid for far too long. But before the birds begin to sing their morning song, before the sun indeed rises in the west, that tension fades. Elician’s head slides towards Cat’s shoulder; his body turns, seeking something more, his arm curling around Cat’s waist.
As a child, Cat was tempted by the thought of sleeping in the arms of another. He spent years wishing he could be with Brielle in her cage, or with Cieli in hers. Wishing he could curl up against them and disappear within their bones, so pain could never find him.
Elician holds him tight. His heart beats in shocking tandem with Cat’s own, strong enough to be felt through the thin layers of their clothes. It is both everything he dreamed of and not the same at all. For while Elician clings to him, covers him, hides him from the world, Cat is all too aware of the fact that he is doing the same for Elician. And neither can quite manage to smother the other entirely out of existence. They can only lie in each other’s arms and brave another night at each other’s sides.
‘You’re not alone,’ Cat murmurs into Elician’s hair.
But Elician is finally asleep, and he doesn’t hear.
CHAPTER SIX
Fenlia
As a junior council member, Fen does nothaveto be the one to wake Elician up in the mornings. As his sister, she decides it is her prerogative anyway. She relishes the chance to bother him, and in the month since they first arrived in Himmelsheim, she has taken it as her solemn duty to do just that. Each day she checks to see if he ever made it to the King’s suite, but when she discovers his absence, she fetches the ceremonial clothes that were delivered there the day before and relocates to Elician’s office.
Lio is standing in position at the door already, and he gives her a short nod as she approaches. He almost looks like he did when she saw him in Kreuzfurt last. He has regained much of his muscle, no doubt assisted by Zinnitzia, and his many days of training with the palace guard seem to have done wonders for his posture. He is a picturesque statue blocking her entrance with no clear indication that he will let her pass. It isalwaysa challenge to move him. She much prefers when someone else is on morning rotations.
‘Lio,’ she starts, holding up the clothes as evidence of her purpose. ‘I’m to fetch them for breakfast.’
‘There’s time yet, still,’ he says without even batting an eye. He probably has all his rebuttals memorized. They probably teachrebuttals in guard school or whatever specialty training classes he went through growing up. She’s never asked. She’s never cared. Until now.
‘Adalei told me to get them there before sixth bell.’
‘The crown princess will have to learn to live with the disappointment, won’t she?’ Lio says with no small amount of cheek. ‘Unless, of course, Her Grace knows full well that breakfast starts atseventhbell and would only be expecting them at that time and not a moment earlier, because even she herself will not have entered the room to notice their absence at the sixth.’ Fen winces, caught in the lie. It was a stretch. A hope that Lio may not wish to disappoint Adalei and let Fen through just to satisfy his allegiance to her. But it had one very obvious flaw in retrospect: Lio knows Adalei’s schedule almost as well as he knows Elician’s.
‘When will you let me in?’ Fen mutters, hugging the clothes close and probably wrinkling them in the process. She wants to talk to them. Spend time with them. Do something that isn’t constant running back and forth from an endless list of tasks that never seems close to completion. The early morning is the only time she has for that. Everyone else will be clamouring for their attention afterwards, and she knows full well she is not their priority.
Lio lowers his voice, bleeding the tension from each place a barb might have hurt the worst. ‘Give it an hour, Fen. It was a late night.’ He motions for a bench down the hall, and she takes it, thoughts spinning in ever-increasing swells of anxiety and concern in the process.
It’s been a month. A month, and Elician still spends every night in his office with Cat almost always there at his side. She’s walked in on them in any number of positions. Slumped on their desks, curled up on the couch. More than a few times they were even on the floor, surrounded by paperwork that had been spread out in endless stacks that seemed to hold no logic or understanding except to them. She’s heard every single excuse on why their efforts are so incrediblynecessary. And she’s heard nearly twice as many rumours amongst the people at court as to what is so important that Elician spends every night trying to put it right.
By the time Lio actually steps aside and lets her knock on the office door, she wishes she could see some kind of clear explanation for herself. But she sees and knows nothing more than all the people whispering in the palace corners.
Elician and Cat are sprawled on the couch, Elician’s body covering most of Cat’s, his head to Cat’s chest, his arms holding Cat close. Their bare skin is touching. They could be far more protected in the King’s suite. But sometimes, Fen thinks he wants to be discovered.
‘Good morning,’ Fen calls out as loud as she can without screaming. She keeps her tone bright and cheery. Both flinch at the sound, and she presses onwards. ‘It’s another busy day today!’
‘Fen, for gods’ sakes…’ Elician mutters, leveraging himself off Cat’s hip so he can stand.
