Lord of the White Hell book Two lotwh-2 (13 page)

Then the woman leading the musicians announced that they would play the quaressa and music filled the air. Kiram concentrated on the footwork that Fedeles had shown him. Left foot out, back, and then a little kick. He was a taken off guard as Hashiem slid his arm around his back and pulled him so close that their faces almost touched.

"There is no need to look so startled, Kiram," Hashiem whispered in Kiram's ear. His breath was hot. "I know that you haven't had many suitors but I will be gentle with you."

Kiram would have rolled his eyes, but the combination of Hashiem's foot crushing his toes and the sight of Javier lifting Dauhd to his chest rendered him watery-eyed with pain and flushed with anger. Hashiem seemed to take this as a sign of desire or consent. He pressed against Kiram and sighed contentedly against his neck.

Across the dance floor from them, Javier predictably displayed his physical prowess, spinning and lifting Dauhd easily in time to the music. Dauhd stared wide-eyed at Javier. Kiram knew exactly what she must have been feeling: a giddy thrill of exhilaration in the grip of Javier's touch and attention. The thought enraged him. He wanted to lunge out and slap Javier, once for flirting so obviously in front of him and a second time for toying with his sister.

As the dance drew to a close, Javier glanced to Kiram with a smug smirk, as if he expected Kiram to be impressed with his performance. At the same moment Kiram felt Hashiem's hand slide up to catch the back of his head. Kiram didn't evade him, but instead when Hashiem thrust his mouth over Kiram's, Kiram kissed him back.

Hashiem's tongue pushed between his lips and Kiram recoiled, offering Hashiem a coy smile. All around them members of Kiram's family looked on in approval. Hashiem's mother was beaming.

Javier's smile vanished. He exchanged a few words with Dauhd, bowed curtly to her, and then strode from the room.

Kiram watched his retreating back for a moment, then looked to Hashiem. "I think I'd better show Lord Tornesal the way to the water closet. Please excuse me."

"Certainly." Hashiem offered Kiram an indulgent smile and released his hand.

Kiram rushed after Javier, catching him near the front doors.

"Where are you going?" Kiram demanded. Despite his annoyance, Kiram hated the thought of Javier leaving.

Javier spun on him with that cold, controlled expression that Kiram so disliked. "I'm returning to the Grunito house. I'm their guest after all and it's getting late."

"You plan to walk across the city in the dead of night, during a rainstorm, wearing nothing but my brother's silk clothes?"

"No," Javier snapped. "I am going to fetch Lunaluz and ride to the Grunito house."

"You're going to ride him through the rain in the dark?" Kiram stepped between Javier and the tall double doors.

In response Javier raised his hands and a searing white light blazed up from them. Kiram scowled at the blinding flare until it faded.

"You don't know where the stable is," Kiram said and he leaned back against the doors and crossed his arms over his chest.

"On Briar Street. Your sister told me."

"Yes, but you don't know where Briar Street is." Kiram couldn't keep from grinning in triumph.

"It can't be that hard to find," Javier replied. The haughty disdain of his expression shifted nearer to petulance, which Kiram thought was more human and, in a way, charming.

"Even if you do find it, the place will be locked up by now and I'm sure the Grunitos will all be sound asleep by the time you reached their house." Kiram tried to sound reasonable. "You might as well stay the night here."

"I can't." Javier shoved a lock of his hair back from his face and Kiram couldn't help but momentarily think that it was getting long for Cadeleonian style though it suited him. "There aren't any wards in this house. I can't sleep here."

"Are you joking?" Kiram lowered his voice. "You don't need wards to sleep, Javier. I've slept with you for months without a single ward between our bodies and I'm fine."

Javier frowned down at the floor and Kiram knew that the absence of wards wasn't what troubled Javier. But he also felt certain that neither of them were ready to argue about what had happened on the dance floor, so he addressed the excuse Javier offered him.

"Where were you planning to sleep when you arrived here?"

"I didn't plan anything," Javier admitted and frustration played through his voice. "I just wanted…I just came. I didn't think about it, but I should have. I should have realized that you had friends and family here. That you wouldn't be alone."

Kiram almost asked why Javier had imagined he would be, but then he realized that it was because Javier himself was so isolated. He wouldn't have been prepared for family or friends and certainly not for a crowded Haldiim celebration. "Everyone feels honored to have you here."

"Even if I smell like a beast and look like a corpse?" Javier arched a brow.

"Auntie Fahad aside," Kiram said. "Even she warmed up to you once you had a bath and a change of clothes. They're not all perfect people, but if you give them a chance most of them will treat you very well. There's certainly no reason for you to leave in the middle of the night." Kiram stepped forward and took Javier's hand in his own. "I know this is all foreign for you but it can be fun. Stay here with me."

Javier tensed and Kiram thought he would pull away but instead he jerked Kiram to him and embraced him tightly.

Kiram leaned into him, returning his strong grasp. Javier's entire body relaxed against him. He bowed his head and rested it on Kiram's shoulder. Neither of them spoke.

Music drifted from the ballroom, as did the soft noise of conversation and laughter. Kiram drew back from Javier just enough to look at his face and see both his confusion and desire. Kiram kissed his lips and Javier kissed back with a desperate hunger.

Then a door somewhere slammed and Javier bolted back. Vashir wandered into the hall, glanced at the two of them, and then disappeared back into the ballroom. Kiram didn't release Javier from their embrace though he saw the blood drain from Javier's face. Kiram waited long enough for Javier to see that nothing was going to happen, to realize that this was not the Sagrada Academy.

"We're not who he was looking for," Kiram said.

"No?" Javier's tense grip relaxed slowly.

"He's presently engaged in a romance with the twins. I'm not sure if he's with one or both of them and I don't think he's sure either."

Javier smiled at this.

"I want to show you the apple cider dance, Kiram said. He stepped back but kept hold of Javier's hand.

"Does it involve actual cider?" Javier asked.

"No. But you get to spin until you nearly fall down." Kiram grinned. "It's fun, I promise."

"Will I have to watch that man, Hashiem, kiss you again?" Javier asked suddenly serious.

"No," Kiram assured him.

"I'll stay. Lead on."

Kiram led him back to the ballroom. He held Javier's hand until they reach the threshold and then, feeling how tense his fingers were, he released him. It was enough just to have him stay for now, Kiram realized.

They took part in a number of traditional Haldiim dances and several songs as well. Kiram coached Javier in the words and he picked up the tunes quickly. Neither of them were gifted singers but in the atmosphere of warmth and welcome it hardly mattered. As the evening passed into night, and the youngest children began to fall asleep on scattered pillows, card tables were brought out, which allowed Kiram's father to show off the deck of cards Kiram had brought back from Zancoda.

Javier and he stayed on dance floor with the younger adults. They hardly touched more than each other's fingertips, but every time Kiram noticed Javier's eyes on him he felt the sudden urge to display himself as he never had before. He drank in Javier's movements as well, feeling as if every flex of muscle was for his benefit alone.

By the time the midnight bells sounded, a fine sweat shone on Kiram's hot muscles and his entire body seemed to tremble between exhilaration and fatigue. A lively flush colored Javier's skin and the bare muscles of his arms bulged from his excess of lifting and spinning Kiram's nephew and nieces during the spider dance.

As guests took their leave, Kiram dutifully thanked them for coming and wished them each a good night. He embraced Hashiem but eluded the other man's attempt at a parting kiss. Once the last guests departed, Kiram raced back to the ballroom where he had left Javier to watch his family play out their final game of cards. He caught Javier's hand and announced that they would be rooming together.

Kiram's mother and father just nodded, not even seeming to hear him, their attention focused on the game. Kiram could see at a glance that Siamak was on the verge of winning a nice sum in coins. She wasted no more than a cursory wave on Kiram. Dauhd, on the other hand, raised her brows questioningly but the mulled wine had slowed her enough that Kiram managed to pull Javier out of the ballroom before his sister could comment.

He rushed Javier up the stairs despite Javier's statement that there was no point in hurrying.

"You're just getting old and tired," Kiram teased.

"Well, I have been riding for six days straight," Javier replied. "But if I thought there was a reason to rush up here I would."

"There's my bed," Kiram whispered. He pushed the door to his bedroom open.

"And your brother," Javier added.

Kiram scowled at Majdi. He stood in the middle of Kiram's large bedroom with several pinstriped pillows and two quilted blankets at his feet.

"What are you doing here?" Kiram demanded.

"I'm sleeping in your room. Auntie Fahad's taken my bed. and Auntie Easham and Vashir have the two guest suites." Majdi looked past him to Javier. "Didn't Lord Tornesal tell you?"

"I didn't get the chance," Javier replied, "because I'm so old and tired."

"Very funny." Kiram dropped down onto the corner of his bed and pulled off his shoes. "Javier and I get the bed," he told Majdi.

Majdi glanced to Javier and nodded.

"Well, come in, Javier." Majdi defaulted to Cadeleonian for Javier's sake, then belatedly he asked, "Do you mind if I call you by your given name?"

"Not at all."

He strode into the bedroom and sat on the bed very deliberately, watching Majdi intently as if expecting some attack or accusation. Majdi simply spread his blankets out over the pillows and stretched out on top of them. Kiram purposefully flipped back his own blankets and fluffed his pillows as if somehow these actions would reassure Javier.

"There's water in the basin if either of you want it." Majdi pulled off his vest and then his pants and then rolled his blanket around himself. Kiram didn't miss how quickly Javier averted his eyes from Majdi's naked body.

"Is there anywhere else that you could sleep tonight?" Kiram asked in a quick whisper of Haldiim.

"Maybe," Majdi replied. "Tell me something first. Does Uncle Rafie know about you two?"

Javier's entire body tensed and his expression locked into cool disdain but he said nothing. Kiram flopped onto his stomach and stared down at his brother from the bed.

"Why do you want to know?"

"Because someone should warn the two of you about how dangerous this romance of yours could be."

"We've been warned." Kiram couldn't help the exasperation in his voice. Why did all his relatives think he was an idiot? "And yes, Rafie told me about his failed, affair with a Cadeleonian-"

"Your uncle had an affair with a Cadeleonian?" The information seemed to shock Javier out of his rigid composure.

"Yes," Kiram answered. "It was when he was young and the other man got frightened and confessed about it. He accused Rafie of seducing him and Rafie had to flee to Yuan until the warrant for him expired."

"Tenyears," Majdi supplied. "He had to live in exile for ten years."

"I won't do that to your brother," Javier spoke each of the Haldiim words carefully. "I swear."

Majdi nodded then looked to Kiram. "You know Mum wants you to settle with Hashiem, right?"

"No," Kiram replied. "I had no idea because I'm an imbecile and I've been living in a pickle jar for the last two years."

Majdi rolled his eyes, then glanced to Javier. "He's a smart ass, you know."

"I've had reason to suspect as much," Javier replied.

Majdi sighed. "Well, I'm not Mum and I'm pretty certain that there's a couch that's a lot more comfortable than your floor, so I'll be going." He stood, gathering his blankets around him. "If anyone asks, I never knew anything about this. The two of you have a good night."

Majdi lumbered out of the bedroom and then disappeared down the stairs.

Javier stared after him as if unable to believe what had transpired. "Did your brother just give us."

"The go ahead? Pretty much." Kiram closed and locked the door, then bounded back to the bed.

"His blessing was what I was about to say." Javier spoke with such a tone of quiet wonder that it gave Kiram pause. He suddenly realized that such approval would be unheard of-utterly unimaginable-in a Cadeleonian household.

"We probably shouldn't waste it." He drew Javier into his arms.

The sex was fast, their hands gripping and working with a rough desire that staved off exhaustion only moments past its climax.

"I'm glad you're here," Kiram whispered.

"I am as well." Javier didn't open his eyes and his expression seemed soft and sweet, almost as if he were dreaming.

F
or the first time in many days, Kiram woke to the familiar sensation of the hot weight of Javier's thigh flopped over his own and for a moment he thought he was back at school. Then the perfume of adhil bread and butter permeated the air and he could hear his mother and Siamak discussing something about sugar out in the courtyard.

He opened his eyes and gazed up at the ceiling of his own bedroom in Anacleto, a good place made better by the fact that Javier had come to him. The man lay sprawled across the bed, utterly bereft of the inhibition that restrained him while awake. As Kiram shifted, Javier's long fingers gripped his hip and Javier pushed his face into Kiram's shoulder but didn't open his eyes.

Briefly Kiram toyed with the idea of waking Javier with a kiss or something better. But the continuing sound of his mother's voice deadened Kiram's arousal.

Javier probably needed the sleep anyway. So Kiram decided to use the time to write to Scholar Donamillo about his mechanical cure.

Carefully, he disentangled himself from Javier. After relieving himself in the water closet, he sat down at his desk and composed a letter inquiring after Fedeles' health and happiness as well as the prayers Donamillo used for his mechanical cures. While he waited for the ink to dry, Kiram came across a note he'd left for himself fully two days ago.

He needed to request an extension for his entry into the Crown Challenge. Only a brief explanation was required and yet Kiram hesitated. He wanted to win the challenge and he had no doubt that his engine would, but for the first time he found himself wary of where success would lead him.

An appointment to the royal court in Cieloalta inevitably awaited the winner. Prince Sevanyo had said as much, but he had also spoken of an arranged marriage with a Cadeleonian girl and religious conversion. The prospect of either gripped Kiram with dread.

The ink dried on his pen nib and he dipped it in the inkwell again. The royal court offered him recognition and money. As a Haldiim son he would need his own income if he ever wished to claim his independence and do something rash like refuse to marry a pharmacist or decide to travel to Yuan.

He wrote the letter quickly and neatly, went to wash and dress, and by the time he returned the ink had dried. He folded both letters and sealed them with green wax and a gold thread.

Outside a loud clang sounded from Kiram's father's workshop. Javier bolted upright on the bed, his eyes wide and his breath coming fast.

"Just noisy mechanism," Kiram reassured him. "Father's working on the pump for a fountain."

"I should have been up by now anyway." Javier wiped his hands over his face and pushed his hair back. He glanced curiously around the room, seeming to search for something.

"Water closet is the second door on the left down the hall," Kiram offered.

"Thanks." Javier rose and started for the door, then paused in front of Kiram's bookshelf, plainly surveying the titles. Half were textbooks but many of the remaining volumes displayed provocative titles, such as, The Passionate Adventurer, Among the Untamed Men of Mirogoth and Yuan: Kingdom of Blood and Desire.

"Untamed Men, hmm?" Javier read the Haldiim words carefully.

Kiram swiveled in his seat to meet Javier's teasing expression. "It wasn't really my sort of thing but it might suit you. You can borrow it if you like."

"I might take you up on it." Javier selected Yuan: Kingdom of Blood and Desire.

Kiram watched him leafing through the pages. The morning light lent a glow to his naked skin and accentuated the sharp planes of his lean muscles as he moved. The dark contrast of Javier's black body hair drew Kiram's eyes down from Javier's chest, past his hard stomach, to his groin. Kiram marveled at how pale Javier's skin was, even there. His own genitals were deep bronze. Then he realized he was ogling and lifted his eyes to find Javier grinning at him.

"Perhaps The Unshaven Men of Cadeleon should be among your books," Javier suggested. Kiram felt a flush rise across his cheeks. He considered surprising that smug grin off of Javier by tossing him back onto the bed, but he knew from the noise downstairs that it was already too late in the day.

"Not unless you're interested in the sequel: Interrupted By My Nosy Sister," Kiram replied. As if on cue Dauhd called from the floor below, announcing that breakfast would be in the sun- room.

Javier shrugged then found the trousers that he'd worn the night before and pulled them on. While he went to the water closet Kiram hurried downstairs and located more of Majdi's clothes as well as a basin of hot shaving water. When he returned to his room he found Javier once again flipping through the book.

"Clothes and hot water," Kiram announced.

Javier borrowed Kiram's razor and soap while teasing Kiram about owning either when he sported only wisps of fine blond hair for a beard.

"Lady Grunito could grow a fuller beard, I think," Javier observed.

"That might reflect more poorly on the lady than me," Kiram returned.

"True, and I can't say anything bad about her. She's always been good to me and I have to respect anyone who has the patience to raise Elezar." Javier rinsed the razor and then dressed.

As he did, Kiram found himself once again admiring the way the Haldiim trousers clung to Javier's legs and how the vest displayed his broad chest and strong arms. Kiram reached out to straighten the vest and let his hands linger on Javier's chest just slightly longer than necessary. Javier stepped closer.

"Eat now or starve!" Dauhd shouted from the other side of the door.

Kiram and Javier both started at the sudden intrusion, but then they rushed to breakfast. Life at the Sagrada Academy had cultivated in them an urgent drive to dine before a hall of ravenous youths devoured everything. They passed Dauhd on the stairs; Kiram shimmied ahead of her and Javier launched himself onto the handrail and slid down. Kiram sprinted down the stairs to keep up.

And suddenly it was a race, with both of them bumping and shoving through the arched doorways and laughing at each other. Kiram possessed two definite advantages: he knew the layout of his own house and he was a better sprinter. But Javier wasn't afraid to throw an elbow or trip up Kiram's footing. At last the two of them came tumbling into the sunroom, gasping and laughing.

Majdi and Kiram's father frowned at them from their seats at the low table. Javier immediately drew back from Kiram and straightened. Kiram remained splayed across the floor pillows. Morning light poured from the spring garden and threw pools of color across the room. A splash of gold glowed through Kiram's father's wild, white hair.

"Good morning, Lord Tornesal," Kiram's father greeted Javier.

"A very good morning to you as well, Master Kir-Zaki and Master Kir-Zaki." Javier inclined his head towards Kiram's father and then Majdi.

"We did away with formalities last night." Majdi flicked his hand as if waving an insect aside. "It's still just Majdi and my father is called Shukri. Mum's given name is Hikmat, but maybe you should stick to Mother Kir-Zaki with her."

"Of course," Javier replied. "Please feel free to call me Javier."

"Javier," Kiram's father said the name experimentally and with a strong accent. "Please join us to eating this meal." A smudge of machine oil darkened his father's forehead. Before Kiram could mention it, Dauhd entered the room and gave an exasperated sigh.

"Dad, you're supposed to wash up before a meal." Dauhd sat down next to him and wiped his forehead clean with a cloth napkin from the table.

"I did, my dear." Kiram's father held up his clean, callused hands. Dauhd shook her head. Majdi poured tea into several cups and passed them around the table.

"Sit here," Kiram gestured for Javier to take a seat on the pillow next to his own. Javier joined him, folding his legs as Kiram did, though it was clearly not natural to him.

The dishes on the table were simple and fragrant. Steaming rounds of adhil bread lay heaped on a tray. Lamb, yoghurt, almonds and several thick sauces filled silver bowls. Kiram watched Javier as he studied the silver dish brimming with fahl, a green-black fermented wheat paste. Kiram disliked fahl, but Majdi relished its bodily smell and creamy texture.

"You have to try it," Majdi told Javier.

"But you don't have to like it," Kiram put in.

"Definitely an acquired taste," Dauhd said. She snatched a round of adhil bread and splashed yoghurt and then rounds of cucumber on to it. Kiram's father topped his bread with a saffron sauce and lamb while Majdi smeared grotesque amounts of fahl over his. Kiram took two adhil rounds and handed one to Javier. Kiram flavored his with saffron sauce like his father and then piled on the strips of lamb meat. Javier followed his example.

"Aren't Mother and Siamak joining us?" Kiram asked the question in Cadeleonian so that Javier wouldn't be left out of the conversation.

"They ate hours ago," Majdi replied. "They both got up early to fight about those meringues again."

"Cadeleonian meringues?" Javier asked.

"Just the ones," Majdi replied around a mouthful of food.

"Siamak wants to sell them. Mum doesn't," Dauhd explained. "It's the same argument every wedding season." Dauhd smiled at Javier, and Kiram could see that her infatuation with him had not faded. "I suppose there are fights like that in your family as well?"

"No, not really," Javier replied.

Kiram could see both his sister readying another innocent question about Javier's family and Javier steeling himself against the inevitable necessity of telling her that they were all dead, a revelation that would no doubt make for awkward and pitying conversation during the rest of the meal.

"They're not candymakers," Kiram commented and Javier offered him a quick relieved smile. "So, what about the gymnasium? Mum wrote that it was being repaired?"

"Yes!" Kiram's father brightened as he recognized the Cadeleonian word. "All new plumbing and a boiler! Mother Kir-Nusrat wants a new clock, as well, something modern and dynamic, and I mentioned the steam work you've been doing and she seemed very interested. The hillock near the archery range struck me as the best position because of the new watei-"

"Father, in Cadeleonian!" Dauhd cut him off. "So that Lord Tornesal can understand."

"No, it's all right," Javier assured her in very carefully phrased Haldiim. "I think I understood most of it-at least as much as I ever understand when it comes to Kiram's mechanisms."

"You and the rest of us," Majdi said. "How are you liking the food?"

"It's good," Javier replied.

"Ready for a challenge, then?" Majdi nudged the dish of fahl towards Javier.

"Always," Javier replied.

Kiram shook his head and handed Javier another round of adhil bread. Majdi and Javier both slathered their bread with fahl. Majdi rolled his bread and took a large bite. Javier bit into his bread more tentatively. He chewed with a look of intense concentration and then swallowed.

"So?" Majdi asked.

"I may have discovered one of the defenses you Haldiim used to drive the Cadeleonians from your famous wall," Javier replied.

Majdi laughed and clapped Javier on the back. Kiram handed him a cup of tea and Javier downed it in a fast gulp.

"Not bad for a first-timer," Majdi told Javier. "My navigator spilled his lunch first time I fed fahl to him."

"That's not something to be proud of," Dauhd said.

"Their mother likes it as well," Kiram's father told Javier. He wrinkled his nose.

Kiram refilled Javier's tea and then his own. As breakfast continued the conversation shifted back and forth between Haldiim and Cadeleonian. The subject ranged from water pumps to Mirogoth ships, the forests of Rauma and at last settled upon a list of the many Haldiim sites Kiram ought to show to Javier.

Between servings of lamb and almonds, Javier returned to his roll of adhil bread and fahl, taking careful bites. By the end of the meal, he'd finished it and had even added a small dollop of fahl to some of his lamb.

"I can't believe that you're eating more of it," Kiram murmured.

"The taste was a little strange at first but it's growing on me." Javier downed the last of his lamb. "Reminds me a little of a very blue cheese."

"Reminds me of dirty foreskin," Majdi whispered. Kiram almost choked on his tea and Javier went scarlet.

"What did he say?" Dauhd demanded.

"You don't want to know." Kiram's father tossed a sprig of mint at Majdi. "You chew on that to clean your mouth out. You're not at sea now, you know."

"Sorry. I meant no offense," Majdi told Javier in clear Cade- leonian, then he jammed the mint into his mouth and chewed it obediently.

"No offense taken," Javier assured him. Kiram found it amazing how quickly he regained his composure. Then Javier leaned closer to Majdi and whispered, "There's definitely a hint of foreskin, but I thought it had more of the smell of balls."

Majdi's brows shot up then. Grinning, he handed a sprig of mint to Javier. Javier took it and chewed it with a look of pride. It was just like him to want to be allied with the offensive rather than the offended, Kiram thought.

Kiram knew that Javier had impressed Majdi at least a little, when after breakfast Majdi brought down a red leather coat that he'd won off a Mirogoth captain and offered it to Javier to wear while his clothes were being laundered and dried.

The coat fit Javier and lent him a striking, exotic air especially in combination with the fine Haldiim vest and trousers and the Cadeleonian boots and sword he wore.

People gawked as Kiram and Javier walked across the Ammej Bridge. The fiery colors of Javier's clothes matched the scarlet beams of the bridge well. As he gazed out at passing merchants and reed riverboats, excitement seemed to illuminate his features. Kiram wished suddenly that he possessed a little of Nestor's skill so that he could capture this moment and somehow hold Javier in this beautiful, exhilarated instant.

But the iridescent flash of a knife dancer's wares caught Javier's eye and he was off. The entire Haldiim district seemed to excite and fascinate him. He grinned at the red doves, ran his hands over the glassy tiles of mosaic walls and raced along the riverbank, chasing a painted, paper hawk kite as it swirled on the wind. Kiram dashed alongside him; from time to time he answered a question or provided a little history but mostly he let Javier's enthusiasm envelop him and show him how strange and wonderful his own home could be.