The Pirate of Fathoms Deep (21 page)

Not that he always had that much free time, usually he was at Harkenesten working with Allen and Tara on the projects they'd drawn him into: various reformations concerning how Islanders were treated, somehow he was becoming more and more involved in the shipyards, and he would never admit it but he liked helping Tara oversee the various balls and festivals and such the High Throne frequently charged to his care. Shemal still had a great deal to learn, but the life of a pirate had proven more useful to life as a noble than he ever would have thought possible.

As if summoned by his thoughts, familiar footsteps came from the hall, the jangle of armor and sword belt long ago replaced by the click of heels. He heard the barest murmur of voices moments before the door opened.

Shemal smiled as he sat up, absently catching the book he'd already forgotten about. He set it aside as he rose to greet Lesto with a lingering kiss. "How did it go?"

"New field manager seems to be settling in well, and our yields should be better than ever, Pantheon willing. I stopped by the brewery and brought back some new samples to try with dinner."

Shemal grinned. "You say the sweetest things."

Shaking his head slightly, curling his fingers into the folds of Shemal's shirt, Lesto replied, "Say something sweet to me."

"You know much I like you in black pearls," Shemal replied, eyes dropping to the band of them resting snug against Lesto's throat. "Why say when I can do?"

Lesto made a low, rough noise that never failed to elicit shivers. His gray eye turned more silver. "Then
do
, pirate."

Shemal slid his hands down Lesto's chest to the gold buttons of his dark red jacket and undid them slowly, lingering and brushing teasingly with every single one.

"You are being—"

Lesto's words were cut off by a knock at the door. That was Leeta's knock, but she'd only interrupt if they had a guest, and to Shemal's knowledge, they weren't expecting anyone. Lesto looked equally confused—and annoyed—as he called for Leeta to enter.

"Lord Shemal, I am sorry to disturb, but you've a visitor."

"Me?" Shemal asked, growing even more puzzled.

Leeta bowed her head slightly. "Yes, Your Grace. She claims to be your sister, I think, but my Islander is poor, and there was no one around to translate for me."

"My sister," Shemal repeated, bafflement starting to turn into annoyance. He had about twenty sisters, but he only knew one who would travel across an entire continent and find her way to his doorstep even though she didn't speak anything but Islander. The question was
why.
"Does she have freckles, a squashed-looking nose, and sounds incredibly bossy no matter what she's saying?"

Leeta's mouth twitched. "She is quite commanding, Your Grace."

"Send her to me," Shemal said, pressing his fingers to his temples. "So I can kill her."

Leeta laughed as she left.

"So I'm guessing you didn't invite your sister to visit?" Lesto asked with a smile.

"If I were dumb enough to try inviting
one
sibling, it wouldn't be her, and about fifty would show up anyway. I wrote to ask her one question…" Dawning realization and horror swept through him. He'd sent her the letter because she was the one who handled such matters now that their mother had withdrawn. He'd wanted her to reply in a damned letter, not come see him!

"Shemal, are you all right?" Lesto asked. "You look like you're about to collapse."

"I
am
about to collapse," Shemal replied, but before either of them could say more, the door flew open and his sister walked in like a queen, a harried-looking Leeta a few paces behind her.

Shemal scowled.
"You're upsetting Leeta and being rude, Kemal."

Kemal tossed her hair.
"I don't need to be led—"

"Apologize or I'll lead your face into the wall!"

"Fine,"
Kemal said with a huff. She turned to Leeta and said in thick, halting informal Harken, "My apologize."

"No apologies necessary," Leeta demurred before turning to Lesto. "Shall I bring tea?"

"Please," Lesto said.

Shemal was still scowling at Kemal.
"What are you doing here?"

"You wanted children. I had two recently that are perfect. I have brought them."

"My letter said we were going to start
thinking
about it, and for you to ask
discreetly
if anyone would be willing. In no language does that translate to you bringing us children!"

Kemal huffed again, planting her hands on her hips.
"If I left the matter to move at your pace, the children would be twenty before you adopted them! I have twins, now four months old—"

"Four months!"
Shemal howled, throwing his arms up.
"You should not be traveling with
children who are only four
months old, how much seawater
have you been drinking,
you have the brains of a waterlogged Mainlander!"

Kemal rolled her eyes and turned to look at Lesto, gesturing with both arms toward Shemal.

Lesto grinned and nodded.

Shemal gave them a withering look. "Oh, no, my husband and my sister are not allowed to silently communicate about how ridiculous you think I'm being." He repeated the words in Islander, which only earned him another huff, though Kemal did smile, too.
"If Lesto gets angry with me for such a presumption—"

"What presumption? You wanted to adopt children, these children are your blood."
She looked at Lesto again, a little bit of predator in her smirk. Turning back to Shemal, she said,
"He looks far too pretty and fit to be one of those tiresome sort who thinks children are only worthy if they are the blood of both parents. I know you're a sandhead, Shem-Shem, but you're not so dried out you'd tolerate that."

"Do not call me that,"
Shemal replied.
"You're right, he doesn't have a problem with children not being his blood. That's not the point. The point is we haven't discussed it yet, I haven't asked him if he'd approve—"

"You keep saying my name, so I feel I should be part of this conversation," Lesto interjected, brows lifting as Shemal's face burned.

Kemal gave the sigh of the long-suffering and unappreciated.
"The children were coming with Rushia, I came ahead to make certain this was in fact your home. I'll be back."
She spun neatly on her heal, the long, heavy braids of her hair flying about, and left as imperiously as she had arrived.

Lesto looked at the door as it closed then turned to Shemal. "What in the world is going on?"

"Um." Shemal swallowed, fingers curling and uncurling. "I never should have written a letter to my stupid sister, that's what. Argh." He pressed the heels of his hands to his forehead. That letter had taken him three days of agonizing and second-guessing and triple checking every word to make certain he'd written them correctly. This was not how he'd wanted this discussion to happen.

"Shemal," Lesto said gently, closing the space between them and pulling his hands down, holding them firmly. "What's wrong?"

Shemal took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "No matter what I say or how I say it, I'm going to come off looking like a scheming, manipulative ass—"

Lesto drowned him out with a laugh. "You could not be a manipulative schemer if you tried. Stop fretting and stalling and tell me what this is all about."

"All right," Shemal said, and took another deep breath before he finally explained, "You've been mentioning children more and more. I have no taste for hiring a dame. That meant we'd likely adopt. I…" he stared at their clasped hands. "I thought maybe we could adopt some Islander children. But I didn't want to ask without knowing if anyone from my family or community would even agree to let the Variago embarrassment adopt their children. So I wrote to Kemal and asked her to
quietly
look into the matter for me." His shoulders slumped. "Now here she is on our doorstep—

"She brought us
children?”
Lesto gaped. "That's why you mentioned children earlier, only four months old, right? I can't believe it."

Shemal flinched. "I'm sorry, I thought I was far enough away she'd behave. I'd never presume—" He broke off with a soft, startled gasp as Lesto's hands cupped his head.

"You're quite endearing when you're flustered," Lesto said with a smile. "Also you worry for nothing; to be perfectly honest I took it as a given we'd be adopting Islander children, be it from the Islands themselves or orphans abandoned on the Mainland. I admit I was not expecting to adopt two of them today." He kissed Shemal softly, sending a warm, lazy shiver down his spine. "But I'm not inclined to complain."

Shemal stared at him, blinked. "You're not?"

"No, though it is a bit sudden so there will be some scrambling to rearrange the house and our schedules to accommodate children. Babies, at that. I had assumed we'd start with children a little bit older." He smiled and pulled away, striding to the door in that High Commander way of his. He pulled it open—then drew back as Leeta came in bearing a tea tray, another servant behind her holding an additional plate of food since Lesto and Shemal alone tended to eat nigh-obscene amounts. "Leeta, good, I need to pull you and some of the other staff from your regular duties."

Leeta set the tea down then turned, folding her hands in her long apron. "Whatever you wish, Your Grace."

"Shemal's sister, Kemal, has brought two children that we intend to adopt. A bit sooner than expected, but I think we can manage. Would you see the nursery and such are made ready?"

Leeta's normally blank expression turned into one of excitement, a grin overtaking her face. "Congratulations, Your Graces. Of course, we'll take care of everything." She strode over to Lesto and gave him a quick hug, then did the same to Shemal before motioning sharply to the other servant and heading briskly from the room.

The door had not even had a chance to close before Kemal returned, carrying a baby and trailed by a handsome young man—significantly younger, Shemal noted with a twitch of lips—carrying a second baby.
"You said you were bringing two children, not three."

Kemal rolled her eyes and ignored him, instead going up to Lesto and offering the baby she held.

Lesto took the baby with the ease of someone familiar, which didn't really surprise Shemal though it maybe should have as he'd never seen Lesto around babies in the time they'd been together.
"Thank you,"
he said in Islander.

Beaming, Kemal patted his arm then motioned for her lover to hand the second child to Shemal, who took the baby and sat on the settee.
"Have you named them yet?"

"Of course not; I have some manners,"
Kemal said with a toss of braids.
"I'll stay to feed them, of course."

Shemal groaned.
"No, you're not staying that long."

Kemal crossed the room and kicked his ankles, huffing when he yelped.
"Do not wake them! I will stay, and you will show me around your ridiculous, but pretty home. I want to go to the palace, as well. Is it true the beached fish from Belarigo who flounced off like you is in charge of the imperial army? Do they know he's not a Mainlander? I want to wear pretty jewels like yours, and I want suitable clothes."

"Like I would fail to dress my sister well while she is a guest in my home,"
Shemal replied.
"Unlike you, I have plenty of manners."

"If you say so,"
Kemal said, and turned so she could watch Lesto as well as Shemal. Grinning in that evil elder sister way of hers, she said,
"He's quite pretty. Does he have Islander leanings or is he dull like you?"

Shemal lifted his eyes to the ceiling.
"He's like me and even if he wasn't, I'm not sharing him with my sister, you bottom-feeder."

"Better a bottom-feeder than a head full of sand,"
she retorted.

Before Shemal could give that the reply it deserved, Lesto cut in with a soft chuckle. "The way you two bicker is more than enough to mark you as siblings, though you do resemble each other, too. What are you bickering about this time?"

"Kemal insists on staying to nurse the children as long as they need. She is listing off everything she wants me to do while she is here, including buy her clothes and jewels to wear." His mouth curved in a mischievous smile. "She is also quite set on going to the palace."

"Perhaps when the children are a little older," Lesto replied. "Unless Sarrica finds out, in which case we'll be going the moment he does."

Shemal laughed and repeated all he'd said to Kemal. She smiled when he was done, then leaned down to kiss his cheek.
"You look happier than I've ever seen you, little brother. Now I am going to find your serving woman and see about finding a room. We are quite tired. The babies were fed recently, so they'll be fine for a little while. I'll come find them when they need to be fed again."

"Do you need me to come translate?"

Kemal scoffed and waved a hand at him. Crossing to Lesto, she leaned up and kissed his cheek as well.
"My brother seems to have chosen well, even if you are a Mainlander."
Giving them both a lofty nod, she swept grandly from the room again, her lover casting them a sheepish smile before he followed her out.

Lesto sat next to Shemal on the settee, his eye silvery and bright, a smile on his face. "I had no idea you were the quiet one in your family."

"No one ever believes me when I say that," Shemal said with a laugh. He looked down at the baby in his arms, who fussed briefly before settling into sleep once more. "We'll have to come up with names."

"We can discuss it tonight," Lesto said, and leaned over to kiss him softly. "If you were plotting to finally outstrip me on the matter of gift-giving, I concede the victory."

Shemal laughed again. "I will remind you of those words when we're interrupted or woken up for the third time in a row by wailing children."

"Better than being woken by wailing soldiers and imperials," Lesto replied, and kissed him again, long and slow, leaving behind a sweet ache. "Come along, pirate; let's see if the nursery is ready yet."