“You like sayingbrother,” I laughed.
“I do… I miss my sister terribly. Achingly. I always have, but most times, I ignore it or tuck it away. She wasn’t a bad person. She just had goals that weren’t the best. Mine wasn’t either, as a child. As a young man, I had designs on power…”
“With your father? I can’t even imagine why…”
“He’s a terrible father. Honestly, a terrible father. That’s what my mother now sees, and she worries about the little one.
“I was able to see what was wrong with the way I was thinking about life and power and happiness. He hasn’t.” He twisted his fingers with mine. “How do you say those things to your own child? How do you insist that they—he or she—are disappointing? We can only model the behavior we see…”
“Your mother sees you now.” I smiled.
“And I will do my best to model the kind of behavior the little one will see,” he said.
“Good,” Roran said, clasping his hand on Aiko’s shoulder. He dropped down and sat next to him on the dock as Rilen sat next to me.
“And here I thought I would have time alone.” Aiko snickered.
“No, not really,” Roran said. “We’re following you around to make sure that you don’t run off. We are kind of scary.”
“Not scary,” Aiko said. “Just large and annoying.”
“Large?” Rilen asked, glancing down at his flat abs.
“Annoying?” Roran sounded offended.
“Yes,” Aiko said.
“I could have sworn you were not so disappointed by me in that boat,” Roran said.
I watched as his face turned red and he coughed, trying to turn away from the man next to him, but Roran put a hand on his knee. “My brother thinks you’re handsome and desirable. Does that make you uncomfortable?”
“Confused,” he said after a moment. “And doubly so because you’re identical twins.”
“Mirror identical,” Rilen said. “A rarity even among twins.”
“You have been with Master Dorian,” Aiko said. “And now you are with Kimber as well. Were you never confused? I have always been fond of women; being attracted to two men is sudden and unexpected.”
“I guess it was a little at first,” Roran answered. “Being attracted to the same gender isn’t unusual, but it isn’t the most common. Else how would any of us be here? I certainly don’t have the right equipment to carry a child.”
“Savior, can you imagine my brother with child?” Rilen said. “He’d eat half the wheat crop in bread and butter in about a week.”
“Excuse me, I am just as fit as you,” Roran said.
“No, he’s right. You’d eat four loaves of bread and a cow’s worth of butter in a sitting.” I laughed. “You’d make a miserable pregnant woman.”
“You’re both terrible, and I disown you.” Roran laughed and turned back to Aiko. “It was a little strange at first since I had been married—”
“You were married,” Aiko said.
“Yes,” Roran answered. “For a few years. She was killed when the Spine rose. She was in the Burnt Woods when it burned.”
“Oh,” Aiko muttered.
Rilen leaned over. “I was the first one attracted to men between the two of us. It was a bit of a surprise, and certainly, the first time with a man was a mess and rather unpleasant.”
“I…” Aiko looked at Rilen. “It was not unpleasant the other night.” Picking at the fabric of his pants, he took a moment to gather his thoughts. “It’s not that I’m opposed to the idea of being in this little group that supports… and pleasures… each other. It’s that I’m afraid Dorian would never accept me. I don’t want to push him away from you. He was here before me. The twins were here before me. I’m not entirely sure how this works.”
“It works on magic,” Dorian said.
