“Most of it in S’Kir,” Roran nodded. “And I can remember all that, but I can’t remember where I’ve been for…uh…”
“Days.Manydays.”
Rilen coughed and grunted. “That’s a large memory gap.” He paused, and from the look on his face, he was searching for the memories. “Nothing. Foggy. Slippery.”
“That’s a good word for it. Slippery. I can’t catch one.” Roran scratched his head.
The door open and Dorian walked back in. I saw the twins instantly tense up, but the beatific smile that spread on Dorian’s face seemed to be all they needed.
I’d never seen a smile like that on him. It was heady and consuming and something I wanted to see all the time.
Still grinning, he handed me a bottle of water and a bowl of fruit, granola, and yogurt. “You two fuckers scared the shit out of everyone, and if you ever do that again, I will make you eunuchs and teach you to sing for my pleasure. That’s for Rilen.”
Aiko laughed and then slapped a hand over his mouth. Dorian raised an eyebrow at him, and he shrugged. “The casual mention of castration while handing out fruit. It just… struck me as funny.”
“They know I’m serious.”
“If we knew what happened, we’d be happy never to do it again.” Roran accepted the bowl and spoon from Dorian. “But it seems that neither of us remembers a damn thing from the past ten days.”
“They remember the fertility cult worshiping their cocks thirty-two hundred years ago,” Aiko said, “but the last ten days have been an ouzo blackout binge.”
An ungraceful snort escaped me, and I quickly covered my mouth with a hand. Dorian studied Aiko for a moment, then turned back to the twins.
“Nothing? At all?”
They shook their heads simultaneously and then took a spoonful of the yogurt and granola and ate it precisely the same way.
“You really do love to play up the twin thing, don’t you?” Aiko asked.
“We’re three thousand three hundred years old,” Roran said. “He’s the best company I have kept for most of my life.”
“Whatever twin thing we have has just been exacerbated by knowing each other and being around one another the majority of that time,” Rilen said. “Except when Roran thought he was a hermit.”
“You’re never going to let that beard go, are you?”
“I’m still surprised to this day that a bird hadn’t nested in it.”
Roran gestured with his spoon at Dorian. “You’ll notice that even though it’s been three thousand years, this old bastard and his brother have started to pull the twin shit, as well.”
“What?”
Dorian’s skeptical tone made me believe he honestly hadn’t realized they were engaging in the twin actions.
“You do,” I confirmed. “He’s your twin. It wouldn’t take long to reconnect what was there from the day you were conceived.” I paused. “Youwereconceived, right? You’re not just some cosmic coincidence?”
He laughed. “No, Kimber. Belshazzar and I had a mother and father. We shat our diapers and scraped our knees, and our balls dropped at the appropriate age.”
Aiko choked on his laugh. Dorian stared at him again, and this time, the smile on Aiko’s face dropped away with a sigh.
He headed for the door. “I’ll go find something to do. You all need time to be reacquainted and—”
Dorian was there, instantly between him and the door. “No. Kimber chose you to be a part of her life, and you belong here. I’ve been staring at you trying to figure out how to tell you I don’t mind that you’re here.”
He glanced at the bed where the twins, as usual, had their spoons stopped in exactly identical positions to watch the exchange.
“It seems Rilen and Roran have also welcomed you to the bed.”
“Several times,” Rilen said, waggling his eyebrows. A giggle escaped me because that was Roran’s usual line.
