Eiri stripped him down, even his underclothes landing in the pile on the floor. He hadn’t even noticed he’d still been wearing his clothes from the party, with Eiri’s careful embroidery on the hems.
“We can talk once we’re both able to stay conscious for more than a few minutes. Lie down.”
Syrus obediently stretched out on the bed, allowing Eiri to pull the covers up over him. Only then did Eiri undress, and Syrus desperately wished he weren’t so tired as he watched.He’d never seen his husband completely naked before, and he’d been missing out.
Eiri had gained a little weight in his time in Vaetreas, but he could stand to gain a little more. Scars littered his skin, some old and silvery, others newer. Syrus could point out more than a few that he’d left during one of their battles through the years. Bruises mottled his wrists, and abrasions tore up his side, as if he’d fallen on rough stone. A dark tattoo crawled up the outside of Eiri’s right thigh, curving around his body and up his side. He couldn’t quite make out what it was, but he looked forward to mapping out every inch in detail later.
Scars, bruises, and all, Eiri C’Dari was the most beautiful man Syrus had ever seen, and he must have been blind not to see it before.
“Don’t look at me like that. We’re both too worn out to do anything about it,” Eiri chided, but he was smiling as he crawled into bed beside Syrus and lay beside him, not quite touching him.
“I can’t help it. You’re stunning.”
“And you’re a flatterer, but it’s been a rough day and I could use the boost, so I’ll take it.”
Syrus chuckled, turning on his side to face his husband. After a moment, Eiri did the same, and a soft peace settled into the space between them.
“We’re going to be alright,” he whispered after a moment. It didn’t sound as confident as he would have liked, but with so much of their future in question right now, he couldn’t help it.
“We are,” Eiri said with more confidence. “The people we should have been able to trust more than anyone just tried to kill us, and we survived. We’ve got allies, but more importantly, we have each other. No going back, right? For real this time.”
Eiri was right. Against all odds, they’d survived and foundtheir way back to each other. Compared to assassination attempts and execution orders, what was a little political maneuvering?
“You’re right,” he said, nodding. “No going back.”
Chapter 30
Syrus
Fraught tensionand barely organized chaos filled the following month as Syrus and Eiri prepared to depart Vaetreas.
Despite countless searches, sweeps, and lockdowns, Kien C’Marlo evaded capture and eventually, resources had to be pulled away from his hunt back to matters of the kingdom. He remained a wanted man, but with no leads, there was little they could do. A small part of Syrus couldn’t help but wonder just how badly the queen truly wanted him caught. Obviously, the man had been working with someone in Vaetreas to remove Eiri, and no one stood to benefit from his husband’s death as much as his mother.
Syrus hadn’t spoken to the queen in any unofficial capacity since that day in her throne room. Their meetings now were brief and always with at least three other people present, usually Syrus’ father Syrano and at least two council members. Queen Delia kept to the point, going over his new duties as ambassador to Canjir and site overseer of the Vaetrean mining operations. She never once strayed into anything personal, not even to inquire about his health after being poisoned.
Recovery from thestalipoisoning was slow, as he’d learnedthe hard way. Even now, weeks later, he hadn’t fully regained his stamina. The healers said the poison had damaged his lungs, which explained the lingering cough and shortness of breath whenever he exerted himself too hard. They couldn’t say for sure how long those symptoms would last or even if they’d ever go away, which he tried not to think about too long.
There were many things he didn’t let his mind linger on these days. Too much had happened too quickly, and only time would help him deal with it all. The betrayal of his family cut the deepest, and for the first few days of his recovery, a darkness crept over him, leaving him in a foul mood and unwilling to talk to anyone.
The one silver lining through it all was Eiri.
No matter how sullen Syrus got about his family or how frustrated he became when he didn’t recover as quickly as he wanted, Eiri stood by him. He didn’t let Syrus stew too long, pulling him out of the depths with teasing encouragement or, a few times, a heated argument. Now, though, they didn’t storm off after a fight and let it fester. Through trial and error, they were learning to back off long enough to calm down, then talk it out.
Now, though, they finally had a day to relax. Their ship bound for Canjir left tomorrow morning. Syrus had spent the morning overseeing the loading of the ship, ensuring some spiteful guard didn’t tamper with their belongings. Eiri joined him, partly to keep an eye on him, since he’d woken up coughing this morning, but also to get close enough to the water to restore his magic. Like Syrus, it’d taken time for Eiri to recover from his magical burnout and to rebuild his power back to what it had once been.
“Should I tell them we’re going to be late?”
Eiri’s teasing voice pulled him out of his thoughts and Syrusblinked to find his husband standing in front of him, a basket in his hands and an amused smirk on his face.
“Not a chance. Let’s go before they kill each other.”
For their last day in Vaetreas, Syrus planned to spend as much time as possible with Xan and Ellis. They were the only ones he found he’d truly miss once he left. Rather than hide away within the tense confines of Lodie Palace, though, he’d planned an outdoor lunch down at the beach. The clouds hung low with the promise of a late spring rain, which meant the beach would likely be deserted, which suited him just fine.
Walking through the corridors of the palace together, Syrus openly held Eiri’s hand. He’d passed the point of caring what his mother thought, their relationship breaking beyond repair the moment she’d decided his life was an acceptable cost to keep a lucrative trade agreement.
Over the last few weeks, he’d noted a subtle change among the people here. The courtiers took their cue from their queen and were coldly courteous in public, but more than once, he’d seen their eyes linger on him. Hundreds of them had witnessed the scene in the throne room, even if the finer details had been too quiet to hear. But they’d seen him appear in the throne room, alive if not well, hours after their queen had declared him dead, murdered at the hands of his husband.
There was nothing the court loved more than gossip and while he hadn’t heard the details, he knew the rumors were flying. They still didn’t care for Eiri and most didn’t bother to hide it, though. Their prejudiced views wouldn’t change until the queen changed, and that was as likely as the sun reversing course in the sky.
