Lehrer glanced up, a smile quirking his lips. “I won’t flatter myself. He’s far more interested in the ground lamb, I think.”
It shouldn’t be endearing. It really shouldn’t. Nope.
“You have a little something,” Noam said, gesturing toward his own cheek. “Here.”
“Well, why don’t you come and get it off?”
Wolf huffed, clearly frustrated that he wasn’t going to be offered raw meat tonight, and slouched down to the floor. For his part Noam drifted closer, oddly transfixed by the smudge of flour dusting Lehrer’s cheekbone. He slid his hand along Lehrer’s flat stomach and rose up onto the balls of his feet, Lehrer leaning over enough for Noam to reach as he kissed the mark away.
When he drew back, they were still too close, Lehrer’s free hand having found the small of Noam’s back and the tip of his nose grazing Noam’s own.
“I missed you today,” Lehrer murmured. “During all those meetings, I kept thinking how much I’d rather be talking to you.”
Noam’s breath caught and Lehrer laughed, his eyes crinkling at the corners.
“Still blushing, even after all this time?”
“Sunburn.”
“It’s January, you know.”
“Yeah, I’m still gonna go withsunburn,” Noam said, and Lehrer—grinning—swooped in to kiss him on the mouth.
Noam’s cheeks were still warm when Lehrer finally let him go. He felt embarrassingly like he was sixteen again, light headed at Lehrer’s touch. He gripped the edge of the counter and nodded toward the bowl of spiced meat.
“Do you need any help with this?”
“I think Wolf and I have it under control,” Lehrer said wryly. “But you should go and take a shower. I don’t mean to cause offense, but ...”
Right. Noam was still in his running clothes, sweat-streaked and disgusting. Even so, Lehrer’s hand trailed along his back as he moved away, escaping out the kitchen and to the cold mercy of Lehrer’s shower. There, he reminded himself once, twice, a dozen times: It didn’t matter if Lehrer played nice. Lehrer’s gift was persuasion—he was really good atplaying nice. Just because his feelings appeared genuine didn’t make them so.
Lehrer was a monster. He deserved to die. Hedid.
And Noam had to play this pitch fucking perfect if he was getting out of this game alive.
“Dara contacted me again,” he told Lehrer later, still wet haired but full of lamb dumplings and sitting in Lehrer’s living room.
Lehrer looked up from the paperwork he’d been reviewing, pen still in hand. He hadn’t tried to get Noam in bed after dinner—had brushed a quick kiss to Noam’s mouth when he handed him a drink and then retreated to the opposite side of the room. They’d been sitting in relative silence for the past fifteen minutes, reading.
“I see,” Lehrer said. He put down the pen. “And what did he have to say?”
“There’s a meeting tonight. Of insurgents.” A careful term; the wordresistancehad been on the tip of Noam’s tongue, swallowed back just in time. “I’m invited.”
He wasn’t quite sure what he’d expected from Lehrer’s reaction—for Lehrer to be annoyed, maybe, that Noam waited so long to tell him—but all Lehrer did was lean back in his chair, setting aside the paperwork on an end table.
“You should go,” Lehrer said.
“Yes,” Noam agreed. “I think so.” And this was where he had to be careful. Lehrer wouldn’t believe Noam wasn’t at least tempted to switch sides, if just for Dara alone. He drew a leg up into his chair, clutching his knee toward his chest with both hands. “I don’t ... obviously, I want to protect Carolinia. And maybe ... I might be able to convince Dara to leave them. Maybe not to joinus, but—I don’t want him to get hurt.”
Lehrer sat in silence, the tips of his fingers steepled together. He’d had 124 years to perfect his ability to read facial expressions, to tell when someone was lying—Noam just hoped he decided the risk of letting Noam go was worth it. That he trusted his own ability of persuasion.
All of this only worked so long as Lehrer believed he was still in control.
“There’s still hope for Dara,” Lehrer said at last, tone even and completely uninterpretable. “He hasn’t committed a crime against my government. Not yet. But if he turns to treason, even I won’t be able to protect him.”
“I have to try,” Noam insisted. “I can’t—I won’t let him do this. And I’ll report everything back to you. Whatever they’re planning.”
“Yes,” Lehrer said, one elegant brow going up. “You will.”
