The note was short and to the point, as expected of his lover. Rowan talked; he just didn’t like to chatter. Still, his thoughtfulness made Milo swoon. Rowan really did want him in this room and was making sure he felt comfortable here.
When Rowan had first brought up having his own room, Milo had skipped right over the first two levels and hit stage-three panic. Honestly, the whole room thing hadn’t even crossed his mind, although it should have. Of course they would haveprepared a specific room for the visiting mage. It wasn’t like they’d expected him to hook up with Rowan!
So yeah, pure panic had hit when Rowan had broached the subject, and then just as quickly, panic had been defeated by relief. Also joy. Rowan might be hard to read—those facial expressions didn’t do much talking—but he was amazing at direct communication. Milo blessed him for it. It took a lot of panic out of the equation. Not to mention made him want to shag Rowan’s brains out for being such a wonderful boyfriend.
Milo had never had a man try to keep him close like this before. Much as he would love to believe it was because Rowan liked him that much, Milo was also aware he was alotto live with. Some part of him feared Rowan would burn out fast, having them live together while also working together all day. Milo really, truly did not want that to happen, but he didn’t know how to prevent the inevitable.
Right now, all he could do was hope for the best and squash the internal whisper telling him their relationship was doomed to fail. Live in the moment! It was Milo’s creed.
Well! He was going to put Rowan’s good intentions immediately to use. Milo whipped open his trunk and started unpacking, organizing things in the drawers as he went. He levitated his trunk of books out of the way and against the wall so no one would trip over it. Especially at night. Milo had dislocated a pinky toe once on a trunk. Never again.
He threw dirty laundry into the hamper near the bathing room. The bathing room was actually much nicer than he’d expected for a place built with defense in mind and not creature comforts. Afterward, he stood in the middle of the bedroom, hands on hips, feeling quite satisfied. That hadn’t been much work at all.
Speaking of, he should probably get to work, but he wanted to call Ray first and check in. Now that he finally had time, energy, and some privacy.
He pulled out a mirror, propping it up on the window bench, and tried calling. Ray was normally back at home by this time of day.
Sure enough, his friend answered, dark brows beetled in worry. From the black vest he wore, he must have just gotten in from work. “All right, asshole?”
“Yeah, you bitch. I’m great! Just calling to tell you I’ve arrived safely, I have a new smoking hot boyfriend, and the ward up heresucks. I will be reporting back to the Council that the last five mages they sent up here did a shitty job and should be fined. Personally, though, I think they should look into everyone who’s been here the last seven years.”
“Wait, wait, wait!Back up!Boyfriend?” Ray said the word “boyfriend” with a cautious air, his tenor voice wavering uncertainly as if he wasn’t sure if Milo was jerking his chain.
“Right! That’s the most important part.” Said him. “Captain Rowan Rangecroft, head of the guard, and youngest son of the ruling family here in Gravegarde. I met him because he was my guide to bring me up here.”
Ray pushed gray-speckled dark hair away from his face, out of his eyes, as if trying to see Milo better. There was all the doubt over there from Ray. One brow up, head tilted to the side, clearly wondering if Milo had been day drinking. “Are you serious right now?”
“I’m completely not joking. It just kind of happened? He’s been sooo thoughtful from our first meeting, and I don’t annoy him, which is huge for me. So I asked him out and he said yes.”
“Milo, I keep telling you that you’re not annoying. You’ve just been surrounded by jerks most of your life.”
“You might be right, butanyway, Rowan and I decided to start dating the first day we met. The sex is scorching, I have burns from it, and he’s so, so sweet. Just incredibly thoughtful, and kind, and even knowing I can handle myself, he’s protective.”
Ray let out a littlehuh, curiosity taking over the doubts. “Example of him being thoughtful?”
“He realized my jacket wasn’t really up to the weather of the north, so when we were about halfway here, he bought me a cloak, hat, and gloves. I didn’t even hint for those, mind you, he just saw errant shivers and got me what I needed.”
Ray made a sad noise. “You lucky bitch.I want a boyfriend like him.”
“You gotta stop dating assholes first.”
“I’m trying!”
“Try harder.”
“Fuck off.”
Milo laughed and kept going. “Right now, he’s moved me into his room. Told me flat out he didn’t want to sleep away from me and moved furniture in here so I had places to put my things. He’s even a good cook! Fed me the whole way here.”
Ray’s dark green eyes narrowed. “He got a brother?”
“He does! Just as handsome, too. Don’t you want to come up here and visit me?”
“You’re making a very compelling case.” Ray rolled his eyes expressively. “Especially since Andrew was here last night.”
“Again?!”
“Looking for you, yeah.” Ray sighed, the sound relaying just how absolutely done he was with this whole drama. “I told him you’d been stationed way up north and weren’t going to be back before the end of the year. Then—get this—this asshole with a mouth tried propositioning me. Does he really think I’m that stupid?”
