Rowan had never been so thankful they employed good cooks. Milo might stay for the food alone.
Troy caught his eye, his face sayingwhat are you doing?
Rowan shrugged. What did it look like he was doing? He was taking care of his lover.
For some reason, this silent shrug amused Troy and a smile played around his mouth as he ate. For all that he’d known his best friend since diapers, Troy had rarely seen him interact with a lover, so his puzzlement made sense. Outside of work, Rowan didn’t actively care for another unless they were family or a lover.
Somewhere around his third plate, Milo slowed down, more playing with his dinner roll than eating it. Rowan judged it safe to ask questions now.
“Milo, design?”
“Oh, right! Sorry. Food was so delicious I totally forgot.” He oriented himself to speak to the table at large. “So I had a thought while designing your new ward. What if I actually didtwo wards? One anchored against the watchtowers, and one covering the fortress itself.”
Raina was immediately intrigued. “Why two? I like the idea, but why?”
“Couple of reasons. One, wouldn’t you like more room to put people and beasts into when shit has gone seriously fucky? You’ve got that whole town right outside the walls, and I know they’re meant to retreat into the fortress if something bad goes down, but wouldn’t you want more space to put people so they’re not all crammed in? You can also think of it as a first line of defense. The way the towers are laid out, they make the perfect eight-pointed star, which is one of the stronger wards. Really, it seems a shame not to use them since they’re already there. Plus, if for some reason the ward connected to the watchtowers fails—which it can do if it gets overwhelmed enough—you have a second line of defense to fall back on inside the fortress.”
Reagan tucked a short curl behind one ear and piped up with, “What can make a ward fail?”
“Well, for instance, an earthquake. If the land the ward is tied to falls apart, then the ward will as well. I saw one ward taken out by a house fire. The ward can’t prevent things that are happening inside the building, so if, say, your kitchen breaks out into flames, then it’ll dismantle the ward from the inside.”
Rowan hadn’t known any of that. “Can you do something about fires?”
“Sure, I can put fire-suppression charms up on the walls around places like the kitchen. It’ll keep the fire from spreading. Done right, they can even suppress fire that goes outside of certain boundaries.” Milo’s eyes roved over his face before tacking on dryly, “I just gave you a whole new nightmare by mentioning fires, didn’t I?”
Rowan grimaced and nodded. Yeah, he really had.
“Then I’ll make sure to do those fire-suppression charms. Anyway, there’s also the added benefit that each ward will be on its own power supply, so if the sigils powering one ward fail, it’s no biggie, you’ve got another ward on a completely separate system.”
Troy whistled softly. “Now I like that idea even more. Milo, do you normally engineer redundancies?”
“Honestly? Whenever I can. I’ve seen too much shit fail when it shouldn’t. I’d prefer a backup plan, especially when people’s lives and Rowan’s sanity are on the line.”
And it was this consideration that drew Rowan so strongly to him. Milo was very much a man who cared about the people close to him. He actively sought ways to help and protect them. Rowan hadn’t needed to be around him for more than two days to figure out his boyfriend had a heart of gold.
“I’m sold on the idea,” Troy admitted. “Dear?”
“Oh, I’m absolutely approving the plan,” Raina agreed with a firm nod. “Milo, do it. Also, do you know any healing magic?”
“Quite a bit. Mostly with potions, but I do have three healing spells as well. Uhhh, the way you asked that question alarms me. Why do you ask?”
“We had a Drachifel attack while you two were still on the road here,” Raina said, filling him in with an aggravated groan. “Two of our guardsmen were injured. We only have basic healing potions and we did give those, but they’re still going to be on the mend for another two weeks.”
“Ouch. I’ll look at them after dinner, see what I can do to help.”
Rowan kicked himself for not thinking of that earlier. Milo had mentioned he knew healing magic; he should have remembered that. Well, hopefully his potions could do something more, as Rowan didn’t like the idea of his people hurt.
Much later that night, he lay next to Milo, both of them breathing a touch hard and wallowing in afterglow. The window was open, so the sea breeze floated over their skin, cooling the sweat that had built. A single mage light hovered next to the bed, the lighting soft and mellow, suiting Rowan’s mood perfectly. Making love with Milo slowly grew more addictive with each round. Rowan wasn’t sure if he was just learning more how to please this man or if his heart was slowly falling for him. Could be both.
There was a lot to love with Milo.
Take after dinner, for example. Rowan had shown him to the infirmary ward in the fortress, where the two guards were convalescing, and Milo had set to healing them to the best of his abilities. Not only had he been able to mend the worst of the gashes and speed up the healing of broken bones, but he’d had both men laughing by the time he left again. It wasn’t just the magic Milo brought with him—it was hope and laughter.
No wonder he was growing addicted to the little mage.
Rowan kissed his forehead, keeping Milo close in his arms, pleased when he snuggled in farther. “My family likes you.”
“I can tell. I like them just as much. It’s always hell when you’re dating someone who your family despises. For me, it was only ever Ethel and Great-Aunt Anabelle whose opinions I had to consider, and while they were always right on the money, it was still hard to look past their opinions.”
