But Rowan seemed to have the fight well in hand. For all that the Drachifel charged at him, swiping those massive claws, even trying to bite his throat, Rowan expertly parried each attack.
Milo was so distracted by the fight he almost didn’t see the set of claws popping up over the edge. Another Drachifel got its head over the ledge, eyes taking in the fight.
Ohfuckno.
Without hesitation, Milo blasted the thing silly. It screeched in a death rattle as it lost its grip and fell back into the sea.
There better not be more of those things! Rowan hadn’t mentioned whether they liked to fight in pairs or groups. Suspicious, he darted for the edge of the cliff again, carefully looking over, and sure enough, there were two more steadily climbing the jagged cliff face.
Milo had a perfect line of sight on one, and he hit it with another Sacred Flame, blasting the damn thing’s head off. It also fell straight back into the crashing waves, landing far, far below with a faintsploosh.
One down. Well, technically, two down. Now if he could just get proper sight on the other one—it kept weaving in and around some rocks and scraggly brush growing out of the sides of the cliff. Maybe Milo should change angles?
Another Drachifel went sailing over the edge and into the sea below. Milo leaned back to look at his lover. “There’s one more climbing up.”
Rowan tilted sideways to see where Milo pointed, then grunted.
Several pounding footsteps came running up, and Rowan barely glanced their way before bellowing an order. “We’ve got this one. Patrol the cliffs, make sure there aren’t more.”
A male voice barked out, “Sir! All right, on the double.”
Milo absently tracked the guards who moved past him, but mostly he was focused on the last Drachifel. Almost…almost… Come on, already, Milo was aging here.
The head finally came in proper view and Milo lost no time in releasing his spell. It hit dead on, and the Drachifel screeched this godawful, piercing sound before it fell into the sea.
Phew. That was scary.
Rowan offered him a hand up, and Milo took it, eyes doing a quick scan of his lover. Rowan didn’t even look ruffled. Then again, he was likely used to such fights.
“Two alarms,” Milo said firmly. “Because I do not want to walk around with one eye constantly over my shoulder.”
“It does get old,” Rowan agreed with a faint smile. “Set to work, little mage. I’ll make sure a Drachifel doesn’t snack on you.”
Milo sniffed in disdain. “The only one allowed to eat me is you.”
“Damn straight.”
Notes:
AJ: So, Raina, what do you think of Milo?
Raina: He’s too adorable for words. I’m not giving him back.
AJ: You already told Rowan to seduce him into staying, didn’t you?
Raina: You bet your ass I did.
10
Rowan
Rowan looped around the west side of the fortress, heading back toward the main doors. A caravan had just arrived with supplies, and about half of it was for Milo. Rowan wanted to make sure everything Milo needed was sent to the right room.
Ever since the Drachifel attack at the cliffs a few days ago, Milo had doubled down on his efforts to fix the wards. He was still in the process of putting up the first ward around the fortress, but he expected to be done in about two days. Maybe three. Aftersetting up the temp barrier, the first thing he’d done was take the old ward completely down to clear the air, claiming the old energy would affect the new ward. Rowan knew literally nothing about wards, but Milo’s explanation made sense, so he hadn’t commented. Milo worked long hours on it, coming to bed each night tired but satisfied with his progress. Rowan didn’t know how to explain how thankful he was for all of Milo’s efforts. The new alarm system alone was like ten Solstice presents in one. While Rowan couldn’t always express the gratitude he felt, he did his best to help Milo relax at night, caring for him, and it felt like they grew even closer because of it.
Rowan wasn’t the only one grateful. It had been a solid week since Milo first blessed Gravegarde with his presence, and many a person—from guards to townspeople—would come over and chat with him, wanting to relay their thanks. Milo, always happy to chat, had made friends faster than Rowan thought possible. People were so incredibly thankful and delighted at having good mage finally come to help them.
The kitchen staff especially were friendly with Milo. Granted, the man saw them more often than anyone else, with the bottomless pit he called a stomach. But they were also thankful for the fire-suppression charms, the magical pump Milo had installed so they didn’t have to constantly pump water outside, and the praise Milo heaped on their heads for their cooking. Rowan was almost jealous of the attention they gave his lover.
