Page 28 of The Scent of the Ideal

“You asked for someone to fuck you.” Viau bit out the words. “I heard it clearly. Someone.”

“Yes?” Rafi demanded in confusion. If they had been sparring, he would have been tempted to toss his plate at Viau just to see what he’d do, if he could duck or parry it in time, or if he’d end up with dumplings in his lovely hair. But that was the sort of thing an angry person would do.

Rafi had no right to be angry. Viau had been kind to him once already. If Rafi was upset now, it was because he shouldn’t have gotten greedy or allowed himself to think that the chief healer had understood the situation more than him.

Instead of snarling in reply, or raising his voice, Viau blinked a few times and then half turned as if needing to study Rafi from a new angle. “Why do you think I am here right now, Rafeli Tizzan?”

Rafi quietly scoffed at the use of his full name. Nobody else did that the way Viau did but Rafi shouldn’t feel anything about it.

“Why would I know why you’re here?” Rafi genuinely didn’t know. “You aren’t sitting down or going to eat with your friends, so you must not be planning to stay.” Laure was giving him a disapproving look, probably because Rafi was being childish. “You’re here to be polite,” he guessed aloud, flicking a glance up to Viau as well. “I’m being rude. I’m sorry. I’m very tired.”

“‘Polite,’” Viau echoed as if he’d never heard that word before in his life.

“Taking a moment in your very busy schedule to greet Rafi,” Katoh explained, in a tone Rafi would puzzle over later. “Polite.”

Viau looked to her, then to Laure, who stared at him expectantly. Viau lowered his brows and nodded slowly before he focused back on Rafi.

“You worried,” he said gently. “I am sorry. Truly. I don’t really know what I’m doing, but I have been away too much. I can’t even blame my cousin; this is an entirely different branch of the family being difficult and asking me to mediate. Large families,” he explained a moment later, as if realizing that none of them knew what he meant. “I did see the play.” That was to Rafi. “Although, I was on duty, so I didn’t watch much of it. But I will when it runs for the public. Rafeli Tizzan,” he said Rafi’s full name with particular care this time, “I am here… I came here, though I am indeed busy, to ask if you are well and to see if you wished to spar with me again in two days. I didn’t mean to make you worry.”

Rafi stared up at him. “Really?”

“I never want you to worry.” Viau lightly brushed a curl from Rafi’s forehead before Rafi could remember where they were and how that might look. “I thought I was back for good the other day, and then a different relation decided to be an idiot. Such an idiot that I have to leave again soon, but this business will be in the palace, and I will return in two days. If I don’t, believe me when I tell you that it’s because royals are a pain in the ass. Not you. Not anything we do. I enjoy our time together.”

“The sparring is your indulgence,” Rafi remembered aloud.

Viau drew in a long breath and exhaled it with a sound of deep pleasure. “The sparring, certainly.”

“You know, we actually need to get going.” Laure stood up and gestured to Katoh, who startled Rafi by getting to her feet too. “There’s something I promised an instructor I’d do,” he explained to Viau. “But I haven’t touched any of my bread or butter if you wanted to eat something before you’re off again.”

Laure hadn’t mentioned any promise to any instructor to Rafi. But within moments, he was gone, and Viau sat across from Rafi, not touching the bread or butter either.

“You’re not eating much,” he observed. “And you looked exhausted. Have you been well?”

“I don’t know why you care,” Rafi answered without thought, then put his elbow on the table use his hand to hold up his head because he was exhausted. “I have not been sleeping, but I’m well enough. It’s—Viau,” he objected with the name as Viau pushed Laure’s small plate of bread toward him. “You’re acting like a miné.”

“I am a miné.” Viau didn’t even smile. His gaze stayed dark and intense enough to make Rafi worryingly swoony. “Am I not to indulge myself there?”

“By nannying a nex?” Rafi took the bread, at least, since he knew that would have appeased Laure when Laure was feeling especially protective. He nibbled the crust, then, his hunger sparked, ate the rest of it. It was only when licking butter from the corner of his mouth that he thought of Chief Healer Emma’s words and shook inside. He looked at Viau, who watched him eat with close attention. “I’m glad to see you,” Rafi admitted, “even just this. But I won’t be able to spar with you. They have me sparring your way with the first-and-second years. I’m supposed to bruise them to teach them.”

“Our way,” Viau amended lightly. “You don’t like your dumplings?”

“Are you going to try to feed them to me?” Rafi wondered with real concern. He’d seen miné do that, and Viau seemed to be feeling like one of those miné at the moment.

Viau’s eyes widened. “I hadn’t considered that I would be allowed to.” His expression brightened with interest as he leaned in. “Would I be allowed to?”

Rafi didn’t catch the whine before it left his mouth. He put both hands in his lap and looked to the side of the room where all the tables and benches were empty. He tried to think like he normally would without aedis looming and his newly awakened body starving for touch.

“What?” His voice was faint. “You didn’t come here to feed me.”

“No,” Viau admitted. “I came here to see you and to explain my absence, and I’ve ended up apologizing and begging to feed you.” He took a deep breath, then his expression changed, his interest growing more intent. He inhaled again and held the breath in his lungs for a moment. “Oh, I see.”

His voice was almost a purr.

“You do?” Rafi shook his head, which had not been clear for days and wasn’t clear now. “I don’t, but I’m… very tired.”

Viau went serious in a heartbeat. “Tell the instructors that you require a break.” He raised a hand to cut off Rafi’s objection before Rafi made it. “If you don’t, I will.”

“You won’t be here,” Rafi pointed out. “And I can’t ask that.”