Page 53 of Noble Charms

Noble chuckled as he approached, crouching to lift the book, and return it to Aria’s grasp. “The Everet’s library is one of the prettiest. Second to my uncle’s, I’d say. So—when I noticed you were gone—I knew you’d be here.”

“Mm.” Aria closed the book and returned it to the shelf. “You should return to the soiree. You’d amassed an audience.”

Noble huffed. “I suppose. Is it odd that I feel most of these girls are…girls?”

“They’re too young?”

“No. I’m too old. I’ve done too much already, and they’ve barely begun to live.” He combed a hand through his hair, pulling the curls from his face, revealing the smooth golden skin and his beard growing thicker with the colder season. “But women my age are already wed.”

Aria reached out to place a hand upon Noble’s arm. “I’m sorry.”

Noble eyed Aria’s hand for a moment before he broke into another grin. “May the Sun God strike me dead. I’m complaining on your birthday.” He closed his hand over Aria’s, and tugged him close. “Have you at least had a little fun?” Aria meant to lie, to be polite, but he’d been spending far too much time around Noble. He hesitated a half-beat too long, and Noble hissed between his teeth. “That bad?”

“No, no,” Aria said, fingers tightening against the sleeve of Noble’s sapphire suit. “I promise, it’s been fine. Honestly, though, if I’d known about the library before… I would have been in here long ago.” A clock from somewhere within the house rang. Aria looked towards the windows on the far wall of the library, at the moon that continued to stretch high into the sky. “Midnight already?” Perhaps he’d been occupied well enough. “I didn’t realize it was this late.”

Noble’s eyes went wide as the clock continued its sixty-second chime. “Midnight. That’s right—elves kiss at midnight on their birthdays. Do they not?”

Aria shook his head in surprise. “How do you know about that?”

Noble scoffed, and then grinned, and said, “I grew up in two of the most diverse cities in the world.”

Aria rolled his eyes. “Yeah, alright, Noble. Yes, some elves do. I’m not one of them.”

“What? Why not?” Noble’s brows pinched close, like he hadn’t yet realized Aria had no one with whom to kiss on this night.

He would have hesitated to share the truth in any other time, but Noble knew some of his worst traits anyway. “I’ve never had anyone in my life—I’ve never—” He felt his face grow hot. “I’ve never had a partner that has been available.”

Noble shifted closer. “I’m not incredibly adept with math, but you had at least five birthdays with Ellor, and two with that artist fellow from school.”

Aria had to look away. “Every year, something would happen. Too drunk. Already asleep. You know how the cards may fall on any given year.” He’d embarrassed himself in front of Noble a number of times, but this… He admitted that he accepted a lack of affection from his lovers, but worse: that he, himself, had never been worth waking to kiss. He pulled away, and he tried to laugh it off. “It’s not that serious. It’s a silly tradition.”

Noble grasped Aria—one hand upon the small of his back, the other placed gently beneath his jaw—and kissed him at the very moment the final chime rang out from the clock.

And Aria’s soul did something strange: it wept. Not in sorrow, or even in joy, but in a sort of relief. Like he’d been trying to come up for air all his life, and got his first-ever deep, lung-filling breath. He was so overwhelmed and he could do nothing but hold onto Noble’s broad shoulders until his knuckles went white.

Him.

Noble pulled back, smiling, and said, “Happy birthday.”

Aria’s mind emptied of every thought, hands gone numb. He gazed into Noble’s eyes, close enough now that he could see the thin navy band that surrounded his pupils—invisible unless you leaned close enough to kiss him. Unless you were nose-to-nose, breathing the same air. He finally found the words enough to whisper, “You didn’t need to do that.”

Noble squeezed the smooth plane of Aria’s back, hugging him close. “I did. I’d be a shit friend if I let you go even one more year without your kiss.” His eyes flickered down to Aria’s mouth, and back up to his eyes. “You know about the human tradition, right?”

Aria also couldn’t help himself. He looked at the damp, dark shape of Noble’s lips. He hadn’t gotten to taste him, not like that, but they were so close he knew that he’d taste like wine and sugar and cigar ash. Which should have been disgusting, but was not. Aria forced himself to look back into Noble’s awaiting stare. “Candles. You blow out candles.”

Noble grinned. “No. We have sex.”

Aria scoffed, rolled his eyes, and said, “You take me for a fool.”

Noble squeezed him again, and Aria felt the warmth Noble carried start to sink into his bones. He was going to lose the ability to walk, soon, overwhelmed by the sensations and—and implications. “I mean it,” said Noble. “Birthday sex. I can take you home, right now, and we can make passionate love to make up for all the years that you’ve been failed.”

“That’s your tradition, not mine.” Aria frowned, narrowing his eyes, growing more certain of it now. This was a game, and it was a fun one—as long as he maintained his grasp upon reality. The reality was that Noble was going to wed one of those girls downstairs within the next year. Aria released a sigh and said, “Your birthday is ten months away, yet.” He slapped Noble's shoulders, pushing for him to move.

Noble moaned as if pained as he stepped back. “How cruel you are, with your rules, and your knowledge of calendars, and your chaste elven tradition. Fine, fine. We won’t go to bed. But next summer…"

Aria adjusted his robes. “Did you want to go back to the party?”

Noble offered his elbow for Aria to take. “Best to not. Let’s pack our bread and go.”