Page 54 of Noble Charms

NOBLE

Noble had a problem to solve. A problem he couldn't articulate well, with half-formed thoughts and fragmented feelings. The only thing he knew for certain was that he had to do something about Aria.

And he needed to do it soon.

His lungs burned as he pushed himself forward—he heard Aria's voice. He felt Aria's skin. He tasted Aria's lips. He was desperate to make it stop, because he had a future to chase. His wife waited for him, out there, while he dallied around with a friend in a way that wouldn't serve either of them. He gasped for air as he continued on and⁠—

Noble and Morgan reached the end of the swimming lane at almost the exact same moment. Noble popped out of the water and squinted through water drops at the clock mounted above the pool. He panted out, “Minute and a half, about.”

“You're taller than me. You ought to be faster than that.” Morgan said, wiping the water from his face. He added, “I wasn't even trying very hard.”

Noble snorted. “Fine, fine. I'll give it to you, then, you cad. You win.”

Morgan grinned, his fanged teeth stark white in contrast to his gray complexion. His black swimming costume clung to the muscular but lithe shape of his body, and Noble considered him for a moment in silence. “What?” Morgan said, legs idly paddling back and forth below the clear, bluish water.

Noble looked down at himself, now, at his bigger form, at his blue-striped swimming suit, and said, “I think I have an idea for your prize.”

“I don't much care for your ideas, usually.”

Noble smirked as he placed his hands upon the cool white edge of the pool and heaved himself out of the water. He sat, feet submerged, catching his breath. “This is a good plan.”

Morgan sighed deeply. He ducked beneath the water and emerged shortly after, pushing his hair back, behind his horns, and then hopped onto the pool edge. He hugged a knee to his chest as the water ran off him. “What is it?”

“You should join me and Aria for dinner.”

Morgan's toes, with naturally black nails, tightened against the tile, and he frowned. “I've been at your dinners dozens of times.”

“No, with us. Specifically—as Aria's date.”

“That makes little sense, My Lord.”

Noble rolled his eyes at the title and said, “Aria has a friend. Romy. She told him that she planned to enter court at the end of the season in a few weeks, available to date. And he suggested I try, at least for one night, to help her ease into all of this. We're supposedly quite compatible.” Aria used the word appetite to describe their sexual proclivities, and Noble had to admit he found the idea intriguing. “But of course I had concerns. She's his best friend. And when I hesitated…” Noble said, “I decided it would be best if he came too. But⁠—"

Morgan leaned back as Noble gestured wildly in his direction.

“Only if he too had a date. You.”

Morgan spoke slowly, as if deciphering another language. “You want me to date Aria.”

“It's a fine plan. A proper reward for your win.”

Morgan scoffed. “Hardly.”

“Is it not?” Noble shifted his legs beneath himself, and faced Morgan straight on. The pool lapped at the edge as other swimmers dove in, and the cool splashing water and echoing voices seemed to vanish beneath Noble's passionate argument. “He's near your age. He's available. And kinsme. Plus, you'll never find a finer-looking elf—his face is uniquely pretty, is it not? Certainly, his personal manner these days is agreeable and kind. You may come to love him, should you spend time in his company like this. Romantically.”

“If he's so wonderful, why are you not courting him yourself?”

Noble's heart skipped a beat. Morgan had spent a significant amount of time at his side. Almost no one in the world knew him the way Morgan did.

Morgan had to understand: Noble’s many frenzied thoughts of Aria didn't represent him. Or what he wanted from his life. In romance, he cared for women alone.

“You know why,” he said.

Morgan shrugged. “I've always found you to be an adventurous man, Noble. What's courting a man but another adventure for you to take?”

Noble fished for a reply. A week had passed and still Noble thought of their kiss every single day. Multiple times a day. Sometimes at the most inopportune times—last night he had, yet again, gone to bed with a lady. And he had, yet again, thought of Aria as a means to finish. Noble reached up to pull his wet hair away from his face and said, “He’s a man, and he’s an elf, and I don’t know that I could ever possibly have him in a way that didn’t make him my adame. I don’t want an adame. Or even a husband. I want a wife.”

“Your aunt was expected to wed a man and chose a woman instead, did she not?” Morgan's reply was too fast. It whirled around Noble’s mind like water down a drain.