Page 107 of The Boy Bride

Vanu laughed softly. “No, that’s absurd.”

“Yes, a bit, but—I tried to make you do something you didn’t want to do. Just because I didn’t really want it either … or … ”

“Yeah, neither of those things is true, hey? Lill, I’m not sober enough for this yet.”

“Sorry.” Lill smiled. “I’m sorry I woke you. You should go back to sleep.”

Vanu put out a hand but stopped short of touching Lill. “Will you stay?”

“Here? Of course! Of course.” He settled down on the bed next to Vanu with an eagerness that he would have found shameful a week—a day—maybe even an hour ago.

* * *

Vanu woke with Lill tucked against his chest, curled up under his arm. It felt so good having him there that Vanu barely noticed his own aching head. He lay still, not wanting to wake Lill, but when he looked down, he saw Lill’s eyelashes flicker and realized he was already awake.

Awake, and lying there enjoying the warmth of Vanu’s arm over him, the feeling of being curled up against Vanu’s bare chest? Or just not wanting to wake Vanu for some secret reason of his own. Vanu couldn’t guess.

He curved his hand around Lill’s slim shoulder and watched Lill realize that he was awake too. Lill looked up. For an instant there was a warm, open affection on Lill’s face. It flickered back into hiding so quickly that Vanu couldn’t be sure he’d really seen it.

“Good morning,” Lill said, his voice soft and drowsy.

“Morning.” Vanu got the word out on the second try. “Sorry about last night.”

Lill was silent for a moment. His expression was as guarded as usual, but his body was relaxed, lying there beside Vanu.

“Do you remember much of what I said after I came in here?” he asked finally.

Vanu nodded. He remembered all that clearly, or at least he thought he did.

“I see. So you know … when I’ve been reluctant, it’s nothing to do with who you are. I suppose I was wary of you at first, having been told that you were a beast and so on, but mostly it’s … it’s not that.”

“Mm. Yeah, I see that.”

“You saw it from the beginning. You thought I was … that there was something in my past.”

“Yeah.” He hadn’t had an inkling what it was, though. He did now.

Lill turned to lie on his back, and Vanu saw the side of his face that had been hidden against the pillow. There was a bruise on his pale cheekbone.

“Did I hit you?”

“Ugh, no. We bumped into one another.”

“You’re sure?”

“I was sober.”

Vanu snorted. “Not what I meant.”

“I’m not lying to protect your feelings. If you’d hit me, I’d tell you.”

Vanu looked at him and decided he believed that. He wondered what other things Lill might tell the truth about. He didn’t want to risk finding out just then.

“Dreamed I’d done stuff like that to you. Hurt you. Nightmares.”

Lill looked surprised. “You mean when you’ve woken from a bad dream … it was about that?”

“Not any of the evil warlord shit I’ve actually done? Yeah. I’m a real piece of work, hey?”