“Promise,” Leo said, kissing Felix’s cheek. “We don’t come back until it’s safe. I won’t risk you for anything.”
“It’s you I worry about,” Felix said. “I don’t think I could cope if anything?—”
“Very touching,” Evan interrupted from where he was sprawled in the single battered armchair. “Now can we talk about your travel arrangements? I’d like to send a full contingentof guards but that might look suspicious, and of course we suspect that at least one of them can’t be trusted, given the existence of the map. I’ll have Thomas choose six faithful men and that will have to do.”
“Speaking of Thomas, where is he?” Felix asked. “I thought you were working together.” He narrowed his eyes. “You haven’t had a lovers’ tiff already, have you?”
“No, we haven’t had a bloody lovers’ tiff,” Evan snapped. Felix’s comment had his hackles rising for reasons he couldn’t quite define. He suspected it was the implication that Evan was somehow incapable of keeping Thomas happy, which was ridiculous. He was perfectly capable, thank you, and Thomas had been more than satisfied—so happy, in fact, that his normally stoic facade had cracked and his eagerness to return had been written all over his big handsome face even before Evan had asked him to come back. “If youmustknow, he’s on early patrol. And we are working together. He’s going to keep an ear open around his men to see if anyone lets something slip.”
“Interesting that you didn’t deny you are lovers,” Felix said with a grin.
“We have an arrangement,” Evan hedged, examining the flagstones of the cottage floor.
“Funny,” Leo chimed in. “I thought you didn’t take lovers, but here you are.”
“I don’t—we’re not—” Evan’s mouth shut with a snap, and he blinked—because Leo wasright.
Evan didn’t take lovers. Evan hadflings.He’d had fun dalliances, very occasionally, that weren’t related to extracting information, but up until now there had never been anything more. The risk was too great.
Except with Thomas, it wasn’t.
Thomas already knew the secret that mattered—that Evan and the Rogue were one and the same—and he didn’t care. Infact, if anything, he was positively enamoured with the idea. And Evan knew instinctively that he could trust him, and that Thomas would have his back should the need arise. He’d proven that already.
The man was clever and witty and physically imposing in ways that made Evan weak at the knees, and the very idea of ending their arrangement, even though they’d barely started it, made his stomach twist up into knots in a way it hadn’t since the first time he’d pushed a man off a bridge.
Oh.
It was possible, he conceded, that he might hold more than just casual affection for his captain. And another thing—when, exactly, had Thomas becomehiscaptain?
Fine. Theywerelovers—or at the very least, lover-adjacent. His stomach did that twisty thing again, but this time it filled him with a warm, pleasant sensation that took him a moment to identify as happiness.
He tucked the jumble of feelings aside to examine later when less lives were at risk. Honestly, this was theworstpossible time for his emotions to make themselves known.
Evan ran a hand through his hair and pushed up out of the armchair, brushing the dust off the old cloak he was wearing. “Whether Thomas and I are lovers isn’t important right now. What is important is getting you both to Koroslova, then figuring out who wants you dead and killing them first.”
“Were you a violent child, Evan?” Felix asked, wrinkling his nose.
“No,” Evan said.
“Yes, you were,” Leo said. “You pushed me off my throne when we were children.”
Evan rolled his eyes. “Firstly, nobody saw me, so it never happened. Secondly, it wasn’t your throne yet. And thirdly, you were incredibly annoying, and you probably deserved it.”
Felix looked between them and his face split in a wide grin. “I’d believe it. I mean, he’s still annoying.”
“Brat,” Leo muttered, but his expression was fond.
“Your brat,” Felix said, still grinning. “Now, shall we go and make arrangements for our travel?”
As Thomas had predicted, the royal couple’s sudden decision to travel threw the entire castle into chaos, and Evan felt sorry for the army of servants who, upon hearing the news, let out a collective sigh before setting about doing all those necessary things that had to be done in order for the royal couple to travel.
And there weresomany things that needed to be done. There were horses to be tended, clothing suitable for Koroslova’s colder climate to be packed, guards to be chosen for the journey and outfitted for the cold, and that was the least of it. Thomas had been right—same-day travel would have been an impossibility.
Quite apart from all that, the last visiting dignitaries needed to be informed that their stay was at an end. Given that the talks were well and truly over and the king and his husband would no longer be in residence, there was no excuse for them to remain.
Evan happily volunteered to deliver the news.
Dressed in a deep purple coat and soft lilac trousers and armed with a glass of red wine and a vague expression, he meandered up to the guest wing. He took a petty glee in waltzing into the bedrooms of any lingering visitors shortly after dawn and acting shocked to see them still in their beds, saying, “Oh, haven’t you left yet? The king won’t like that. He was determined to see you all gone before luncheon.” It was highly entertainingto see their mouths drop open in shock. He let them gasp out their protests that they hadn’t been told before asking, “Did I not tell you last night?”
