The maester smeared a thick, sharp-smelling paste over the injury and bandaged it. Then he straightened up, his spine cracking as he leaned back with his hands on his hips. He stifled a yawn and pulled the bed linen up over Evan’s naked body, and that more than anything reassured Thomas that Evan was out of danger.
“You need to rest. I’ll check the dressings daily. Will you be staying in the infirmary while you recover?”
Evan rolled onto his back gingerly before shaking his head. “I think my own bed will be more comfortable.”
“As you wish, although I’m keeping you here at least until nightfall.” The maester looked between Thomas and Evan with undisguised curiosity. “May I enquire as to how you wereinjured, Your Grace?” he asked. “Should we be concerned about a threat in the castle, or was it… an accident?”
Thomas knew in his bones that if they didn’t explain Evan’s injury, it would be all around the castle before breakfast that he and Evan were combining sex and knife throwing or something equally outrageous. Still, this was the perfect opportunity to explain away the two dead bodies lying in Evan’s chambers. The maester wasn’t a gossip as such. Hewas,however,an efficient distributor of news. Thomas glanced over at Evan and raised one eyebrow expectantly.
Evan was clearly thinking along the same lines. “Actually, therewasa threat.” He threw one arm theatrically across his forehead and flinched. “Ow. Why does moving still hurt so much?”
“That would be the stitches,” Thomas said drily.
“Oh, right. Anyway,” Evan said, directing his attention to the maester, “it was very dramatic. A lovers’ duel. Two men fought to the death over me.”
The maester jolted in surprise. “Goodness!”
Thomas tamped down on the wave of possessiveness that surged through him at the mention of Evan having other lovers and waited to see what ridiculous lie would come out of his mouth next.
But it turned out that Evan kept the lie as close to the truth as possible. “The ambassador for Falsmark broke into my rooms in the small hours of this morning and asked me to partake in certain activities with him. I turned him down, of course, because the man looks like a frog that’s been hit with a shovel. He got very nasty about it.”
“The ambassador? Doesn’t he have a wife and five children?”
“Yes, he does,” Evan said, “which is why it was such a shock when he tried to seduce me. But then, just as he was brandishing a knife, another young man who I’d previously rejected brokeinto the castle, and healsocame to my rooms to proposition me!”
The maester’s eyes went wide and he gave an audible gasp. “Twomen came to your rooms on the same night with similar intentions?”
“Well, I’m enormously fuckable but also incredibly choosy,” Evan said blithely. “There are bound to be some hurt feelings along the way.”
Thomas suppressed a snort.
“And they battled… to the death?” The maester’s brow creased as if he couldn’t quite believe what he was hearing.
Evan gave him a bright smile that was slightly strained around the edges. “Well, they both ended up dead. When young Ned turned up and saw Falsmark threatening me, he went quite insane with rage. He snapped the ambassador’s neck like it was no effort at all. It was enormously flattering, truth be told. Of course, then Ned told me he’d been following my every move for weeks and plotting to break in, which was less flattering and more terrifying. And it turned out he was still holding a grudge over the time I rejected him. When I told him I didn’t remember him, he was even more insulted, and that’s when he held a knife to my throat. I tried to get away and I almost made it, but he gave a lucky jab and managed to slice open my side.”
“And how did you escape?” the maester asked, breathless, and Thomas just knew he was storing away every little detail to tell anyone he met.
“Oh, the captain rescued me by throwing a blade across the room and stabbing Ned in the throat. Killed him instantly. It was very impressive.”
Thomas couldn’t help but admire Evan’s ability to weave a plausible tale together using two parts truth and one part sheer bullshit. He also tucked away the knowledge that Evan had beenimpressed with his skill to examine later, when he had more time to soak in the praise.
The maester looked between them again. “And you were naked because…”
“Ah. Yes,” Evan said. “That’s because I’d just been quite magnificently bent over and buggered by the captain, and I hadn’t quite recovered yet. I’m going to court him.”
Thomas froze, unsure if he’d heard correctly.
Evan reached out and took one hand in his, eyes wide. “I’m sorry. I should have asked if you wanted more than a fling first and not assumed, but if you’re half as attracted to me as I am to you, we’d be silly to stop what we’re doing. Besides, I might be dead if not for you, and it turns out there’s nothing for clarity of thought like a knife to the throat—unless it’stwoknives to the throat. Anyway, it made me realise that the idea of my life without you in it is quite unbearable. And I don’t know if I’m doing this right, because I’ve never felt like this about anyone before, but I am deeply, deeply enamoured of you. Be my lover, Thomas, and let me court you properly? Please?”
Thomas jolted upright. His heart fluttered in his chest like a flock of doves preparing to take flight as what Evan was saying sank in.
Evan, Duke of Ravenport, also known as the Rogue, hadfeelingsfor him. He didn’t want a casual arrangement after all. He wanted a courtship.
He wantedThomas.
This didn’t have to end after all.
And Evan was right—it had taken the blade of a knife to drive home exactly how Thomas felt about the duke. When he’d had been running up the stairs carrying Evan’s limp body and he’d thought he might lose him, he’d almost buckled under the realisation that he cared far more deeply for Evan than even he’d suspected, and that he might never get to tell him about it.
