And now Evan was telling Thomas that those feelings were mutual and asking to court him—and Thomas didn’t have to think twice.
The doves in his chest broke free with the rapid beating of his heart and soared skyward. “I care for you far too deeply for this to be a mere dalliance,” he said, his mouth curving up into a smile.
Evan’s head snapped up and he held Thomas’s gaze, naked hope written across his features. “Are you saying yes?”
“Of course I’m saying yes.”
Evan’s face lit up. He rolled onto his uninjured side and propped himself awkwardly up on one elbow, wincing as he did so. Thomas leaned forward and pressed a single soft kiss to his lips before drawing back.
Evan sighed as their lips parted, and his smile was even wider than before. “Did you hear that, Maester? Thomas has agreed to be courted.”
The maester’s smile was genuine. “Congratulations, Your Grace. The captain certainly sounds like a better choice than either of those other two men.”
“Oh, he definitely is,” Evan said. “He’s only held a knife to my throat once, and that was a misunderstanding.”
Maester Owens paused for a moment, opened his mouth, and closed it again. He wiped his hands clean and walked towards the door. “I’ll leave you to rest and check on your progress later. But please do remember, no strenuous activity.”
Thomas pulled his hand reluctantly from Evan’s grasp and stood. His heart might be soaring, but in Evan’s bedroom bodies were cooling, and hedidstill have a job to do. “I should leave you to rest as well. I need to take care of the bodies. I don’t want the servants to find them.”
“Oh, you mean the criminals?” Evan asked. “The traitors who threatened the second in line for the throne and met the fate they deserved?”
“Yes,” Thomas said. “Them.”
In truth, he’d forgotten for a moment that Evan was second in line for the throne behind the crown prince and he wondered why Evan was even mentioning it. But then it struck him that Evan’s place in the line of succession would prove extremely helpful when it came to explaining why Thomas had killed Ned on the spot instead of restraining him. Of course, the real reason had nothing to do with Evan being royalty. Thomas had simply seen red at someone daring to put their hands on his duke.
Not that he’d known Evan was his duke at the time, but that hadn’t seemed to matter. The knife had been flying through the air towards Ned’s throat before he’d had time to think about it.
He had no regrets.
Evan reached out and caught his hand again, wide green eyes meeting his. “Stay with me? I’m sure Maester Owens can do… whatever it is they do with dead people. He must deal with them all the time.” He glanced over at the maester, brow furrowed. “Whatdoyou do with all your dead people exactly?”
Thomas had to give Evan his due. If he hadn’t known better, he would have assumed that Evan had never even seen a corpse, let alone produced plenty of his own.
The maester’s mouth was a thin line. “Most of my patients do recover, Your Grace. But rest assured, I’m able to make the necessary arrangements.”
Evan blinked at him. “For what?”
“For the bodies.” There was a trace of fond exasperation in the maester’s tone.
“Oh! Of course. You did say that, but I forgot.”
“Quite understandable,” the maester said more gently. “The pain draught can leave you addled, and you’ve been injured. Rest, and leave the deceased to me.”
“Thank you. And do make sure you get the blood out of the rug, will you? It was a gift from the king.”
“Of course,” the maester said, and he hurried away.
Once he was gone, Evan lowered himself carefully to the bed and rolled over onto his back again with a groan. “You know, this is the first time I’ve been stabbed. I donotrecommend it.”
Thomas reached out and brushed Evan’s hair away from his forehead, wishing he could do more. “You should rest,” he said quietly.
“You’ll stay with me?”
“I’ll always stay with you,” Thomas said, fighting back a smile.
“Good,” Evan said, his eyes already drifting closed.
Before long, his breathing had turned slow and even, and Thomas was content to stay by his bed and watch him sleep, taking comfort in the steady rise and fall of his chest as Thomas reflected on the fact that Evan really did want to court him.
