Chapter Nine
“Dad?” Florian let slip the next morning, as they sat across from each other in his study once more.
He kicked himself the moment he said it—he had never called Jerahdadbefore. When he glanced up, a wide grin was on Jerah's face as their eyes met, but his voice was perfectly even as he replied, “Yes?”
“Um, I wanted to ask you something,” he stammered. It felt like he had been feeling embarrassed more often than not the past few days.
“Of course,” Jerah replied, gesturing for him to continue. “Ask away.”
“It's about Kade,” he said, looking down at the table. “I was wondering if, um, if he... I mean, I wondered if he was maybe... Um, he's been with you for a long time, right?”
He couldn't bring himself to look up at Jerah, but he could imagine the way his father’s grin became conspiratorial in the brief beat of silence that passed before he answered.
“Yes,” Jerah said, his tone just as eager as Florian had feared. “Let's see. He's been my assistant and guard for, oh, about five years now, when he came to the Winter Court after his father got too ill to stay.”
“Did he, like... I don't know. Is everyone in his clan waiting for him to come back?” he asked, still unable to form the words he was searching for.
“Hmm. I wouldn't say that,” Jerah answered, and Florian glanced up to see that his hand was pressed thoughtfully to his lips. “It seems to me that he came with the understanding that the move would be largely permanent, more so than his father’s presence had been. He has a few younger siblings, but the wolf clan is very pack-like, so they all take care of each other. I think he may have been casually seeing someone before he came here, but…” His grin widened, and Florian frowned. “But he's been single while he's been here, if that's what you're getting at.”
“N-No!” he exclaimed in protest, quickly looking away again. Thathadbeen what he was getting at, but what did it matter? Just because Kade was single didn't mean he had any interest in guys. Or in Florian, regardless of the weird tension he’d felt when they had sparred.
“Good luck,” Jerah said with a sigh, leaning back. “To be honest, a marriage between our families would only strengthen our ties, so you have my blessing.”
“It's not like that!” he yelped, shaking his head, but Jerah only laughed.
“Kidding, kidding,” he said, waving his hand. “But only a bit.”
“Anyway, I'm trying to read,” Florian mumbled, leaning over his book. Jerah chuckled, but didn't press the issue again.
The rest of their morning passed without incident, and when Florian went out to the courtyard for training—far more nervous than he'd been the day before—Kade was waiting for him just the same as always.
“Maybe sparring yesterday was a little much,” he said, as he tossed the sword over to Florian. He caught it easily, the motion slowly becoming a reflex. “I'll take a step back today. We'll just go through more of the offensive stances.”
“Oh, sure,” Florian said, though it took him by surprise. Maybe Kade had noticed how uncomfortable he'd been after all, though he'd certainly hidden it well if he did.
They spent the rest of the afternoon practicing the stances again, moving through the familiar cycle over and over. Occasionally Kade would correct his posture, his touches still soft and gentle. It was strange to think of how fierce he had been yesterday in comparison.
“Do you have any plans for tonight?” Kade asked at the end of their lesson. Florian blushed at the question, but answered quickly.
“No, not really.”
“Want to come down to the town with me?” Kade asked, looking down at his sword. “I was going to do some shopping. Have you been down there yet?”
“Oh... No, I haven't been yet,” he echoed. His heart was pounding in his chest. Kade wanted to spend time with him? Was he just being polite? It wasn't adate,was it? Definitely not. It definitely wasn't. “But, sure, I'd like to go.”
“I can show you around,” Kade said, glancing back at him. His face was perfectly unreadable, the same as always. “You should see at least some of it before we head out.”
“That makes sense,” he said, the words coming without thinking. “Yeah. Let's go.”
The familiar tiny smile twitched at the corners of his mouth. “All right. Let me put these away, and I'll meet you at the castle gate.”
Florian watched him go, his mind racing. He was just being friendly, right? Kade had already shown him around the castle grounds, inside and out, so it would only make sense that he would escort him into the adjoining city as well. They were together everyday for training—training so they could go meet the hag, and find the first of the Arrows—so they would be spending a lot of their time together from now on. Kade had served his father for years already, so of course he would want to have a good relationship with Florian, too, as his son.
“Don't read too much into it,” Florian muttered to himself. “He's just being nice. He has to be.”
He thought of going to change his shirt, but their lesson today had been rather low-impact and he'd hardly worked up a sweat at all. He didn't want to keep Kade waiting too long, so he meandered through the grounds and made his way to the castle gate without going inside.
After only a moment of waiting, Kade appeared on the cobblestone path after turning a corner. He nodded as their eyes met, then continued through the gate and down the stone steps, Florian hurrying to follow.
