“After he was cremated, I underwent the trial to prove I was worthy of the throne,” he said. “And I did it. I went through the coronation next, and I spent another week or so with my family, making sure everything was stable with the clan. I would have stayed another week, maybe, but...” He trailed off, then chuckled, glancing sidelong at Florian. “It was my mom, actually, who told me everything would be fine, and I should get back to you guys sooner rather than later.”
“Really?” Florian blurted out, trying to stifle a laugh. “I guess I wouldn’t expect her to want you to go.”
“Yeah,” Kade agreed, a small smile playing at his lips. “But she said she’d been keeping everything running for a while, so she could keep things up for a little longer. She said... Well, she saidI’d have plenty of time to oversee everything once our mission is done. Not that I needed much convincing. I really...” He trailed off, a bit of color rising in his cheeks. “I really missed you, Florian.”
He felt his own face warming, unable to suppress a smile. “I missed you, too.”
“Kraken-god, we get it,” Rune groaned, but she had a teasing grin as she spoke. “Well, King Kade, we’re happy to have you back on the team.”
“Just Kade is fine,” Kade muttered, looking embarrassed.
“Why don’t you tell him what we’ve been up to, Florian?” Koji interrupted. “I gave him a basic rundown, but I’m sure you could explain it all better than me.”
“Oh. Uh, sure,” Florian stammered. “Well, Rune offered to help us out pretty much as soon as we arrived. Torsten saw us, but made it pretty clear he wasn’t going to do anything to help, so I’m glad we ran into Rune first. Uh, then she showed me how to shift into a kraken, and we spent a few days practicing before we went out to get the first Arrow. It was... not too bad.” He winced as he said it, glancing nervously between Koji and Rune. But neither said anything, only kept looking at him expectantly. “Well, Rune got a bit hurt, but nothing major. So we came back and rested up, and now Rune and I have been practicing being shifted for longer since... Well, the next Arrow is deep underwater and further away. So it’ll only be us who can go get it.”
Anxiously, he glanced back at Kade, whose expression had darkened at Florian’s words. For a moment, all four of them were silent, then Kade sighed and gave Florian’s hand another small squeeze.
“Guess I should have waited another week to head back after all,” he sighed, and it took a moment for Florian to realize that Kade was making a joke. Florian laughed, half nervous but halfrelieved. He’d been expecting Kade to be upset or frustrated that Florian and Rune planned to go alone, but if he could make a joke about it, that was a good sign.
They spent a little longer chatting, but once everyone’s mugs of tea were empty, Koji offered,
“I already mentioned this to Rune, but she found me a different place to stay so you guys can have the guest cottage to yourself. I figured you’d probably want some, ah, alone time since you’ve been apart.”
His tone was perfectly mild as he said it, but still Florian felt his face flushing red. He gave a quick nod.
“Yeah, I think that sounds good,” he said resolutely. “Thanks, Koji.”
“Alright, alright, get out of here,” Rune teased, dismissing them with a wave of her hand.
They said their goodbyes and headed back out onto the path, still hand-in-hand. The thought of ever letting go of Kade’s hand now felt impossible to Florian—from how tightly Kade was holding him, he thought the other man maybe felt the same. They walked in silence up the main road, over the hill, and back down to the guest cottage where Florian and Koji had been staying. When they arrived, Florian realized Koji must have known Kade was there, or else they’d waited longer than he’d thought to come get them: the pile of blankets and pillows he’d been sleeping on were neatly set up in the bedroom, which had already been cleaned out of all Koji’s belongings.
“Did you know about this?” Florian laughed, gesturing, and Kade gave him a chagrined smile.
“Koji and I maybe spent some time cleaning up, yeah,” he said softly, and Florian laughed again. Kade pulled him closer, finally releasing his hand just to wrap him in his arms again. “I figured it would be better to get this done beforehand.”
Florian nodded against his chest. For a moment they were both silent, then Florian offered quietly,
“Are you... Are you doing okay?”
He felt Kade take in a deep breath, then release it as a long sigh before answering. “Yeah. I’m doing okay. He was really sick at the end, so it was kind of... a relief, in a way, when he went. It was hard, but I’m glad he’s not suffering anymore. So I’m doing alright, all things considered.” He paused, then added softly, “I feel a lot better now that I’m with you again.”
“Me too,” Florian said, his voice still small. “I, um... I was a little worried about telling you about the next Arrow. How it’ll have to be just me and Rune.”
Kade was silent for a long moment again, gathering his thoughts. Florian waited, nerves making his pulse thrum rapidly in his throat.
“Iamworried about it. I’ll always worry about you,” Kade finally said, his voice soft. “But, Florian, even if I can’t keep you safe all the time, I’ll still do my best to protect you whenever I can. And even when I can’t, I still want to be with you, because I... Because I love you.”
A jolt of electricity sparked through Florian’s body, and for a moment he couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. Kade loved him. Kadelovedhim.
He couldn’t stop himself from laughing, pulling away to look up into Kade’s face with a wide grin. “I love you, too.”
He hadn’t even realized how tense Kade had become until he felt it draining away from the other man’s body. A nervous smile slowly spread across Kade’s face. “Yeah?”
Florian nodded, laughing again. “Yeah, I really do.”
Without thinking, he leaned into Kade, tilting his head up to kiss him. This time they were alone, so when Kade kissed him back just as fiercely, Florian pressed his tongue to Kade’s lips,relishing in the soft moan the other man let out as his lips parted and their tongues met.
His heart felt like it might burst out of his chest. Kade was back. They were together again. He loved Kade, and Kadeloved him back. Kade had missed him, hadn’t forgotten about him—it was all a flurry of emotion in his chest, incoherent and wild and overwhelmingly joyful. They were both acting on instinct, so he didn’t even realize that they’d tumbled into bed until Kade was reaching under his shirt to pull it off.
