“Enter,” said Hull, much to Ephraim’s relief despite the evident confusion in his tone.
Ephraim opened the door and stepped back to permit their guest entry.
For the briefest instant, all was silence as Hull and Drude’s eyes met.The sensation behind Ephraim’s sternum felt akin to when a clock one had forgotten about begins to chime.Grins broke out over both fae’s countenances without a word.
Two strides sufficed to carry Drude from the threshold to the bed-side.
Hull tipped his face up to meet the kiss Drude bent to bestow upon him.
This fae greeting between old friends was far warmer than any greeting between Ephraim and Dr Hitchingham.Then again, things were done differently in the fae realms.And of course he and Dr Hitchingham had never known each other quite so intimately.Still he felt a touch wistful that he has no such friendship of his own.
He had expected also to feel some small sorrow, or envy at the very least.Instead, as he gazed upon Hull’s sinewy forearms embracing Drude’s broad shoulders, he felt… intrigued.Like Actaeon stumbling upon bathing Artemis, entranced, unable to tear his gaze away even though it meant his own certain demise.Unlike Actaeon, Ephraim reminded himself, Drude was not an interloper, but a welcome guest.
Belatedly he recollected himself, crossed the threshold, and shut the door behind him.
“Your letter had me worried,” Drude rumbled when they broke off for breath.
“How?”Hull laughed.“I told you I was all right.”
“I know what disregard you have for your own danger,” Drude replied.Then, to Ephraim’s further alarm, he turned to where he still haunted the doorway.“And I daresay your Ephraim might agree with me.”
“Quite,” Ephraim felt forced to admit.He had some small relief in finding an ally in this regard.Between Drude and himself, Hull would have a deuce of a time trying to dodge medical attention.
Hull had worn night-shirts and a dressing gown for the bulk of his convalescence; at present, sitting up in bed, he wore merely his night-shirt.Its sheer linen clung to his limbs and gave a gauzy glow to the blue-grey flesh beneath, which Ephraim would’ve appreciated far more if the circumstances weren’t so dire.
At present, Hull demonstrated the utility of the night-shirt by swiftly and seamlessly drawing it up over his head and tossing it aside, baring his body to Drude’s affection and evident admiration.
Drude required no further prompting to follow suit.Breeches, waistcoat, and shirt vanished with astonishing rapidity—all nonetheless folded and laid aside atop the linen chest with remarkable care.
Ephraim was torn between trying not to stare and reminding himself that (in this particular instance) it would be far more strange for himnotto look.Even amidst this struggle he couldn’t help noting that, unlike Hull, Drude’s back was not hollow, but was instead thick with rippling brawn betwixt his broad shoulders.To say nothing of a certain attribute of remarkable length and girth lower down on his anatomy.To think that this was the calibre of lover that Hull had left behind to be with Ephraim in Staple Inn… The realization was staggering, to say the least.Unfathomable.Ephraim felt more grateful and more bewildered than ever before at what Hull could possibly see in his frail mortal frame.
No sooner that he thought this than Hull, glancing over Drude’s massive shoulder, caught Ephraim’s gaze.A bewildered furrow appeared betwixt his brows.Then it smoothed away with an encouraging smile, and his hand reached for Ephraim.
Thus beckoned, Ephraim could hardly do otherwise than obey.
The moment he drew within arm’s reach, Hull caught his hand and brought it to his lips to press a kiss to his palm, and from thence to the inside of his wrist.A shiver of anticipation whispered over Ephraim’s skin.
“Will you join us?”Hull murmured.
The way his breath caught precluded speech, so instead Ephraim nodded.
He felt a touch odd at remaining clothed whilst both his beloved and his guest had disrobed.Normally it was Hull who divested him of his garments.Hull’s infirmity at present made that impractical at best.While Ephraim knew very well how to undress himself in the purely practical sense, he hadn’t the least idea how to do so in the elegant and enticing manner which seemed to come so naturally to both the fae before him.
Despite Ephraim’s decades of experience in concealing his true feelings, Hull took in his struggle with a glance.He caught Ephraim’s eye with a knowing look and beckoned him nearer.Ephraim obediently bent his ear to his beloved’s lips.
“Would you mind terribly,” Hull whispered, “if he were to assist you in my stead?”
The thought made Ephraim’s pulse stutter, though whether from excitement or dread he couldn’t quite discern.It was anexcitingthought, certainly.But he’d only just met the man.Then again he was about to become very close to him indeed, and perhaps from that perspective something which otherwise might feel quite extreme was actually rather tame in comparison.
“You don’t have to,” Hull began, which told Ephraim he had taken a moment too long to answer.“We could draw a curtain for you to disrobe behind.Or if you would prefer to remain dressed?—”
“No, no,” Ephraim hastily replied.If he were to disrobe behind a curtain he doubted if he would ever find the courage to emerge from said curtain in his naked state.“I should be very glad for his assistance, if he doesn’t mind.”
Ephraim could hear the smile in Hull’s voice as his lover softly told him, “He won’t mind in the least.Quite the reverse.”
A dubious assertion.But given that Hull was an invalid, Ephraim chose not to argue the point.
And as he drew back from Hull to regard their guest, Ephraim did have to admit that Drude appeared far more intrigued than he’d anticipated.
