“Now,” he said, “you relinquish your claim on me.”
“What does that even mean?” she said.
“It means that we no longer expect the other to… be with us and only us, I suppose.”
“Are you done with me? Are you punishing me because I—”
“I don’t think I’ll ever be done with you,” he said in a choked voice. “I don’t think I could be even if I tried. But I must stop thinking this means that we have some future together. We don’t. You must have your future with him, and I must… have whatever future I have.”
“Maybe you can make something of yourself if you are away from this place,” she said. “You could study things,like Igbar with his herbs, or you could—”
“Yes, maybe,” he cut her off. Though he thought he was never going to be much good at anything besides horses and lifting heavy things and, well, fighting.
She smiled, beckoning. “Come, then. Let me see to you.”
He wanted nothing more than to let her pleasure him. His cock even stirred at the thought of it, but he shook his head and backed away. “No, no, I cannot just now.”
“Why not?” she said.
“Tell me about kissing him. What was it like?”
She huffed. “It wasn’t like anything. It wasn’t a real kiss. It was pointed, for Celedin’s benefit. He didn’t even use his tongue. He just smashed his lips into mine and moved his head around for several moments. It was nothing. I do hope he doesn’t think thatwasa real kiss.” She made a face.
He didn’t say anything.
“Oh, don’t be jealous, Dathor. Between you and him, there is no comparison. I could never feel for him the way I feel for you.”
No, but what she felt for him she could never feel for Dathor. Because Elrion was capable of rescuing her. He had money. He had so many things that Dathor did not have and would never have.
“All right,” he said. “I will endeavor not to be jealous.”
He left and he staggered into town and tried to drink in a tavern. Well, he successfully drank in the tavern for a time, but then the owner came to him and said that the others were getting restless, not liking the sight of an orc sitting there, drinking ale, and would he mind going? If he would leave quietly, he could have a bottle of mead on the house.
So, he took the free mead and went staggering on his way, drinking the entire bottle on his way to Thelandel Chapel. He was not certain when it was he’d decided to go there, but it had definitely been a drunken decision.
He knew which window belonged to her room. He stood below and threw pebbles at it until a light came on and she pulled aside the draperies and looked down on him with a lamp in her hand.
Nathre.
Elrion wanted to get the Chapel outfitted with those newfangled gas lamps, but he was only renting it, and he would not take on the expense unless he owned the place. So it was just candles and oil lamps inside.
Nathre came down and was shy and smiling. “What are you doing here?”
“Was thinking about you,” he said, bold now that he was drunk. He put his hand around her waist and pulled her flush up against him.
She did not resist. “What were you thinking?”
“Oh, thoughts that’d make you blush,” he said.
“You’re drunk,” she said.
“I think so,” he said. “I want to kiss you.”
She let out a little giggle. “Not here. Anyone could see.”
“Then where?”
She took him into a little stone building that had once been the outdoor kitchen, but was now just four walls and open windows. There were blankets strewn around the floor, though, and she said they’d been having picnics out there and it could be comfortable, perhaps.
