Austin couldn’t keep ignoring him. He shut his book. “Am I supposed to go around worrying about you getting recognised and arrested every day? Or have you driving the next town over every time you need something because it’s too dangerous in the village just down the road?”
A knock at the door spared Liam from answering.
Austin stared at it. Tammy looked from the door to Austin and Liam. Liam stepped up, his shoulders a rigid line. Blocking whoever it was from looking in, he opened the door.
“Look at you all clean,” a familiar voice teased. “Did Austin use his siren song to finally get you into a bath?”
The tension dropped from Liam with a world-weary sigh. He didn’t step aside, but Eli just kind of pushed up against him and shoved his way into the house. He spotted Austin and smiled. He was soaked in ocean water, wearing his usual shirt and shorts, but his sandals had been replaced by a pair of thick boots like the ones Tristan’s Troop wore.
Austin pointedly turned his face away from Eli as he slipped out of the boots and proceeded barefoot into the house.
“Hello,” Eli greeted Tammy with a smile. “I’m Austin’s attendant, Eli.”
Tammy stared at Eli with a confounded look. Before she could say a word, Eli was bent over, peering at the spitting coffee machine. “What’s this? Smells nice.” His fingers found the wire, and he unplugged the machine, studying the prongs. “Hm. Oh, I’ve stopped it. Oops. Does this go here?” He plugged it back in and peered curiously at the little screen that lit up when he did.
Liam leaned against the wall, watching Eli with a faint scowl. Tammy returned her attention to her laptop, fingers flying over the keys. Austin put his book down with a thump and stood.
“You’re dripping all over my floor. Come here.” He went to the bathroom, where Eli followed and proceeded to get very distracted by the light switch for a solid minute before Austin let out an impatient growl.
“Sorry, there’s a lot of interesting things in here.” Eli dragged his attention from the switch. He cast a quick look over Austin’s face, then leaned in, peering at Austin’s throat.
“It’s completely healed,” Austin said stiffly.
“Your voice isn’t, though,” Eli pointed out. “It’s a bit scratchy. I’m not as sensitive as Kas, but my hearing is pretty good.”
Austin ignored that remark. “This is a shower.”
“I know what a shower is.But,these are some interesting-looking dials.” Eli started messing with them. By chance, he pressed the start button, and a spray of water jetted out.
Austin put down the toilet lid and perched on it. “Shower. I’ll lend you dry clothes. Did Tristan bring you over?”
“He did, and he’ll be back in the evening to see you. Though, given the time difference…I’m not sure if he meant evening in this world or ours.” Eli raised his voice to be heardover the hum of the electric shower. “This islovely.I can’t read what’s on the bottles. Which one should I use?”
Austin peered in, politely not looking at Eli’s naked body as he shrugged out of his waterlogged clothes. “The white bottle is shampoo, the grey one is conditioner. Purple is for your body.”
“Tristan wanted me to tell you he’s not sure what this six-month thing is, and that he doesn’t like the sound of it,” Eli reported as he washed his hair. “And he wasveryannoyed. I’ve actually never seen him so irritated. Nicias dropped by for lunch earlier, took one look at Tristan’s face, and made an excuse to hightail it out of there. I don’t blame him.” Eli climbed out of the shower, and Austin offered him a towel from the press. “He was storming around the estate half the night. Eventually, he just went into the sea and started tearing into the rocks.”
Austin tensed. “He’s angry?”
“No,” Eli said quickly. Draping the towel over his shoulders, he stepped up to Austin. “No, he’s not angry. I mean, he was definitely annoyed yesterday, but I’m pretty sure that was to do with your absence and not with something you’d done. He also wasn’t happy not being able to come ashore when he dropped me off. He sent me up with oil to massage you.”
Austin relaxed. “Oh. My legs are sore.”
Eli plucked a glass vial from the trouser pocket of the clothes lying on the shower floor.
Austin led him to the bedroom and searched for clothes that would fit him. Eli hung over his shoulder, peering curiously at every item. The shirt and shorts that Austin eventually pulled from his cupboard ran large on him, but were snug on Eli.
Eli fetched a clean towel from the bathroom, laid it out on the bed, and smiled as he indicated for Austin to lie down. He promptly tugged off Austin’s trackies, leaving him in briefs, and warmed oil between his palms before beginning circular motions against Austin’s calves.
“Is Tristan working?”
“Hal asked him to be there for the marriage and to oversee the agreements between the delegations. I have a feeling he’ll regret asking Tristan to be a peacemaker when he sees what a bad mood he’s in.”
Austin wondered what Tristan in a bad mood looked like. He’d seen flashes of anger, but never ill humour. “Did he really storm around, or was that just a turn of phrase?”
“He really stormed around.”
“I like storming around when I’m in a bad mood. It puts me in a bad mood that he can’t come ashore here,” Austin said. Then, aggrieved, he continued. “It isveryannoying.” Though last night, he’d been so exhausted that he’d barely made it up the path to the house and hadn’t had much time for being irritated. “I was too tired to storm around last night.”
