Page 72 of Noble Charms

Noble may as well have been made of stone. He remained in the middle of his room, naked, disheveled, unmoving. “Part of me believed you may feel the same way. I thought you too felt something more from this ploy. Hasn’t it worked well? The two of us like this? I didn’t mean…”

“Please, stop talking.” Aria ran a hand down his face, the exhaustion making him feel as if he'd weep again.

Noble finally said, “Okay.”

“I should move out.” Aria coughed, winced at the pain it caused, and pulled his tunic dress over his head. “I'll bag my things and leave today.”

“No,” said Noble. “No, that's not—you needn't do that, Aria.”

“I can't stay here with you like this,” Aria said. “Everyone will still think I’m your adame and I can think of nothing more horrific right now. I can’t do this. I can’t pretend.”

Noble’s eyes were shiny with tears, but he didn’t cry. His face, though, remained stoic. And his voice was calm as he said, “You're right. But you stay—I'll go.”

Aria barked a humorless laugh. “It's your home.”

He approached his bedside table and produced a many-folded missive. Aria recognized the St. Clair seal broken on the edges. “I've been invited to my uncle's home for Winterend. I'll depart tonight and be back after the year begins anew. You'll have two weeks with which to figure out what you want to do next.”

The Agolde Estate sat just south of New Hieroph—it was no doubt a fine place to stay for the end of the season. “You didn't mention this to me,” Aria said. “What of our Winterend social plan?” They'd been debating between several invitations.

“You aren't mine to invite, as we have discussed,” said Noble, sinking onto the edge of his mattress. “I suppose you will have to strike it out on your own.”

Aria nodded. And then said, voice cracking yet again, “I believe we can call our plan a failure.”

“It wasn’t all bad,” said Noble, attempting poorly to sound lighthearted. “The Bard Bride is a pretty good book, is it not?”

NOBLE

A week later, Noble and Morgan had settled into a decent temporary routine at The Agolde Estate. Morgan would come in every other day for training—Prince Regent had good combat facilities at every place he visited regularly—and Noble would whine about the love he lost.

“But Aria doesn't want me.” Noble ducked beneath Morgan's fist. Morgan shook his head and gestured for him to return to their starting position. “He was utterly horrified by the suggestion.”

Morgan swung his fist again, and Noble caught it as he was meant to. “Aria came to you—you—first, when he was hurt.” Noble dodged a kick and used the momentum to push Morgan away. “You were his first thought. And then he slept with you.” Morgan hooked a foot behind Noble's heel and sent him sprawling across the mat. “Aria doesn't just sleep with people.”

Breathing heavily, Noble said, “That's partially why he did it. He hadn't had sex in far too long. He would have fucked a convincingly masculine scarecrow.” Morgan stepped into his field of vision and raised an eyebrow. He offered Noble a hand up, which Noble took. “Maybe we'd been friends for too long. Maybe it was like fucking family.” He groaned and massaged his temples with both hands. “I shouldn't've done it. By Elys, I want to do it again. I don't know that I could ever look at him again without wanting to throw myself into the damn river. I'm going to need to sell the house for my own safety.”

Morgan sighed, wrapping gauzy fabric around his arm, tying it off with his spare hand and teeth. He spoke around the cloth as he said, “I'm telling you, you've got a shot.”

Noble stepped closer, and helped him finish the knot. He asked, quiet and perhaps too hopeful, “Is that what Romy said? Has Aria said anything to her?”

Morgan gave him an unimpressed look, folding his arms across himself. “My fiancee and I aren't going to be middlemen in whatever weird breakup you've got going on. It was weird before now. It's gonna be even weirder going forward.”

Noble knew he was pleading, but he couldn't stop. “Romy is Aria's best friend. She knows things neither you nor I would.” He hesitated. “She doesn't think Aria hates me?”

Morgan shrugged. “That's what she said to me a few days ago.”

That could mean something. Noble's heart picked up a beat, and for the first time in days, his mind wasn't wracked with terror, but with something nearly like hope. “Look, if Aria talks to her⁠—"

Morgan held up a hand to stop him short. “The minute I know anything, I'll tell you, Noble. I promise.”

“Okay.”

Morgan gathered their towels and the dumbbells they used to warm-up. “In the meantime, you need to start lifting heavier weights. What’s with you?” Morgan examined the dumbbells with one eyebrow raised. “You can usually do twice this for twice as long.”

Noble shrugged. “I’m getting older. What does it matter?”

“It matters because it’s strange. You’re strong.”

Noble rolled his eyes. “It’s just the Sun God gift.”