AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I glanced to Peter to see what he thought of the interaction. Peter had noted the whole thing, but was still scowling. I nudged him in the ribs with my elbow, and he snapped his head to frown at me.
“Pay attention,” I told him in a barely audible voice.
“I am paying attention,” Peter argued. “No one has spoken yet.”
I leaned so close I was certain he could feel my breath against his ear as I whispered, “That’s not what you need to pay attention to.”
“So I guess I’m not getting fucked, then,” Lefric said, slumping his way into the other stuffed chair and sprawling obscenely. He wasn’t even remotely hard, so I assumed he was joking. His feigned disappointment almost broke the tension that had settled over us all. Almost.
“What, that man of yours doesn’t keep you satisfied?” Jace asked, also attempting to cut through the pressure.
“Oh, Oly keeps me very happy,” Lefric said boastfully. “It’s the oddest thing, but he gets incredibly randy when he’s stressed or uncertain about things. I think he knows he makes me all hot and bothered all the time, so when he’s unsure of himself, he turns to something he knows he’ll succeed at.”
“That’s an interesting observation,” I said, doing my part to try to bring a sense of equilibrium back to our group. “It’s actually smart of you to figure that out. Magnus gets amorous with us when he’s feeling full of himself, and when he’s stressed or sad, he just gets clinging and cuddly.”
“Don’t tell them that,” Peter hissed. “That’s private, between you and me and Magnus.”
I shrugged. “We’re sharing. It’s what the Sons do.”
I caught the barest flinch from Avenel as he finished removing his clothes and slipped onto the sofa with Sebald. Whereas I had just thought about cradling Peter in my arms and holding him across my lap like a child, Sebald moved Avenel straight into that protected position. I hoped the young man didn’t mistake my comment as a suggestion that Sebald would share him with us. That wasn’t what we did. We fucked around, yes, but only when we were all willing.
I was about to use that as an opening to discuss what we all needed to get out in the open, but before I could bring up pupdom, Lefric blurted out, “So who here thinks the Old Realm is responsible for everything that has happened on the frontier in the last few years and that they’re in the middle of trying to reconquer us all?”
He immediately raised his hand.
So, it seemed we were going to beat around the bush for a while.
Jace raised his hand. “I’m with Lefric on this one. I think it’s pretty obvious that King Julius, or the people who put him on the throne, are the same ones who helped Gomez overthrow my father.”
“I think you might be right,” Sebald said in a quiet voice. “I haven’t been able to forget what my aunt said since we had that conversation.”
“I wish we could talk to Conrad,” I said with a sigh, moving my hand to absently stroke Peter’s back. “He’s there right now, in the Old Realm. I bet he’s discovered all sorts of things he wishes he could tell us.”
“Is he still writing letters to Dushka?” Sebald asked. “You said in your letter that he’d written to Dushka and that he had some sort of adventure on the way to the Old Realm. Have you heard anything else from him?”
I shook my head. “I haven’t, but maybe Dushka has.”
“The fact that letters can travel from the Old Realm over the mountains and into the frontier and find their way to Dushka says a lot,” Jace said. “It means lines of communication are still open.”
“Which means the Old Realm probably has some idea of what we’re all up to over here,” I said.
“Ever since spies were mentioned at the meeting this afternoon, I’ve been trying to remember what sort of things have been said in front of Hadrian,” Sebald said. “He’s been there for every one of the council meetings I’ve attended in the last few—”
“So that’s it?” Peter interrupted, glowering. “We’re going to talk about the Old Realm and ignore the fact that Sebald has betrayed his brothers by violating the most important cause that we’ve been fighting for since we formed the Sons of the Cities?”
The air around us crackled again. I sighed and squeezed my eyes shut for a moment. We weren’t going to get anything more important done until Peter either understood Sebald’s position or until he got up and walked off.
And this time, I wasn’t going to let him get up and walk off.
I subtly moved my arm around his waist so that my hand rested on his hip. If he tried to get up, I could clamp down on him and keep him with me.
“Alright,” Jace said with a nod, facing the problem head-on. “Let’s get this over with.” He turned to Sebald. “Avenel is your pup. You’ve said so and Avenel has said so. Go ahead and explain to Peter why you’ve claimed a pup.”
The abrupt question clearly threw Sebald. His mouth dropped open, but he floundered for a few seconds before anything came out.
“It wasn’t deliberate,” he managed at last, glancing from Jace to Peter. He then looked at Avenel for a moment.
The two made eye contact, and Sebald let out a breath, relaxing.
