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He turns down the volume to the lowest murmur, cracking open an eye to look at me. He stifles a laugh and plucks a stubborn twig from my hair.
I nod down at the radio. “Nothing good?”
“Nothinghappy.”
From this angle, morning is beautiful on the island. The light, sparkling dapple between the trees. The golden-yellow tint to the surroundings. I lean my head on Rory’s shoulder, suppressing a yawn. The silence between us is as comfortable as a warm blanket.
Rory kisses my forehead. “Last night… it was…”
“Yeah. It was.”
“You don’t know what I was going to say.”
“No, but I could feel it. I can feel when you’re happy.”
Rory slants me a look that’s half-puzzled, half-amused, as if daring to prove me wrong. “I don’t think words could do it justice.”
I beam broadly against his shoulder. He’s the only one of us not completely naked, though since last night he’s managed to strip down to a dark pair of boxer-briefs. My fingers stroke languidly against his soft delectable erection, and Rory arches into my touch.
“Careful,” he whispers. “It’s still delicate.”
“No, it isn’t.”
“Okay,I’mstill delicate,” Rory corrects, and I laugh. He brushes a kiss on my crown. “I’m going to miss your laugh.”
It takes a while for his soft words to sink in. Eventually, I pull away from him. Rory looks nervous, which is a bad enough sign. “What? Are you leaving?”
“What are you doing for Christmas?” he asks instead, throwing me.
“Uh…” I’d made vague plans involving camping out in the library, studying on repeat straight into the new year. “I don’t know. Drowning in textbooks? What areyoudoing for Christmas?”
Rory’s expression turns deeply somber and I brace myself for the worst. “Well, for our Christmas carol service,” he begins in a conspiratorial tone, “I was thinking… about changing all the hymns with the word ‘God’ in them to ‘dog.’” He peels away from me to check my reaction to this news.
I blink at him.
Rory breathes out a quiet laugh. “Humor-with-a-u. Maybe you still don’t get it. It can’t be that I’m just not funny, thatwouldwound me.”
“Well, you sure do say some funny things,” I mumble, and Rory raises an eyebrow acknowledging the ambiguity of this statement. “What’s this to do about leaving?”
“I want you to go to Edinburgh.” Rory grabs the twig he’d freed from my hair and snaps it in half. “Visit Luke. He’ll want to see you. You can take Fin.”
I swallow. This isn’t what I’d been expecting but my pulse is suddenly fluttering like tiny wings at the thought of hugging Luke again. Of being back in my favorite city. “But — not you? Danny?”
Rory’s arms tighten unhappily around his middle. “Someone needs to hold the fort in Lochkelvin. If two of us go and two of us stay… And little saint, youknowI love you, and — when he’s on his best behavior — occasionally I can withstand D-boy, but even the merethoughtof you two innocent souls venturing alone in the big city gives me what is commonly known as The Fear. Fin knows his way around. He’s street-smart. Besides, you’ll need someone to drive you there.”
I consider it, spending time again in Edinburgh. I’ve missed the city, it’s true. Its old buildings remind me of a prettier Lochkelvin. It’s busy and noisy, with something happening down every ancient, cobbled lane. It has its secrets, it has its magic. But there’s something deep and cold in its foundations, in the population that gravitates toward it, in the extremities of weather it attracts.
“I think I’d miss Lochkelvin,” I murmur, and Rory blinks at me in surprise. I almost pull out my own eyeballs to give myself the same look.
Words I never thought I’d say…
From the clearing, I note Finlay rising blearily onto his forearms, his sleepy eyes scanning around for us. His face breaks into a half-cocked smile as he strolls over to the sheltering tree, naked and proud of it, his dark cock stirring to defy gravity.
“Aw right, troops,” he greets, cozying up beside me, his black hair splayed across my shoulder. “Whit’s the chat?”
“Apparently we’re going to Edinburgh,” I murmur to him, my voice distant, uncertain. I want to see Luke, of course — but it’s weird. I don’t want to leave Lochkelvin. I’m at peace here. Ever since the ritual, I feel safe. To leave its boundaries… I don’t know. Part of me doesn’t want to test it.
Finlay raises a curious eyebrow in Rory’s direction. “We are, are we? The mothership callin’? ‘Cause that’s a first for me.”
