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Thus settled, they set out after Kai. The donkey followed docilely behind, carrying their supplies.
“But don’t you think we’re meant to meddle?” Ere asked, wriggling around until he found the most comfortable position against his hard, stalwart Mate.
“These quests…I think they’re as much about finding the treasure as the journey itself. And who we meet along the way.”
“Rui, Wolfe, Tristan…” he enumerated with the fingers of one hand. “Even Merlin. And then Divina and Andros…Do you suppose Hades counts too?”
“Counts?” Sorin prompted.
“It’s almost like we’re all players in a game,” Ere mused, thinking out loud. “Some grand chess match of galactic proportions. There’s been two witches already that we’ve come across—well, one which we’re about to come across. Morgan and this Red Witch of the North.”
Sorin merely waited for him to come to his point.
But instead of following that particular thread, Ere meandered to a different thought process, which was very typical of him.
“Never thought I’d enjoy playing matchmaker, by the way, but I have to admit I get a delicious sense of satisfaction when the lovebirds unite. Maybe it’s because I’m so deliriously in love myself. I want my friends and family to be just as happy, you know?”
“Aye, I know,” Sorin rumbled, lightly nuzzling Ere’s temple with his nose and mouth.
“You are the Light-Bringer to us all.”
“Naw,” Ere denied, “that’s my son Benjamin’s role. He’s the one who lights up the world with just his smile alone.”
“He has your heart,” his Mate said. “You are similar.”
Ere always thought so himself, but hearing it confirmed by others, especiallySorin, whose insight Ere trusted implicitly, made his chest puff up with unseemly pride. It was the best compliment in the world to be compared to Benjamin. Who, in Ere’s extremely objective opinion, was the bestbeingin the entire universe.
“Benjamin is infinitely better than me in all ways,” Ere said with full conviction, distracted from the original thread of conversation by his favorite topic of all.
“You have the same sense of humor,” Sorin pointed out.
His Mate was seldom this loquacious in human form, when he had to speak with his voice out loud. But he seemed determined to sing Ere’s praises at the moment, so Ere happily basked in the warmth of his love and the spine-tingling timbre of his deep, husky voice.
“Benjamin is funnier.”
“You are both too curious for your own good.”
“But Benjamin is far more intuitive.”
“Your minds are the sharpest I have ever known.”
“Benjamin’s wits are undefeatable. Did he ever tell you why cinnamon rolls should be considered vegetables?”
Sorin wouldn’t be led astray by this non sequitur.
“You have the same eyes.”
“They’re Tal-Telal’s eyes. My favorite feature.”
Sorin’s arms tightened slightly around his waist, as if trying to squeeze him into acquiescence.
“Why do you humble yourself? He is your son. He shares your traits. He is a beautiful soul, just like you.”
Ere sighed, savoring Sorin’s love for him, while at the same time determined to hold a different view.
“Benjamin is his own person. Always has been. If his soul is beautiful, it is in no way connected to me. He is truly the Light-Bringer of the Pure Ones’ prophesies. That is my belief, though I suppose we might never prove it.”
He was silent for a while, pondering over his own words. Sorin, not surprisingly, was content to let him think.
