Page 106 of Blood of Wolves

Náli gripped the front of his tunic with his other hand, right over the badge that was his own house sigil. “Then why won’t you be with me?”

Mattias closed his eyes, and tipped their foreheads together. His breath was ragged, nearly a sob; he was shaking, Náli could feel it. “Because you have to marry. You have to have an heir.”

“No one hates that more than me,” Náli whispered, the height of emotion getting the better of him, suddenly, his eyes stinging, his throat closing. “But don’t you want to take what time we have? Don’t – don’t you want to be my first?”

Mattias gasped. His hand tightened in Náli’s hair – and the other cupped his jaw, still soft with puppy fat, too fine-grained for him to ever grow a proper beard, but Mattias held him like the most precious of artifacts. “Gods forgive me,” he breathed, and brought their lips together.

Náli had never kissed anymore before, though he’d imagined this moment often. Had imagined the sudden flush of heat, the way it felt like too much, but not enough, had imagined the bright flare of joy to finally have Mattias’s mouth moving against his.

But he hadn’t known how soft Mattias’s lips would be; hadn’t expected the heat of his tongue, as it probed against his own lips and urged them open. Hadn’t thought to account for the rasp of his beard, or the quick, almost-frantic breaths he puffed through his nose, warm on Náli’s cheek. It left him dizzy, and it had nothing to do with the dead, or his powers, or anything terrible, only the wonderful, drugging slide of mouth on mouth, and tongue against tongue.

They were clumsy – Náli suspected Mattias had never kissed anyone either. They bumped noises, and clicked teeth, but they were both skilled fighters; a tilt here, the gentle press of Mattias’s thumb there, and then it was easy as breathing.

It waseverything.

Náli whined, when Mattias pulled back – but then Mattias sat down hard beside him, gathered him up in both arms, and hauled him into his lap. Not for another kiss, but just to hold, tucking Náli’s head in under his chin, fingers moving reverently over his face, his throat. He pressed his face into Náli’s hair, and murmured his name, low and urgent, over and over. “Náli. Náli. Náli.”

Náli wanted to cry, and realized that he could, here with the person he loved most in the world. Voice wet, he said, “I shall make you a deal.”

Mattias hummed in inquiry, and rocked him gently, as he had when Náli was only a boy, waking from a nightmare.

“We’ll stay here and rest a while. I’ll even consent to another nap right now.”

Mattias chuckled, his voice a little wet, too.

“If you agree to kiss me some more.”

“We have a deal, my lord.”

Because Náli was greedy, he pressed, “Kiss me all the time. Kiss me until I can’t breathe.”

“Is that a command?” Teasing now, so soft, all the anger and pent-up aggression bled out with their tears.

“Yes,” Náli breathed, eyelids already flagging.

“Well, then. I shall always endeavor to do everything my lord commands.”

Fuck me senseless, Náli thought, as he drifted, but that was a command for a different day.

22

Tessa had found a nice little perch halfway up the breach in the front wall. The stonemasons had said not to climb anything, lest she start a fresh collapse, but there were none here now, and the cold air was freshening on her face, and from this vantage point, she could watch the drakes flying.

In the palace, the masons were examining things, and the first, tentative cleanup efforts were underway – more talk than anything, as the men who knew best about such things decided how to move the debris without initiating worse damage. In the bailey, pyres were under construction, sturdy logs laced with kindling, so that the shrouded dead might be sent to the halls of the Val-Father with prayers and honor. Olaf had gathered his essential supplies in a leather satchel and went from patient to patient, bandaging wounds, and plying throats with honey and herb concoctions to ease the passing of those who could not survive the violence rent against their bodies. The Sel army lay still before them, a chessboard with glass pieces, a game abandoned partway through. Erik was returned, but dead on his feet; Oliver had taken him away some time ago to rest, and not returned. The air smelled of bread and meat from the kitchens – and of dust, and blood, and death. A time of relief – and of grieving. Of thankfulness, and of the chilling, rippling fear that things were far from over. That they were merely starting, in fact.

But when she sat here on this makeshift ledge, tipped her head back, and watched the drakes swirl, and loop, and dance, and play against the sky, all of that faded. She felt like a girl in a fairy story, watching them, and not like a girl at the edges of a war.

Occasionally, one would cry out to the other two, one in particular, and she felt a pleasant humming in the back of her skull, a tingling edged with blue.

“There you are,” Rune said, but he didn’t startle her, because, though she hadn’t been paying attention, she’d somehowknownhe was there. He swung up to sit beside her, and bits of stone broke loose and tumbled down with small clatters. “Oops.” His arm pressed against hers, warm and solid, and she leaned into his body heat straight away, not aware until now that she’d been shivering in the cold. “What are we doing?” he asked, and it was wonderful to hear his usual light, unbothered tone. The battle had doubtless put a mark on him, just as it had for her, but she was grateful for Rune the Boy, at the moment, rather than Rune the Prince.

“Oh,” he said, before she could answer, following her gaze. “They’re remarkable, aren’t they? They’re very…wow.”

She smiled. “Wow indeed.”

The little one – Náli had named him Valgrind, Oliver had said – rolled in midair, a fast series of somersaults, and wound up crashing into his father, who corrected him with a nudge of his head. They were too high up to read their expressions, if dragons even had facial expressions, but she knew a sense of laughter on Valgrind’s part, and fond patience on Percy’s.

Buthowdid she know that?

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