Page 70 of Guiding Desire
Orrey jerked, shoulder bumping into Senlas, which gave Senlas the warmest, fuzziest feeling. Before Karmine could ruin that, heRotatedthe skewers.
“Don’t. I’m heavy.”
“Oh, aren’t you adorable, beautiful,” Taros said. He had sweet-talked a pitcher of fire berry cocktail off someone, splitting most of it between himself and Col.
“Heavy doesn’t matter.” He picked up one of the arakka tree’s yellow leaves. “Lifting you is as easy as lifting this. Come on, stand up.”
Orrey did so reluctantly, but he allowed Senlas to take both his hands. The low thrum of his buffering rang through Senlas, refreshing and grounding him like spring air being let into a stuffy room.
“You really don’t have to do this, Senlas.”
Orrey’s copper-brown eyes warmed with the reflected sunset and the dark red light from Karmine’s fire. “One thing, kitten. I’ll never drop you. Say ‘up.’”
“Uh. Up?”
Senlas levitated himself and Orrey both, taking care toLiftthem off the ground without accelerating too much. Orrey oohed, watched his toes, pointed them to the blanket below them.
With anyone else, Senlas might have stopped atLiftingthem a meter off the ground, maybe two. But delightfully, Orrey didn’t seem to be bothered by the height, and so Senlas kept going.
“You can let go of my hands, I don’t need touch for this. Move around the branches.”
“I…all right. How far up are you taking us?”
SenlasFeltahead. “Foliage’s too thick, but there’s a nice branch a little to your right. Yes, that’s right. Let’s sit. And I have you. You can’t fall, so you don’t have to be afraid of falling.”
“I’m not afraid of falling. This is…Senlas, this is amazing! I’ve dreamed of flying, but I never thought I’d do it.”
There was a saying about how your imprinted’s words could turn life into a never-ending dream or a nightmare with no escape. What Senlas found was that his imprinted’s words aroused him, not painfully so, but enough so he was glad to have opted for pants instead of a skirt that would have revealed more.
He followed Orrey, though for Senlas, the branches made it more difficult to fit between them. In the end, he sat on the wide branch next to Orrey, who was busy peeking through the yellow leaves that glistened in the slanting light. When the wind rustled them, the stadium’s spires and Argentea Tower were just about visible.
Senlas adjusted his position so his crotch wasn’t immediately visible, but he still put an arm around Orrey.
“Oh, I’m fine,” the Conduit said, straightening immediately.
Senlas frowned. “Do you not like to be touched?”
Orrey looked at the trunk, then down to the tips of his shoes. Or to the ground. If it scared him even a little bit, Senlas couldn’t tell.
“I’m not used to it. I don’t know…am I expected to be with you here on the Grounds at all times? And in public, I’ve only ever held hands with my partners before, nothing more intimate than that, no hugging or such.” His head sagged, and he whispered, “More importantly, it feels wrong to enjoy having a Guardian near me when people right now are facing the night, unprotected behind the walls.”
Senlas sighed. “Kitten. Firstly, you can move freely, here or elsewhere. Especially here. And the people outside, they can take care of themselves, and they would take issue if I went out there and suggested I do it for them. Did Col explain they choose to live that way?”
Orrey nodded. “But they don’t know any better. I don’t understand how everyone down there knows and just accepts that they don’t know any better.”
Senlas could tell this had the potential to turn into an argument without end, and he hated those.
“Orrey. We’re likely to see some of them during the medical drop. You can ask them if you want. How about we take it from there?”
He looked up into Senlas’s eyes. “You’ve all spoken to them before? Have you never asked them to simply come with you? I can’t believe the Op-AI wouldn’t allow them succor.”
“It might. They’d never ask. I’m assuming Col told you he got taken in without issue. Even as a protector, you learn to ask first so as not to misinterpret a situation, don’t you?”Unless there’s a bomb, and then you fucking run.
But Orrey nodded. “We ask unless the danger is imminent and obvious. Which it is, out there.”
“How do you know? You’ve never been. Wait until you have been and have seen what it’s like before you darken your thoughts with fear and guilt, that’s all I’m asking, kitten. Does that sound like a reasonable thing to ask?”
Orrey nodded. “I can’t fault it.”
