Page 12 of A Suitable Brat
Sun shrugged.“Seems to be for most people.”
Westin was not someone who growled or snapped or snarled.But his tone was sharp.“If it was easy, lark, would I need to seek peace now?Would we be fighting like this if I could just walk away?”
Hely caught his breath.
Sun stared at Westin with wide, wide eyes before abruptly turning to Hely.He lifted one hand as if to ask for something, but then curled his fingers into his palm and stood up.“My bath is ready?That’s what you came to tell us?Thank you.”His manners were perfect even as his gaze skittered away from Westin’s.“Westin came here to find peace, so I should leave him to it.He won’t get that with me around, will he?”
“That’s not why,” Westin began, but Hely’s glance told him to tread lightly, so he switched subjects.“If you want to leave your things somewhere, my room is at the end of the hall on the second level.Use whatever soaps or oils you like.I’ll pay for them.”
“It’s just down that way,” Hely directed, guiding Sun once Sun had picked up his belongings.Sun walked off without turning back.Westin watched him disappear, then reached for the wine Sun had gotten for him and drank about half of it.
He noticed several glances sent his way and wondered with distracted alarm if he’d been loud.He didn’t think so, but Sun could get Westin to do things he never ordinarily would.He imagined himself shouting at Sun and nearly rose out of his seat to go apologize.He only didn’t because he wasn’t entirely sure he’d raised his voice, but if he had, Sun would probably have found it funny.More proof of how Sun had Westin wrapped around his finger, to rile up or calm down as he saw fit.
That thought wasn’t entirely fair.Westin had wrappedhimselfaround Sun’s finger.He could’ve stopped at any time.Traveled by different roads to be found less easily.Not given in to Sun’s whining.Talked with Sun when they ran into each other but not let Sun lead him around by the cock like the aging sapwit he was.
If Sun had even done that.Friends, he had called them, but implied more.
Westin had the rest of the wine and noted that his hand shook as he set the empty cup down.So he closed his eyes and took a deep breath to hold and then let out.The thunder seemed to be moving away but the rain continued to pound onto the roof.There’d be no travel for anyone who could avoid it tonight.Solace House would get no more customers unless someone was very determined.
A customer at a table somewhere behind him had been served dinner, offering tantalizing hints of gravy and a roast and a heady, lush dark wine.Sun was in a bath room, in a tub of hot water, debating which soaps or scents to wash himself with.He might choose something floral; he’d noticed the roses and violets enough to differentiate between the two.
He had fine tastes that ought to be indulged more, by someone who understood that Sun at his most charming was Sun trying to get people to like him so they would want to keep him around, or maybe so he could control them and feel safe.As long as that was understood, all would be well.A charming Sun was a Sun hiding, and was so far from the Sun who snapped for Westin to stay in bed and drink his broth like a sick man ought to that he might as well have been a different person.
Or, a side of the same person, but one Westin was glad to never deal with.He wasn’t sure what he would have done if he had first met the smiling, flirtatious Sunlark of South Burrow.Probably flushed and gone as witless as everyone else.
He’d done that anyway, hadn’t he?And for the side of Sun who barked at him and demanded Westin’s cock as if it belonged to him.That said something.Westin had no idea what, but something.
Friends.That’s what it said.Sun considered Westin enough of a friend to be rude, even when feeling lusty, and Westin had wounded him greatly by not telling him sooner that he planned to leave.The shortening dayshadbeen on Westin’s mind during their last encounter, but Sun had been in such a lively mood, and Westin had known that would be their only visit until their quick meetup at the barracks before winter weather would keep them apart, so he had let Sun fill the silence with stories of his adventures over the past weeks and said not a word of his plans.When Westin had allowed himself to acknowledge the ache in his chest, it had only been to remind himself to savor the time left and to ensure Sun was happy.
That felt like cowardice now.
He should have at least told Sun how much he would miss him.Westinalreadycounted the days they were apart and started looking around for Sun to appear if the weeks turned to months.Leaving the Outguard meant Westin would lose that even if he could convince Sun to come visit him.
Which… he likely couldn’t, now.That was what hesitation had cost him.Or maybe that always would have been the outcome.It was Westin’s family’s habit not to reach for things, to be content with what they had.If Sun had a family habit or motto, it was undoubtedly more along the lines of rely on only yourself, or don’t trust easily, and Westin had failed him there.
Even that day at the river and the night at the inn that followed, Westin hadn’t said a word.He had let Sun head out in the morning, only mentioning something about their meeting in the capital, and Sun had huffed and muttered against Westin’s chest before setting off, walking alongside his horse because he had insisted on taking Westin’s cock twice and Westin had no sense where Sun was concerned.
Sun knew better than to ride cock in the dark of their room and then demand it again at sunrise.Yet he’d done it anyway.Reckless.
Westin felt himself frowning.
But Sunwasn’treckless, except for those fights in his younger days.Sun was a clever, calculating, thorough outguard who, as he often pointedly said, was smart enough to be selfish when it came to taking care of himself.
Sun did what he wanted.The Outguard was a means for a better life for him, and he reveled in the work.But he was not reckless.In fact, if Westin had been the one to do something like that while knowing it would leave him too sore to comfortably ride a horse, Sun would have chastised him for it, and probably more harshly than Hely with a far too flirtatious new worker.
A presence at his elbow made Westin clear his frown.Then he raised his head to meet Hely’s questioning stare.
Part Two
“Ihavesometimeif you’d like to sit in a booth for a while.”Hely wasn’t really asking.He knew Westin well enough to know phrasing it as a question would end with more polite insistence that he was fine, even though Westin was decidedly not fine.He was ruffled and guilty and worried that the hurt, furious brat taking a bath might never want to talk to him again.
“Apparently,” Hely continued smoothly, “he ordered tea for you.Not a pot, just a cup.With milk in it that he wanted warmed first so that your drink would stay hot longer.”Hely reached behind him to take the cup that Alit was bringing over.He nodded to Alit, waited for Westin to accept the inevitable and stand up, then handed the cup to him.
The tea was so hot the cup warmed his hands.The steam smelled of citrus oils and sharp leaves, the bitterness tempered only slightly by the milk.Not a hugely popular blend, but Westin had odd tastes.
Alit was staring at him and looking startled when Westin opened his eyes from inhaling the steam, but she quickly turned and hurried back to the kitchens.
Westin had a sip of his gifted tea, and then another, inwardly reveling in the gift from Sun as much as he delighted in the taste.
