Page 94 of Close Quarter
He should have hunted Anaxandros years ago.
Yet another failure to crown the heaping pile of inadequacy.The great Silvanus. Hah.
"Silas?"
He retrieved the fork from his plate. "Just thinking."
"About?" Rhys sat back in his chair and toyed with his water glass. A charming furrow formed between his brows.
Silas took another bite of lamb, stalling for a bit before speaking. "Anaxandros. He's..."
Jupiter's balls!He fisted his hand into a ball and tried again. "It's toying with me. But I don't know why."
"Because it gets off on your pain?"
There was truth there, yes. This was an old, familiar game, to some extent. Still... "I'm sure it does. But Anaxandros wants something more from me, more than agony, more than despair." Silas certainly had given more than enough of that during his captivity. "It vexes me."
Rhys fell quiet for a moment. "I think you're the only person I know who would seriously use the word 'vex.'"
Silas ever so gently kicked Rhys in the shin.
"'Vex' is a fine word."
"It's an old word." Rhys stabbed a piece of pineapple.
"It's a Latin word."
He pointed the fruit-laden fork at Silas. "I rest my case." He popped the pineapple into his mouth, looking far too smug.
Americans."Half the words you dribble from that pretty tongue of yours are Latin." He cut into his steak. "And you do realize that I am as old as 'vex.'" Silas saw the trap Rhys had laid as the words left his mouth.
"Well, you certainly are vexing."
Silas kicked him again, harder this time. Rhys laughed. That was contagious enough. He found himself joining in until the joy overwhelmed him.
Gods.Silas set down both his utensils and ran a hand over his suddenly moist eyes. When was the last time he'd sat so with anyone, let alone a lover?
He didn't remember. Even with his very few friends, he had never opened himself up this much.
"Silas?" Humor had fled from Rhys's voice.
He waved the concern away and looked up.
"You're absolutely marvelous. Even if you are a complete git. And that"--he pointed his fork at Rhys--"is from German."
Rhys snorted.
"Now let me eat in peace." He failed horribly to keep the laughter from those words.
This, the arguments and the humor, the companionship. The desires of his heart.
Everything he had lost when Anaxandros killed his court. Everything he could build with Rhys.
If they survived.
If.
Hope squeezed his heart.When.They would survive. They had to. The alternative was too horrible to contemplate.
