Dorian Wraith's Arc

Chapter 5 of 27

Dorian waited until morning to move. Evander had stood at the window again in the night, and Dorian had listened to him breathe wrong. At breakfast Dorian pushed his plate away and said they were going to the pool today, just the two of them. Beak looked up from his tea and said nothing. Callie kicked Dorian's shin under the table and grinned like she knew what he was up to. Evander said fine. He did not ask why. The healing pool sat in a bowl of gray stone a short walk from the cabin. Blue water held still under the sun. Waterfalls fed it from one side. Dorian had heard stories of mermen in the deep part but had never seen one. They changed into short swim trunks behind the rocks and slid in. The water was warm at the top and cold underneath. Evander went under and came up laughing, and for hours that was all they did. They swam. They floated on their backs. Dorian pulled Evander close in the shallow end and kissed him and did not let go for a long time. When the sun tipped west, Dorian climbed onto a flat rock and held his palms up. He thought of Evander safe and warm, and food came. Bread, cheese, cold apples, a jug of something sweet. Evander sat cross-legged across from him, dripping, and ate without talking. Dorian watched him and then said it plain. "I know you're hiding something. I've known a while. Tell me." Evander set the bread down. He looked at the water for a long moment. Then he said, "My father is King Ambrose. I'm the son he lost. The one his men are looking for." He kept his eyes on the pool. "He taxes people until they starve. He also hates witches. He’s the reason no other witch but you is in Starlandus. I ran. If he finds me he drags me back, and he’ll lock me away for loving you." He finally looked up. "That's what I've been hiding. That's why I flinch when riders pass. I'm sorry." Dorian felt the shock hit his chest and sit there. A witch-hating king. Soldiers already on the road. He put down the apple. He crossed the rock and pulled Evander against him. "I don't care whose son you are," Dorian said. "You're mine. He doesn't get you. I'll burn the road down before he gets near this cabin." Evander gripped the back of his neck and did not answer, but his shoulders dropped for the first time in a year. They walked back to the cabin in the last of the light. Dorian held Evander's hand the whole way. At the blue door between the sunflowers, Dorian stopped and squeezed once. "We tell Beak now," he said. "All of it." Evander nodded. Dorian pushed the door open and called Beak's name. Beak appeared wearing nothing but green shorts. He sat and listened to Evander’s story.