Florian Laveaux's Arc

Chapter 2 of 10

Florian stepped into the predawn cold and found Griffin already waiting on the road. His boyfriend stood in the middle of the path, arms crossed, his breath making clouds in the air. The tavern door hung open behind Florian, spilling weak lamplight across the dirt. A banner stood planted beside Griffin, blue fabric snapping in the wind. The golden griffin emblazoned on it caught the first rays of dawn. Griffin's greatsword leaned against his shoulder, and a wooden training dummy sat propped at his feet. "I know what you're doing," Griffin said. His voice was steady. "And I'm not letting you face the lord alone." Florian's hand found the machete at his belt. He'd planned every word he would say to the lord, rehearsed the questions until they felt like weapons. But he hadn't planned for this. "This is my fight," he said. Griffin shook his head. "It's ours. You said we'd become knights together or not at all. That means we stand together when it matters." He gestured to the dummy. "You think the lord will believe this is about both of us if only one of us shows up?" Florian looked at the banner, at the dummy, at Griffin's face set with the same determination he'd seen the day they first talked about knighthood. The words he'd prepared felt suddenly wrong, incomplete. He stepped forward until he stood beside Griffin on the road. "Together then," he said. Griffin's hand found his. When the lord came, he would see two boys, not one. He would hear two voices asking the same question. Whatever answer came, they would face it the way they'd face everything else.