Polemidas's Arc

Chapter 6 of 7

They rode out at dawn. Polemidas sat on his black horse, red saddle trimmed in gold. Heliodorus rode beside him on his brown and white steed, its pale mane loose in the wind. The wolves ran behind, Valour first, Fury close on her heels. Polemidas carried the gold and red spear across his back. He had said yes to this ride. He had not planned to think about the way the prince smiled at him. He thought about it anyway. They stopped near a stream at midday. Heliodorus slid down and led his horse to drink. Polemidas watched him. The prince did not act like a man on a hard journey. He knelt and let Fury lick water from his cupped hand. He laughed when the pup shook herself dry. "You're staring," Heliodorus said. He did not look up. "I am." "Why?" Polemidas had no armour answer for this. He had left the soldier at the reins. "I keep watching you when I don't need to," he said. "On the field, I only watch for threats. You're not a threat." Heliodorus stood. He crossed to Polemidas's horse and put a hand on the animal's neck. "Then what am I?" "I don't have the word." Polemidas gripped the reins tighter. "When you touched my face, I felt it for days. I feel it now." The prince went quiet. Valour pushed her nose against his leg. He did not move away from the horse or from Polemidas. "I thought I imagined it," Heliodorus said. "That you might feel the same. I told myself no. A prince and his guard." "You didn't imagine it." Heliodorus looked up at him then. His brown eyes held steady. "Good. I don't want to imagine it." He said it plainly, the way he said everything. "I love you. I have for a while. I wasn't going to say it on this ride. But you asked without asking." Polemidas swung down from the black horse. His boots hit the wet ground. He stood close, close as he had let the prince stand in the courtyard. This time he chose it. "Say it again," Polemidas said. "I love you." Polemidas took the prince's hand. His own hand did not shake now. "I don't know how to be loved," he said. "No one ever tried. Not the man who trained me. Not my father." He held the hand tighter. "But I want to learn it. With you." Heliodorus leaned his forehead against Polemidas's chest. The wolves circled their feet. For a moment there was only the stream and their two horses and the warmth between them. Then a horn sounded, far off, low and long. Polemidas knew that call. He had heard it after he spared a man's life. Marcus had found their trail. The soldier came back into Polemidas's shoulders. He reached for the spear on his back. He had something to protect now, and no armour on his body.