“No, listen,” said Ezekiel. “Here we are, wishing we could rally an army to fight against the revenants. And we come to find out that the common people all think he’s the Son. Don’t you think they’d be willing to follow him into battle? I know the revenants are numerous, but so are the common people of the empire. If we could round them up—”
“I’m not leading people to be slaughtered,” said Nathaniel. “And I’m especially not going to help one emperor take the throne away from another one. I wanted to overthrow the empire, in case you’ve forgotten.”
Ezekiel looked at him darkly. “You accept Gabriel’s food, his hospitality, but you treat him with no respect.”
Nathaniel pushed past all of them, out into the hallway. He needed some air.
They yelled after him, asking questions, telling him to come back, but he ignored them.
* * *
“Would you drop it?” said Gabriel to Ezekiel. They were alone in their bedroom. It was growing dark outside. “He’s gone, and he’s probably not coming back. It’s been hours. We can’t use him for this hair-brained scheme of yours. Besides, I thought we were supposed to just listen to God. Manipulating people into believing in a false messiah doesn’t sound like you.”
Ezekiel stood on the other side of the room. “Perhaps not. Perhaps your immorality is rubbing off on me. But I don’t see why you can’t see that it’s a good plan. A plan that could work.”
“Why do you care? Why does it matter whether I’m emperor or not?”
“It’s God’s will.”
“Oh, come off it. If you say one more thing like that, I think I’m going to throttle you.”
Ezekiel raised his eyebrows. “Oh really?”
Gabriel gaped at him. Was the other man deliberately provoking him?
A small smile played on the other man’s lips.
Gabriel wanted to slap it off him. He vaulted across the room and took Ezekiel by the shoulders.
Ezekiel was still smiling.
Gabriel glared at the smile. He moistened his lips. And then he yanked the other man close and kissed him as hard as he could.
Ezekiel didn’t resist the kiss. He opened his mouth to Gabriel like he’d been waiting for this since they first saw each other again.
This only spurred Gabriel on. He deepened the kiss. He pressed the length of his body against Ezekiel’s. Suddenly, he realized that he’d been carrying around a knot in his stomach, and that this was the only thing that would unravel it.
Ezekiel broke away, gasping. “I don’t know if I can be what you want me to be.”
Gabriel seized the edge of the other man’s shirt and tugged it over his head. “What I want you to be is naked, I think.”
Ezekiel let out a funny noise—half a laugh, half a sigh, half a protest. But he didn’t stop Gabriel. “You want me to abandon everything I’ve ever believed. You want me to embrace a nature I’ve always thought was sinful. You want me to believe that there is no punishment for our sins.”
“No,” said Gabriel, running his hands over Ezekiel’s chest, exploring the planes and valleys of his pecks and stomach. “There is no sin.”
Ezekiel gasped, shutting his eyes. “That’s going too far.”
“I want to go as far as I can with you.”
“That’s right. You’re the one who pushes it. You’re the one who plays outside the rules.” Ezekiel opened his eyes. He reached out to cup the back of Gabriel’s neck. “That’s why you have to take back your empire. And this is the best plan we’re going to get.”
Gabriel shook his head. “You won’t let it go.”
Ezekiel kissed him. “I’m right,” he murmured into the other man’s mouth. “You know it.”
Gabriel shoved him back onto the bed.
Ezekiel bounced on the mattress, splayed out—an invitation.
Gabriel crawled over the other man’s body, putting his mouth on Ezekiel’s skin as he did so. “I can’t.”
“Can’t what?” Ezekiel’s voice wasn’t steady.
Gabriel started to unfasten the other man’s breeches.
Ezekiel stopped him. “Hold on.”
“Don’t stop me.”
Ezekiel winced. He sat up. “You know I want this. But…”
“Give in, then.”
“You want to be the emperor. You’ve always wanted it.”
Gabriel sighed, turning away.
Ezekiel’s hands inside his clothes, warm against his back.
Gabriel leaned into the other man.
“Give in. Say you’ll take back your empire.” Ezekiel kissed his neck. “You give in, and I’ll give in.”
Gabriel turned to him, arching an eyebrow.
Ezekiel smiled. “Maybe sometimes you have to sin for the greater good.” His fingers traveled around Gabriel’s body, over his stomach and down between his legs.
Gabriel let out a strangled sigh. His eyes slammed shut, and he blindly sought the other man’s lips. When he found them, he drowned in pleasure.
* * *
Leah started when the door slammed. Nathaniel had been gone for hours, and she’d begun to hope that meant that she would have the bedroom to herself. She’d even gotten ready for bed and gone to sleep. After a day of traveling, she was exhausted.
But now the door had slammed, and she was awake.
She didn’t move, suddenly seized with terror at what might have slammed that door. At first, she thought it must be Nathaniel, but in the next second, she conjured up other images—monsters, killers, and other beasties. She clutched the covers tighter and tried to monitor her breathing.
“Leah?”
It was Nathaniel. She let out a sigh of relief.
“Are you asleep?”
“I was,” she said sharply. Now that the fear was leaving her, the only thing left was anger.
“Sorry for waking you.”
She felt his weight settle on the bed, and she sat up in a flurry of movement. “Hey. You said you’d sleep on the floor.”
He was sitting on the edge, not lying down. “I need to talk to you. Can we light a candle or a lantern?”
“What’s there to talk about?”
He sighed. He got off the bed, went to the bedside table and fumbled about until he managed to get some light.
She didn’t help. Sure, she could have done it more quickly than him, saved him some time. But she wasn’t about to do anything for this man, not anymore. She’d rescued him, and that was quite enough.
But in the light, it was harder to be angry. The soft glow of the flames only made Nathaniel more attractive, and she remembered the way he’d spoken to her back in the city, the way he’d told her that he loved her.
Lies, she reminded herself. All lies.
“I’m leaving,” said Nathaniel.
“What?”
“That’s why I need to talk to you,” he said. “I know that I promised you that I’d try to make things up to you. And I will. But I can’t do that if you stay here with Gabriel and don’t come with me.”
She was completely confused. Nathaniel was leaving? But she’d just found him again.
“So, do you want to come?”
She sputtered. “You can’t just… come in here and spring that on me.”
He sighed. “I know. And I thought about just leaving. I was already at the gate, ready to get out of this village and find my own way. But then I thought about you here, and how much you already hate me, and I didn’t think that just going away would do much to make you hate me less. And… I don’t know. I find that I don’t actually want you to hate me at all.”
“Why do you have to leave?”
“Because I can’t be here. I can’t be working with the emperor.” He rubbed his face. “I mean, I don’t know. I thought about it before. When he actually was the emperor. I thought maybe he could make things better. But now he can’t do anything. He doesn’t have a throne. He doesn’t have any power. So, why should I spend my time with him? I need to be…”
&nbs
p; She waited.
But he didn’t say anything else.
“Need to be what?” she asked.
“Doing something.” Nathaniel got off the bed. He went over to the window on the far side of the room and pulled aside the curtains. “I spent the last ten years planning a revolution. Now, I’ve got nothing.”
“So, you still want to tear down the empire? Even though there’s a commoner on the throne?”
“No.” He whirled to face her. “Maybe. I don’t know anymore. But I can’t stay here. And I can’t handle it when all these people think I’m something I’m not. I used to be able to defuse it, turn it around and tell them to reach within themselves for the strength to fight the empire. Then they forgot about me, and thought about their own power. But I can’t do that anymore.”
“So, you’re going to leave.”
He strode back across the room, sat down at the edge of the bed, and seized both of her hands. “You could come with me.”
“Where would we go?” She didn’t take her hands away. She found that she liked touching him again. Very much.
“I don’t know. It doesn’t matter.”
“How would we get there? We don’t have provisions or money or horses.”
“We’ll steal Gabriel’s,” said Nathaniel.
She did pull her hands away then. “No. I’ve done enough bad things to Gabriel.”
“Then I’ll get the townspeople to give me donations since they think I’m the messiah,” said Nathaniel, sounding frustrated. “But I can take care of you. And I want to. I don’t want you off somewhere else. I want to be there when the baby’s born, and I want to see…” He squared his shoulders. “I want you to come. I want to keep the promises that I made to you, that you and I would go on the road together.”
She felt shy, suddenly. “Would we be traveling magicians?”
He grinned. “Well, it does happen to be my only skill.”
She leaned forward. “Will you teach me how to make the sparks?”
“You want to learn that?”
She nodded. “Always. Ever since I saw you do it the first time.”
“Well, then, of course.”
She smiled too.
They stared at each other in the flickering, scant light. Stared and stared.
Too long, she thought. Because now he was looking at her like he was going to kiss her, and she shouldn’t let him, because he didn’t deserve that. He hadn’t proved himself, and he’d been horrible to her, and she wasn’t about to forgive him. So, she needed to look away, because if she didn’t, it was going to happen, and she wasn’t going to be able—
His lips on hers. Soft. Nice. Good.
She wrapped her arms around him. She couldn’t help it. She’d wanted to be close to him for so long, and now it was finally happening. She couldn’t think about anything except how good it was to be kissing him again.
He pulled back. “Sorry,” he murmured. His face lingered close. “I know I shouldn’t—”
She kissed him, cutting him off. She moaned against him.
And then somehow she was lying back on the bed, and he was over her, settled against her through the covers and her nightgown. But her body was so sensitive these days—her breasts heavy and tender, her sex wet and swollen. And he felt good against her. So good.
She writhed, grinding her hips into his.
He groaned. “I thought you—”
“I want you,” she interrupted. She’d never felt quite like this before. When they’d been together back in the city, he’d been the aggressor. She had enjoyed their lovemaking, but she’d strongly suspected he might like it more than she did. Now, however, there was a fire burning in her, an intense desire she didn’t know she was capable of.
He lifted himself up to look into her eyes. “Did you really just say that?” he whispered.
She giggled, feeling bold, and started to tug at his clothes.
He looked at her in awe and hunger, his eyelids half closed. “Does this mean you’ll leave with me?”
“Yes,” she said. “In the morning.”
He was kissing her again.
She threw back her head.
He kissed her neck. He kissed her chin.
“But I’m not making any promises about forgiving you,” she said.
“Noted,” he gasped.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Ezekiel awoke to the sound of a clanging bell. He and Gabriel were a jumble of naked limbs, entwined together on the bed. He had to admit that it felt good to be close to him in that way. He felt a peace that he’d never felt from the teachings of the holy men. He didn’t know what that meant—maybe it was a trick of the devil. But he had surrendered to it.
At the sound of the bell, he opened his eyes, looking around. It was still dark outside.
Gabriel stirred too, moving away from him.
Ezekiel got out of bed. He moved over to one of the windows and looked outside.
“What is that noise?” said Gabriel.
Outside the window, the village was lit up with fire. At first he thought something was burning. But in the red light, Ezekiel could see a group of people holding up torches. They were the source of the light. Beyond the people, though, were other figures. Those didn’t hold up torches. They staggered and hobbled, reached for the people, their jaws wide and glistening.
Ezekiel turned away from the window. “Revenants.”
Gabriel leaped out of bed and came the window. “But there’s a thick wall here.”
Ezekiel was at a loss. “Well… sometimes a mass of them get together and they climb over each other until they get over the walls.”
“They aren’t that active,” said Gabriel. “That hasn’t happened in years. Not since…”
They both looked at each other.
“The necromancers,” Gabriel finished quietly.
Ezekiel turned back to the window. He could see that there were numerous revenants, that they were surrounding the inn.
“I read reports,” Gabriel continued. “It wasn’t a problem when we had necromancers, because they could get the revenants under control. But it seems that necromancers attract revenants.”
“These are heading south, trying to get to the necromancer on the throne.”
“Yes.”
Outside the room, in the hallway, they could hear someone banging on a door. Not their door, but one close by.
“Please!” called a loud voice. “You are the Son. You are to save us from the revenants. Save us now.”
“Shit.” Gabriel pulled on his clothes. “You still think this idea to use Nathaniel is a good one?”
Ezekiel was hurriedly getting dressed as well.
“Open the door and have mercy on us!” the voice called.
Gabriel yanked open the door. Ezekiel was right behind him. They peered out into the hall to see that the innkeeper and several others were banging on Nathaniel’s door.
“We have to do something,” said Gabriel.
“Like what?” said Ezekiel. “Maybe tell them that God doesn’t exist, and that there’s no sin?”
Gabriel glared at him.
Nathaniel’s door opened. He stood there, half dressed. His shirt was unbuttoned over his bare chest. “What’s going on?”
“Revenants,” Gabriel told him. “They’ve gotten over the walls somehow.”
“Sir,” said the innkeeper, “we know who you are. We know you have power over the revenants. You are prophesied to end our suffering, drive them off, and bring about a new heavens and a new earth. Please, help us now.”
Nathaniel’s eyes widened. He cast a glance at Gabriel, terrified.
“Listen,” said Ezekiel.
Everyone turned to look at him.
“You can’t just demand him to do a miracle,” said Ezekiel. “You know that is not the way of God. He works in mysterious ways.”
“What are you doing?” Gabriel demanded in a harsh whisper.
“Leave us,” said Ezekiel. “Send your women
to pray and go to fight the revenants yourselves. Beg for God’s assistance, and perhaps he will bless you.”
The innkeeper and the others turned to look at Nathaniel. He, and only he, could give them the final word, it seemed.
Nathaniel cleared his throat. “Um, yes. As he says. It is not in my hands, but the hands of the Lord.”
The innkeeper and the others shuffled out of the hallway. Several of the woman began praying in loud voices, weeping openly.
When they were gone, Gabriel turned to Ezekiel and seized a handful of his shirt. “Are you insane? You just gave them hope.”
“They’re going to think that God abandoned them,” said Nathaniel.
Leah poked her head out of the room. “What’s going on?”
“Go back to sleep,” said Nathaniel and Gabriel in unison.
She didn’t move, but she didn’t say anything else.
“Look,” said Ezekiel. “You did something in the first place that made them think you could do miracles. What was it?”
“I can make pretty sparks,” said Nathaniel. “But I can’t do it now, because I don’t have any of my materials. They’re all back at the camp with the other rebels. I didn’t get the chance to bring them along when you sprung me. And anyway, I don’t see how that would help anything.”
“Wait.” Gabriel held up a finger. “Have you ever seen revenants out in a thunderstorm?”
“They aren’t afraid of rain,” said Leah, rolling her eyes.
“Not rain,” said Gabriel. “Lightning.”
Nathaniel’s face lit up. “You’re right! They don’t come out in the lightning.”
“What do you need to make the sparks?” said Gabriel.
“Well, I used copper wire,” said Nathaniel. “But I also had stored energy. I had to keep replenishing it, and it takes time to build it up, and—”
“Leah, you need to go to the kitchen,” said Gabriel. “We need salt, we need water, and we need metal. We need something copper—it can be a pot or pan. And something brass. If there are plates or cups or decorations or… it doesn’t matter. Do you think you can bring us those things?”
She nodded. “Yeah, I can do that.”
“Then go.” Gabriel turned to Nathaniel. “We’re going to make some sparks—some big sparks. And then we’re going to scare the hell out of those revenants.” He grinned.
Empire of Rust Page 29
