Love and Sacrifice: Book Two of the Prophecy Series

by Tove Foss Ford

  “Oh, the hells with it,” he muttered, turning on his side, preparing to slide his left hand under the pillow. He stopped and stared at his fingers as if he’d never seen them before.

  “I have managed not to get water all over your beautiful bathroom,” Stevahn said cheerily. Borsen looked up to see him standing there, festooned in only a towel, using another on his hair.

  “I seem to have acquired a new piece of jewelry,” Borsen replied, his voice thick with emotion, holding up his left hand where a gold and diamond ring he’d seen many times on Stevahn’s little finger was now on his wedding finger.

  The equivalent of marriage, what nancyboys called ‘bonding’, a ring given and accepted as a token of lifetime devotion and fidelity. He felt breathless.

  “If you’d like to have it, leave it there,” Stevahn smiled, toweling once again all over and then stretching out on the bed to be eye to eye with Borsen.

  “You’re not getting it back, that’s for certain,” Borsen said, grinning. “Thank you.”

  “Good. It comes with all my love.” Stevahn reached out, took both Borsen’s hands in his and said, “I promise to stay with you all my life.”

  The bonding words. Borsen felt his hands trembling. He had almost lost his ability to speak Mordanian. He sat up against the pillows, swallowed twice and responded.

  “I promise to stay with you all my life.”

  They were both smiling and fighting happy tears when Borsen’s stomach growled – thunderously.

  Stevahn burst out laughing. “Let’s get you fed. A formidable lady looked in here about half an hour ago and mouthed ‘breakfast or lunch?’ I told her lunch.”

  Borsen laughed aloud, sitting up. “That’s Varnia and I’m sure her curiosity finally got the best of her after seeing your coat and hat in the closet when she got home, long after we’d gone to bed. Hungry as I am though, I would like a bath.”

  “I left the tub running, your bath is assured,” Stevahn grinned. “So thoughtful of you to have a tub big enough for the likes of me. I was amazed beyond words when I saw it. You should install a diving board.” He bent and started sorting out the tangle of his clothing on the floor beside the bed. Stevahn’s suit trousers were a rumpled mess, his shirt missing two buttons from his haste to get free of the garment.

  “Charming,” he said, examining the shirt. “I shan’t sit down at the table with you and your sister in this. While you’re in the tub, I’ll nip over to my place and get into some clean clothes.”

  “Why do you live in lodgings?” Borsen asked, reclining against the piled pillows and looking at his new diamond ring with smug satisfaction.

  “After my last romantic disaster, I didn’t feel like setting up in a new place. They’re nice lodgings, don’t sound like I’m living in a single room warming up day old soup over a spirit lamp.” Stevahn stood and started fastening his trousers.

  “Maybe you’d like to bring the suits I made for you and your other things over,” Borsen said tantalizingly. “There’s a lot of room in the closet. And in the bed, as you know. I – I would very much like it if you were here.”

  “So I shall,” Stevahn smiled over his shoulder.

  “Let me tell Varnia you’ll be coming back in, so she doesn’t think you’re a brigand. She’s a darling but she can be very protective of me.” Borsen got up and went for his dressing gown.

  ***

  “Oh!” Varnia cried delightedly as Borsen displayed his bonding ring before her wide eyes. “Oh, I’m so happy! He looks like a lovely man.”

  “He is,” Borsen assured her. “He’ll be moving in here over the next few days.”

  “Of course. Will he move furniture in?”

  Borsen laughed. She was all ready to organize.

  “I don’t know, dearie,” he smiled. “We’ve put the cart before the horse a little – he came for dinner and some explanations and he’s walking out of here a bonded man. We’ll find out over lunch. He went back to his lodgings for a change of clothes. He’ll be knocking, so please let him back in.”

  “Won’t you want to eat together without a chaperone?” Varnia asked.

  “No. I’m sure Stevahn and I will have many meals alone together, but I want him to be part of the household right away. That means you eating with us just as you’ve eaten with me, as a family. Now I want to get a bath quickly before he gets back.”

  Borsen submerged himself in his marble bathtub, a copy of the enormous one Menders had installed at The Shadows. Requiring extensive reinforcement of the house structure to hold it up, it was large enough to float around in with plenty of room to spare.

  His thoughts drifted to the letter he’d had from his uncle the day before and how it had led to the barriers between Stevahn and himself coming down. The letter had made him long for home.

  The hells with it, I am going home at some point over Winterfest, he decided. It gets slower than a tortoise in Erdahn once the solstice is past. So many people leave town for the holidays. I’m going home. Katrin needs me. And maybe Stevahn would want to come, which would be wonderful. I’d love showing him The Shadows.

  He felt light and happy and started raucously singing a ridiculous and very vulgar lyric Kaymar had coined years back to the effect of being glad to be a nancyboy. Years of Menders’ careful training had given Borsen a good strong tenor voice, so he opened up the pipes and was caroling the third ribald verse, simultaneously sending great splashes of water ceilingward with his feet, when he heard cackling laughter from the bathroom doorway.

  “This is the distant, chaste and remote young man I have been pursuing for over a year?” Stevahn gasped, holding onto the doorframe for support, having obviously returned from his lodgings. “Floating around in a tub you could dock a tugboat in, flinging water about and yowling a positively obscene song? I have died and gone to the halls of the gods!”

  “Wait until you hear the fourth verse,” Borsen smirked and immediately launched into it, while his bonded howled with laughter and finally slid down the wall to the floor, helpless.

  ***

  Kaymar breezed into Borsen’s workroom.

  “I got your message,” he said airily, preparing to stretch himself out on Borsen’s sofa. “Something you want me to carry over to Menders?”

  “A letter. I’m almost finished with it,” Borsen replied from his desk. He reached with his left hand for blotting paper.

  Kaymar closed his own hand around Borsen’s left wrist. Borsen looked up to see Kaymar gaping at the glittering diamond ring Stevahn had bonded him with.

  “Child, what have you done?” Kaymar asked, his face horrified.

  Borsen wrenched free and stood up slowly.

  “Would you like to retract that?” he asked. His voice was ice.

  Kaymar stepped back, for once devoid of his usual self-assurance.

  “I’m sorry,” he apologized. “That was… Borsen, I thought I told you to wait a while.”

  Borsen drew a deep breath.

  “Kaymar, I followed your advice and almost lost him. Not entirely because of what you told me – I added plenty of fuel to the fire, but Stevahn was very uncertain as to my feelings because I was being so hard to get.”

  “It’s just that you don’t have any experience…” Kaymar began, looking sheepish.

  “I know! I didn’t know how to act with him! I nearly lost him. Thank the gods he has patience and accepted my offer to explain everything to him. And thank the gods he still wanted me after he heard what I came from.”

  Borsen turned away from Kaymar and strode across the room to the window, snapping the curtains closed lest Stevahn look over from his office and see this scene.

  He was startled when Kaymar grasped his shoulders and turned him around roughly.

  “Don’t ever say that,” Kaymar commanded. “Don’t believe it. I didn’t help raise you to think that someone is doing you a favor by loving you. He’s a fortunate man to have you.”

  Kaymar released him just as suddenly as he
’d taken hold of him and turned away for a moment. Both men were breathing quickly, tempers ready to flare.

  Borsen squeezed his eyes shut. This was not the reaction he’d expected from Kaymar.

  He heard his cousin turn around. He opened his eyes, knowing resentment showed on his face. To his surprise, Kaymar looked contrite.

  “Borsen – I’m sorry,” the older man said bluntly. “It’s not that I’m unhappy you’ve found someone. It’s just that you’re so young. It startled me.”

  “How old were you when you bonded with Ifor?” Borsen snapped.

  Kaymar shook his head. “Younger than you – but my situation was entirely different, Borsen. There’s no comparison. I’d been bonded twice before and widowed tragically each time. Gods knew I had enough experience for ten young men. I just thought that some more time on your own would be a good idea.”

  “I love him!” Borsen burst out. “I want him!” He clenched his fists, hard, hearing his blood roaring in his ears.

  Kaymar groaned in frustration. He walked over to Borsen.

  “I must accept the fact that you’re grown up,” he said, putting his hands on either side of Borsen’s face, resisting Borsen’s attempts to pull away. “I’m sorry I’ve hurt you and sounded like I don’t approve of what you’ve done. I would like for you to have gotten to know Stevahn Rondheim better before taking this step, but he’s a good man and he’ll be good to you. Please forgive me for being an old hen and tell me about it. Come on, try to forget me being an idiot.”

  Borsen let himself be pulled down to sit on the sofa. A moment later he was given a glass of kirz and Kaymar settled opposite him with a drink of his own. Kaymar leaned forward and took Borsen’s left hand, turning the ring to the light.

  “It’s beautiful,” he said simply. “Tell me about it.”

  “He – he put it on my hand when I was sleeping. I saw it as soon as I put my glasses on in the morning,” Borsen said stiffly. “It means a lot to him. He bought it for himself when he finished college, it isn’t just a ring he went out and bought that day.”

  “After you first slept together?” Kaymar asked gently.

  Borsen nodded. “I – we had a scene that afternoon because I was upset over the news about Katrin’s hair never growing back. He was upset because he found out he’d been investigated and that it came from me. I asked him over to explain. We talked and sorted out that we want the same thing – someone to be with forever. I didn’t want to wait, to seem to be testing him. That would show lack of trust. I trust him, Kaymar.”

  “You see, I had hoped that you’d be on your own for a couple of years before bonding – mainly because I think that would have been the best thing for me when I was a boy, rather than living the way I did. I liked the thought of you being busy and happy and free of serious attachments for a little while, a protracted innocence of sorts. But that’s not what you wanted, is it?” Kaymar mused. “I can’t try to force you to be what I should have been. Are you happy?”

  “Very much,” Borsen said, his voice shaking. “I’m so glad to go home and have him there.”

  “Then I’m happy too,” Kaymar said firmly. “Truly I am. You know that I’m not entirely stable. Sometimes my mouth runs away with me. Now, there’s something my dear father said to me many years ago, when I was much younger than you. It pertains here. No matter what happens, no matter what you do, Kaymar loves you always, Borsen.”

  Borsen felt his anger ebbing away, along with it the terrible cold fear and doubt that Kaymar’s reaction had stirred within him. He felt comfortable again. The joy about his bonding was back. He sighed with relief and Kaymar laughed aloud.

  “Now, will you introduce me to your man? I have some time free before going back to The Shadows,” Kaymar said, taking out his cigar case.

  “I’d love to,” Borsen replied.

  The Shadows, Mordania

  14

  Winterfest

  M

  y dear Borsen,

  Please come home as soon as you can and Stevahn is completely welcome. As I’m sure you guessed, the news is already out here. Everyone is very happy that you are no longer alone. I look forward to meeting Stevahn and welcoming him to our family.

  I applaud your decision to close Borsen’s for a short time. I doubt there will be much harm done to business, but continuing at the pace you have been keeping will cause harm to you and your enterprise. A rest will be excellent for you, and give you a chance to think about how you will carry out your next year of business. You are also in a position to pay your employees for the unexpected break and I applaud your decision to do so.

  I am very proud of you, my boy, in so many ways.

  Your loving Papa

  Dearest Stevahn,

  Mama and Papa are letting me write in response to your letter to all of us, since I knew about your being in love with Borsen. They have scolded me roundly for not telling them about it, but I know when to keep my mouth shut about such things. After all, that is what older sisters are for!

  I’m so glad you caught your elusive fish! I will now admit to you that I used your name as a reference to have myself measured for a riding habit by your Borsen, just to get a look at the young man who so caught your imagination. He’s a darling and I know you’ll forgive me for the subterfuge, little brother. As you said in your letter, that exterior of brisk businessman is a blind for something far more vulnerable and sweet.

  We’re so happy that you are confident and content. We’re curious to know about Princess Katrin and this place called The Shadows – and as you know, no-one would ever say or do anything to endanger her.

  Mother and Father have asked that you bring Borsen out to meet them the rest days after you get back from Old Mordania. Versen warns that you rug up while there and wear plenty of long underfugs to keep from being frostbitten (he’s being very naughty and hanging over my shoulder cackling at his wit. I will not write down his exact words), as there is a sort of cold there in that part of the country that we never experience in Erdahn.

  We are all well here in Surelia, enjoying the summerlike weather. I’m so glad you will not be alone over the holidays. I know that’s one of the drawbacks of being in business, but it makes for lonely times.

  Many hugs and kisses to you and to Borsen.

  Your loving sister,

  Stellia

  Stellia dear,

  Writing this in haste, as an unexpected business matter has made it necessary to send another messenger to Father, but I did want to respond to your letter to accept the invitation to bring Borsen to meet you all - also to let you know your words touched me and made me smile.

  Because you and I have always been confidants, I will say I am deliriously happy and I know that this will last. Since you’ve met Borsen, you know he is something rare and fine. I will admit that when I finally realized I had won his heart, I was suddenly terrified, as if someone had handed me a little jeweled grasshopper, something so delicate, exotic and precious that any rough handling could destroy it.

  Though Borsen appears physically strong, he is bird-boned and fragile, only five feet tall and so light I can pick him up with ease. Despite this, he has indomitable strength and determination. He can and has moved mountains to get what he wants. I marvel at him, and that I have him, every day.

  Have a wonderful Winterfest, my dear. I so look forward to having you all meet Borsen in the new year.

  Little brotherling,

  Stev

  ***

  Stevahn had expected a busy Winterfest holiday, but the whirl of activity he was presented with at The Shadows couldn’t have been anticipated.

  From their arrival, life had gone by at a joyful pace. No sooner had the force of nature that was Hemmett driven Stevahn, Borsen and Varnia up to the front steps of The Shadows, but a little copper skinned girl dashed out of the house without a coat.

  “Which one is the bride?” she cried, looking from Borsen to Stevahn. “Is it you, Uncle Borsen?”

&n
bsp; Hemmett laughed, swung out of the sledge and crouched down to her eye level.

  “Flori, when two men have decided to spend their life together, there is no bride,” he explained quietly. “A bride is always a lady.”

  “I hoped to see a bride. I’ve never seen one yet and I’m almost nine years old.” Flori looked very disappointed.

  “You’re seeing a bonded,” Stevahn smiled at her, having stepped out of the sledge himself before he helped Varnia down and gave Borsen an arm to lean on. No point in risking a fall with Borsen’s bones. “Actually, Borsen is my bonded and I’m his bonded. It means we’re bound together forever. I’m Stevahn.”

  “Then you’re my Uncle Stevahn,” she smiled, crunching over the snow and reaching up to him.

  Stevahn was used to his sister’s boy and swung her up in his arms.

  “So my first hug and kiss here at The Shadows come from the Night Flower,” he laughed as she placed an enthusiastic kiss on his cheek.

  “How do you know my name is Night Flower?”

  “I’m a wizard. Now, shall we go inside?”

  “Yes, likely you can’t bear the cold here, you’re a city boy,” she replied. Hemmett rolled his eyes skyward, trying not to guffaw aloud. Borsen had already run up the steps and was in the arms of the man Stevahn had seen over a year ago, standing with Borsen in front of the building that had become his splendid store.

  “That’s Menders. I call him Grampy,” Flori whispered helpfully in his ear.

  “Here, Miss Mischief, into the house with you, give Stevahn and Menders a chance to say hello,” Hemmett said, taking Flori into his own arms and dashing up the steps with her, snorting and neighing like a horse as they went through the door.

  Stevahn mounted the steps more sedately, giving Borsen a few more moments with his uncle, looking around at the snow carpeted gardens with wonder. The place looked like something out of a legend. It was magical.