by Ginn Hale
Even Kiram stared for a moment. Not because Cadeleonian carriages were new or strange to him, but because this shining, gilded mass was so out of place here on a narrow Haldiim street. As a rule, when Cadeleonians came to the Haldiim district they did not come with carriages and even left their horses at the stable. If they needed goods transported, then they hired goat carts, and if they wished to travel in an indulgent fashion, then it was expected that they would hire a Haldiim palanquin. That had certainly been how the Grunitos had visited the candy shop in the past.
Nestor exchanged a wave with the carriage driver and Kiram felt the crowd's attention shift from the carriage to himself and the three Cadeleonians with him. Kiram was suddenly very aware of how imposing, foreign and rich Javier and the Grunito brothers would look to the gathered Haldiim.
As Kiram walked past with Javier, Nestor and Elezar, he caught Haldiim whispers and appraising glances, not all of them kind. Someone behind him wondered if Mother Kir-Zaki had whored her son out to all three of those Cadeleonian men in exchange for their business.
Kiram stopped, not shocked by the words as much as the familiarity of the voice, though he refused to turn or to acknowledge the remark.
But Javier spun back to glare at the crowd. Elezar followed Javier's motion, clearly backing him despite the fact that he couldn't have known what had roused Javier's ire. Nestor looked startled, almost panicked, and then Kiram realized that both Javier and Elezar had their hands on their sword hilts.
Only a few feet away two wiry Haldiim men went pale, but Musni gripped his fighting knife. A gasp went through the crowd and mothers pulled their young charges back from Musni and his friends. Kiram noticed the two Civic Guards a few yards away suddenly hefting their short bows.
Kiram instantly caught Javier's forearm and Elezar's elbow and then he stepped between them and the now gaping group of Haldiim.
"There's nothing to be offended, about," Kiram said firmly. "Petty people can't help but say jealous words any more than swine can keep from rolling in filth." Kiram projected his voice to carry the Haldiim anecdote over the crowd. Several people had the good grace to look embarrassed and an older woman slapped Musni in the back of his head.
"He's not worth it," Kiram said and he met Javier's gaze.
Javier relaxed his grip on his sword though his anger still showed on his face. Elezar followed Javier's lead, dropping his grip from his sword. Kiram wondered if Elezar would follow Javier off a cliff just as blindly.
"What just-" Nestor began to ask but Kiram cut him off.
"A misunderstanding that we don't need to drag out any longer." Kiram turned his back on Musni. "Let's see what there is inside for us, shall we?" He strode purposefully towards the perfumed warmth of his mother's candy shop and was relieved when Javier, Elezar and Nestor followed him.
Inside Lady Grunito dominated the tasting room with the same scale and bold presence that her carriage displayed out on the street. Her red silk gown flashed with gold embroidery and the coils of her dark brown braids sat atop her head like a silk crown, plaited with gold ribbons and gleaming pearls. Two Cadeleonian maids and a pair of footmen in Grunito uniforms hung back by the door, their arms already loaded with baskets of marzipan fruit, candied lemons and bright snips of taffy. Beside Lady Grunito, Riossa looked tiny, despite the spectacle of yellow silk, jeweled butterfly pins and embroidered ribbons billowing from her. She held two glistening honey cakes in her hands as if they were delicate blossoms.
Both of Kiram's sisters flitted between the granite counters, displaying sweets to Lady Grunito. Their mother sat demurely by the side, pretending not to understand a word of Cadeleonian. She glanced briefly to Kiram but remained quiet and aloof, perched on her tall stool with a wooden candy spoon in one hand like a scepter. Dauhd flashed him a quick smile before she handed Lady Grunito a small dish piled with glazed almonds.
Riossa, who seemed to have been watching Dauhd closely, followed her quick glance to the door. Suddenly Riossa's plain features lit with a truly beautiful smile.
"Nestor!" Riossa waved a honey cake. "I purchased these for you!" And she added much more demurely, "There's one for you as well, Elezar."
Nestor bounded to Riossa's side and Elezar strode after him. While Nestor beamed at his bride-to-be, Elezar thanked her with a polite formality that Kiram couldn't ever remember him exhibiting before.
The same display of good manners certainly would have been useful out on the street. Though it hadn't really been Elezar who'd been the problem.
Kiram moved just a little closer to Javier, whispering, "You have got to stop going for your sword every time someone says something you don't like."
"Your friend Musni went for his knife first."
"It was just bravado-you of all people ought to be able to recognize that."
Javier's jaw clenched and Kiram guessed that he was suppressing some cutting remark.
Kiram continued, "People are already talking about us as it is"
"Does that matter?"
It was telling that Javier asked the question in Haldiim. Clearly it mattered what his fellow Cadeleonians thought.
"The last thing either of us needs is a street fght-"
"Javier, my dear boy!" Lady Grunito cut off Kiram's whispered reply as she turned and held out her hand. "I was terribly worried for you."
"Forgive me for troubling you." Javier went to Lady Grunito. He bowed over her outstretched hand and kissed her fingers. "I only behave so badly to attract your attention. Really you should pay me no heed at all or I'll be all the worse for it."
Lady Grunito laughed.
"I have no doubt that's true, dear boy, but you are terribly hard to ignore." Lady Grunito's gaze flickered past Javier to Kiram and her easy smile wavered. Kiram wasn't sure if it was curiosity or suspicion that played in her expression but it was gone in an instant. Dauhd proffered a tray of candied flowers and Lady Grunito gave a murmur of delight after placing one of the delicate violets in her mouth.
"You must taste these, Javier," Lady Grunito announced. "They are absolutely the finest sweets. We're just deciding which ones we will have made for Nestor's wedding feast."
"I like the marzipan," Nestor said.
"You like anything," Elezar muttered. Lady Grunito gave him a warning glare.
"It's true," Elezar said with a shrug.
"Kiram, we can use your help." Siamak slipped up beside him like a shadow and drew him back from Javier and the Grunitos. Kiram followed her to the marble candy tables but was then sent back into the kitchen to have tea brewed and served to their illustrious customers.
Kiram wasn't allowed to take the tea out himself; his mother retained a skilled serving boy for such work. Instead, he was chided not to get underfoot and sent back to the house to inform his father and Majdi that dinner would be late.
Chapter Sixteen
Throughout the following weeks Kiram saw Javier often but almost always in mixed company. His mother, sisters and father took pride in associating with Javier and many of their friends followed suit so that even when Kiram managed to secret Javier away from the house, family acquaintances approached them on the street, insisting on treating Javier to expensive bitter wines and challengingly rarified dishes. Javier behaved politely, engaging foods that even Kiram tried to feed to lapdogs. But the attention wore on them both.
A hunted look flashed through Javier's expression every time a Haldiim mother called out a warm greeting. More and more, Kiram found himself leading Javier through the shabby back streets where no decent Haldiim would travel just so the two of them could steal a few moments of intimacy out of sight of his mother's acquaintances.
A year ago he couldn't have imagined himself purposefully rushing between a tanner's dung pots and oily racks of drying fish to reach a dim alley, much less leaning back against a decaying wall in a passionate embrace. But now that he'd spent more than one evening listening to Hashiem Kir-Naham drone on about dry poultices while surrounded by beautiful furni
shings and soothing music, he'd discovered that location mattered far less than the company he kept.
Now the smell of smoked fish and leather almost excited him. And on several lonely afternoons he caught himself gazing into the deep shadows of dank streets with a kind of longing.
Still, he was not fool enough to think that the recesses of the Haldiim district were where he belonged. Along with tanners, fisherwomen and soot mongers, thieves and cutthroats populated those winding narrow streets. When he ventured there, Kiram kept his coin purse hidden in an inner pocket of his vest. He dressed simply and carried the knife that Alizadeh and Rafie had given him.
Javier seemed to take a certain pleasure in dressing down. He claimed to have won his faded leather pants and slashed coat from a Cadeleonian sailor. In combination with his fine sword and riding boots, the wardrobe lent Javier the air of a mercenary, a street snake as Kiram's father called them.
Kiram supposed it was telling that he'd now seen enough of such men to recognize their characteristic fast hands and clean weapons.
"Knowing you has certainly broadened my horizons," Kiram whispered to Javier as they shimmied between racks of drying river fish. Two fisherwomen watched them pass as if he and Javier were hungry cats.
"I could say the same to you," Javier replied. Ahead of them drying nets formed a canopy over the walkway. River gulls, ravens and doves fought for remnants of fish and riverweeds caught in the rope. Their cries and the noise of their wings filled the air. Then Kiram heard a terrible screech and looked up to see a cluster of bright blue jays settling among the other birds. He felt suddenly wary of walking past them and instead led Javier down a cramped lane where plumes of pungent smoke drifted from kitchen fires.
Javier looked oddly amused.
"What are you smirking about?" Kiram asked.
"Just wondering if we're hiding from birds now too."
"Not necessarily," Kiram replied. "Maybe I just wanted to get you somewhere more private."
"And to think I once imagined I would corrupt and seduce you." Javier paused near the mouth of an alley they had used before. "It's been quite the opposite, really."
"I haven't corrupted you," Kiram objected and Javier just gave him a lewd grin.
Chapter Seventeen
"Not this afternoon, you haven't," Javier whispered into Kiram's ear. "And it seems a pity since it's all I've been thinking of."
Kiram laughed and then drew Javier into the shadows of the alley. In the alcove of a back doorway, he opened the front of Javier's trousers and Javier slipped his hand past the loose waist of Kiram's pants. They stroked and thrust into each other's hands with rushed, furtive need. Javier pulled him close to kiss his mouth as Kiram brought him to climax. There was nothing beautiful in their surroundings and yet the moment felt precious to Kiram. Later in the evening when he was alone he would press his hands to his lips and remember the heat and taste of Javier's body.
Eventually opportunities for even these clandestine afternoon excursions grew scarce, as Nestor, Elezar and Riossa began accompanying Javier on his regular visits to the Haldiim district. Kiram always volunteered to escort them through the Haldiim district while Javier supposedly consulted with his father over the design of the water clock; in reality Javier simply looked in on Kiram's father and then sprinted across the district to Rafie and Alizadeh's house. While Javier fought to wield the raw power of the white hell, Kiram entertained and distracted the Grunitos as best he could.
Nestor was usually satisfied with a tour of some scenic area where he could sketch and sample authentic Haldiim food. But Elezar bored easily and often wondered aloud about Javier's prolonged absences. Archery and wrestling at the gymnasium occupied him for a time.
Riossa on the other hand grew daily more enthralled with the freedoms that the Haldiim district afforded her. There were entire bookshops and teahouses as well as trade offices that she could enter freely while the men were not allowed inside-not even a Cadeleonian lord of Javier's stature.
Once she and Dauhd went shopping together in a women-only bookshop and the two of them returned looking smug and worldly. When Nestor asked what Riossa had seen, she simply shrugged. After Nestor pleaded, she relented and showed him her sketches of elegant Haldiim women playing cards and reading in brightly tiled interiors. Other drawings depicted ornate water pipes and stacks of foreign coins. Nestor delighted in the revelations and encouraged Riossa to explore more.
Kiram smiled at them. Despite being a Cadeleonian, Nestor was one of the most openminded people he'd ever known and in his company, Riossa seemed to blossom into an adventuress. He wondered how many other Cadeleonians might be as liberal as Nestor. Elezar certainly didn't seem concerned when Riossa disappeared with Dauhd for hours on end. But then Elezar rarely concerned himself with the whereabouts of women. Kiram only wished that Elezar could be so easygoing about Javier's absences.
More than once Kiram had caught Elezar frowning at him as if he had Javier secreted away in his pocket. At such times Kiram generally suggested that they attend the foot races at the Civic Gymnasium, and the prospects of exertion and gambling seemed to distract Elezar for the remainder of the afternoon.
Kiram tried not to think too closely on how keenly he missed Javier himself.
This week he'd only managed to steal a fleeting touch of Javier's hand during a torrential downpour when the two of them pressed close together within the crowd of men and women sheltering from the rain beneath a bakery's eaves. He'd met Javier's gaze and neither of them looked away. A woman whom Kiram remembered as one of Siamak's friends watched the two of them and, noticing her raised brows, Kiram released Javier's fingers and bowed his head.
The last thing he wanted was word to get back to his home. His mother would be angry-or more likely furious-when she learned that Kiram had no intention of marrying Hashiem Kir- Naham. Already he'd annoyed her by claiming to be too tired to attend a dinner with Hashiem. He supposed he should have gone but he didn't have it in him to look Hashiem in the face and pretend that he intended to live with the man.
And he'd been genuinely tired. For weeks now he'd woken early to help his father with the water clock. Then he'd spent his afternoons at the Civic Gymnasium where he practiced archery and honed the skills he'd learned at the Sagrada Academy. Or he'd explored the markets, playhouses, bookshops and public halls of the Haldiim district, searching out anything to distract and entertain the Grunitos. By dusk most evenings, his voice grew hoarse and his feet ached. He often staggered home exhausted.
Still, he slept poorly. Some nights he dreamed terrible things: Scholar Blasio's most recent letter informing him that Scholar Donamillo's condition had worsened had provided grist for several nightmares. But on other evenings, longing haunted him. It was one thing to endure loneliness while believing Javier was far from him in Rauma, but to have Javier near-so close that he could smell his sweat and feel the heat as their shoulders jostled-and to have to restrain himself day after day was maddening.
To console himself, he tried to remember that he needed to master such self-control. Soon both he and Javier could be living in Cadeleonian court and there discretion would be the greatest necessity.
Nothing drove that thought home so strongly as the sight that greeted Kiram early the next morning as he awaited Javier and the Grunitos at Mother Kir-Mahoud's stables.
A towering Cadeleonian priest mounted on a black stallion waited there as well. Kiram stood very still and tried not to meet the gaunt man's cool gaze.
Then to Kiram's horror, just as the Grunito party arrived and had dismounted, the priest reined his steed forward to block Javier's path.
"It has been ten days since you've visited chapel, Javier," he stated.
"Always good to know I'm missed," Javier replied.
Riossa led her horse towards Kiram. In a hushed whisper, she informed him that the priest was Timoteo, the eldest of the Grunito brothers. Timoteo stood nearly as tall as Elezar but looked far leaner. Violet and black robes lent
his pale features a sickly pallor. The deep hollows of his eyes and his gaunt cheeks made Kiram think of a corpse more than a living man.
"You have most certainly been missed," Timoteo informed Javier sourly. "The father confessor in particular has noted your long absence with concern."
"I had no idea he was so attached to me, but now that you mention it, he did seem to particularly relish my tales of debauchery and sin." Javier gave Timoteo a smile that verged on lewd and then went on in a light tone. "Sadly, overseeing the design of this water clock has left me precious little free time to accumulate my normal tally of wanton whoring and dueling."
Javier's fingers slid over his sword hilt in an almost obscene manner. "Do assure my dear father confessor that I will return to whisper more of my dirty adventures in his ear just as soon as I have any."
Kiram strode forward before the conversation could turn truly ugly. Javier's hand was already on his sword, even if only playfully so.
"Speaking of the water clock." Kiram placed himself between Timoteo's horse and Javier. "My father has more questions concerning the pipes."
"Does he?" Javier asked and Kiram could see the amusement in his eyes.
"He needs an answer as soon as possible."
"Certainly. I'll go directly," Javier said.
"What?" Elezar objected from across the stable. "You're leaving already? We all just arrived!" Elezar started for Javier but Timoteo's mount blocked him.
"Timoteo," Elezar growled. "Move your damn horse! This isn't a race track, so either dismount or go home."
"I need a word with Javier." Timoteo's tone was indignant.
"You've had your word," Elezar snapped. "Now ride back to your mistress and let the rest of us alone."
