Mathieu (White Flame Trilogy) (27 page)

Bangs hid emerald eyes, and Solomon’s voice was barely audible. “I wanted to tell you from the start, but Nathan thought we should wait until we were sure you were one of us. Most of us aren’t proud of what we do, but we all are fighting for something more.”

“Why?” Mathieu said, folding his arms across his chest.

Moving to stand by the window, he looked out at the mountains. “Why? Because the King of Unith is pushing for a war, has been for a while. They take and take and take from us, without ever giving something back. We didn’t even want a war, but after he started making blatant plays for our home, we weren’t going to take it lying down anymore. The resistance was originally formed to just stop our land, our home, from being taken from us…but things got worse. And now that he has willingly sacrificed his daughter, we have come to realize that he will stop at nothing. If he wants a war, we’ll give it to him.”

“But why are you doing these things if you’re ashamed of them?”

Solomon turned to face Mathieu, leaning heavily against the floor. “Because we are a smaller force, we don’t have the power to win in a straight forward war. Being underhanded is the only way we stand a chance at surviving, and we…
I
won’t let the things that matter to me be taken. If I have to pillage, plunder, and kill to do that, then I will.”

Tapping his chin, he looked at the blond man for a long time. “Well, that’s good because I’m going to help.”

“What?”

Mathieu smiled at Solomon. “I don’t have a problem with what you do. I understand why, and I don’t have a problem with it. I just wanted to know why
you
do it. I’m going to sleep now.
Idiot.”
He said the last bit in a joking manner.

The blond nodded and stood from his position against the wall. Solomon retrieved their pack from its place by the door and went to the dresser, putting it away until later. Depositing his clothing beside the pack and pulling on a pair of sleeping pants, He laid down on his side of the bed, facing Mathieu.

Mathieu smiled at the blond. “You look like someone just kicked your Shadowrider. Quit worrying.”

“…Alright.” Solomon just closed his eyes.

“Night,
Prince
.” He chuckled and closed his eyes too.

~*~

“Get up!” A small weight was digging into his abdomen and he cracked an eye open to find Emilia sitting on him. “Mama says
up
, or you’ll miss breakfast. Everyone is waiting for you. Come on! Come on!” she was pulling on the ends of his hair, hopping up and down.

“Jesus, get off me, child.” Mathieu lifted her and set her aside, sitting up. Clothing was laid out for him on the dresser, a note set on top of them. Getting to his feet, he went to the clothes and read the note:
Another fun day of riding ahead.
“Screw you, too, Solomon.” Mathieu mumbled.

Chapter

Twelve

Mathieu chuckled to himself and sniffed the clothes. They smelled strongly of Solomon. He shouldn’t have been surprised considering some of the others had made sure to stock up his half of the dresser in his shared room. It seemed the joke had continued from Unith because they had gotten him all girls’ clothing. The ones on the dresser were men’s clothes. Ushering Emilia out of the room and closing the door behind her, Mathieu changed into the fresh clothes but found he wasn’t willing to wrestle into his boots yet. Lacing them yesterday had taken a good ten minutes and he needed food before attempting that. Humming softly he ran his fingers through his hair, undoing a few knots. He’s slept rather well.

The door banged open, scaring Mathieu as he attempted to braid his head. Solomon stood in the doorway, arms
folded over his bare chest. “Ah, someone is a liar. Emilia said you hadn’t gotten out of bed, but look at this, you’re dressed.” Solomon looked at Mathieu’s bare feet, “Sort of. Do you want some breakfast?”

“Yes, I would. And why are
you
half naked? Trying to pick up Veronica?” Mathieu smiled at him with an eyebrow wiggle.

The blond gave him a flat look before walking away without a word. Rolling his eyes, he followed the bare-chested man downstairs. Stopping in the kitchen, Mathieu picked up the plate that had been prepared for him with two eggs and some pancakes. He wandered after the other male, ending up outside in the garden.

Emilia hopped off the log she was sitting on and ran to Solomon, pulling him by the hand to the flowerbed. “Put the pretty blue ones here!” She pointed to a spot in the dirt and tapped her foot adamantly. Looking over her shoulder, she waved at Mathieu in greeting.

“Okay, okay.” The blond knelt down next to the little girl and picked up the trowel, digging where directed.

“I thought we were leaving…?” Mathieu used his fingers to eat, balancing with his hip against a post in the fence.

Solomon rolled eyes at him over his shoulder. “Yes,
dear
, but Veronica and Nathan went on a ‘picnic’ and will be back in a few hours. Scared to be alone with me?”

“You
wish,
blondie.”

“Excuse
me
, but I’m here too.” Emilia crossed her little arms and glared at Mathieu. “Prince is spending the day
with me, not you.”

Mathieu raised an eyebrow. “Is that so?”

“Yep.”
Giggling, she watched Solomon finish planting the flower. “Good job!” She commended her worker.

Patting Emilia on the shoulder, to which she blushed, Solomon made his way over to Mathieu, dusting his hands off. “She’s obsessive.” He murmured to Mathieu’s, looking back at the girl.

“Don’t say such mean things about your girlfriend.”

Solomon’s brow furrowed.
“ She’s
not my girlfriend.”

Huffing, Mathieu set aside his plate. “I was kidding, okay? This place is really pretty, you know.”

“Enjoy it while you can. We’ll be camping on the way back. There’s a really nice place just up that hill. Want to go see it now?”

“Uh, sure.”
Mathieu looked around and whispered conspiratorially, “Can we ditch the little one?”

Solomon nodded, looking around to see where Emilia had gotten to before he spoke. “I’ll drop off your plate, pick up a shirt, and we’ll go.”

“I’ll be right here.”

While Solomon disappeared into the house, he stood up and went to go see the flower. “Why, you sure are beautiful.” Light fingers brushed over the petals. They seemed to brush against his digits, wanting affection. He
was happy to oblige, humming quietly to them for a few moment. “All you have to do is sit here in the sun and look pretty.”

“You do that pretty well yourself.” Solomon stood at his shoulder, petting his hair like he was a dog.

Swatting at the older man’s hand, Mathieu stood. “I’m not a pet. Quit that. Are we going?”

Chuckling, Solomon nodded to a steep hill. “Yep, right up there. Come on.”

The hill was a small distance away and it didn’t take them long to reach the path that went up. Mathieu wished he had put on shoes, but the path wasn’t too bad on his feet. A few of the sharper rocks made him wince, but he didn’t complain out loud. It only took half an hour or so, especially at the pace Solomon was walking, to get to the top and over the crest. Just below them in a small valley was a patch of flowers different from the rest with a few trees set in a loose circle. “Oh wow…”

A bigger, calloused hand wrapped around his and led him down the hill. At first, the contact made Mathieu blush, but he soon realized that Solomon was making sure he didn’t fall; the downward slope was pretty steep as well but there wasn’t a path. As much as he hated it, he was stumbling along behind the other man and if not for the hold Solomon had on him, he would have fallen. “These are called Night Flowers.” Solomon dropped his hand as soon as they entered the circle of tall, willowy trees.

Looking down, he carefully stepped to the center without trampling on any of the delicate, silver flowers. Sitting in a spot where the flowers were a bit thinner, he looked
closer at them. They were made of multiple shades of silver, some dull, some shiny, but all combining to make a delicate masterpiece. The blond sat beside him, leaning back on his hands with his legs crossed in front of him.

“Normally we stay at the inn for a few days. I’ve spent a lot of time here.” Solomon offered, looking at the sky.

“I wouldn’t have taken you for one who likes flowers. Kind of girly, you know.”

“Mathieu, I’m not stupid. I know beauty when I see it…” The look the blond was now giving him made him flush from the roots of his hair to the tips of his toes.

“Hey!” He said, needing a moment away from Solomon. “Want to see something cool? Wait here.” Jumping up, he practically ran out of the circle of trees to where the Western Pillar Flower
were
preening. He ran his fingers over a few flowers while his blush died down before picking one and taking it back to where his friend was. Sitting back down, he held the flower out. “Pick a color.” Solomon tilted his head and considered for a moment before touching the pale purple petal. “Okay. Wait for it.” Mathieu extracted the chosen petal from the bunch and set the rest of the flower aside. Closing his eyes with the petal held loosely between two fingers, he focused on the exact hue of the color. A small gasp told him he was doing it right. Opening his eyes, he looked down at the strands of his hair which were no longer white, but instead the pale purple. Releasing the now white petal, he smiled. “The color won’t last forever, but it is a nice change. Don’t you think?”

One moment he was smiling at Solomon, the next he was flat on his back, the blond hovering over him and their
faces dangerously close. All his mind could register was the way that Solomon smelled like earth from his earlier planting mixed with his normal scent of lavender, fresh ground coffee, and dew. Then Solomon’s lips were pressed lightly to his, fingers stroking through his hair.

It only lasted a few moments before the blond was pulling away, retreating a few feet back. “I-I’m so sorry! I don’t know what came over me.” Solomon was on his feet, covering his mouth with a look of horror in his eyes.

“Um…” Mathieu mumbled, blinking frantically. The kiss had taken him by surprise and now he didn’t know exactly what to say. Finally, he settled on, “Well that was surprising…” Sitting up, he stroked his bottom lip idly. “Guess you weren’t trying to seduce Veronica.” He tried to joke, hoping that Solomon wasn’t about to turn tail and run. It seemed the blond wasn’t retreating at further, so he swallowed hard and ran his fingers through his hair. “Come back, okay?”

It took a long stare down and a pointed waving motion to reel Solomon back in, but the man sat next to him again.
Albeit, there was more between them this time.
“You’re not mad.” Solomon observed.

“No. It was…unexpected, that’s all.” Mathieu didn’t mention the way that his head was buzzing and the base of his skull was tingling with just the small kiss. “Don’t try to molest me while I sleep now, though.” He again attempted to tease. It was easier to act as though he thought it was a joke rather than to consider what the small gesture really meant.

Solomon looked physically pained by that comment. “I swear
,
I’m not normally like that. I just…it was…crap.”
He pressed his palms to his eyes, hard. “This isn’t supposed to happen.”

“What isn’t?”

“Nothing.”
The blond said, turning away.

Mathieu bit his lip. It seemed that whether they ignored it or they talked about it, it was going to be something that pushed them apart. Solomon was already starting to be distant even in the few minutes since it had happened. If he was going to lose Solomon as a friend, he at least wanted his questions answered. “Are you not supposed to be gay, or just not supposed to like me?” He asked, hoping he wasn’t
really
misreading the situation.