The Warrior (Kiss Me at Midnight) (3 page)
"I can’t in good conscience take someone from this Conservatory and expose them to the battlefield. What kind of man would that make me?" Ignifer asked, a touch desperately.
"Have I proven incapable of defending and caring for myself? I had thought I’d proved to be rather useful." Edander hoped he didn’t sound as hurt as he felt, but he rather doubted it. He twirled the staff angrily a few times, trying to release some sort of anger in the hand-over-hand motion.
"I didn’t say you couldn’t handle yourself, though that staff is another matter," Ignifer bit out, throat working.
"What exactly
are
you saying?" Edander demanded, fingers flexing around the staff.
"That your technique needs work," Ignifer shot back glibly. "But also that I’d
like
to ask you to accompany me, but for entirely selfish reasons. I won’t pretend that the war needs you, because it’ll hardly turn on the presence of one man, and our numbers are steadily growing. I want to ask because I’ve been looking for years for the right bondmate – for someone I could trust at my back any time I went into battle and with whom I could share a fire in times of peace—and I think you have, too. You’re the only one I’ve ever felt might suit me, even if we’ve only known each other a few weeks, and it’s all I’ve been able to manage
not
to ask you." He paused, seeming a little winded. "Did you want to say something now?"
"To be clear, you’re asking me to be your bondmate?" Edander was slightly overwhelmed, because this wasn’t at all how he’d ever imagined this would happen.
"Well I was trying not to, but since you’ve forced my hand, then I may as well say that I’ll take whatever I can get. If we suit as bondmates, then I’ll accept that. If more should come of it, I will be nothing but content.” He paused, just a hint of a smirk hovering on his lips. “Tell me the thought has not once crossed your mind that we might suit each other on many levels." For a battle-marked warrior, Ignifer was surprisingly capable of earnestness.
"I haven’t thought about it," Edander started steadily, continuing before Ignifer could interrupt. "Just once. It was nearly all I could think about two nights ago when we sat together at your departure banquet. What if I go with you and we don’t fit after all, though?" He wanted to smack a hand over his mouth, but he needed to ask.
The side of Ignifer’s mouth curled up. "Then I have a bondmate with whom I would not at all mind spending the rest of my life fighting side by side. I would say that still seems a fair bit better than many expect. Is that answer enough for you?"
Edander’s expression didn’t change. "I think you’d better kiss me now."
Ignifer’s brows shot up, and he looked slightly taken aback. Now fighting to keep his straight face, Edander explained, "If we’re traveling across the border, we’ll be visiting my family and if I’m going to be introducing the man who might one day become my lifemate, then I’m certainly going to make sure I can tell my sister that you can kiss better than what’s-his-name that she stole from me when we were thirteen."
The look that overtook Ignifer’s face was a cross between stifling laughter and smiling fondly. With obvious effort, he schooled his features, settling for a smile that teetered on a grin. He stepped in close, enveloping Edander in warmth and forcing him to tip his head back to meet his gaze.
The kiss was affectionate, firm and warm, and Ignifer’s hands settled on Edander’s hips before he took the kiss deeper. Edander let the staff drop at his side and smiled into the kiss, swamped in heat inside and out in a way he didn’t think he ever had before.
An interminable time later, Ignifer pulled back, inarguably grinning now. "So what do you have to tell your sister?"
Edander met his grin with a smirk. "Well, your technique needs work." He laughed as Ignifer wrinkled his nose. "But I suppose we’ve got time for that, haven’t we?"
A speculative light entered Ignifer’s eyes as he gave Edander a rather wicked smile. "I’ll just have to distract her by asking for embarrassing tales from your childhood." He grinned boyishly then, nearly vibrating from excitement. "Now, let’s go pack!" Ignifer turned on his heel and started from the training court.
"I’m starting to rethink this whole thing!" Edander called after him, jogging to put his staff away.
"No, you’re not," he heard from the hallway.
"I could be."
Edander couldn’t stifle his smile as Ignifer’s head popped back into the room, expression serious and a touch worried. "Are you?"
Edander smiled teasingly. "No. But I could be."
Ignifer was already gone again, singsong voice filtering back. "But you’re not. And now it’s too late. You’re coming."
He stared down the hallway for a moment at the warrior’s retreating back. It
was
too late now. He couldn’t stay even if he wanted to, not with a war threatening his homeland, and not with the offer of a bondmate, especially with the chance for more. He wouldn’t be able to easily forget how nice that warmth felt, and if the stars were in his favor, he wouldn’t have to.
Edander smiled as he finally started down the corridor.
It’s a new year
, he thought to himself.
Everything’s going to be different.
About the Author
Skye is an engineer moonlighting as an author, filling the margins of her notebooks with fluff and stuff. She’s been writing m/m and f/f romance (with a few dalliances with m/f) since discovering it in eighth grade, due in no small part to the founders of Lt3. She’s delighted to be able to share the fruits of many nights interrupted by inspiration and many hours she should’ve been studying, and is speechlessly ecstatic to be doing so among authors of such a high caliber.
Every week, she tries to further hone her fluff ‘n stuff skills by writing short ficlets for the Sunday Snuggles community. Further works by her can be found at the following:
http://skeptics-secret.livejournal.com/
and h
ttp://sundaysnuggles.livejournal.com/tag/author%3A%20skeptics_secret
Table of Contents