Chapter Thirty~nine

Good Friends

Part Two

~*~

 

 

Upon reaching the infirmary, they were asked to wait while a nurse went to inquire if Eaphan would receive them. She returned a few moments later and showed them to a door.

“Do try not to overtax him,” the nurse said. “We'll need to get him to sleep soon.”

“Of course,” Kazia said.

There was a little chair in the hall outside the door, and Brandra sat down.

“I'll just wait out here, dear,” she said, “but tell him we're all thinking of him.”

“Thank you, Madame Brandra,” Kazia said.

She opened the door slowly.

“Eaphan?” she called quietly as she entered.

The room was dimly lit for the evening, and what little light there was fell upon Eaphan's still form in the bed. Three of his limbs were wrapped in plaster casts. There were bandages about his head, and his face was a mess of cuts and bruises.

She could feel his pain where she stood.

“Kazia,” he whispered. “I am so happy that you're well.”

He seemed to struggle for breath, and tears sprang into Kazia's eyes. She sat in a chair at his bedside and took his one good hand in both of hers.

“Oh, Eaphan,” she said, choking her tears back. “They said it was bad, but...”

“Shhh,” he said. “I have no wish to see you weep for me... Kazia.” He pulled in a ragged breath. “We are both alive. Be happy.”

“You needn't speak if it's too difficult,” Kazia told him.

“I am so sorry,” he said. “If I hadn't invited you... I brought you into danger.”

“Nonsense. This was not your fault. No one could have foreseen this.”

“Still,” he whispered, “I imagine that the experiment... will not be repeated.”

Kazia just gazed sadly at him, unsure how to answer this.

“It's alright,” Eaphan said.

He lay still for a long moment to take his breath slowly and as deeply as he could manage.

“I would have you know,” he said finally, “many would say that they have a... difficult rapport with Kel... but I have known him only to be kind and generous... a good friend and colleague.”

“Eaphan-”

“I hope that when you and I meet again... it might be as good friends... and colleagues.”

“Of course,” Kazia said, nodding. “Of course, Eaphan.”

“You must go rest,” he said then, and she laughed.

She raised his hand and pressed it to her lips.

He smiled a little through cracked lips, and Kazia could see how tired he was.

“Good night, Eaphan,” she said. “I will come again, tomorrow if I can.”

He nodded, but she could see that he was drifting into sleep.

Kazia waited until she reached the hallway again to weep into Brandra's shoulder.

~~~*~~~

Tamyn stood in the hallway on the second floor of the House of Stelenis, at the door of the last room, all the way at the end.

The hall was silent as death. None of the other rooms were occupied tonight. There had been very few patrons in the restaurant downstairs, and the staff had been busying themselves with taking down the Solstice decorations.

The whole University neighborhood had become a ghost town overnight, students having gone home or elsewhere, and most city residents were still too afraid to resume normal activities just yet.

He stood for a long time in the silence, staring at the brass “9” mounted on the door in front of him.

This had been their room, back then. Tamyn hadn't entered this room in eight years. It was not the room he'd booked to harbor the Valeskan scientist, and not the room he'd left Abrizhen in that night. As he stood staring at the door, he was beset by echoes of the past.

“I have the key,” Tamyn said.

“Did Didia say anything?” Abrizhen asked with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

“She said 'It's about time.'” Tamyn told him shyly, a deep blush blooming across his cheeks.

Abrizhen laughed out loud, slapping the table. “Nothing gets past her, does it?”

“Shhh!” Tamyn said, his eyes darting furtively around at the other restaurant patrons. “Quiet down. Come on, let's just go up.”

Tamyn calmed himself, then tried the doorknob. It was unlocked.

Idiot, he thought as he pushed the door open. He trained his face into a hard and distant expression, then walked through the door and closed it behind him without moving any further into the room.

Abrizhen sat on a floor cushion, head down in his arms over the low table. He raised his head as the door closed. His eyes and lips were red and swollen, his face wet.

“You're here,” he whispered.

Tamyn reached behind a coat rack next to the door, tracing a finger over a brass panel set into the wall there and feeding it a small amount of ethereal energy. The device, installed by Tamyn years before, would erect a barrier preventing any sound from escaping the room.

“This is not appropriate,” Tamyn said firmly, fixing Abrizhen in a hard stare.

“But you're still here.”

Abrizhen's lips trembled, and he tried to smile but his face only contorted as more tears slid down.

“Do you have any idea how dangerous this is?” Tamyn demanded.

Abrizhen shook his head.

“I was careful. No one knows I'm here.”

“My superiors know. I told them. I had to get permission to leave the castle. We've been on lock-down since the attack.”

Abrizhen nodded vaguely.

“That's ok,” he said. “No, that's good.”

Then his whole face twisted into a look of sheer terror.

“Is Kazia alright?” he asked. “I heard-”

“Did you have anything to do with that bomb?” Tamyn asked, a steel edge of anger in his tone.

“No!” Abrizhen protested desperately. “I don't know anything. They don't tell me anything important.”

“But it was Valesk?”

“I assume so. If you say so, I can't deny it, but I really don't know anything. Tamyn... Kazia?” he pleaded, his voice breaking.

“I can't tell you anything,” Tamyn said harshly.

Abrizhen buried his face in his arms again and wailed into the table.

“I only wanted to keep her safe, Tam,” he sobbed. “I gave up everything for her!”

Tamyn took a step back, colliding with the door, as his heart turned over in his chest.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Nothing,” Abrizhen breathed, his head turned to the side now, but still lying on his forearms. “If she's gone now it doesn't matter. Nothing matters.”

“If she's...”

Abrizhen looked up at him from his sideways position.

“If you won't say, that means she's dead... right?”

He closed his eyes and began to cry again.

Tamyn closed his eyes as well, and sighed. He pushed away from the door and went into the bathroom, returning with a soaked washcloth. He knelt on a cushion next to Abrizhen.

“Kazia is fine,” he said quietly.

Abrizhen shot up, hope springing into his eyes.

Tamyn, with a softened and mild expression now, wiped Abrizhen's face with the cloth.

“She was injured, but she's recovering.”

“Thank you,” Abrizhen whispered. He pushed the cloth aside and buried his face in Tamyn's lap, clutching at his robes. “Thank you, thank you.”

“You should thank me,” Tamyn said bitterly. “If the Crown was withholding that information, I've probably just committed treason for you.”

“No!” Abrizhen said, raising his head again. “No, you haven't. I swear I had nothing to do with it. I wouldn't.”

“You're still an agent of Valesk,” Tamyn sighed. “You shouldn't even be out of the Embassy right now. I could have you arrested.”

“Yes!” Abrizhen shouted excitedly. “Do that! Arrest me!”

Tamyn stared at him, perplexed.

“What...?”

Abrizhen looked up at him in anguished supplication.

“Tam, I want out. I want... If they're doing things like this, I can't. I can't do it. Tam...”

His red lips quivered piteously and more tears fell.

“...please help me.”

Tamyn was struck dumb.

Whatever he had expected, this was not it.

He suddenly felt like he could barely breathe, and a cold paralysis traveled down his limbs. He stared at the back of Abrizhen's head in his lap, his mind a whirlwind of so many things he wanted to say that he couldn't pick one.

He finally settled on pulling Abrizhen upright again, and continuing to wipe the tears from his face.

“How much have you had to drink tonight?” he asked in a coaxing tone.

“None,” Abrizhen whined plaintively. “Didia wouldn't give me anything.”

“Well, at least someone's being sensible,” Tamyn murmured.

“There's tea,” Abrizhen mumbled, pointing to the tray in the table's center. “It's probably cold now.”

Tamyn poured out two cups. It was still somewhat warm. Abrizhen put an elbow on the table and cradled his head in his hand as he drank it. He seemed to be closely studying the wood grain on the table surface.

“It's not only the bombing,” he said quietly. “I've been thinking for a while... When I talked to Kazia before, and she told me that you might want to see me...”

He trailed off and just silently drank his tea for a long while. Tamyn waited patiently, although his heart was speeding up suddenly, his chest tightening.

“She said, 'You have an opportunity now that may not come again,' and I knew then that she really had been talking to you. How often did you say that exact phrase to me?”

He glanced briefly at Tamyn, who returned an almost imperceptible, certainly nervous smile.

“I was angry then,” Abrizhen continued, “but later I kept thinking about it. And all I could think was... that there are only two people in the world that I love, and they are both here.”

Tamyn drew in a sharp, audible breath, then worked very hard to let it out again silently. Abrizhen sat up to face him.

“Why would I go back to Valesk?” Abrizhen said, shaking his head. “I used to think I could make a difference there, but I can't. There's nothing for me there.”

He looked away, and his eyes made a slow sweep around the room.

“I just want to come home,” he whispered.

He tentatively reached over and took Tamyn's hand.

“I know it's been a long time, maybe you don't... I don't expect you to just-”

Tamyn pulled his hand out of Abrizhen's, but then grabbed his wrist and pulled him forward to kiss him fiercely.

It was as unexpected to himself as it was to the other, but he felt powerless to halt the rash impulse.

Their mouths crashed together and Tamyn brought a hand behind Abrizhen's head to pull him in more tightly, pushing his tongue through Abrizhen's lips, rising on his knees to lean over him, bringing his other hand to join the first in holding Abrizhen's head firmly in his grasp.

Abrizhen placed his hands over Tamyn's and pulled back, leaning their foreheads together.

“Tam, what are you doing?” he whispered, his breath heavy and unstable.

“I don't know,” Tamyn whispered back, peering at him with dazed and glistening eyes. “I shouldn't...should I stop?”

“No!” Abrizhen said. “No, please...”

He pulled at the front of Tamyn's robes before wrapping his arms around him and pulling himself up to cling to him. As their lips met again, an urgent whimper escaped his throat, and Tamyn pushed him down onto the cushions, following, their lips never parting, and continued kissing him with unrestrained hunger.

“I've never done this...” Tamyn whispered, shivering as Abrizhen's lips moved down to his throat.

“Me either.”

“How do we... I don't really know what to do.”

“You don't have to know.” Abrizhen's breath was hot in his ear. “Just do whatever you feel moved to do.”

 

 

~~~*~~~