For the rest of that night, after Solna returned from the feast hall, Vius didn’t speak to him. Solna shook his head over it.
Morning came in a painfully bright lance of sunlight across his eyelids, and an empty bed. Despite a wish that Vius would not be quite so discontent after a full night’s sleep, Solna found him in the parlor, already halfway through the morning meal and a pinched look on his face as he met Solna’s eyes.
“Husband,” Solna ventured as softly as his rough voice would allow, “are you well?”
Vius dropped his eyes back to his plate and Solna frowned. Not good. “Well enough, I suppose.”
Small, measured steps brought Solna to the table and Vius still kept his eyes down as he sat across the table from Vius. “Last night was very stressful. Perhaps we could wait one more day to begin with our plans to leave? Stay through Anrah’s coronation, possibly?”
But Vius shook his head. “We should do it and be done with it. The sooner we reach Tanchar, the better, I think. My throne can only stay empty for so long.”
“Very well.” Solna hesitated for a moment, then loaded up a plate of fruits, bread and fried eggs from the platters on the table. He kept to the food on his side of the table after Vius flinched when his hand came to close to the elf while reaching for the sausage. Solna’s heart sank and he renewed his silent vow to keep his distance as much as possible until Vius came to him willingly.
Vius suddenly cleared his throat. “We need to plan on two months of travel and provisions for our small caravan.”
“So much?” Solna stuffed a piece of tangy star fruit in his mouth when Vius finally looked up enough to quirk an eyebrow at him. Eating gave him something else to do, instead of leaning over the table to steal a kiss from his lovely husband’s lush mouth.
“I think it wise to have more than enough for the journey to Cantair,” Vius replied. “There aren’t any actual towns between here and the port city. Just a smattering of farmsteads.”
“Why go that far south?” Solna searched Vius’ downturned face, trying to decipher the reason for his husband’s choice in routes. “If we take the road straight through Alahanai, the journey would be cut in half.”
Vius finally looked up, brown eyes shadowed with wariness. “Mages avoid Alahanai Forest at all costs. It leaves us vulnerable.”
Solna understood not wanting to be vulnerable. Rulers especially had to stay on their guard, lest an assassin take them down. “You will be well guarded. It would be an unrecoverable dishonor to allow you to come to harm and would void our treaty. Surely we can chance the Forest with us protecting you?”
For a long time, Solna watched and waited for Vius to answer him. Emotions flickered across Vius’ sharp face as he obviously thought over the benefits and drawbacks of Solna’s proposed route. Solna was happy to go around Alahanai southward, cross into the Umbries—the Freelands—to Cantair and then north to Tanchar. It would give Vius time to become comfortable with him and maybe Solna could find a way to repent for what Vius considered an offensive act.
But Solna knew what could happen to a throne left too long unattended. They both did. He would hate to have to battle for his husband’s throne so soon after they had ended a war.
Vius eventually nodded. “All right. It would save us three score days of travel and I have this urge to return home as soon as we are able.”
“Wonderful,” Solna smiled. “We can carry less, move faster. A week’s worth of supplies will carry us to Long March for restock. Then another week will have us in Sentinel at Alahanai edge. Or we could go a day’s ride further, to the mountain city of Ryamca at the entrance to the Divide.”
“A week’s travel through the Forest will bring us just north of Brandris.” Vius’ met his eyes and some of the tenseness faded away from Vius’ beautiful face. “From Brandris, Tanchar is a week’s march, and barely that.”
“And if it would ease your mind, husband, I can add a handful of stout humans and dwarves to our convoy as added security.”
“All right then,” Vius answered, “add your guards. I will inform Ilul of the change in plan. He can deal with the finer details.”
Solna chuckled. That arrogant ass was bound to throw a fit. But Ilul was Vius’ to handle. “Cia will be delighted to handle supplies.”
Vius snorted, an inelegant little huff of breath, and Solna grinned wide at the sound of it. “I have no doubt she will love that,” Vius said, his tone dropping into a sarcastic roll.
Solna laughed.
* * * *
Solna tugged at the saddle on the big bay. The horse tried to dance to the side, but Solna clamped a hand on the saddle horn to keep it where it was. Vius had vanished with Ilul and Ida to finalize the guard rotations and the like. His husband’s general still refused to deal with Solna, irksome pissant that Ilul was, but Solna was almost certain that releasing an Osairan general from service was just as difficult as it was to dismiss a Sumentan one. It would be a full Court affair, no doubt. Until then, they were stuck with Ilul’s bad temper.
Ida had refused to take over Ilul’s duties when Solna begged her just the other night. Had, in fact, rolled her piercing eyes at him and walked off without a word. Solna chuckled to himself as he remembered it. Dwarves had no patience for fools and Ida had often accused him of being one. He enjoyed her blunt steadiness.
He peeked into his saddlebags to double check that he had not missed any personal or important items. A few changes of heavy traveling clothes, wrapped pieces of hard tack and water skeins, just in case of emergency, were the top layers. Beneath were a few trinkets that his brother’s family had given him as children. Crude, but treasured, clay figurines of fantastical creatures wrapped in soft cotton batting, sheltered from any serious jostle short of his horse falling over by a heavy overcoat on top of them and an extra horse blanket at the very bottom of the bag. He didn’t anticipate a problem on the gentle plains between Helano and Ryamca, but once they passed the borders of Alahanai, all manner of things could happen. The gifts from his niece and nephew were beyond priceless and he would hate to see the treasures come to harm.
The other saddlebag held his hard leather armor and miscellaneous small arms, like his daggers. It also had his personal supplies on top of that. Anything else was loaded onto the supply wagon the night before. Solna was more than ready to ride out, already excited to see the halls of his new home.
If only Vius would hurry.
But the soft boot steps that sounded against the cobblestones behind him weren’t from his ethereal Archmage. A heavy hand settled lightly on Solna’s shoulder, a faint pressure urged him around. Aerat’s near-black eyes were guarded and his face closed.
“Hello, brother. Can’t wait to see me off?” Solna smiled at his own joke. While his little brother was not prone to animus at Solna being older, and acting like it, even they had bouts of sibling rivalry. More than once over the years, Aerat would lament that a dragon wouldn’t snatch up Solna and bear him away, to save Aerat from his overbearance.
“Solna.” A quick glance to either side of them and Aerat stepped closer. “What is going on?”
He plastered a smile on his face at Aerat’s murmured question. “Nothing. Why do you ask?”
“You cannot fool me,” Aerat answered with narrowed eyes. “Something isn’t right about this marriage.”
“And why do you say that?”
His brother snorted in quiet annoyance. “Besides your new husband running from the feast?” Solna nodded, so Aerat continued. “You have never moved so fast with a lover.”
Solna inclined his head. It was true enough. “But they weren’t Vius.”
“True enough. You forget that I know you, though.” Aerat squeezed his shoulder firmly, dark eyes soft. “Something is going on here.”
One look at his brother’s concerned face and the whole story came out in a rush. How he found Vius and cared for him, their mutual anguish over the war, the insane plan they hatched. Aerat soaked it up with rapt attention and not once did he interrupt. Solna wished he would, just so he knew what his brother thought. What he and Vius had done would be a dishonor to their family so deep it would stain Solna’s blood until the world died. And their marriage could be invalidated, which threw their peace treaty off a cliff.
Aerat’s expression shifted into a pinched resignation. “Are you sure this is best? What if you fall in love with someone?”
Solna smiled. His husband was honorable and intelligent, exotic and strong, passionate. Everything, from the crown of his raven hair and green Mage stars to his dainty ankles and elegant toes, intrigued Solna. Called to the deepest parts of himself even. What more could he ask for? “I don’t think I will,” he said at last, an acknowledgement of where his heart lay more than anything.
A flicker of surprise crossed Aerat’s face and he squeezed Solna’s shoulder one last time with a smile before withdrawing it. “It sounds like you’re half in love with him already.” Solna didn’t refute him, just answered Aerat’s smile with one of his own. Aerat sighed. “So be it. I will keep your secret and hope it doesn’t bite you in the end.”
Vius appeared in Solna’s periphery with only Ida in tow at that moment, beautiful in the morning light. Privately, Solna shared Aerat’s hope.