Aureate Fates

43

FLEETING AND MORTAL DESIRE

—REESE—

"Reese?" Drew asked, as he readied the last of ten pistoles. Erik would distribute them as he saw fit. Drew's blue eyes were carefully trained over the metal as he sat down on a stool. His workstation had gotten warmer as summer approached.

Reese had been sitting beside him as he worked for two days. Only observing, but sometimes pulling him in for a kiss. Or several.

"Yes, lovely," he answered, setting down the Penn. He had yet to figure out what sort of magic Drew had put into it.

Drew's cheeks flushed only slightly, but he pushed on. "Do you think Zardan might take Ziralem, too?"

If they did, Drew would be forced into making more weapons—a terrible thing for a peaceful boy. The boy he had come to understand and praise, the one that was now his.

Reese slowly approached him. Drew set down his tools and put his head in his hands, defeatedly.

"I know," Reese said, gently prying his hands away. Drew's clearwater eyes were unblinking as they stared up at him. "Just a few more days of this, and we win."

Because they would. They had to. Reese didn't particularly care about what happened to the palace, but he did concern himself with Drew's safety. And Marisol's.

War would not be kind to them, especially one that they lost.

Drew tiredly rubbed at his eye, giving a tiny yawn. It was only evening, the sun readying its nightly sink, but the boy had only slept a few hours since they had been invaded. "Any chance you can use your High Warlock powers to give me a boost of energy?"

Reese placed his hands at Drew's waist, standing between his legs, bringing him closer. He cocked his head, "Not sure I need magic powers for that."

Drew swatted his chest, face scrunched in feigned disgust. But his boy was blushing, and failed miserably at hiding his bashful smile. Reese bent his head down slowly, eyes never leaving Drew's, relishing in how he became more and more flustered before him.

When Reese's mouth slid sweetly over Drew's, he wished that he hadn't been such a brainless fool in Ziralem, when he purposefully kept Drew at an arm's length.

Drew brought his arms up around Reese's neck and brought him closer, lifting up from his seat a little. His familiar sound of delight flooded Reese's mind with a sense of insanity. He wanted to hear it forever, delicate and permanent in his ear.

In a sudden, desperate motion that he wasn't sure belonged to him, Reese lifted Drew from his seat and placed him on the worktable—away from the pistole. 

Drew's elbow knocked a box of screws to the floor and he let out a sound of surprise, his cheeks flushed. "Sorry," he murmured.

Reese brought a kiss to the base of his jaw. "What did we say about apologies?" He reminded, pulling away to give him a thorough look of disapproval.

Drew's shoulders sagged helplessly. But then his face brightened, as if realizing something pleasant. "Guess what?" His smile was giddy and small.

Reese rose a brow. "Should I be concerned?"

Drew happily placed a kiss to Reese's cheek. He had never done that before, and it melted something latently icy within Reese.

"Not at all," Drew chirped. "Erik and Marisol are going on a date. Of course, not any time soon, but they are!"

"So I should be worried." This was terrible news, though, somehow, Reese couldn't find it in him to be worried.

"Don't be discouraging," Drew retorted, pointedly. "I think they'll have beautiful children."

Reese startled at that. A strange laugh flew passed his lips. "I'm already terrified."

Drew only smiled excitedly. He didn't quite understand how something so small and pure could have made him feel like he was being bathed in sunlight.

Just as Reese was about to place a kiss on the soft skin at Drew's throat, the door flung open.

Thema, eyes wild. Her attention caught on Drew a few seconds too long, and Reese felt the beginnings of something that felt like grief.

Like death.

"They've attacked the villages near the castle," Thema said, finally looking at Reese. She seemed to shake a thought away. "Erik wants the weapons now. Soon they'll make a move on the castle."

Drew's smile shattered. He looked to Reese with sorrowful eyes.

"We'll win," Reese told him, with finality, placing a quick kiss to his palm. "I promise."

But right there, with a sinking feeling in his chest, he realized that the most dangerous things to love were fleeting, and mortal.