Blurb:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Afron clenched
his jaw and turned away, paced back to the window. "I didn't buy it
because I owed you anything," he hissed. "It's not payment." He squared his shoulders
and faced Makara. "Open it again, but pay more attention this time, would
you?"
Opening the box
again, Makara frowned. What was he supposed to be seeing? The ring was
beautiful, expensive, but nothing out of the ordinary. He squinted. Was that
writing on the band? An inscription, perhaps? Makara pulled the ring out of the
box to scrutinize it. "For my Heart
of Stars," he read. "What does it mean?"
"Long ago,
when the land was splintered and the Many Kings ruled, my people were far more
spiritual than they are now. They believed in prophets and signs, destiny and
fate. They taught their children that everything a man needed to know, he could
find in the stars." Afron pointed to the ceiling. "One day, if a man
were lucky, he would meet a woman who carried such knowledge inside her. He
would find his Heart of Stars. She would come to him in a time of great
turmoil, and he would feel the song of her heart and see the light of their
love..." He trailed off and shrugged. "I doubt they gave any thought
to a man finding a man, but the same
holds true, I believe."
A tiny knot of
nervous anticipation formed in Makara's belly, blossoming out to his chest,
making breathing near impossible. He couldn't be interpreting this correctly.
Afron couldn't be saying what Makara thought. What Makara hoped. "I don't
understand."
Afron cocked his
head. "Don't you?" He crossed the room and knelt beside the bed.
"When the ogres attacked, I felt a fear I have never known, but not for
myself. I feared for you, Makara. What would happen to you, if I were gone? Who
would see to you, provide for you?" He took the ring from Makara's grasp.
"All these years, longing for you, yearning for you, joying in you,
dreading the moment my duties pulled me away from you, and I had given you
nothing in return beyond coin. No part of me. And the realization of that
shamed me." Afron slid the ring onto the middle finger of Makara's right
hand where a betrothal band would have gone.
Makara's gaze
flicked from Afron's face, down to his own hand where the ring sparkled. He was
Afron's Heart of Stars; Afron's mate, Afron's chosen partner. This was more
than he had dreamed of, more than he could have ever hoped for. Tears burned
the corners of his eyes. "I don't know what to say."
"You need
say nothing." Afron wrapped his large, meaty hand around Makara's much
smaller one. "It has already been decided. Tonight you'll leave with me,
and take your rightful place at my side."
Afron's words
sounded so wonderful and perfect, but the knot of anticipation quickly turned
into a heavy weight of dread and self-loathing. Afron might be able to dress
Makara up with fancy jewels, but a whore remained a whore, no matter how
pretty. Nothing would erase what he was, what he had been for the past three years.
No one would care he'd only been with Afron. The last thing he wanted was to be
a burden to Afron's social status, or worse, cause Afron's status to slip.
Makara shook his head, shoulders slumped. "I'm nothing but a whore. You've
said it yourself. You cannot attach yourself to someone like me. Not
publically. What would your people think?"
"My people
may think whatever they wish, but in earshot they will hold their tongues lest
they become acquainted with Bloodslinger." Afron growled softly and
tightened his hold on Makara's hand. "You belong to me. You will come with
me."
"But what I
am--"
"What you
are is mine. There are no objections
here. As I said, it has been decided. You cannot argue with the stars."
To be continued...
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