Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 5

walk. I'll support you. I'd carry you, but I need my hands free in case we run into anyone."
    Sebastian snorted at the thought of anyone carrying him. Even half-starved, he was not a small man. "I'd like to see you try."
    "We'll put that on the list," Drake said as they hobbled down the hallway, away from the muted shouts.
    "Which list is that?"
    "The list of things I'm going to do to you when you're a free man."
    Sebastian's heart stopped, that's all there was to it. In only a second or two, it stuttered to an unsteady rhythm, but the damage was done. He fell in love with this man.
    Which only served to make his words a lie, because Sebastian belonged to him, completely. He would never be free of those deep blue eyes. Just like Drake had said. He could not forget. He wouldn't want to.
    They made it three corridors down before they were found out. A young man with baby-smooth skin saluted Drake, then peered at Sebastian curiously. "Sir?"
    "Carry on, soldier," Drake ordered, though a resigned inevitability seeped into his command. The evidence of their treason was written all over Sebastian, in the mass of bruises covered with Drake's coat.
    The man shuffled, clearly reluctant to countermand his superior. "Sir," he stuttered, "official regulations decree that prisoner transport occur through proper…"
    "I don't suppose you're the type to be swayed by a bribe?" Drake asked.
    The boy's eyes widened in innocent shock, making the soldier's garb all the more ill-fitting.
    "What are you doing?" Sebastian demanded, even though he was in no position to be anything other than a supplicant. Even though his exposed cuts marked him as little more than a slave, a peon, he spoke to Drake like an equal. "Let's put him in a room, just like the other."
    Drake sighed. "I don't think so."
    The young man's eyes darted between them, just as confused as Sebastian about things like mission objectives and pecking order. He started to slide away, slink down the hall.
    "Are you… are we just letting him go?" Sebastian asked.
    When the soldier got far enough away, he broke out into a run. The latent anger in the back of Sebastian's mind simmered over. He had no right to be angry. He had no rights at all, but his mind never took well to helplessness, no matter how much practice it got.
    "This way." Drake started to turn away, but he saw Sebastian standing still and sighed. "He would've gotten in trouble. If we restrained him, they'd punish him."
    Sebastian felt himself soften at that. Drake fought like a soldier, but he cared like the best of men. Whatever had hardened Drake's heart, Sebastian knew what was inside. Sebastian hadn't taught Drake anything, he'd only needed him.
    Sebastian allowed Drake to pull him back down the corridor, but they had only made one corner before a loud whirring sound battered his ears. Red lights sprayed up from the baseboards.
    Drake pushed him through a small metal door. The stairs were metal, too, and their steps made such a racket that they could be heard over the alarm. There was no use trying to be quiet, they banged up the steps like a dramatic composition played on an out-of-tune pedalboard.
    At the very top, Drake opened a door to the outside – five floors up. Cold winds swept into the crawlspace, biting at Sebastian's open wounds.
    Drake stepped out onto the ledge and turned back.
    Sebastian looked out at the purple hued mountains in the distance. "You're crazy."
    The corner of Drake's lip turned up, not unkindly. He reached out his hand.
    "And I'm just crazy enough to follow you." Sebastian ignored the hollow in his stomach and took Drake's hand. He didn't look down, not even when his foot scuffed the stone ledge. They started a slow shuffle along the wall.
    "I wasn't always like this, you know," Drake said conversationally.
    Sebastian inched beside him, as rigid as the brick that pushed at his back. In the chilly air and even colder panic, he couldn't even feel his injuries.
    "I made my living hurting people. Killing them. I didn't care about the grisly fates of upstanding young soldiers or innocent prisoners."
    Sebastian breathed deeply, but the air seemed too thin to sustain him. He realized that Drake was trying to distract him and forced his mind to center on the words. "What changed?" he choked out.
    "It's the craziest thing." Drake reached a rope that hung from the roof. He latched it around Sebastian's waist, then looked straight into his eyes. "I met a man who taught me better."
    Drake