Love is Always Write Anthology Volume 5

encouraging him to nettle Drake. Yes, she would like Sebastian. She would probably think Drake was getting his just rewards for being a stoic bastard, and that sounded about right to him.
    A smile was on his face, though he couldn't remember how it got there, or when he'd last done a thing like that. His cheeks were suspiciously wet, but it didn't signify, not when he had a life again. A future, again.
    He only had to convince another man of that fact, and he had no doubt he would succeed. He hadn't been made the commander of the Eastern Ke'lan province for nothing, had he? This was the time to prove his mettle.
    ****
    Sebastian's throat clenched at the sight of his father. Elation that he was free clashed dangerously with despair at the harsh lines of suffering etched on the older man's face.
    El Basque's hand, spotted with age, scuttled over to cover his. "Do not look at me like that. It was a good life."
    Sebastian knew it to be a lie. He had waited for his father outside the taverns, seen him thrown out on the dirt for loosening his tongue to the wrong person. He had witnessed his father's nightly rages, felt the force of them through his father's fists.
    El Basque chuckled softly, a harsh rattling sound. "If it wasn't always a good life, it was the better for having you in it."
    "I'm sorry," he whispered, and suddenly he was a little boy again, huddled on the floor. He didn't know what he'd done wrong, just that he should have done better.
    El Basque didn't hit him this time, didn't yell or stumble to his cot. "No, I need to apologize. I owe you that." He coughed and spasmed. "I didn't do right by you."
    Sebastian shook his head. "No."
    "Ah, well." El Basque closed his eyes. "I pray to see your mother in the after. I'm sure she will have words for me." He opened them again. "But you have this man, no?"
    A life's worth of emotion swirled in Sebastian's stomach. "He just helped me. That's all."
    "Yes, but it is more than that."
    It could never be more than that. Sebastian had already caused enough trouble for him. He had nothing to offer Drake, and he refused to cling to him like a leech. "We have to leave here."
    "It is a nice house. Small, but warm." El Basque breathed deeply. "It would be a good place to die."
    Sebastian sucked in a breath and considered asking Drake permission to stay. For how long? Would he sleep in Drake's bed? He weighed his already emaciated honor and decided he could not whore himself out, not even for a bed for his father. Every man has his limit.
    "I'm sorry," Sebastian repeated.
    His father shut his eyes. "Do not worry, son. Come to me when it is time."
    Sebastian left the room, almost crashing into the elderly woman who stood outside the room. She directed him wordlessly to a small empty bedroom, and then proceeded to scrub him down, despite his best efforts to dissuade her. She cleaned his cuts and put liniments on his bruises. He refused the little contraband tablet of medicine she offered.
    When she finally left him tucked in bed, he stole from the room. It wasn't hard to find Drake, slumbering in another soft bed. He looked too peaceful to disturb, but there was only now. The moonlight slashed his bare chest. His body was beautiful, but it was Drake's eyes, now closed, that would haunt him.
    Sebastian climbed into the bed, trying to memorize the warmth that encased him. He scooted closer, nuzzling into Drake's side like a pup trying to drink sustenance.
    "Feeling better?" Drake mumbled.
    "I have to talk to you," Sebastian whispered.
    Drake swiped a hand over his face, but his eyes remained closed. "In the morning."
    Sebastian took the opportunity to memorize that face. "I'll need to leave before then."
    "Don't leave." He wasn't sure Drake was even awake for this.
    "You'll understand," Sebastian said, curling into his side. "I have to." He closed his eyes, and fell asleep.
    ****
    Sebastian woke in the dark before dawn. His body was well accustomed to such a schedule from years of training, to abandoning whatever temporary sleeping location they'd used the night before. To seeking out food and water before his father awoke and needed them.
    Drake lay on the bed beside him, though sometime in the night they had switched places. Their limbs were in a tangle, and Sebastian moved incrementally to make sure he did not disturb Drake. He was a coward, but he had no desire to face Drake in the light of day.
    Drake would insist that he stay, at least for a while. He would feel responsible