Shadows Return

The false smile was gone. He was still fuming.
    “If you
ever
suggest such a thing to me again, you’ll be sleeping alone a lot longer than one night!”
    “I thought I was being helpful!”
    “Helpful!” Alec’s eyes narrowed dangerously for a moment, but the look quickly changed to one of defeat. “You really don’t see anything wrong with telling me to bed someone else, do you? Is that what you do when you go off by yourself at night? Are you back to your old haunts on the Street of Lights?”
    “Well, yes, I went there, but—”
    “You didn’t!” Alec gasped.
    “What? No! Just to visit, with Eirual and some friends, but not to bed them!” Seregil quickly assured him, and it was the truth. He’d hardly even been tempted.
    “And that green-eyed one? Tyrien, isn’t it?”
    “Well…yes. I’m sorry I didn’t say anything. I just didn’t think—”
    “
You?
You didn’t think something as important as that through?”
    “I’d never hurt you, talí. I haven’t touched anyone else, and I won’t!” Seregil whispered, hoping to calm him down before he was heard in the house. “You know I’ve never been with anyone I really cared for before.”
    “Not with all the lovers you had?”
    “Lovers in name only, Alec. A bit of fun on both sides, and nothing more.”
    Alec looked sad. “I don’t see how you could have so many and not love any of them.”
    Seregil hesitated, still very much on uncertain ground. Finally, he just shrugged and spoke the truth, stupid as it sounded. “I didn’t know the difference.”
    Sometimes Alec’s ability to see through him was a blessing. The last of his anger faded, leaving only a trace of sadness behind. “Do you mind it very much, not being free anymore?”
    “I am free, Alec. I’m with you by choice. And I promise you, this is the last time we’ll speak of any of this. I swear it, by the Light, and by my love.” Raising their joined hands to his lips, he kissed Alec’s fingers. Alec pulled him in for a real kiss, then let go and headed back to the house and their guests.
    Seregil followed, his relief marred by the knowledge that nothing had really changed. Not for Alec, at least.

CHAPTER 3
    Movement

    THE RAIN BLEW back out overnight, and the sun shone brightly for the queen’s official Progress.
    “That seems like a lucky sign,” Alec noted, looking up at the cloud-torn blue of the sky as he rode to the Temple Square with Seregil and the others.
    “Yes, but for whom?” Seregil replied with a wry smile. “The same sun shines on everyone, you know.”
    “Hush, someone will hear you!” Micum admonished as they passed a line of White Hawk Cavalry, known to be some of the queen’s favorites.
    Seregil gave him a maddening wink, but did shut up.
    They left their horses at a crowded ostler’s yard set aside for nobles and entered Temple Square on foot. Alec and his friends made their way up to the parapet of the Temple of Astellus, bundled in their embroidered cloaks. From up here the crowd gathered below looked like a colorful mosaic. The temples of the Four each gleamed against the autumn sky, squat and tall, dark and light.
    The little boys were back at the house, but Illia, proudly decked out in her new pearls, was bouncing with excitement between Alec and her sister, Elsbet. The older girl was more composed, conscious of her dark initiate’s robes.
    “It’s so beautiful!” Illia exclaimed, overwhelmed by the scene before them. “Elsbet, do you really live in that white temple now?”
    “The initiates’ dormitories are nearby, but I study there every day,” Elsbet replied serenely.
    Banners of blue and gold silk lined the square, embroidered with the silver crescent moon and flame device of Skala. The highest-ranking nobles stood in the portico of the Temple of Illior, dressed in jewels and furs, while those of lesser ranks fanned out from there. Guildsmen and merchants filled the square to capacity, held back from the steps of the Illior temple by a line of the Queen’s Household Guard.
    Alec rested his elbows on the parapet, taking in the scene. “I wonder what a real triumph would look like?”
    “The soldiers deserve a welcome,” Micum told him. “And the rest are just glad to get their people home for the winter.”
    Lady Kylith waved to them over the heads of the crowd and made her way through to join them, arm in arm with her current love, Captain Lillia of the Golden Lion Guard. Kylith, as usual, was clad in the height