Rasnake(30)

"Go ahead and take the women out of here," Tallant said. "Cecil and I will come behind you, and I'll seal off the secret passages so that when Marden wakes, he can't go anywhere."

"Just make certain we can get in here again, to eventually retrieve all the stolen goods. We'll need to move His Grace, first, but that's a problem for the morning."

Irene nodded. "Let's get out of here. I am tired of living in the dark and cold. Whatever is your name, my friend?"

Tallant smiled, and swept her a bow. "Tallant."

"Tallant," Irene repeated. "Thank you. We will see you and Cecil soon."

"Of course, Your Grace," Tallant said, and climbed back into the boat, then began to row back to the island. His arms were killing him, and he would likely sleep away the day if they let him, but the effort was more than worth it. He reached the island a few minutes later and waited as Cecil stepped into the boat, more than happy to let him take over the oars. Tallant waited until they were well away from the island before saying, "So you're not married."

Cecil's rowing faltered a moment, but smoothly resumed in the next moment. "No."

Tallant smirked. "So you're available to court."

Cecil scowled. "I'm not a maiden to be courted."

"Would you have preferred I said woo?"

In reply, Cecil merely shot him a scathing look.

"Well, whatever you want to call it, I intend to make you mine," Tallant said.

That time, Cecil nearly dropped the oars. He stopped rowing altogether to glare at Tallant. "Why are you still playing these games?"

"It's not a game," Tallant replied, meeting his gaze.

"Is that what your necklace is telling you?" Cecil snapped.

"The token tells me my destiny, it's true," Tallant replied, "but it doesn't hand my destiny to me, or even guarantee I'll accept it. I don't need my token to tell me that you're mine."

Cecil ducked his head, face red, and resumed rowing.

Tallant wondered if he should be counting the conversation a win or a loss. Silence reigned as they reached the shore, which was deserted now save for Bite and Raze, who greeted Cecil enthusiastically, eager to ascertain for themselves that all was well with their master.

"So am I allowed to court you or not?" Tallant asked.

Cecil was silent at first, but then slowly lifted his gaze, chin jutting out in challenge. "I don't think you'll actually do it."

Tallant smirked and stepped closer. Though Cecil clearly wanted to take a step back, he held his ground—and continued to hold it even when Tallant was so close their bodies were nearly pressed together. Reaching up, Tallant undid the clasp of the thong that held his token. He fastened the necklace around Cecil's throat.

Cecil jerked. "What—you can't do that—"

"My fate is in your hands," Tallant said. "If you're the wolf I've been searching for my entire life, it's up to you to decide."

Cecil opened his mouth, but no words came out. Eventually, he managed, "Elves don't just give away their fate tokens!"

"So now you know this is no game," Tallant replied, and bent to kiss him. He swallowed Cecil's soft, startled noises and pressed the kiss deeper. Cecil tasted like wine, and sort of sweet, which suited him perfectly. He kissed sweetly too, shy and inexperienced, and Tallant loved it—but would love it more when Cecil kissed him with experience, with intent, brazen and bold.

"Sh-shouldn't we getting back upstairs?" Cecil asked when Tallant finally gave him a chance to speak.

"Probably," Tallant said, "but I preferred to make myself plain where your brother can't scowl at me for doing inappropriate things to his little brother."

Cecil bristled at that. "I can take care of myself."

"Trust me, I'm aware of that," Tallant murmured, then smirked and added, "But if you'd like help taking care of certain things—"

Cecil shoved him away. "Let's get back to work." Turning sharply around, he stalked back to the room filled with stolen goods. But Tallant did not miss the tentative way Cecil reached up to touch Tallant's token, which seemed to hang perfectly around his throat. Tallant missed the weight and feel of it around his own throat, but he liked better the way it looked on Cecil.

Smiling faintly, he followed Cecil back up to the door that led into the castle. He used his magic to seal the door and set an alarm so that he would know if someone else tried to tamper with it. When he finished, they returned to the tower proper. Slipping inside, they shut the door and Tallant went to work sealing it off as well. Across the room, in his bed, Marden still snored, oblivious to the thwarting of his plans. "Just how heavily did you drug him?" Tallant asked.

"Very heavily," Cecil replied. "I wanted to be damned sure he did not wake up. I didn't want him hurting anyone, and I did not want anyone to have to kill him, even if we probably should."

Tallant grimaced. "If we're going to fix the wards, we'll probably have to. He broke it, he's the only one who can fix it, unless we use Irene, which we're obviously not going to do."

"We'll have to find another way," Cecil said flatly.

Leaving the matter alone for the time being, Tallant looked over his spell work. "Hopefully my spells will hold for at least a little while."