Red Heir - Lisa Henry Page 0,37

the middle of the night—but Cue? Cue was different. Loth might have liked to wake up beside him, but Cue had deprived him of the chance to find out.

Grumbling, Loth pulled on his clothes and his mood soured even more. Last night’s bath had been amazing and tugging his dirty clothes on after it felt disgusting. He stared at his boots for a moment, still damp from the swamp, and decided that he’d go barefoot until they left the village.

He headed downstairs, the steps creaking under his feet.

It was early still, and the taproom of the inn was empty except for the maid from last night, who was putting fresh straw on the floor.

Loth flashed her a smile and headed outside into the sunlight. He glanced around the street. He saw a man leading a goat, and a woman lugging a bucket, but no sign of his missing bedmate. Loth slipped down the side of the tavern into the stable yard.

He dodged around a pile of dung—perhaps leaving his boots off had been a mistake—and slipped into the stable. He was about to call out for Grub (Cue, he chided himself) when he heard the low murmur of voices. He slipped forward silently and craned his head to see around the corner into the stalls.

Cue was standing in front of one of the stalls, scratching their horse’s nose as it chuffed happily. Calarian was there as well, leaning up against a post and looking unfairly gorgeous for someone with unbrushed hair and soiled clothing.

“So you’d never done that before?” Calarian asked. “Never?”

“No. It was the first time.” Cue sounded a little... brittle, and Loth felt a rush of concern well up in him. Had he hurt Cue? The thought of it left a sour taste in his throat.

“Did you like it?” Calarian asked frankly.

Cue ducked his head briefly, and the horse chewed on his fringe. “Yes. It was... It was incredible.”

“Loth does look like he knows how to fuck,” Calarian agreed. “He’s got that swagger, you know? Like his hips know just the right way to move. And really muscular thighs. I’ll bet he’s got a nice dick too.”

“Um. I... I suppose so? You're right about the hips, anyway,” Cue said.

“Benji has a great dick,” Calarian continued blithely. “So do I.”

“I... yes, I noticed. So did everyone else.”

“So.” Calarian folded his arms over his chest. “You and Loth. How mind-blowingly hot was it? Who topped? What positions did you use?”

“Positions?” The word squeaked out of Cue.

“You know,” Calarian said. “Monastical, paladin, reverse paladin, reverse double paladin—no, wait, you’d need someone else for that—alewife, oarsman, spreading peacock, dirty alchemist... What’d you try first?”

“I don’t know what any of those things are.”

Loth blinked. He only knew about half of them himself.

“Wow, it really was your first time, wasn’t it?” Calarian shrugged. “You’re sure you liked it though, right?”

Cue hid his face in the horse’s muzzle. “Yes,” he mumbled. “Yes, I liked it a lot.”

“Good,” Calarian declared, and then turned his head and stared at where Loth was standing. He caught Loth’s gaze and winked. “Because I think maybe Loth was worried you didn’t.”

Shit.

Loth straightened up at the same time Cue did.

“Ah,” he said, stepping forward. “Here you are. In the stables, of course.”

Cue’s face was pink, his eyes wide. He didn’t take the bait. “G-good morning.”

Calarian walked outside, whistling to himself.

Cue chewed his bottom lip for a moment, spots of high colour in his cheeks. “Were you really worried?”

And Loth didn’t have the heart to bullshit at that moment. “A little,” he admitted. “I woke up, and you weren’t there. I thought that perhaps I’d done something you didn’t like.”

“I liked it.” Cue twisted his face up like the admission had been dragged out of him through torture.

“Don’t sound so enthusiastic, sweetheart,” Loth deadpanned. “It’ll go to my head.”

Cue snorted. “Sorry. I don’t know why I’m so shy about it. I feel stupid, I think. I don’t like not knowing things and did you hear Calarian just now? Clearly there are a whole lot of things I still don’t know!”

“To be fair, I think Calarian is on a whole different level to the rest of us,” Loth said. “I didn’t know what half of those things were either.”

“But you knew the other half?” Cue dragged the toe of his boot through the dirt.

“I did,” Loth said. “And I’d be happy to show you them. Well, apart from the reverse double paladin.”

“We’d need someone else for that,” Cue said, his mouth twitching in