He latched onto Hamish’s other wrist and pulled with every ounce of strength his magic could give.
Hamish inched up the wall, able to assist once his torso was balanced on the windowsill. He clambered the last few inches back inside under his own power, tumbling into the room to lie still on the floor. Just the steady rise and fall of his chest gave any indication that he lived. Had he passed out?
Darshan dared to take a single wobbly step from the wall before his legs opted to dump him where he stood. He slid to the floor, upright only thanks to the wall at his back. He released his grip on his magic, letting the passive healing once more flow through his body. “ ‘Mish? Are you all right?” His lover didn’t appear injured, but he was prepared to spare some of the precious little energy he had left if that was the case.
His lover stirred, waving him off with the flap of an arm. “I’m fine. That’s quite the trick you have there.” There was a touch of acidity to Hamish’s otherwise light tone. “Did it occur to you to—I dinnae ken—warn me before you shove me out a bloody window?” he growled, finally sitting up.
“I would have if there had been more time.” His gaze slid from the man’s back to the door. After everything, he half-expected the guards to burst into the room. “That was a little more intense than I was expecting.”
“Aye and close, too.” Groaning, Hamish got to his feet and brushed the dust from his clothes. “I better get back before they’ve searched everywhere else.”
“What?” Darshan scrambled to get his legs back under him. He grabbed his lover’s arm as Hamish neared the door. The act did little to stop him. “They do not believe you to be here. Surely, you do not have to leave just yet.”
“I should though.” His calloused hand cradled Darshan’s jaw, the pad of his thumb caressing Darshan’s cheek in one wide sweep. “I’ll make it up to you next time.”
“I certainly hope so.”
Smiling, Hamish leant forward.
Their lips barely brushed together before Darshan pulled back, a hand over his mouth. “You do not wish to kiss me right now, my breath is probably atrocious.” In comparison, and despite the several hours they had slept, his lover’s breath still smelt quite sweet.
Hamish shook his head. “Dinnae be so prissy.” His arms encircled Darshan’s waist and pulled them together.
A gasp slithered through Darshan’s teeth at the iciness of the man’s belt buckle against his bare abdomen. Before he could compose himself, his lover’s lips were upon his, powerful and yearning.
Darshan parted his lips slightly, a shudder passing through him when the expected passionate invasion of Hamish’s tongue wasn’t forthcoming. Instead, his lover tilted his head and obliterated all thought with several slow, open-mouthed kisses.
His legs wobbled anew and he became exceedingly aware that the only reason he stood upright at all was because of Hamish. Not that he would’ve minded dropping to his knees. His lover’s trousers might be on now, but such a state could be changed swiftly enough.
Darshan closed his eyes. With any other man, he wouldn’t have dared allow them such leniency with his person, but there was something about this one that echoed inside him, made him feel… safe. A foolish thought given they had met only a few days ago.
Nevertheless, he wrapped his arms around his lover’s broad shoulders, clinging to the linen at the nape of Hamish’s neck, and basked in the warmth surrounding the man.
Once they had parted enough for more to leave their lips than muffled attempts at sound, a single word slipped free of Darshan’s mouth. “Stay.” It escaped on a breath. A wisp of a wish. A plea.
Hamish stepped back. “I cannae do that.”
Fool, he silently berated himself. Darshan pressed his fingers to his lips as if it would rescind what had already been spoken. Of course Hamish couldn’t linger. Even though their previous search had turned up nothing, the guards could return. “You know,” he mumbled around his fingers. “If you joined me when I returned to Udynea, you would never have to worry about this sort of intervention again.”
Hamish paused in opening the door. “You daft?” he enquired, laughing. He smiled over his shoulder, the curve of those full lips weary and restrained. “I cannae leave.”
“Why not?” Despite her own judgement on the matter, surely a Queen could see merit in allowing one of her children to have connections in the heart of political allies. “Is it the language? Our history? I could teach you everything you would need to know.” Oh, if one of his tutors could hear that. He’d never been the most diligent student, focusing only what he absolutely had to, but he was more than capable of teaching the man how to speak Udynean.
Further amusement deepened the fine wrinkles around those sapphiric eyes. Hamish shook his head. “Goodnight, Dar.”
“Meet me in the library come sunrise,” he called out as his lover slipped from the room. His Nanny Daama would’ve thought that a riot, too. Especially given that he rarely stirred from his bed before midmorning back home.
He barely knew Hamish, was painfully aware of that fact, but the thought of leaving him here to live such an uncertain life almost broke his heart. Witnessing the guards hunting such a gentle man as if he was a petty thief only solidified his resolve.
~~~
Hamish swayed a little as he made his way through the halls. That’d been quite the drop the man had suspended him over. Thank the Goddess the spellster’s shield had held out as long as it had. But where had Darshan gotten the strength to pull Hamish back through the window?
And what had been behind the sudden talk of leaving to the Udynea Empire
