Page 21 of Silk & Sand
It could be nothing else.
Quicksilver was a subject of controversy. Like every college within Masir University, the Arcanum broke down into departments: artifice, alchemy, language, divination, transmogrification. Though crossover wasn’t uncommon and many arcanists worked within multiple fields, quicksilver was unique in being of interest to all of them. No one fully understood it, and it couldn’t legally be used in humans. That was the law in Masir and in every other civilized state.
Because of that, at first Seth had thought that the quicksilver must be housed in an external arcane device, as it was in Seth’s bracers and the glove that summoned his chakram’s return. But as soon as he’d stepped into the courtyard and had gotten a good look at Raider, he’d seen the wound in Raider’s left shoulder, where the quicksilver had pierced through his skin from within.
Whoever had implanted that quicksilver had done it illegally—and unscrupulously.
And what did it say of Raider, that he’d participated in such a thing, had accepted it into his body?
That he was also unscrupulous perhaps. That he had a high tolerance for pain.
There was the question, too, of why he had wanted it. Who had a need for such armoring?
A thief? Maybe.
A … raider? Yes.
And this was the man Seth needed to complete his mission? This was the man he kept getting hard for?
A cruel joke indeed.
Seth almost threw back the whole cup of raaki just to fortify himself, but Raider was doing that very thing (notably not having replied to Seth’s observation about the quicksilver). The sight of Raider draining his cup stopped Seth from doing the same.
Yet, even in the wake of his unflattering assessment of Raider, Seth couldn’t stop himself from watching the way the man’s throat moved as he swallowed. He couldn’t stop the image that flashed through his mind. His teeth, biting that neck, holding Raider down. Raider gasping, arching up into him with the gorgeous cock that Seth had glimpsed in the bathhouse.
Raider startled him out of this unwanted fantasy by thrusting his emptied cup at him.
“Can you refill this?” When Seth didn’t immediately move to take the cup, Raider added, “It’s that or I crawl over your lap to do it myself.”
Before that could become an image as well, Seth snatched the cup from Raider’s hand. He refilled it, using the moment to think. He wanted, desperately, to push Raider for an explanation of the quicksilver. Why he had it. Who had done it. How the hell it worked like that. Seth had never seen such a thing. But none of that mattered right now.
All that mattered was that, between Raider’s quicksilver and his knowledge of the Kesh, he was uniquely suited to traverse it. As he had told Seth from the beginning.
Thus … Seth needed him, and not simply for his information. Seth needed the man himself. He had almost worked himself up to saying so when Ahmet spoke from the kitchen doorway.
“Two of you. Two of you out here to mind the stew.”
Seth winced inwardly as Ahmet bustled his burly way over to the pot, but the man’s glare fell solely on Raider.
“If it burns, I will scrape your supper from the bottom.”
Raider said, “I was just about to—”
“No, you were not.”
Ahmet continued to glare and stir for a long, pointed moment before returning to the kitchen with a loud sniff.
Raider sighed dramatically and regarded the dog. “Jasmine, one of them is mad at me and the other won’t give me my raaki.”
Jasmine moved his chin consolingly to Raider’s knee. As Raider petted the wide dome of the dog’s head, Seth held out the cup. Raider smiled. It was incongruous, such a playful-seeming man and that vicious arcane technology.
“I was only trying to help you, you know,” Raider said. “In the stable.”
“By attacking me? You have a very unhelpful way of helping.”
“But you enjoyed it, remember?”
Movement in the kitchen doorway had both Seth and Raider glancing over. At the sight of Ahmet peering out, Raider pushed himself up from the bench with a grunt, dislodging the dog, and went to stir the stew. The dog followed him.