Page 16 of Silver & Gold
“I’m working on it!” Julian exclaimed, squirming out from under Seth’s hand.
Seth turned to study the shoreline. He yanked his chakram from his utility belt and sent it flying. It whizzed through the air, striking two combatants on its arc. Just as Seth caught the weapon on its return, the boat lurched forward, jerking under his feet. He tumbled backward, slamming into Raider. They both went crashing into the tarp-covered wine barrels.
“Sorry!” Julian yelled over his shoulder as the boat skimmed along. The pace wasn’t exactly breathless, but it was fast enough that the last arrows fell short into the water.
Seth disentangled himself from Raider. He took a quick look at his own bicep, where he’d nicked himself with his chakram in the tumble.
“Are you okay?” he asked Raider. “I didn’t cut you, did I?”
“You’re worried about cutting me? Fuck, Seth, I can’t decide if you’re kind of adorable or really damn annoying.”
“I am neither of those things.” Seth clipped the chakram onto his utility belt.
“I’ll be the judge of that,” Raider told him and leaned in to nip the side of Seth’s neck. Arousal went shooting down to his groin.
“You, however,” Seth gritted out, “are most definitely a tease.”
Raider slipped his hand between Seth’s legs and squeezed his inner thigh. He chuckled into Seth’s ear, “But you like that about me.”
This time, Raider didn’t even pretend it was a question. And, no, it really wasn’t.
CHAPTER 6
WEARING ONLY his rose-colored silk pants, Raider was lying stretched out on one of the boat’s wide side rails. He had his hands behind his head, his ankles crossed, and his eyes half closed. A tree overhung the bank where they had managed to secure the boat when the engine had spluttered and died. While that was definitely bad, Raider couldn’t help but enjoy the shade, the slight bob of the boat in the water, and the sound of Seth’s voice as he and Julian discussed the problem.
Raider wasn’t paying attention to the technical details (which were very much lost on him), but he loved Seth’s deep timbre and occasional grumbles of frustration, not to mention little phrases like, “who fucking designed this?” and “no way in Hasa’s dark hell is my hand going to fit in there.”
There had been no sign of pursuit. Though the boat was slower than a galloping horse, it didn’t require rest. (The present moment aside, of course.)
Hours ago, the vineyard’s small river had flowed into the wide Burudu. By Julian’s estimation, they had covered six days’ worth of foot travel.
Rahim’s mounted men would travel far faster than foot traffic, but the boat should still be well ahead. The road ran straighter than the river, with the two kissing and parting all the way to Kastari, but the road was hilly in places.
Right here, though, it was flat and fertile, with none of the high, rocky bluffs they had passed earlier. Trees, like this lovely shade tree, grew along the banks, and farms dotted the surrounding land. Here the road ran straight and flat along the river for several miles. The traffic, both on the road and the water, was thickening because they were getting close to Kastari.
If they could get the engine working again, they would reach the city this afternoon. Even Raider’s anti-arcane stance didn’t prevent him from marveling at that particular fact.
Raider rolled his head to get a better view of the proceedings. (By proceedings he meant Seth bending over to reach inside the engine.)
Seth’s weapons, vest, forearm bracers, and boots lay on the floor of the boat, leaving him in only his black pants. Those pants always looked fantastic on him but never more so than when he was bent over with the material stretching across his exquisite ass.
A scenario started playing out in Raider’s mind. He imagined himself tugging those pants down to bare that muscled glory. He imagined just how perfectly he could worship it with his hands, his lips, his tongue. He wondered if Seth would ever let him.
Naturally, that little fantasy had Raider’s cock stirring against the rose-colored silk of his pants. Seth had called him a tease, and he was. Even to himself, apparently.
Needing a distraction (and a cooldown), Raider slipped off the boat’s side rail and into the water. Julian, who was in the water to work on the propeller, jolted in surprise.
How this slender, jumpy, innocent-looking kid had made it from Masir to Shalaa then across the Kesh to Aqarat was a mystery. But then, he was obviously really damn smart. Seth had already told Raider that Julian had invented the compact alembic that had purified water for them in the desert, and right now the young arcanist was wearing a bizarre headpiece that looked like a cross between a very strange crown and a torture device. If it hadn’t looked so ridiculous, it would have made Raider extremely uncomfortable.
The thing had several lenses, a tiny light, and a number of detachable tools that reminded Raider of Seth’s utility belt. It was, apparently, one of Julian’s inventions. One of the arcanist’s brown eyes, hugely magnified, blinked at Raider through a thick lens.
Raider said, “I still can’t believe that when you were fleeing for your life, you thought that thing was important to pack.”
Julian rotated the lens away from his eye. “This ‘thing’ has eighty-seven distinct functions.”
“You would’ve been better off with a sword.”
“I wouldn’t know what to do with a sword. But I do know what to do with this.”