Page 89 of Silver & Gold
“Didn’t want to go back for it?”
“There was no way in Hasa’s hell I was letting you get away again.”
Raider chuckled. “I have no regrets.”
Seth stroked Raider’s hair some more. “Are you going to talk to me?”
Unease squirmed through Raider’s gut, dispelling some of his comfortable lethargy. So Seth had noticed, apparently.
“Baby, I know what it means when you need me to be that rough,” Seth said quietly.
“I do want to talk to you.”
“Good,” Seth replied and relaxed, not rushing him.
When he was ready, Raider said, “You were right. About what you guessed. About the reason I heal so fast.”
Seth took a deep breath and let it out. “Did he tell you anything helpful?” Raider noticed that Seth didn’t say Tarjan’s name.
“Kind of. He said that human offspring of the djinn are usually blessed with gifts but that gifts are rarely an easy blessing.”
“What does that mean?”
Raider shrugged. “Beauty or artistic talent, which are the most common gifts, can inspire envy. And a gift like my healing meant I could survive to endure more pain than most. The blessing of the djinn is what brought the curse of quicksilver upon me. I think that’s what he meant.”
“So you talked to him about the quicksilver?”
“A little. It was hard. I should’ve had you there.”
Seth’s fingers traced his spine. “Why didn’t you want me there?”
“Because I knew it would be hard. Because I hate breaking down in front of you all the time.”
Seth’s fingers stilled. “Goddamn it, Raider.”
“I know.”
Seth sighed and started moving his fingers again along Raider’s spine. “So what did he say about the quicksilver?”
Raider rubbed a hand across Seth’s chest, letting the muscled contours ground him. “He said that humans shouldn’t meddle with it. I gathered that the djinn don’t approve of the arcane.”
“That’s certainly what I’ve read about them, but I don’t know the reason for it. Did he say?”
“I didn’t ask about that specifically. It didn’t actually occur to me, probably because I kind of feel the same way. For all its good, the arcane does a lot of bad.”
“That’s true,” Seth acknowledged.
“That’s why they took our weapons.”
Seth pointed out, “My sword isn’t arcane, so that’s not the only reason they took our weapons.”
“They don’t like metal. Have you noticed how there isn’t any here? They don’t even wear gold.”
“Are we going to get our weapons back?”
Raider huffed. “That sounds like a Seth conversation, not a Raider conversation.”
Seth sighed. “Fair enough. I’ll ask him myself.”