Total pages in book: 208
Estimated words: 209645 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1048(@200wpm)___ 839(@250wpm)___ 699(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 209645 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1048(@200wpm)___ 839(@250wpm)___ 699(@300wpm)
His heart leapt at the thought of being back with his students, which Tedrey found odd, but even odd, it was undeniable.
His feelings were entirely different about the Go’Doan leaving the city.
“Are you well enough to do this?” Lorenz asked.
“The Go’Doan priests have left the city?” Tedrey asked back.
“They were behind the attack. This is twice they have beset our sovereigns. It would have been ferreted out. Thus, in the end, they have shown some modicum of wisdom, for they chose flight rather than tar.”
“You know it was them?” Tedrey queried nervously.
“Yes, we know it was them. And yes, I know that you were amongst the collaborators, but your heart was not true to their cause. If it was, nothing could have kept you in my home while that attack was being carried out. Not even the grave injury they did to you.”
Tedrey felt heat hit his cheeks and terror burn in his chest.
“Y-you know?”
“I have known practically since I met you, amico.”
“And you still call me amico?”
“Do you wish me or my wife harm?”
“No.”
His answer was swift and not at all nervous.
Lorenz’s lips twitched.
“And do you think I did not know this too?” he asked softly.
Tedrey looked away.
His tone was still soft when he asked, “How deeply are you in love with her?”
His gaze skittered back. “I…I don’t…I don’t feel that way—”
“I know it is not my wife’s body you desire, but her heart that you adore,” Lorenz decreed and grinned. “When I fell, I went about it the other way.”
Tedrey did not doubt that and found it amusing.
However, he also found his feet and took them.
Standing and staring Lorenz right in the eyes, he declared, “I will never—”
His grand declaration didn’t come to fruition.
Lorenz shook his head and again interrupted him. “I know, Tedrey. You do not love her as I do. You’ll never love her as I do. Or you would not be right here, right now. But you love her, do you not?”
He did not know about love.
However.
“She, and you, are the only beings who have ever in my life shown me kindness.”
Tedrey watched with no alarm as Lorenz’s face grew hard.
Lorenz never liked to think of these things that had always been a way of Tedrey’s life.
And so perhaps he was learning about love.
“I will take that as a yes,” Lorenz said through gritted teeth.
“I don’t know how to show it in return,” Tedrey whispered.
“You will not learn, staring at the road and being morose,” Lorenz replied.
This was very true.
“Do you…do you want to know about The Rising?” he offered, and Tedrey did not miss the flare in his eyes at the last two words.
However, he mistook it for the fact Lorenz already knew.
Maybe not all of it.
But he knew of The Rising.
He was surprised when Lorenz answered, “When you’re ready to tell me.”
“I would suspect that, if the priests have fled, it’s rather in disarray,” he mumbled.
“I would suspect the same, but we are not counting on that.”
Tedrey continued mumbling, “That’s probably wise.” He drew breath into his nose and spoke more distinctly when he noted, “I do not understand why you forgive me.”
“I have not said I forgive you.”
These words were like a blow.
“But—” he started.
“My wife’s heart bleeds for you, and as my wife owns my heart, I have little to say in the matter of her wishing to care for you. You are not a threat. You are clearly very confused. I have hope you will find your way and it will be the right way. But it is not gratitude for kindness that should guide that way. You should understand what you do is right, and that should guide your way. I will hope for this. That you learn right and how to act on it.”
He’d never thought about it before.
But he wanted to learn right and not simply because every part of his life until he met these people in this house had gone so wrong.
Tedrey turned his head away again, this time so Lorenz would not see the tears that sprang to his eyes.
“Why do you not look at me as you weep, amico?” Lorenz asked with open curiosity, sharing that Tedrey was hiding nothing.
“It is weak,” Tedrey muttered shakily.
“And again, I have proof the manner of your parents was no manner at all.”
Tedrey returned his surprised attention to Lorenz.
“You are warrior,” he remarked.
“I am,” Lorenz agreed. “And I wept when my father died. I wept when King Ares died. I wept when my bride bound her life to mine. I felt tears sting my eyes when my king claimed his queen. I will undoubtedly weep when my wife gives me my first child, and any that come after. If she were to move to the next realm before me, I do not know if I will ever stop weeping. What I do know is I will not have the will even to try. There is no weakness in being fully you and fully feeling anything you feel. What makes us weak is when we do not celebrate all that we are, all that we feel, which is what makes us strong.”