Wind and Stone

Chapter 8: Akton

Chapter 8: Akton

Despite how ridiculous Arvi’s suggestion sounded in the middle of the day, Akton appreciated that it broke up the rising tensions. He in particular had no desire to follow Wren anywhere and was grateful to Ylenia’s summons for that if nothing else.

Wren excused herself to wander the forest outside Teorg, and Talfryn decided to return to Glenna’s for more food than what they’d brought for themselves. Arvi took over the kitchen table with their maps and sketching, leaving Akton and Lochlann alone.

“Your house?” asked Lochlann at last. Akton couldn’t help but think about how mere hours ago he and Talfryn had been nearly able to get some much-needed s*x, and now here he was making awkward small talk with a man he found he felt strangely close to. Maybe it was the shifting, the exposing of themselves. But then, all he felt toward Wren was irritation.

“No, Talfryn’s. I’m helping him turn it into a library.”

“A library, hmm? Needs shelves,” said Lochlann, and grinned at him. “And books.”

“Not much of a library, is it?” Akton was able to smile back, even if Lochlann had come in with Wren. Akton didn’t mind him. The door opened and Talfryn entered with more food.

“Stop flirting, you two, and help us eat,” he said, taking the items to the table and giving Arvi a hard look.

“We hadn’t even started,” said Lochlann. As Arvi pushed papers aside Talfryn set down another two servings of bread, herbed soft cheese, and early vegetables. Arvi quizzed him as they ate.

“Teorg,” they said. “Has those little carved poles on either end of the main street?”

“For celebration banners,” said Talfryn. “Weddings, festivals, that sort of thing.”

“Yeah,” said Akton, “the one festival.”

“Careful or I’ll ask the mayor to create another, just to annoy you.”

Akton tore a huge bite out of his cheese-covered bread, already annoyed. He and Talfryn should be alone right now, f*****g a little tension away while they tried not to think about answering the queen’s summons. Not sitting around a table with Lochlann and Arvi pretending everything was as normal as it was when they woke up this morning, and not taking Wren’s request seriously.

“I heard this was a library,” said Lochlann. Arvi looked up from what they were doing and grinned.

“Need some books? I have some maps at a reasonable price.”

Lochlann glared openly at them, but Arvi returned to looking at their map of Teorg’s main street.

“What I really need is some help getting it all together,” said Talfryn. His gaze turned sad and Akton wanted to wrap his arms around him. “It would be nice to have a few shelves full before we leave. I have a few stacks I can haul over if we just get some shelves up.”

“I’d be happy to help,” said Lochlann.

“Great, then you’re with Akton while I pack up my books.”

They finished eating in silence and Akton retrieved the supplies they’d brought this morning, not mentioning Lochlann’s arm. He figured if Lochlann wanted anything, he’d say. Instead, Akton laid out the boards and got to work measuring, thinking Talfryn would be happy when he could eventually get a carpenter in to do a better job. Akton reached for a saw and felt a hand on his arm.

“Let me,” said Lochlann, and the air pressure changed around them. Akton gaped as Lochlann cut perfectly through the wood with swipes of air, not even gesturing as he did it. Talfryn often flicked his hand or motioned with his fingers while he was working with his flame, but if Akton hadn’t known Lochlann was a shifter he wouldn’t have noticed otherwise.

“Impressive,” he said.

“I’m good at handling wood,” said Lochlann, and Akton definitely caught a loaded grin at that. s**t. He did kind of feel drawn to the man, but obviously that wasn’t something he could act on in any way. “All kinds.”

“Lochlann, stop it,” said Arvi from across the room at the table. “You know I hate it when you make my ears pop.”

Akton took the opportunity to shift a little farther away from Lochlann. Maybe this was how Talfryn felt when he flirted with random strangers. No, Talfryn seemed to enjoy it as fun, not as necessarily leading anywhere. Unless that was part of his way—have fun with it so that if it doesn’t go anywhere, at least it was enjoyable.

“I can hold the board up if you do the nailing,” said Lochlann, moving closer. This put their bodies up next to each other; when they brushed, Akton was very aware of how quickly he tensed.

“What kind of sweets do you make?” asked Akton as he hammered. This was the shittiest shelf he’d ever seen, but it would hold books, and he hoped that was all Talfryn really wanted.

“Cakes, mainly. If you’d like to try one—”

“That’s delightfully ugly,” said Talfryn, entering with an armful of books. He set them loudly on the floor and came up behind them, and for a brief moment something went strange and excited in Akton’s mind. It had definitely been too long since he’d had a proper round of s*x if the thought of Talfryn resting one hand on his ass, one on Lochlann’s, excited him.

“Well, I’m not a carpenter,” said Akton as Talfryn peered between their shoulders.

“And you really shouldn’t be,” said Talfryn. Lochlann snorted.

“A moment ago you were on my side,” said Akton. Lochlann shrugged.

“Tempt me back.”

“I’m beginning to see I walked in on something,” said Talfryn. He pulled away and moved toward the door. “I’ll be back. I have a few more stacks to bring over. Behave yourselves.”

“My hand is too busy to do anything other than behave,” said Lochlann. When Akton glanced over at him and their eyes met Lochlann immediately turned away as though embarrassed. Akton nudged him with his shoulder.

“Hey, pay attention or the shelf will be crooked. This is your chance to impress me with your wood handling skills.” Immediately after he said it he hammered a nail in, thinking he was s**t at flirting and he probably shouldn’t even be doing it anyway. He loved Talfryn. Akton knew he’d see it as just fun, but…Akton himself was having wild thoughts. He should stick to flirting with Talfryn when he returned.

By the time Talfryn had hauled all his books and papers over they had finished the shelf and Lochlann showed off by dusting with his shifter skills again. Talfryn shooed them all away as he organized, and Akton sat back to watch him work on it. He couldn’t help but smile at Talfryn’s ass. The man was book-obsessed.

When he glanced at Lochlann Akton noticed he also was admiring Talfryn’s backside. Akton felt amused for a moment, then annoyed with himself. He never used to be intrigued when others took interest in his mate. He felt the need to assert himself.

“Giving us a show, Tal?” he asked as Talfryn frowned and swapped the books on one shelf with another.

“Figures you’d just sit back and watch my ass. Help me decide what we need more of right away. Novels? Manuals? Poetry?”

“Only you’d read poetry,” said Akton.

“I read poetry,” said Lochlann. “It’s good for the soul.”

“Careful or you’ll turn me on,” said Talfryn. He ran his fingers along the spines, then stepped back to admire his work. Of the six shelves from floor to ceiling, he only had books on three, although one was completely full. He sighed once, pulled a small notebook and piece of charcoal from his pocket, and tossed both of them on an empty shelf, probably for people to sign out a book. When he was finished he turned and sat with them, choosing, to Akton’s dismay, a place on the other side of Lochlann.

“That’s a day’s worth of work,” said Akton, shaking his head.

“Not a bad start,” said Talfryn. When Akton shot him a look he laughed. “So there’s a few score books, but Teorg’s never had a library before. We’ll bring some back after we’re done with this next mess.”

He was referring to the building war with the dragons, and Akton didn’t like it. What he wanted was some time off with Talfryn, time to appreciate each other and recover, time to live life like normal. Akton didn’t want to be away again so fast, risking their lives. And he very much didn’t want to ever have to come back to this empty library alone and not have Talfryn here with him to fill it.

Lochlann appeared to be thinking something similar, because he broke the silence with a question.

“So are you going with Ylenia or with Wren?”

“We’re sleeping on it,” said Talfryn, causing Akton to breathe out in relief.

“You’re with Wren, then?” asked Akton. Lochlann looked at the fingernails on his hand.

“I’m not Kynithremyln.”

“Well, that’s not a problem,” said Talfryn. “We’ll take you with and have you sign up.”

Lochlann shook his head. Akton wasn’t going to argue with him. He didn’t know Lochlann, not really, and he was free to follow Wren if he wanted to. And if they went separate ways, Lochlann wouldn’t be a temptation. But Akton didn’t like the look on Talfryn’s face.

“We’re not going with her,” he said. Talfryn’s expression was distant.

“I said I’m sleeping on it,” he said. “But I do think Wren has something.”

Akton did not want to argue about this.

“I swear I’ll dump your ass,” he said. “What’s Wren’s plan even? Run off into the Dragon Kingdom? Ylenia at least has battle plans, tacticians, the sense to try to not get us killed—”

“You’re together?” asked Lochlann, and both Akton and Talfryn blinked over at his interruption. Akton couldn’t read the expression on his face. “I mean, I thought…”

“Yes, Akton and I are a couple,” said Talfryn.

“For now,” said Akton, frowning at him. Maybe the thought of losing him would wake Talfryn up. But Talfryn only rolled his eyes.

As though she knew they were talking about her, Wren entered through the back door and exchanged a few words with Arvi before walking over to them.

“It’s getting dark,” she said. “May we stay the night here?”

“Yes,” said Talfryn, standing and offering Akton a hand. For a moment he was tempted not to take it, but he wanted any argument they were about to have to be about where to go from here and not a little slight. “And we’ll be back in the morning.”

“Good,” she said. “I want to leave immediately.”

They left without acknowledging that. Akton had a feeling he and Talfryn weren’t going to get much sleep.