“You do,” Rain agreed, reaching out to pick up the first letter. “You should get started.”
Alchan realized the trap he’d walked into and growled softly, but there was no heat in it. Rain was getting very adept at working around him, maneuvering him into situations and the work he put off. He should have known it was a trap the moment he saw the damn letters. He took the letter Rain offered him but didn’t let his Consort escape his lap as he read.
“Most ran to Seanev first when they realized you didn’t know what to do with them yet over the winter,” Rain reminded him. “But now, it’s practically summer. You need to address them and give them something or tell them they get nothing. Either way, you have to make a decision. They’re all coming back with him, and there will be no avoiding it.”
Alchan sighed, nodding slowly. He knew it was creeping up on him to make these decisions, but he had never been the one for this. Luykas was better at it, but he couldn’t ask the mutt half-brother to make these sorts of calls. If his decisions were disagreed with, it would cause more problems. Alchan had to take the responsibility himself and somewhat dreaded it. He didn’t dread going into battle. He didn’t avoid sending his warriors, Andinna he considered his family, in battles they might not come back from. But he dreaded this.
“I’ll tell all the priests and priestesses yes on principle,” he decided. “As long as they work as units. I don’t want them heading too deep into Anden, either, where supporting them would be difficult. The nobles…will require more care.”
“Of course. Let me finish breakfast while you read.”
Alchan reluctantly let Rain leave.
“Oh, Mave asked for me to tell you hello, and she wants to spend time with you at some point,” he called to Rain as he left the room.
“I’ll make sure to go see her,” Rain promised. “In the afternoon, after you’ve read through all of those.”
Alchan groaned, but he started reading, knowing if Rain never left to see Mave, it would be his fault—an effective threat. He was more dominant than her, but he wasn’t the better swordsman. It wasn’t even his death that was the effective threat. It was the idea he would accidentally hurt her by keeping Rain from her. That didn’t play over well with his bedru nature, which sat firmly in the camp that Rain belonged to him romantically, Luykas and Mave belonged to him as his family, and it was his duty to keep all of them as happy as he could.
Failure wasn’t an option.
As he made his way through the letters and ate breakfast, when Rain put it in front of him, his mind wandered. He saw names he recognized, and many he didn’t. The nobles he knew. Every single one of them, he knew. He had spent much of his childhood near them, and even more of his early adulthood. Most of them were young or children when he had been introduced to them. Most of the adults he had seen ruling were long gone, just like his grandmother and aunts. Maybe some would escape slavery before this was through, but he couldn’t hope for that.
The priests and priestesses were the ones he didn’t know and had no idea how to judge. One of the reasons he had been putting this off for so long was for Varon to help him. Varon was the only priest he had any sort of relationship with, and he trusted the male’s judgment.
“Rain, do you think when you go see Mave, you could bring Varon to me?” he asked softly, feeling exhausted with only a few more letters to read.
“I’ll go now,” he said, kissing Alchan before he left.
Alchan kept his darker urges locked away as Rain left the room without him. Since they had declared their relationship to the public, and Rain gained the title of Consort, Alchan’s possessive feelings only grew. Now the world knew, which made Rain a commodity in his own right, even more so than just being the nemari, an assistant and young Andinna in training to be a noble. Now, if someone could get Rain to hear them out, it was a direct way to get to Alchan’s ear. Alchan didn’t want people taking his Consort’s time. The more time they stole, the less time he had. At the dinner table, in bed, the location didn’t matter—it was the time they stole to speak to Rain that pissed Alchan off. That was unacceptable.
A short while later, Alchan put the last letter aside. Everyone who had written had made their feelings clear and their plans detailed and orderly. Alchan wrote down questions he had at the top of his mind, noting who he wanted to ask, then continued to wait in silence for Varon.
Rain came back first, laughing as the mute priest and his husband followed.
“Alchan, you need to hear this story about Kian and Mave. It’s fantastic.”
“Give me the short version,” he said, leaning back in his seat with an indulgent smile.
“Mave apparently attracted a few males on the road between battles. She kept turning them down, but they all thought she was open to more husbands because she didn’t have hers with her. Eventually, Kian started sleeping outside her tent to stop them from bothering her.” Rain was smiling as he spoke. “Can you believe that?”
“Males being attracted to Mave, yes. Kian trying to do something about it…” Alchan chuckled as he considered his response. “Also, yes, but it is funny. It’ll give me something to tease her about next time I see her. I bet she was at a loss when they kept coming to her.”
Varon’s hands moved fast.
“They all wanted ‘to ease her needs.’ That’s directly from their mouths. We finally had to ban them from trying to go to her tent through the entire campaign.”
“Yeah. We had to impress, especially on the younger ones, if she wanted any of them, she would let them know. It was all harmless. We would have shut it down differently if it wasn’t.” Nevyn sat down, stretching his legs. “Kian still slept right outside her tent, though, just in case. That besotted fool.” Nevyn rolled his eyes.
“Go see her,” Alchan said softly to his Consort. He would lose the afternoon with him, but he could tolerate it. He had to. At least he was going to Mave. She would keep him safe and free of the people who would try to manipulate him.
Rain kissed him once, then left, giving Varon and Nevyn a wave.
“Gah, I hate you two,” Nevyn said, crinkling his nose.
Varon reached out and hit him.
“Fine, I don’t hate them. They’re so fucking precious, and it’s gag-inducing.”
Varon leaned down and claimed Nevyn’s mouth, drawing a growl out of the general.
“You in a bad mood, my friend?” Alchan raised an eyebrow at Nevyn, who sighed as Varon pulled away, then sat down.
“Woke up hungover, so yeah, a little bit.” Nevyn side-eyed Alchan. “Rain said you needed some help.”
“Yup.” Alchan picked up the top letter from a priestess, looking to reopen a temple of Kristanya and held it out to Varon. He kept Nevyn from taking it.
Varon’s eyes moved quickly as he read the letter, then set it on the table, tilting his head to the side, deep in thought. Alchan and Nevyn remained respectfully silent while the priest considered the information. Varon looked up, his grass-green eyes narrowing.
“I have dozens more,” Alchan explained, lifting the entire stack. “They’re coming with Seanev.”
“These are the priests and priestesses he’s been hiding, aren’t they?” Varon’s hands moved fast, faster than normal. He slowed down for people who were just beginning to learn his way of communicating. “The ones who decided they would rather hide in the temples during the War rather than help the Andinna go to Olost. The ones who didn’t even bother to show themselves to us until this past winter.”