A Drink Before Battle [M/M] ✅

44: I Meant What I Said

The best entertaining room in the Aviary was an empty and lonely place tonight.

After a soak in that luxurious bathtub, Sevei had draped himself in a pair of whisper-soft silk trousers and a brocade robe. He now reclined on the overstuffed cushions of the bench with a flagon of very expensive wine, gazing into the dancing flames in the fireplace. Somewhere in the house, someone was playing a gentle and soothing melody on some kind of bowed instrument.

None of this was enough to calm Sevei's mind. Every creak of the house or sound of movement outside the window caused his heart to lurch and his body to tense, while his thoughts churned the day's events over and over again – the men crushed under that fallen spire, those burned with ethereal energy, the sight of Meira disintegrating in the air.

He thought of Yeresym, riding away with wagons full of their own dead soldiers without a word or even a glance back at him. Today, he had killed the man who had caused him so much pain, but he hadn't seemed at all celebratory, even after realizing that Meira had survived. Instead, he'd reverted to that immovable glacier that was General Urskatha, only now he seemed to have been hollowed out, his shell hardening lest it become too brittle.

Sevei leapt to his feet and paced the room. He shouldn't be here. With Meira and Nal gone, Thelan along with them for now, and even Yanek standing in at the municipal house overnight, Yeresym would be alone in camp without any of his closest people. It wasn't right. Even if he was holed up in his tent doing his Contemplation, there should be someone nearby, shouldn't there?

He reached for his clothes hanging on the folding screen. If he could get to the municipal house, there would be an Alchemist who could take him back to camp.

A loud creak out in the hallway sent his outstretched hand reflexively to the sword leaning near the screen. He drew the sword from its sheath as he moved across the room, his body tensing and filling with adrenaline as he pulled the door open.

Even in the dim shadows of the darkened hallway, there could be no mistaking that head of silvery hair retreating back toward the stairwell.

"Oh... hey," Sevei said, relaxing and lowering his sword. "Did something happen?"

Yeresym turned around awkwardly, and his lips opened in surprise. He shook his head mutely as his eyes swept over Sevei's form in the doorway. Dressed only in those thin silk trousers and the long brocade robe falling open to reveal his bare torso, Sevei knew what he must look like. He had to clench his jaws to keep from laughing.

Yeresym cleared his throat. "I had to go see Gendaran off," he said hoarsely. "Then I just..." He shrugged as his voice trailed away.

"Ugh, I'm sure that was fun," Sevei said with a curl of his lip. Then he stepped aside and opened the door further. "Do you want to come in?"

Yeresym looked through the doorway hesitantly, then nodded and followed Sevei into the room.

Sevei crossed the room to the table, depositing his sword across the tabletop before filling two cups with wine. He turned around to see Yeresym glancing about the room with a complicated expression. He smiled knowingly, then handed a cup over to Yeresym and clinked the two together.

"Good riddance to Gendaran," he said, turning to lead the way to the bench. He reclined into the corner, draping one arm along the bench's back.

"He's not happy with you," Yeresym responded, settling next to Sevei. "Did you really threaten to 'turn his nose inward'?"

Sevei's face darkened. "He called Meira his 'property' again," he explained. "While he was berating me for allowing you to allow her to get killed."