Page 60 of A Phoenix Reborn at Christmas

They entered the apartment, kissing as he closed the door.

But Leo broke the kiss reluctantly. “I need to give Jasper his tea,” he said somewhat breathlessly. “I’ll be a few minutes.”

“All right.” Percival pressed one more kiss to Leo’s lips. “I’ll be waiting for you in bed.” Then he stepped backwards, holding Leo’s gaze. He unbuttoned his coat. With a wicked gleam in his eyes, he walked to Leo’s room and entered, closing the door behind him.

Leo let out a breath, willing his arousal to subside.

He pulled out the envelope of elothea seeds from his pocket. His brother Trent got them from an aquatic horticulturist each day. The tea had to be made with fresh elothea seeds. And according to Jasper’s healer, Jasper should drink the tea once a day.

But despite all the cups of tea Jasper had drunk, he had still not recovered. Leo’s jaw clenched. Why hadn’t his twin recovered?

At least Jasper said the tea helped with his symptoms. Which included fatigue, headaches, general aches and pains, and light-headedness. Leo brewed the tea and put together a tray of food for Jasper and Kali with more speed than usual.

After all, he had a phoenix, a probably naked phoenix, in his bed, waiting for him.

He knocked on Jasper’s door and entered. The candlelight on the tray cast a flickering glow around the room.

Jasper lay in bed, eyes already open. Kali crawled out from beneath the covers beside Jasper and hopped onto the floor.

“Evening, Jas. How has the rest of your day been?”

Jasper had left the bakery shortly before midday. “Fine.” He sat up.

“Well, I got your tea for you.” Leo placed the tray down. Then he grabbed the plate of smoked herring for Kali and put that on the floor before her.

Leo sat. He might be desperate to get back to Percival, but he still wanted to check in properly with his brother.

Although, maybe Percival had started to touch himself and stroke his cock whilst he waited for Leo. Leo squirmed on his seat. He pushed thoughts of a naked Percival aside. “How are you feeling tonight?”

“Fine.”

“How are your symptoms?”

“Fine.”

Leo held in a sigh, knowing his brother was withholding. “Maybe we should try and find you another healer.”

Jasper didn’t meet his eyes. “It’s fine, Leo. Don’t worry about it.”

“But you should be better by now. That’s what the healer said. But you’re not.” Leo leaned closer.

“You think I don’t know I’m not better?” Jasper said, voice tense.

“But the healer has no explanation for why that’s the case! So you should find a new healer!” Leo pressed.

“Leave it, Leo.”

This was not the first time they’d had this argument. “Just tell me why you don’t want to see a different healer?”

Jasper shook his head, still not meeting his eyes. “It doesn’t matter.”

Leo opened his mouth.

But Jasper got in first, “Just leave it, Leo. Please!”

Leo snapped his mouth shut. It didn’t make any sense to him. He didn’t understand why Jasper wouldn’t get a new healer. And Jasper wouldn’t explain it to him. They’d tried the phoenix tears. But as Percival had expected, it hadn’t worked.

“Thanks for the food.” Jasper’s nose scrunched up as he sipped the tea. “And the elothea seed tea.”