Page 22 of Bloom

Jaime figured he’d better stay used to the couch. He wouldn’t be invited to the bedroom anytime soon since Aleric wasn’t about to allow a man to sleep next to him.

Jaime had found better books where the authors didn’t talk about abundant males like they were pests. After Aleric had returned from his moment of privacy with Lord Monet, he’d simply said goodnight and gone to his bedroom with the air of someone who didn’t want to talk.

Jaime was about to tap the crystal lantern and go to sleep when the handle rattled, and he sat bolt upright.

“Aleric?” came Lord Monet’s voice.

Relief flooded Jaime as he went to unlock the door.

“Why is it always locked?” Lord Monet asked without preamble.

“He likes his privacy,” said Jaime.

Lord Monet stepped in and paused as he looked at the couch. “That’s where you’re sleeping?”

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“Because…I don’t mind it. It’s pretty comfortable.”

Lord Monet frowned and went to the bedroom. “Aleric.”

The door opened before he reached it to reveal Aleric in his sleep clothes. “What?”

“I just wanted to talk to you again. I was a bit surprised earlier, and I needed a moment to let it sink in. I didn’t congratulate you.”

Lord Monet stepped in as Aleric mumbled something. Jaime sat on the couch and wasn’t trying to eavesdrop, but he couldn’t help but overhear.

“...I'm happy I’ll have a grandchild, and I remember you did tell me you wanted kids someday. I know you’ll be a good Dad. I only wish your Mother was here to see it.”

Lord Monet must have felt sappy since his once-little boy was all grown up and about to have his own kid. Jaime settled under his blanket while they spoke and remembered he’d have to get up again. The sitting room door had to be locked.

“Why is Jaime sleeping on the couch?”

“I keep him in my rooms because he’s my aid.”

“That’s not right.”

“Fine. I’ll get him own set of rooms and-”

“Son, he should be sleeping with you in bed. Not in another room.”

“Just because we did it once doesn’t mean he needs to be in my bed every night.”

“That’s the Father of your child. You’re supposed to spend time with him.”

“I haven’t even known for a full twenty-four hours that I’m pregnant, and neither has he.”

“You already get along well enough, right?”

Something rustled. “I like having my space. If you don’t mind, I’ll be going to sleep in the bed that’s all mine.”

“For Elira’s sake.” Lord Monet’s cane tapped on the floor. “Jaime, go in there.”

Jaime sat up. “What? I’m good out here.”

“You’re about to get married in a few days.

“That soon?” Jaime knew many were quickly married after knowing they were pregnant, and it wasn’t considered right to wait too long because it seemed like the one who wasn’t pregnant was trying to avoid responsibility. The Goddess also wanted them to fully join when they created a life unless a prior agreement was made. If life was accidentally made first, marriage should quickly follow.

“Why wait?”

“Isn't it a bit soon for him? He just found out, and he’s got a lot to think about in the months ahead.” Jaime couldn't bring up Gautier or how Aleric’s stress was more complicated than most.

“You can do it together. Getting married isn’t that hard. Get up.”

“I’m sleeping alone,” Aleric yelled from his bedroom.

“You need to spend time together to get used to things before the baby comes and before you get married.” Lord Monet tugged Jaime into the bedroom. “It’s not right if he’s sleeping on the couch. What kind of person does that to the other parent? How would you like it if he told you to stay on the couch? Be nice to my future son-in-law.”

“He can’t kick me out of my bed.” Sitting up, Aleric looked like the Kingdom had been invaded when Jaime was practically dragged in.

“It’s not like you have to start having sex right away, but you can spend time being intimate in other ways. The bed now belongs to both of you.”

“Don’t tell me what to do in private. Actually, don’t ever mention my sex life again.”

“Just be next to each other.” Lord Monet pushed Jaime forward. “One of the best things about your Mother wasn’t sex. We often talked in bed at night before we went to sleep. I’d cut off my right hand if it meant I could have a couple of hours to simply be with her one last time. It wasn’t quite the same with Honoré, but we enjoyed the time we had together too. Have that with him. Jaime, get in.”

Jaime suppressed a sigh. Once Lord Monet left, there would be a litany of nasty words to endure.

Aleric folded his arms once Jaime got in on the other side and made sure there was plenty of space between their bodies.

“Since you both need to make this work, being close will help,” said Lord Monet. “You can’t think of him like an aid that sleeps on your couch. Try to be friends, and the love will follow.”

Damn it. Jaime wanted to make it work, and now he was being forced into Aleric’s bed.

“Whatever.” Aleric lay back against his pillows.

“It feels like just yesterday Pearl was telling me she was pregnant, and I was so happy.” Father came over to tuck the blanket around his son.

“I’m not five.”

“Let an old man be happy with his memories. You and Zacherie grew up so fast.”

Aleric let him kiss his forehead. Lord Monet said goodnight to Jaime and shut the door.

For a moment, the silence was beyond uncomfortable as Aleric stared ahead. Once Jaime was sure he heard the sitting room door close, he immediately got out of bed.

“I’ll go back to the couch,” he said.

Aleric hesitated. “You-you can stay. Lock the doors first.”

Jaime paused. “I already know you don’t want me here. I’m not going to get mad because you’d prefer I stay in the sitting room. The couch is fine.”

“If he comes back another night because he wants to check on me, he’ll notice and get annoyed that I’m treating you like a servant. When the servants come in and notice your blanket or whatever on the couch, they might gossip because everyone is going to know what’s going on soon. Father will get annoyed and think I’m being mean to you. Stay so we can avoid more shit. You better keep to your side of the bed.” The last bit came with an edge.

“Okay. Are you sure? Would you prefer I sleep on the floor?”

Aleric paused. “No. You’re not a dog.”

“I don’t want you lying there in fear every night. I could even go to the privy room and put more space between us if that makes you feel better. The servant won’t find me.”

“I’m not making you sleep on the privy room floor. It’s cold tile, and you’ll end up with a bad back. Get in the bed, and stop whining.”

“All right. I’ll lock the doors.”

Once he was in bed, Aleric rolled away with the blankets pulled up to his neck, and he tapped the crystal lantern on his bedside table. The crystals grew brighter, and another tap made them go out. Jaime made himself comfortable, although it was rather awkward since it was pretty obvious Aleric wasn’t comfortable.

After several minutes, his breathing hadn’t evened out in the way of a sleeping person. Maybe the silence wasn’t helping, so Jaime whispered. “Aleric?”

“What?”

“Do you want to hear something funny?”

The blanket rustled as he shifted. “All right.”

Guilt nagged Jaime because he’d have to change the story. He couldn’t say the whole truth without revealing other shit. He should tell Aleric the truth without waiting too much longer. Fuck. He hadn’t even thought about it earlier.

“I was running around the village one afternoon when I was little and playing by myself. There was an old house on the edge of the village that had been abandoned for a while, and I went behind it. I found a couple. They were married to other people, but they had their clothes partially off, and they were against each other.”

There had been an abandoned house, but the couple he was talking about had been in a storage room in his parent’s Castle.

“They yelled at me to go away, and I didn’t understand what they’d been doing. I ran away because they were angry. While I was playing elsewhere, the guy found me later. He said I couldn’t tell anyone what I saw, gave me honey sticks, and said if I stayed quiet, I’d get more later, and I could eat them in secret. I figured I had a free supply of honey sticks for life, although I didn’t get why I had to keep my mouth shut. The guy gave me more over a few weeks, and he eventually stopped.”

With his supply of sweets seemingly gone, Jaime hadn’t been pleased. The man and his wife had been talking to Mother one afternoon, and Jaime had asked the man, quite loudly, where were the honey sticks he was supposed to get. Mother had interrupted by asking why was Jaime supposed to receive sweets, and he said it was because he’d found him naked with a lady, and he hadn't told anyone.

The bed quivered slightly like Aleric was holding back a laugh.

A huge fight had started between the husband and wife with her screaming at him. “You snuck off with that whore again?!”

“Mother led me off, and I had to explain to her what happened. She laughed but said if anyone asked me to keep secrets, I had to immediately tell her or Father, and I wasn’t to take anything if someone said they’d give it to me for keeping quiet.”

As an adult, it made sense in case anyone ever tried to bribe him for worse things.

“I didn’t get any more free sweets from him. It was good while it lasted.”

“You weren’t very good at keeping secrets.”

“No, I wasn’t. I asked Mother why the lady’s chest was so big and wobbly, and she had to sit down because she was laughing too hard.”

Aleric snorted. “Did the husband and wife break up?”

“Well, they left and never came back. They might have divorced over infidelity. If I’d never said anything, I’m sure he would have been caught at some point. It’s his fault for cheating.”

“I guess those big, wobbly breasts were too tempting. He couldn’t stay away.”

Jaime rolled his eyes. “The level of interest some men have in them is just…I don’t get it.”

“Because you can touch them and play with their nipples. Depending on what she likes, you can make her feel quite good.”

“You can touch a man’s pecs and play with those nipples. Plenty of men think that feels good too.”

“But breasts are usually bigger, so you can really hold and play with them. It’s different, and they’re fun in their own way. For me, anyway. If you’re not into women, you probably won’t get it. Have you ever seen a pair?”

“Besides that one woman, I’ve seen them in whorehouses, and that’s it. So you like both? Is that why no one was suspicious when you married Clementine?”

“Yes, although I prefer men more. To me, breasts are kind of alluring because they’re always kept covered in public. A man might go shirtless, but women won’t. That’s how I see it anyway. When I first got to play with a pair years and years ago, it was like-I don’t know. I was amazed by them, and she wanted me to suck on her nipples. She said it made her wet, and well…I couldn’t say no. I was hoping she’d let me do more so I could lose my virginity, but she didn’t want to. At least I got to play with her breasts.”

Jaime suddenly busted out laughing as he remembered something.

“Don’t laugh at me just because you don’t care for breasts.”

“It’s not that. I heard a neighbor saying that once some men get off of their Mother’s tits as babies, it’s not long before they’re running to find a new pair to latch onto.”

Aleric chuckled. “She’s not wrong.”

Jaime stretched under the blanket. “I’ll take your word that breasts are fun.”

They grew quiet, and the tension didn’t seem so strong anymore. Nasty words hadn’t been exchanged, and after a few minutes, Aleric’s breathing sounded deeper and even, like he was asleep. Maybe the effort to talk about something besides their current predicaments had been a welcome relief.

It made the guilt worse. Jaime had been trying to not think about it, but Aleric had shared private things. Jaime hadn’t admitted the truth at all. He’d told himself it didn’t matter because it wasn’t relevant to their situation. With their marriage approaching, he would talk to Aleric about it.

Since he was seven, it had been driven into his head to never say a single word. Aunt and Uncle had decided he’d be Théo, and he’d taken their surname of Meyer. He learned to respond to Théo and say that was his name. A couple of years after leaving home once his Aunt and Uncle were dead and buried, he’d gone back to using Jaime.

The fake first name had made it safer in case anyone local ever grew suspicious. Orange eyes. Dark hair. The right age. Same name as the dead lord’s son. He still wanted to go by the one his Mother had chosen. All he had from them was his name and Father’s sword. It didn’t matter if he’d lost his future position and family. He wanted to be Jaime.

The name wasn’t uncommon, so he hadn’t worried while drifting. As long as he never said his true last name or told anyone where he actually came from, he’d be safe.

The two rules had been ironclad since childhood. Still, it wasn’t right to hide it, and with Aleric sharing so much, he couldn’t quite squash the guilt since he’d just twisted a story a little to fit his fake background.

He’d even altered the later truth about what village he lived in, and he made it sound like only an Aunt had raised him. While he was pretty sure no one had been hunting him, he’d felt more secure by changing a few more facts to make it hard or even impossible to trace him.

“Why do you wander?” Aleric mumbled, making Jaime jump.

The question was easy and didn’t need a lie.

“It's hard to put down roots when they’ve been ripped out. I don’t have any living relatives.”

The silence stretched out long enough for Jaime to think Aleric had finally drifted off for real. “I thought villagers would be closer. It’s not like a city.”

“It wasn’t the same without my Aunt, and my parents had been dead for so long.”

“I’m surprised you know you were an accident too.”

Jaime rolled over toward him, keeping the space between their bodies. “Mother told me. It was because a woman said I was a lucky accident. I don’t remember why, but I asked what she meant, and she refused to tell me. I asked Mother, and she said they hadn’t intended to have a baby just yet. A stork was confused and accidentally dropped me off, not realizing my parents weren’t married yet.”

Mother obviously hadn’t been ready to have “the talk” with him about where babies came from.

“Oh. I’m sorry about your family.”

He sounded nearly asleep. Jaime wanted to tug him closer and hold him because he too was sorry about a lot of things, and he wanted them to be able to find a bubble of safety and happiness together.

He couldn’t touch even if they’d talked for a bit. It didn’t equal trust, especially in the dark with no one else nearby. Jaime sighed as Aleric let out a little snore.

Aleric wouldn’t go tattling to everyone. Even if he did, so many years had passed, it might not mean anything, although Jaime wouldn’t dare risk telling whoever.

Aleric might be angry he’d waited to say anything at all. He didn’t need that on his plate either.

He pulled the blanket more over himself. In a few days, he’d sit Aleric down and tell him. Once he explained why he’d kept it secret, Aleric would surely understand even if was mad at first.

He knew what it was like to be unsafe.

***

He awoke in the morning to find Aleric fully dressed at his writing desk on the other side of the room. Unlike some fairies with white hair, Aleric’s didn’t have a silver sheen when the light hit it a certain way. It was the color of pure snow, bright in the morning light, and it was falling more one way since he’d tilted his head. It was always more straight after being freshly washed and combed. Dry, some of the ends curled up or under a little, and it looked soft.

Jaime wanted to run his fingers through it. His morning wood wasn’t helped when he imagined taking a good handful of Aleric’s beautiful hair, pulling his head back, and kissing along the soft curve of his throat.

Aleric mumbled a return good morning and kept swiftly writing when Jaime went by.

The thoughts grew a lot dirtier when Jaime took care of himself in the privacy of the privy room. It wasn’t like he’d forgotten what Aleric looked like with his slick dripping down the back of his balls.

Washed and dressed, he came out and wondered if Aleric would still be pleasant that morning. Jaime wanted to offer safe affection in a way without being over him, so he crouched by Aleric who had just folded what was presumably a letter.

“Clementine?”

“Yes. I figured I’d better tell her there’s a baby on the way and who the Father is. I’m sure she and Belle will be…surprised.”

“They can be Aunt Clementine and Aunt Belle.”

“Yeah…Oh, I forgot to tell you last night. Father agreed to send the court home so I can have peace for a while, and if Gautier has any secret allies here, he’ll lose them too.”

“Excellent. I guess Gautier can’t be booted out.”

“Unfortunately, no. Do you want to try to see if Gautier will find you again today? I should go speak to Delphine, and we can both go, but there’s always the afternoon.”

“Or we could see Delphine in the afternoon and forget Gautier.”

“I can’t exactly forget what’s going on. He will try to talk to you again. Even when he learns we’re getting married, I don’t think he’s going to give up either.”

Jaime took his hand. “I know, and I’m not saying to forget it. I mean leave it for today. Instead of us simply heading to see Delphine, I was thinking we could do something together.”

Suspicion instantly crossed Aleric’s face, and Jaime hurried on in case he thought it was sexual.

“We could go on a ride somewhere. Fresh air and sunlight would be good for you. Maybe you can try to relax a little. Constant stress isn’t good for the baby.”

“I suppose we can go out…”

Aleric didn’t appear very thrilled. Jaime wished he could find words to fix everything and make him see he wasn’t being lured into another horrible situation.