Page 68 of Guiding Desire

“Aww, he let you butt heads with Alesa, pun intended,” Col said.

Vin shrugged. “Nice start.”

“Found you,” said Taros, who broke loose from a chat with two Conduits. He was carrying four glasses in his hands and wore a summer dress that brought out his muscular shoulders and upper body as well as his firm legs.

“Perfect, tara cider,” Col said, took one glass off Taros and passed it along to Orrey.

“I can’t. Medication.”

“Fuck, right.” He shrugged. “More for me, I guess.”

“That was Karmine’s,” Taros said.

Col downed it. “If you say so, it must have been. Here, you take the empty one, and I’ll take that.”

Vin sighed. “Fine. I’ll stay sober and make sure you end up in your own bed tonight.” He looked first at Col, then Taros. “Both of you.”

Taros stuck his head under Orrey’s umbrella. “He’s strict about who needs to be in which bed. Very annoying when you’re drunk.”

“Good to know. I’ll try to get into the habit of remaining mostly sober then,” Orrey said.

“Ah, beautiful, you make me blush,” Taros said, falling in step on Orrey’s other side. The three of them followed Vin, who seemed to have an easy time navigating the crowd. Or parting the crowd for them.

And the crowd surprised Orrey the closer he looked. “Knowing Guardians and Conduits don’t get demerits for having multiple children and seeing it are very different things,” he said as a group of three children ran past them.

“Oh, you get used to that. And remember that a lot of the children with regulars for parents stay here for boarding and school,” Taros said.

They arrived in the shade of another large tree, this one with leaves that shimmered in a yellow so bright it looked like gold. Orrey spotted Senlas first, the Guardian sitting on the ground and frowning at Karmine, who was juggling fist-sized balls of deep red flames in one hand while controlling a small bonfire next to their picnic blanket with the other.

Orrey, who had never seen pyromancy this close stopped in his tracks, which was when Senlas turned and spotted him. He was on his feet, leaving Karmine in mid-sentence, and three steps later, Orrey was tilting his parasol back while Senlas frowned down at him.

“Do you want to sit? You were gone a while. Col, why’s he looking paler than when I left him with you?”

“Sturdy parasol?” Col offered.

“Actually, I’m fine. And I decided about that—ah.” Orrey looked around at the families and children, all further away from their picnic area, but that didn’t mean a preschooler couldn’t come running at them at any moment. Orrey went up on his toes and leaned into Senlas, immediately prompting the Guardian’s arms to come around Orrey. “The bomber. I decided. If possible, I’d like to get their death sentence converted.”

Senlas nodded. “The judiciary agent called while you were gone. Proper video call like you said. I’ll let her know.”

“Thank you.”

“You don’t have to thank me for that, kitten. Did you like the art?”

“Art?”

Senlas frowned. Orrey felt himself being pulled closer, and struggled to get the parasol closed before he could poke out anyone’s eye with it. Meanwhile, Senlas had turned to Col.

Col cleared his throat, closed his own parasol, and flopped down on the blanket with his drink. “I showed him the statues first. I may have taken a detour. To explain what kind of things and people he might encounter outside the wall.”

“And you had to do that today.” Senlas’s hold tightened further.

Orrey patted his shoulder. “Ease up. I need those ribs in one piece.”

“Wha—shit. Sorry, kitten. Come on, let’s sit. Taros, get him something non-alcoholic to drink.”

“Me? I got the last round. Karmine, you go.”

“Dude, I’m watching this fire.”