Page 30

Pain woke Noe up. He grimaced, shifting a little in tiny movements, trying to settle again because he truly didn’t want to be awake yet. No dice. His body was in too much discomfort to even contemplate falling back asleep.

Dammit.

Reluctantly, he opened his eyes and realized that as he slept, someone’s hand had covered his. Turning his head, he blinked at the sight of Luca sitting at his bedside. At least he was fairly certain it was Luca. Noe’s vision was a bit fuzzy without his glasses, but the dark hair and size were right. He had curled up—in a very uncomfortable fashion—in the chair next to Noe’s bed and was currently sound asleep. His mouth was parted a little, kimono askew, a blanket resting over his lap. His head tilted onto a pillow against the back of the chair at an angle that was sure to cause a crick, hair a messy display over one shoulder.

Noe’s heart swelled three sizes just at the sight.

He’d stayed. Despite how awkward it must have been throughout the night, he’d stayed. He hadn’t retreated to the ryokan for sleep, but planted himself right there, refusing to move from Noe’s side.

Aww, he was so cute, his fiancé. Noe wanted to kiss him. Damn ribs made the idea painful, though. They gave a sharp poke at him at just the thought. Fuck you, ribs. At least let him fantasize.

Noe wasn’t too surprised Luca had dove into the icy harbor after him, as his courage didn’t seem to know limits. Plus, Noe knew how much Luca adored him, ’cause he’d been told so. What had surprised him was what came after. Luca’s reaction to Petar had told its own story. The man had been enraged . Truly, Noe had never seen any living being so mad before. Luca’s temper had been like a living thing, almost terrifying to witness, and Noe hadn’t even been on the receiving end. Hell, it had taken two men just to pull Luca back, and if not for those two, Noe would likely be short a brother right now.

It was then Noe realized he meant far more to Luca than he’d suspected. Noe didn’t know if Luca was in love with him, per se, but his affections clearly ran very deep, perhaps deeper than Luca had already candidly admitted to. Which thrilled Noe in turn.

As for Noe, well, how could he do anything but be hopelessly in love with this man?

The door made a soft noise as it slid open and Noe blinked, turning his head again to watch the nurse come in, a tray in her hand. She smiled upon seeing him awake.

“Keller-san, how do you feel?”

“In pain,” he admitted with a grimace.

Luca snapped awake, startling, then groaned and put a hand to his neck. “I knew that was a bad idea. Noe, how are you?”

“Not comfortable,” he admitted wryly, “but with a fractured arm and ribs, it’s not surprising. At least my headache’s subsiding.”

“Here,” the nurse instructed, holding a glass out to him. “Drink this. All in one. Then I have hot tea and pumpkin porridge for you.”

That did sound good, actually. Noe hadn’t been able to eat much of anything yesterday because the accident had happened early in the morning. His stomach was petulant about being underfed.

“Here, El brought your spare glasses and a pillow.”

“Bless her.” Noe felt infinitely better with glasses on, the world coming into focus once more.

Luca shifted to the bed and helped support him so he could sit up a little straighter. Noe relished the gesture and gave him a warm smile. He did appreciate the support, too, as it made sitting up easier.

All right, nasty medicine on three. One, two, three. Noe forced himself to guzzle it down, then stuck his tongue out at the extremely bitter taste. He couldn’t complain, though, as the medication had done wonders to keep the pain at bay. It was worth the five seconds of fighting his gag reflex. His ribs smarted at the swallowing, but his ribs smarted at just breathing, so he was willing to down meds to help with the pain. Especially since he still wanted to eat something.

The nurse exchanged the cup for tea, which he immediately swallowed a healthy amount of, washing the taste out. Ah, better.

While he ate his porridge in small bites, the doctor came in and examined him. He made frowny faces before informing Noe, “You still have concussion. You not tracking well.”

Oh. Was that why Noe felt rather disconnected and out of it?

Luca didn’t like this either. “How bad?”

“Not too bad, but would rather he stay here another two days. Just in case. Also, will rest easier here with healing ribs than ryokan.”

Ohh yeah. Futons would not be good right now. No way to be propped up.

Although Noe could lie propped up on Luca all night. The thought made him giggle.

Luca looked at Noe sideways. “I agree on the not focusing part.”

Eh? Noe was focused. He was just easily distracted by his handsome fiancé. There was a difference.

The doctor shook his head, still frowning. “You stay another two days.”

Hard to argue with his tone.

Noe finished his porridge and felt better for it, and the nurse retreated with everything on her tray once more. Luca helped Noe up so he could go piss, his bladder thankful for the relief, then they retreated back to the room. While he helped Noe get situated on the bed, Noe couldn’t help but ask questions.

“Where’s Petar?”

“On his way home.” Luca sat next to Noe on the bed, their hips pressed together. “Sho forced him onto a ship yesterday evening, along with our written reports of what he’d done and why we were throwing him out of the program.”

“Oh.” Noe sat there and digested this news. Better for him to leave, undeniably, after all he’d done. Still, Noe felt this heavy weight of sadness tugging at him.

“Why are you making that face?” Luca prodded gently.

“I’m just…I’m just sad.”

“Because he left without saying goodbye?”

“Well, kind of that, although really, I’m mostly relieved. I don’t think goodbyes would have gone over well. Likely it would have devolved into a fight. Again. No, it’s just…” Noe paused, struggling to put feelings into words. “The chance to change his mind is gone forever.”

Luca canted his head a little, studying him. “Is that all?”

“That and I realize I’ve likely lost all contact with my family too because of my decision. They feel the same way. They won’t tolerate me ignoring him. It’s all gone in one whoosh, really.”

Luca ran gentle fingers through Noe’s hair, his smile sad. “They can change, but only if they want to. Petar has no intention of changing. Even as he was being forced onto that ship yesterday, he screamed about how he was only trying to save his brother from making a mistake. The damn fool nearly killed you and still didn’t understand how wrong he was about everything.”

Noe winced but wasn’t too surprised by that. “I know you’re right. It’s just hard to write off a brother, a family member, like that.”

“I know it must be. But you can’t trust him anymore, Noe. The fool puts being right over your very life.”

Sadly, that wasn’t even an exaggeration. “I did mean what I said yesterday. I won’t contact or see him again. I have to cut ties for my own safety. I know it had to be done. I’m just mad and sad. Sad and mad. Sadly mad?”

“You’re barely making sense, y’know?”

“But you’re smiling at me.”

“Because you’re cute like this.”

“Aww, you do think I’m cute.”

“I think you’re sexy, too.”

Noe blinked at him, not sure he’d heard right. “I am?”

“I’d like to point out I have a hard time keeping my hands off of you.”

“Oh. Yeah, that’s true. You’re always kissing me. It makes me immensely happy. I worried at first you were just doing it to make me happy, but you’re always smiling after you kiss me, so that clearly wasn’t it, and so I just tried to do it back as much as you were doing it, but that’s really hard because first of all, you ambush me when I least expect it, and second of all, you kiss me a lot. A lot a lot.”

Luca leaned in to graze a kiss against his lips. “Like that?”

“Mm,” Noe agreed dreamily. “Like that. It’s no fair. I want to kiss you just as much.”

“Then do it.”

“I’m trying . Haven’t you been listening? That’s it, I’m declaring a kissing war.”

Luca was definitely laughing on the inside. His lips kept twitching and those grey eyes danced with laughter. “May the best man win.”

Look at him, being all smug over there, like he was sure he was going to win. Noe was quite put out with him. He shouldn’t be writing Noe off so quickly. Luca leaned in and brushed a kiss against Noe’s forehead. “Now, you’re stuck here another two days. If you’re comfortable, I can run to the ryokan and fetch a few things to help you pass the time here.”

“Honestly, that would be good.”

“Let me—”

There was a light tap at the door before Ren’s voice called out, “Safe to enter?”

“Enter,” Luca answered.

The door slid open to reveal not only Ren but Sakura. In her hands, she held a very large stuffed dragon and a thick quilt. She promptly came to Noe’s other side, looking him over seriously.

“Are you feeling better?”

“I am,” Noe replied, glad to mean it. “Thank you for checking up on me.”

She extended both dragon and quilt. “I’ll let you borrow Raijuu so you’re not lonely here. You have to give him back, okay?”

She was such a sweet kid. Noe took her offer in the spirit it was meant. “Thank you.”

Luca helped drape the quilt over his legs. His feet were a little cold, so he welcomed the extra layer. Raijuu went into Noe’s lap. Huh, the dragon did prop up his arm in a way that made it more comfortable. Perhaps this gesture would be more helpful than Noe realized.

“We can sit and keep you company while O’ Broín runs to the ryokan. Spell him a little,” Ren offered.

Luca glanced at Noe, checking, and Noe encouraged him to go with a nod. “Bring me some of my books and maybe my kumihimo bag?”

“Those I can grab. I’ll take the offer, Sho, thank you.” Luca got up at that point, leaning in to give Noe a light peck on the lips before sliding past Ren and out of the room.

See? He was already stealing kisses again, and Noe was trapped with bad ribs. How very dare he. This was cheating, and Noe would be upset about it if he didn’t enjoy the kisses so much.

Ren took the chair Luca had vacated and looked Noe over. “You do look better. There’s some color in your cheeks now. Did O’ Broín tell you that your brother’s on his way to Scovia?”

“He did. I’m glad, honestly.”

“None of us are shedding any tears over it. He threw quite the fit while leaving. Insisted on at least saying goodbye to you, but none of us trusted him anywhere near you after what happened. He wrote a letter to you, which I agreed to pass along, mostly to shut him up.” He took said letter out of his breast pocket and handed it to me. “I’ll leave it up to you whether you want to read it or not.”

Noe took it with severe misgivings, as it was probably full of the usual half apologies, insults, and rants. Noe might give in and read it later, but he had no desire to right now. He was still angry with Petar for nearly getting him killed.

“Also,” Ren continued, “Giric insisted on roughing him up before he went. Something about him being your best friend since childhood and having the right. Since Petar was being insufferable, I might have looked the other way for a few minutes.”

Noe snorted. “He deserved it. Thank you for that.”

“I figured it was only fair he didn’t get off lightly, considering how badly you got hurt. Plus it made Giric easier to live with, once he worked out his anger a little. I sent a message to Princess Alexandria via pigeon so she could be aware of what happened. The message was understandably short, but I wanted to give her a heads-up considering Petar’s actions create international backlash. Or the potential for it, at any rate. I wanted her to know this was more of a family matter than anything. She sent a reply, which I received this morning, and let me know she’d handle the matter personally. Your brother’s going to have quite the welcome when he lands.”

Noe blinked at Ren, not expecting this. “What is she planning to do?”

“Honestly? I don’t know. I don’t know that even she has fully decided yet. I do know she’s hopping mad. Petar was supposed to represent all of Scovia, and her by extension, and him doing something this detrimental to a brand-new program has enraged her. Knowing her, I don’t think he’ll be able to work in the engineering field again. He’ll probably face jail time.”

Part of Noe felt like he should be upset about his brother in prison, but again, after what he did yesterday… “I think he needs that, as callous as it might sound. He needs real-life consequences to all of his shitty decisions for him to wake up and realize that while he might have opinions, his conduct is more important. Not everyone will agree to or adhere to his own standards. He’s got to learn how to tolerate others’ differences.”

“Agreed. In that sense, he was the worst possible candidate to send here. I think he was assigned here because he’s your brother, truth be told. I’ve already sent letters to your company that they are not to repeat this mistake. No one gets in by dint of being related to someone here.”

“Wise. Thank you for telling me.”

“You’re the victim, after all. It’s only fair you’re fully aware of what’s going on. Also, if your family comes at you over this, you can tell them it wasn’t your doing. Your superiors handled it all while you were still knocked out and sleeping. They can’t blame you for Petar’s mistakes.”

They likely would. Noe made the perfect scapegoat, after all. However, he was also tired of his family’s abuse and had no intention of tolerating it anymore.

Noe had only one other question. “What about the beams? Are they going in?”

“We had quite the job of untangling all the guidelines and getting things reset to try again. Today, we’re doing everything carefully to make sure things are prepped, and if the weather holds, we’ll try again tomorrow. I think we’ll be fine this time. We’ve got far more guidelines and counterweights. In fact, we may have overdone it a little, but I’d prefer that over having someone else yanked into the harbor.”

“Me too,” Noe admitted wryly. “All right, good. I want those beams in place before the weather changes on us again.”

“I think everyone can agree there.” Kindly, Ren directed, “Rest. We’ve got this, I promise you.”

Noe was heartened to hear it. Yesterday may have been a disaster, but hopefully, everyone had learned from the mistakes. All they could do at this point was move forward.