Page 52 of The Second Marriage
Sejun escorted her to the door, then promptly escorted Taral back to bed. “There’s no reason for you to be up,” he scolded, tucking Taral beneath the blankets and fluffing an additional pillow to prop him in a seated position. “Do you need anything? Food? More tea?”
“No. Thank you.” Taral took Sejun’s hand and tugged until Sejun sat beside him on the bed. He tried to think of how to phrase what he wanted to say, so that he would seem—what? Aloof, in control? That wasn’t the approach he should take with Sejun. “And thank you for taking such good care of me during my heat. I know I’ll always be well tended to with you.”
Taral had never known Sejun to be bashful, but his cheeks darkened now as he dropped his gaze to their linked hands. “Oh, well—it’s no hardship for me. I enjoy your heats.” His mouth slid into a smirk. “As I’m sure you know.”
Now it was Taral’s turn to blush. He did know, because Sejun liked to tell him, at considerable and filthy length. “Stop that. You’re deflecting my praise. I’m trying to be grateful.”
“I know. But you don’t need to be.” Sejun squeezed Taral’s hand. “I’m happy to do it because you’re my husband, and I—it’s my pleasure to care for you.”
Taral would give anything to know what Sejun had stopped himself from saying, but he didn’t ask because he knew Sejun wouldn’t tell him. He knew Sejun could sense what he was feeling, and he tried to open himself as much as he could, to say what he couldn’t otherwise express.
Sejun looked at him, his wary expression shaded with hope. Taral brought Sejun’s hand to his mouth and kissed the bridge of his knuckles, the thin skin there and the bone beneath. His husband.
CHAPTER24
Taral sent messages to Simra, and she sent messages back, and in that way they arranged to have dinner at Simra’s house a few days after Taral came out of confinement. He and Sejun left the palace at sunset and walked through the crowded evening streets. A religious festival of some nature was to take place the next day, and people were out setting up impromptu shrines at every street corner, piled high with offerings of candles and fresh fruit. Sejun kept up a running commentary the entire way to Simra’s shop, remarking on the weather and the things they saw for sale in store windows, and Taral listened to him and wondered how he could think of anyone else in the world when Sejun was here, gesturing as he spoke so that the bangles on his wrists made a cheerful clatter. Anyone would be lucky to have Sejun as a husband.
Simra met them at the door. Taral had told Sejun about Simra’s arm and was pleased when Sejun not only didn’t stare but also didn’t seem to notice. Annoying Simra wouldn’t start their evening on a good note, but Sejun greeted her with flawless courtesy and after a brief exchange in Chedai had her laughing with one hand covering her mouth, a girlish gesture Taral was surprised to see.
“What was that about?” he asked Sejun as they followed Simra into the shop, speaking Teirang so that Simra wouldn’t understand him.
“Oh, I told her if I had known women in Chedi could be so beautiful, I would have made an effort to visit much sooner.” Sejun grinned. “Do you think she believed my flattery?”
Sejun was not the sort of man anyone would suspect of wanting to bed women, and as they both knew that, Taral saw no need to comment on it. “Her wife may be the jealous sort, so you’ll want to be sure not to seduce her too blatantly.”
“I’ll be subtle, then, in my efforts,” Sejun said, grinning harder.
Simra led them up the stairs to the apartment above the shop where she lived with Lavi. A sitting room at the top of the stairs was small but cozy with paired divans piled high with pillows and a trailing plant growing from a pot on the windowsill. Simra invited them to sit and disappeared through a curtained doorway. She returned with tea and Lavi.
“My wife,” Simra said to Sejun, gesturing to Lavi, who bowed with a shy smile. Taral watched Simra gaze at Lavi with an expression of love and pride as Sejun made his greeting. She and Lavi had married only a few years ago, and although Simra had said little about Lavi in her letters, it was apparent that she thought Lavi made the moons rise and set again.
They all sat and had tea together. As Lavi spoke no Dirang, the conversation was conducted in Chedai, leaving Taral with little idea of what was said. He could only watch everyone’s expressions and surmise. Sejun was being extremely charming, it seemed, and Taral wished he could understand what it was Sejun said to make Simra laugh like that with her eyebrows raised.
“Poor Taral,” Sejun said in Dirang after a few minutes, and set his hand on Taral’s thigh. “We’re neglecting you, aren’t we? Can you forgive me?” He said something in Chedai to Lavi, who smiled, and then added to Taral, “I’m complimenting their home and asking how they met, so I’m sure it’s nothing you would find very interesting.”
Taral patted his hand. “I’d rather I be left in the dark than Lavi. I expected this would happen. Don’t give it a second thought.”
Simra said, “Personally, I intend to gossip about you at length and ask Sejun to tell me all your secrets.”
Sejun laughed. “Does he have any? The secrets of which fossils he’s hoarding away in Tadasho?”
“Oh, that reminds me.” Simra leaned forward in her seat. “Do you have the time to go on a collecting trip? There’s a rich fossil vein in the hills to the south.”
“Tell me more about this,” Taral said.
He hadn’t meant to devolve into fossil chat, which wasn’t a topic for company, but Simra seemed to have no such compunctions and went on at length about the shale deposit and what she had found there. As Sejun and Lavi seemed happily engaged in their own talk, Taral indulged himself until Lavi at last rose and went into the other room, and returned with a tray holding dinner.
The food was spicy and better than what Taral ate in the palace. He asked Sejun to convey his compliments to Lavi, who beamed at Sejun’s no doubt embellished praise. The conversation moved back and forth between two languages, and Taral drank just enough wine to blur over any awkwardness that came from understanding only some of what was said.
“Well,” Simra said to him, when Lavi and Sejun were deep into some talk about the best places to buy jewelry in the city. “How are your negotiations going?”
Taral sighed. “Not productive, I’m afraid. For all the talk about brokering a peace agreement, neither side seems interested in actually negotiating. The latest proposition from Skopa is that they receive the Kasauli Hills in addition to much of Chedi’s territory in the hills to the east. King Aditya listens like a statue and says nothing. I can’t imagine what any of us from the mountains will do to help the process along.”
“Strange that Skopa even agreed to come to Chedi if they claim more land through treaties than they ever attempted through warfare.” Simra frowned at her cup of wine. “How long do you think Aditya will let this continue?”
Taral shrugged. “He doesn’t speak of his intentions, at least not that I’ve heard. Feba thinks the Setsennai emperor may get involved, although I can’t imagine his people would permit him to travel here in person. But Setsen wants peace on its border, and there will be no peace if this matter can’t be resolved.”
“I wish you luck,” Simra said, shaking her head, and they moved on to talking about other things.