Page 39 of Measure of the Stars

“So were you,” Wes said.Delauney smiled sleepily and gave him a slow, lingering kiss.

They cleaned up as much as they could before changing back into their clothes, but Wes knew that they’d need a proper soak, so he led Delauney to a bathhouse down the street.The baths there were actually springs lined with paving stones, and they found a quiet corner to sink into while the stars glimmered high overhead.Delauney couldn’t seem to keep his hands off of him, slinging an arm around Wes’ waist as they gazed up at the sky.

“It wouldn’t have been the same without you,” Delauney said.He was still staring at the stars, his hair dripping water onto his shoulders.

“This evening?”Wes asked.

“I mean all of it,” Delauney said.“I was stuck before I met you, Wes.I had the spectroscope designed, but I didn’t know if I’d have the courage to do more than poke at it here and there.I didn’t think I could be clever enough to apply for the Aviary again.Now I think it might be possible.”

Wes leaned against him.“I didn’t think I’d be doing more than hard labor before you poked your nose in.”

“But you’re so...”Delauney closed his eyes for a breath.“So resolute.And you’ve picked up concepts that took me years to learn.”Wes frowned, ready to protest, but Delauney cut him off.“I know what you’ll say, but it’s true.Not because I’m not intelligent.I just didn’t have the motivation.I felt like I had to hide, because I believed everything people have told me about myself.You broke all that apart so quickly.”

Wes followed Delauney’s gaze to the stars.Now that he’d known Delauney for a while, he could track most of them, even the ones that he’d never thought had any logical purpose before.“I was stuck, too, you know.The moment my parents had me dragged off to the navy, it was like my life ended there.I was stuck in place while my brother and sister moved on and made lives of their own.So I know what you mean.Maybe we recognized that in each other.”

“Maybe so,” Delauney said.He turned to look at Wes, a strange, new emotion in his face.It was like fondness, Wes thought, but more intimate, as though the stars had folded up around them so that only Wes and Delauney were left in the universe.“I’m glad you’re here, Wesley.”

Wes couldn’t find the right words for the feeling surging in his chest.He kissed Delauney rather than search for them, but he could feel them in Delauney’s touch, his breath, the way his arm tightened around Wes’ waist as they moved in the water.“So am I.”

Chapter Nine

It was remarkable howbeing fucked by a room full of dominants could clear up the mind for scientific inquiry.

Delauney and Wes spent most of the next morning in the ruins of an abandoned house overlooking the sea, walking through the steps they needed to submit an application to the Aviary.This was where Wes’ tidy mind proved beneficial.He sketched out a series of boxes on the gray stone floor with the end of a burned stick, guiding Delauney to stand on one of the first boxes.

“So let’s take the book we’re reading as an example,” Wes said.“The first thing the author did was state his qualifications.That’s what you’ll do when you convince this Ulysse fellow to accept you into the Aviary.Tell me what your credentials are.”

“I don’t have any,” Delauney said, bewildered.

“Incorrect.”Wes walked over to a set of lines he’d drawn on the far side of the room and blotted one out with his boot.

“What was that?”Delauney asked, feeling a little like he was back in the schoolroom, about to be upbraided for not finishing his work fast enough.

Wes smiled.“Oh, that’s just how many times I’ll make you come before we return to the harbor in Staria.”Delauney looked at the number of lines, the smudged-out mark on the floor, and Wes’ bright grin with growing horror.“Try again.Give me a credential.Something that puts weight behind your findings.”

“I’m...”Delauney eyed the markings.“I’m the commander of a vessel?I’m the navigator?”