Page 67 of Measure of the Stars

“He said that you thought of me as family,” Delauney said.

“I do,” Ned said, his voice hoarse and low.

Delauney held out a hand.“Brothers, then.We’ll work it out, Ned.Trust me.”

Ned clasped Delauney’s arm.“I need you, too,” he said.“More than you know.”

Ned released him before Delauney could respond.He strode off to his horse, which was waiting placidly on a hitch by the street, and stopped to rub his eyes on his arm before he climbed into the saddle.

Wes was leaning against the wall by the door when Delauney stepped back inside.

“How did it go?”His expression was guarded, as though he wasn’t sure whether to look sympathetic or encouraging.

“Well,” Delauney said.“I think.I’m not sure.”

“I might understand how you feel,” Wes said.He pulled Delauney into a gentle embrace.“But it’s a start, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Delauney said, sinking into the comforting warmth of Wes’ touch.“It’s a start.”

Gerakia, Four Months Later

“The heavens are closed!”

Doctor Monroe stood on the lower landing of the largest observatory in Iperios, holding a box full of bottles in both hands.He was a good two heads shorter than Wes, with red-brown skin, a flowered cap over his curly black hair, and the robes of someone who’d earned more degrees than should have been physically possible.He set the box down at the door to the observatory and clapped his hands.

“That means everyone goes home!”he shouted.

“Do you think he’ll notice if we hide behind the supply shelves?”Delauney whispered.Three months of study at the Aviary hadn’t done much to change his sense of fashion.Even after working all day in the observatory, Delauney wore an embroidered shirt with crystal buttons and fussy polished shoes.His hair was disheveled, though, and he had a smudge on his cuff from when he’d accidentally dipped it into an inkwell two weeks before.

“I don’t think so,” Wes whispered.He was dressed a little more finely than he was used to, thanks to Delauney’s influence and his generous pension, but neither of them stood out among the other students in the Aviary.He’d expected most of them to be young, but it seemed that Gerakia accepted students from all walks of life, from grandmothers to teenagers on leave from merchant caravans.Some professors even traveled with those caravans, offering lessons in the towns they passed.Wes had grown so used to seeing people wandering around the campus that he no longer knew who was a student or who was a visitor.

Louise had been shocked to find Wes dressed in silks and finery when she’d visited a few months before, towing a gaggle of children after her.She’d supposedly taken them from a guild of thieves, but they acted more like students, chattering excitedly about the courses at the college and stopping to look into every lecture hall.Ferrin was still tied to the throne, but he’d sent several letters already.

Ned hadn’t visited yet, but he’d sent a letter with Alain, who’d appeared with one of their other colony members to deliver a gift they’d all made for Wes.It was a cloak that supposedly protected the wearer from scrying spells, but Wes hadn’t found the courage to put it on yet.He kept it on the wall like a tapestry instead, where the enchanted beads and delicate lacework looked like dozens of tiny eyes peering out from an ancient, unknowable creature.It would have disturbed Wes half a year ago, but now, it was almost charming.Alain and their colony member had wept openly when Wes had given them a box of paints in exchange.

Delauney had spent the better part of a week responding to Ned.Wes suspected that it would be a while before Peter would apologize for his part in the events of Leo’s engagement party, but he found himself largely indifferent to the man.He was pitiable and wrong in equal measures, and with the work they had at the observatory, Wes didn’t have time to hold grudges.Resentment no longer felt worth the trouble.

“I know you’re both up there,” Monroe shouted, as Giovanni, another professor and one of Monroe’s submissives, stopped to murmur in his ear.Wes and Delauney sighed and stepped away from the notes they’d been annotating.Monroe started rifling through the contents of his box.“Enthusiasm is nice, but sleep is better.Students make mistakes.Tired students make more.”

Wes didn’t know what he’d thought life at the Aviary would be like, but he hadn’t planned for Doctor Monroe.Monroe was rumored to be a sadist in private, but he had the heart of a mother hen.He forced them to take breaks for tea when Delauney started to lose track of time or when Wes started drumming his pens on the table.He took them for walks, abruptly stopped their studies to drag some poor poet over for a recital, and even plopped a bewildered kitten down on a library table once and ordered them to watch it for an hour.

“You did well tonight,” Monroe said.He clicked his tongue as Giovanni tried to walk past him, and Giovanni slowed obediently, stopping to wait for him by the door frame.“Tomorrow, we’re attending a lecture by a mathematician from the Sisters.I’ll have lunch in my bag—the skinflint doesn’t bother feeding his students, unfortunately.Be at the Alberta Lecture Hall at ten.”

Monroe waited for them to leave the observatory before he locked the doors.Wes looked up at the domed, polished roof, where the world’s most sophisticated telescope waited for him.It gleamed in the starlight, inviting and already familiar.

“Sleep well, boys,” Monroe said.He reached up to tug something under Giovanni’s tunic as they left, eliciting a faint squeak from the submissive.

“We don’thaveto sleep, though,” Delauney said, leading Wes down a path toward their small cottage at the edge of campus.They’d acquired it together, since Wes had insisted on using part of his pension, but Delauney had paid for most of the furniture and the enormous closet of clothes.“Do we?”

“I certainly wasn’t planning on it,” Wes said.

Delauney grinned.

One of the best things about Gerakia, other than the lack of an aristocracy and the observatory, was Copper Street.Most towns had one.They were like pleasure districts, but instead of courtesans living in brothels or signing contracts with one, they simply worked on Copper Street for an evening before returning to their homes.There were also several places for men like Wes and Delauney, who weren’t interested in earning coin.

They entered Copper Street a few hours later, slipping past a set of metal rings in a wall where a man was being bound by the wrists.There were buildings for more discreet visitors, but Wes headed straight for a series of platforms in the middle of the street.A woman was already on one of them, crying out as another woman pumped three fingers in her ass.The platform next to her was empty, and Delauney hopped onto it before someone else could claim it.He started unbuttoning his shirt as Wes approached, watching him with heat in his bright eyes.

“You’re so beautiful like this,” Wes said.He pulled off his own shirt, climbing onto the platform.He kissed Delauney as he started undoing his trousers, and Delauney gratefully helped him, a blush spreading over his pale skin.Someone whistled, and Delauney answered by tugging Wes’ trousers down to his knees.