I gulped. A thrill of excitement ran down my back. I’d just had a glass and a half of water, but somehow my mouth was dry again.

As if alerted somehow, Carver walked by right that very moment. He had one eyebrow raised, and I swore I caught the amber glow of his false eye fading. Had he been watching us?

“Is everything quite all right here?”

Herald sprang away, leaning against one of my stone bookcases, his gaze suddenly on the floor, then the ceiling, anywhere but me. “Oh, totally fine. We were just – you know, breathing. As people do.”

“Yes,” Carver said. “Of course you were.” His eyes narrowed as he turned to me. “Dustin? Do keep your door open.”

“I – sure, okay, I will.” His house, his rules. Carver had never felt like more of a dad than in that moment, making sure that me and my little boyfriend wouldn’t do anything untoward behind closed doors. “It’s just that – ”

“Stop,” he said, holding out a hand. “I do not wish to make this conversation any more awkward than it needs to be, but you know that my eye can see everything. Normally, it’s a simple matter of shutting it off. But the combined magical signature of your bodies burns far too brightly. I could shut my eyes and it would still be blinding.”

The heat crept up the back of my n

eck. I had no idea – let’s keep it classy – that ardor could stoke the magical fires that strongly. I nodded at Carver in silent agreement, watching him walk away, and swallowed thickly, avoiding Herald’s gaze.

One of the stone shelves scraped. Vanitas’s garnets flashed red as he spoke. “And don’t forget, Graves. I’m right here. I can bloody well sense everything that you do.”

“Right,” I said out loud in a choked whisper, my mind racing as it tried to make a checklist of the few times Herald and I had ever done anything bordering on inappropriate in the Boneyard. The list wasn’t very long, but that didn’t make it any less embarrassing.

I looked up into Herald’s face at last. He was bright red. We were very careful to shower separately that night.

Chapter 18

“My mouth is on fire,” I told Herald. I sipped in the cold night air of Little China, but that only made the spice worse.

“Which is why we need to track down a Happy Boba,” he said. “You should know by now, water just spreads the heat around. Milk is really what you need to take the edge off.”

Right, I thought, my brain shutting down as Herald tried to explain the science of it. Milk worked best, or a big spoonful of plain rice, or, as I read somewhere, some bread to help soak up the oils that make spicy food spicy. Granted, Herald was right. We’d just eaten the best Sichuan food I’d ever had in my life. By God did the Chinese know how to do spicy food. Dried chilis everywhere. Like, everywhere.

“The tofu was great though, wasn’t it?” Herald said.

“Oh, everything was awesome,” I said. “But my mouth is still on fire.”

“Hmm.” He held a hand up to his chin. “I’ve read kissing helps, too.”

Gullible, I leaned in. “Then hurry up and do something about this, my lips are melting.”

Herald laughed and shoved me in the chest. “Joke. Total joke. There, down this corner. I’m pretty sure there’s a Happy Boba here.”

Herald was right. Herald was always right, the milk tea did wonders. The creamy sweetness of it ran the spice right out of my mouth, and as Herald explained while I wordlessly inhaled an entire cupful of bubble tea, that was why it was a good idea to grab a Thai tea every time we went out for some pineapple rice and curry, or a mango lassi when we went for some Indian. I loved that Herald loved food as much as I did. I loved food, and I loved Herald. It all worked out for me in the end.

I know, I said love. Stop laughing at me.

This was how we usually spent our date nights, hunting down great places to eat throughout Valero. Herald would turn to the internet to check on reviews or sniff out popup restaurants, and I would tag along and eat everything in sight. And Little China offered a fantastic selection all on its own. I think we’d been at least three times in as many weeks.

I stashed my empty boba in a trash can, wondering briefly if I should convince Herald to turn around with me and grab a second one, when I noticed that we were near someplace familiar.

“Hey,” I told him. “This is Prudence’s grandma’s place. You might want to drop by when it’s open, find some things to use in your alchemy.”

Madam Chien’s apothecary was completely dark and empty, of course, what with both her and Prudence being out of the country, but Herald pressed himself up against the glass all the same, his mouth half open as he stared hard at the shop’s contents.

“Don’t get too close,” I said. “You don’t want the security system going off, plus Madam Chien keeps the place pretty heavily warded.”

“Oh, I can tell,” Herald said absently, his eyes focused on the rows upon rows of rare ingredients Madam Chien kept stocked. Without looking, he pointed at the front door. “See those talismans? They’re rigged to explode if anyone tries anything funny.”

I glanced at the door, open mouthed. “Holy shit.”

Tags: Nazri Noor Darkling Mage Fantasy
Source: readsnovelonline.net