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Two weeks after they left Watermead, an early Lenthin storm swept in from the east and caught them in the middle of nowhere. Literally nowhere: they were crossing an expanse of bare moor that offered no shelter better than low-lying gorse bushes. They had no choice but to keep going, hoods drawn up and hands chilled on the reins, as water gradually worked its way beneath every layer of cloth on their bodies. As the murky daylight waned towards dusk, it seemed increasingly likely that they were going to be faced with a choice between carrying on until they were numb with weariness, or huddling miserably in the open for the night.
Seregil had been grumbling steadily since noon, and that alone had lifted Alec's spirits considerably, though he took care to hide his occasional smile. It seemed an age since Seregil had cared even a fraction for his own comfort; Alec couldn't have put into words how relieved he was that the litany of discontent had taken the place of listless silence.
"Oh, lovely," Seregil said sourly as they crested a nearly imperceptible rise and were greeted with a gust of damp air right into their faces. "If I didn't know better I'd think Kari had sent this after us to make us sorry we'd left."
"How far did you say that mining town was?"
"Evidently further than I thought."
Seregil reined in Cynril and peered ahead into the murk. Alec stopped beside him, trying not to feel the way his wet clothes clung even more unpleasantly when he was still. It had taken him a while to adjust to the Skalan habits of bathing, but right now he wished for a tub of hot water as fervently as Seregil ever had. He mentioned this, and it was worth the discomfort to hear Seregil laugh.
"I still remember the way you looked at me when I told you to wash that first day," he said, voice warm. "Like I'd asked you to fly to the moon. Look over there - can you see something? It looks like it might be higher ground."
Alec tried to make out what he was pointing at through the curtain of drizzle.
"Maybe," he said doubtfully. "Shall we try it?"
"Might as well."
It did not seem promising at first, but as they urged their weary horses onward, Alec began to be more sure that there was indeed a line of low hills not far ahead. They were probably as bare of vegetation as the rest of this place, but at least there might be a lee side where the wind and rain were diminished. When a gust of wind blew the rain aside for long enough that he clearly made out the outline of the hills against the darkening sky, Alec turned in his saddle to congratulate Seregil for spotting them - just as Windrunner stumbled over the edge of a drop that neither he nor his rider had seen coming.
"Alec!"
Alec did his best to hang on, but Windrunner had lost his footing completely, crashing down with a terrified squeal and throwing Alec from the saddle. Alec hit a slope of loose scree and slid some way down before his flailing hands managed to find enough purchase to stop his descent.
"Alec!"
Seregil's voice was suddenly a lot further away, and raw with panic. Alec pushed himself up on hands and knees, wincing at the dozens of new bruises and scrapes, but thankful he seemed to have suffered nothing worse. He could hear Windrunner struggling to his feet further up the slope. By the sound of it, he succeeded, which at least meant the Aurënfaie stallion hadn't broken a leg.
"I'm all right!" Alec shouted over the wind. "Just knocked about a bit!"
Small rocks bounced past him as he heard Seregil moving down the slope towards him. It was steep enough that Alec decided to wait until he had his breath back before attempting to stand. He was about to call out to Seregil to stay where he was – except Seregil was already beside him, dropping to his knees and clutching at Alec as if he thought he'd disappear in the gloom.
"Hey!" Alec returned the embrace, startled; his heart gave an anxious lurch when he felt how Seregil was shaking. "What is it? What's wrong?"
"What's wrong ...?" Seregil laughed raggedly, finally easing his grip enough to bring a hand up and wipe at a smear of mud on Alec's cheek. "I just thought I saw you go over a cliff, tal í . You may recall I don't much enjoy that."
He was trying for the light-hearted tone he'd thrown into the face of danger so many times, but Alec could hear how strained it was. Seregil was still too hurt, too fragile to brush off even such a minor scare the way he used to. He had said little enough of what he'd found in the Cockerel that night, and most of that had been concerned with the murder of the good people who had kept it for him, but Alec had eventually learned of the final cruel trick Varg ü l Ashnazai had left for Seregil – the trail of blood, and the closed curtains of the bed...
Alec wound his hand into Seregil's hair and drew him in to kiss him. The wet and the cold, even the cuts and bruises from his fall, could be ignored for long enough to ease that terror from Seregil's heart.
It was still strange, this – strange and wonderful. Not just the way Seregil kissed him back, one thumb stroking haphazardly across his cheek as he cupped Alec's face, but the way Alec felt himself respond so eagerly and completely to the touch. And the way he could bring Seregil comfort – more than comfort – just with his mouth, or his hands, or the warmth of his body.
Cold rain working its way down Alec's neck finally forced him to break off the kiss, though he took a moment to brush his lips lightly over Seregil's cheek as he drew back. Maybe it was just his imagination, but he almost thought he could feel the turmoil in Seregil settling down. Perhaps he was just learning to read him better.
"I should check on Windrunner."
"Yes," murmured Seregil, reluctantly letting him go. "And I abandoned poor Cynril at the top of the slope – she'll be halfway back to Watermead if I don't show her I'm still around."
Windrunner, miraculously, did not seem to have lamed himself, though he snorted and shied when Alec probed a couple of scrapes on his flank. He seemed to have come off better than his rider had, as Alec told him in wry tones.
"North or south, do you think?" Seregil had led Cynril to the edge of the short drop Windrunner had stumbled over. "It's hard to see if it goes on far in either direction, but with luck we should be able to cut around..."
"No," said Alec slowly, thinking about the terrain they had crossed, "I think we should go down to the bottom."
"And risk another fall? I don't think..."
"We can walk the horses. It would be safer on this slope, anyway." Alec knew he was the better guide away from the cities, and he spoke decisively over Seregil's objections. "I've travelled through this sort of country before. I expect we'll find a stream at the bottom, and then those hills we were heading for will start on the far side. If they're the same kind of rock as on this side, there should be a cave or two."
Seregil hesitated only a moment; then he guided Cynril carefully down a lower part of the rocky lip, and made his way to Alec's side.
"It can't be worse than carrying on over that damned scrub," he said. "But let me go first this time."
*
Seregil wasn't surprised when Alec's prediction about the stream came true, though he wished he'd noticed it before splashing into icy water. Alec had the nerve to actually laugh , and remind him that it had been his choice to take the lead. Seregil called him a variety of unflattering names as he mounted Cynril and urged her across the stream, but the fact that Alec could still find humour in the situation cheered his own damp spirits.
Even swollen with rainwater, the stream was shallow, though Seregil suspected it had spilled out of its normal course. The ground on the other side rose more sharply than the slope they had come down. After a minute of peering through the now almost complete darkness, Alec led the way confidently downstream. Seregil followed, trying to pay attention to where he was going rather than watching Alec like a nervous mother hen.
Two weeks of travel had made more of a difference than he could have dreamed, and Seregil knew that it had less to do with the journey than it did the company he was keeping. Sometimes he felt as though Alec were a gift he had no right to, that sooner or later he would be reclaimed by whatever careless fool had accidentally let him slip.
"Here!" Alec had dismounted again, and was leading Windrunner up to a mass of tumbled rock. "I think there's something..."
The 'something' turned out to be the hoped-for cave. It was narrow at the mouth, but opened up enough inside that they could get both the horses in, and when Seregil fished out his lightstone, they discovered a smaller alcove near the back that would make a snug enough place to sleep.
"Perfect," said Alec, sighing with the simple pleasure of being out of the wind. "Now if only we had dry wood and a handful of fire stones..."
"We'll just have to make do." Seregil was beginning to shiver in earnest, but he forced himself into the brisk motions of making camp. "Help me get the blankets out."
Alec did help, but then, when Seregil wasn't looking, he slipped out of the cave and back into the bad weather. By the time Seregil realised, he barely had time to choke down unreasoning panic before Alec was back, clutching a bundle of sodden sticks in his arms and grinning.
"There's a pool further down where a lot of debris has washed up against the rocks," he said. "It won't do us much good now, but it might be dry enough by morning."
After they'd spread out the wood on the cave floor and made the horses as comfortable as they could, they faced the unpleasant prospect of stripping off their soaked clothes. Seregil gritted his teeth and got on with it, but he still wasn't as quick as Alec, who was under the blankets while Seregil was still in his shirt. Seregil wasn't sure if his alacrity was from the cold or from the last remnants of that Dalnan modesty Alec had never quite shed. Even becoming lovers hadn't changed that.
"Come on," said Alec impatiently. "I'm cold."
He was cold, fingers icy when he pulled Seregil under the blankets beside him, but he was still warm enough that Seregil pressed in close, gritting his teeth against the hard shudders that racked his body.
"Bilairy's Balls, your feet are cold," Alec grumbled. "We're never going to get warm like this. Maybe we should try the fire after all."
The thought of abandoning even the marginal warmth of the blankets was a terrible one. Seregil nuzzled into Alec's neck, kissing the skin there as a rather mischievous thought occurred to him.
"There is one way we could warm up."
"Really? What?"
Alec sounded hopeful and delightfully clueless as to what Seregil had in mind. Seregil smirked against his shoulder, and let one hand slide pointedly down his side and over his belly. It didn't have quite the effect he'd hoped: Alec yelped and flinched away.
"Your fingers are like ice!"
"So are yours, talí ," Seregil pointed out. He caught one of Alec's hands and brought it to his mouth. "Let me warm them up for you."
It was only when he sucked one chilly finger into his mouth that Alec finally seemed to understand his intentions. Blue eyes went comically wide.
"Here?"
"Why not?" Seregil moved on to another finger, slowly laving it with his tongue until Alec's eyes fluttered closed and he drew in a shaky breath. "You can't tell me you've never heard a single raunchy ballad about two travellers sharing heat in a storm."
"I don't usually listen to those sorts of ballads," Alec replied with mock-disapproval, though his other hand had found its way to Seregil's back and was tracing cold circles in the hollow where his spine met his hips. "Or, well, I didn't before I met you."
"And I've never rectified that sad lack in your musical vocabulary? Shame on me." Seregil pressed a kiss to Alec's palm, then another on the inside of his wrist. He paused to suck lightly on the skin, and smiled when Alec's fingers dug involuntarily into his back. "It's all terribly improbable, you understand. Two perfect strangers stripping off and finding that they simply can't resist the urge to fuck..."
Seregil had reached the soft skin of the inside of Alec's elbow; he emphasised the last word with a little scrape of his teeth. He realised he had stopped shivering already, though his fingers and toes still felt like lumps of ice. Alec was warm in his arms and steadily getting warmer with each kiss and playful bite.
"Oh, I don't know," said Alec breathlessly. He wriggled so that he could pull Seregil on top of him, and Seregil felt his own breath hitch when he felt the obvious proof of Alec's arousal press against his hip. "I suppose I can... see how it might happen."
Seregil laughed as Alec pulled him in for a hard kiss, though the laughter was quickly lost in a low moan that Seregil might have been embarrassed by if he had been with anyone but Alec. Ever since that first terrible betrayal, he had placed himself at the mercy of no lover; he never lost control, never gave in to demands that did not suit him, and even his sighs and words of passion had been honed to a fine art.
Alec made him feel... he couldn't even find words for how Alec made him feel, he only knew that the simplest of things could make him gasp and shiver like a blushing innocent. Simple things like Alec's mouth on his, or his fingers curling into the hair at the nape of Seregil's neck, tender and possessive at the same time. Simple things like the feel of Alec's heart racing fast against his own.
Alec arched eagerly beneath him, hands wandering down Seregil's back shyly. He was a fast learner, that was for sure, but it would take more than a couple of weeks as lovers for him to be fully comfortable touching and exploring Seregil's body. For now, Seregil was more than content with showing Alec the heights of pleasure he had never known he could reach – and it wasn't as if the sight and sound of Alec crying out his name as he reached his peak left Seregil unmoved, either.
"Warmer now?" he whispered against Alec's parted lips.
"Mmm." Alec shifted so that Seregil could settle between his legs, and they both sucked in their breath at the feeling of hard, hot flesh meeting. "Shouldn't it be me warming you, talí , with your thin southern blood?"
"Oh, you do warm--" Seregil began, but the words ended in a throaty gasp that was dangerously close to being a moan. Alec had slipped one hand between their bodies, his boldness taking Seregil by surprise, and with a deliberate squeeze he had Seregil thrumming like a plucked harp string in his arms.
"Alec. Tal í . .."
"Let me," Alec murmured, kissing him over and over, little moist touches of warm lips that should not be sending shivers of need down Seregil's spine. "I want... this time I want to make you feel good."
"You always..." Seregil managed, but Alec smothered the words with a deeper kiss, plunging his tongue into Seregil's mouth at the same time as he dragged his sweat-damp hand up the length of Seregil's cock.
To Seregil's amazement, it didn't take long, not with Alec working him with the firm, smooth motions Seregil hazily associated with cleaning his bow – and Illior knew he wouldn't be able to look at that familiar action the same way again! With another inexperienced lover Seregil might have exaggerated his responses to encourage confidence, but with Alec there was no need to pretend – not when something as simple as Alec's clever fingers, and Alec's sweet mouth plying his, could bring him so swiftly and shatteringly to completion.
"There." Alec sounded entirely too smug as Seregil clung to him and took quick, shallow breaths against his neck. "You can't tell me you're cold now."
"I'll never be cold again," Seregil mumbled drowsily. It occurred to him that there was something he ought to be doing, and he fumbled between them to finish Alec off. To his surprise, he found he was too late. "You enjoyed that, did you?"
"Mmm." Alec was blushing, Seregil discovered when he looked up, but his eyes were warm and there was no real embarrassment there. "I think I'd like to do it again."
Seregil chuckled lasciviously.
"Now?"
"Not now!" Alec's blush deepened. "I just meant--"
"Oh, pity. I think my toes are still cold." Seregil dragged one foot up the back of Alec's calf to illustrate his point. "See? I can't go to sleep with cold toes."
Alec shivered and jerked his leg away, but his hand had come to rest on Seregil's hip and was kneading it idly, thumb running down into the join of groin and thigh in a way that made little bolts of heat shoot through Seregil's belly. He responded by nuzzling into the hollow of Alec's throat and sucking on the skin hard enough that he knew he'd leave a mark. He was rewarded by Alec's sharp intake of breath, and the stirrings of renewed arousal against his belly.
"I suppose you can't," Alec said as though he had given the matter careful consideration. "And you'll keep putting them on me, won't you, whenever I get warm?"
"Stealing your body heat," Seregil agreed, beginning to work his way down Alec's chest with lingering kisses and licks. "You're very useful like that."
"Now aren't you-- ah!" Alec surged against him as Seregil sucked teasingly on one nipple. "Now aren't you glad I came with you?"
Seregil rested his head against Alec's belly and shut his eyes, safe from the storm and, despite his protests, warm almost down to his toes. There was a wound deep inside him that could not be cured by any Drysian, but he was finally starting to believe that it would, in time, begin to close.
"More than I can ever tell you, talí ," he whispered. He drew in his breath, opened his eyes, and smiled. "So let me show you."