A Suitable Consort (For the King and His Husband) by R. Cooper

Author:R. Cooper
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: fantasy, rescue, king, soldier, librarian, age difference, courtship, mmm threesome, throuple

Mattin was not at all appeased by the new cloak, in his size if not his usual style, that was left on his desk two days later. The cloak had clearly been commissioned much earlier, for it was not an item hastily bought or borrowed, but one designed with Mattin in mind. It was the sort of heavy winter garment the palace guards might wear, but the fur at the collar and in the lining was warm red-brown and soft to the touch, and the stitching was precise and perfect. It was, in fact, quite lovely for all that it was designed to be sturdy. Some part of him whispered that it was made to protect him from more than the weather, but Mattin let that stay a whisper. There was too much else on his mind.

He wore the cloak whenever he left his room to attend to his duties, but only because snowstorms had settled over the capital, and also because whenever he forgot it, one of the guards who trailed after him would either hand it to him or remind him to grab it—and his gloves as well. This occurred not once or twice, but regularly, as if Mattin’s guards—as they undeniably were—had been commanded to remind him.

Irked, Mattin nonetheless did not chastise them for it, since they were obeying their orders. Perhaps he also did not because there was comfort to be found in soft fur against his hands and brushing his neck. But he offered no comments, either, and left his reports and summaries on Cael’s desk.

He crossed the arched, elevated walkways over the guardhouse and the guard’s training area with a quick step, and rarely strayed from his path from the library to his room to Cael’s office. He received no more invitations and took his breakfasts alone. He thought this wise, and lamented it in his office with his cold tea, staring at reports he had trouble reading.

He did not know what the knot of feelings in his belly was, or how to unravel them to name them, or if it mattered if he did. They were obvious, he suspected, and others would name them for him if they had not already.

Mattin did not like his feelings being so close to being spoken of, when he had so carefully never done so himself. He had hoped they were invisible to others. He no longer had that hope. And yet, Mil was not cruel. Arden was not cruel. Cold, when needed, as was fitting for their roles, but never cruel, and never to him. He didn’t understand why they wouldn’t tell him that while they did not object to the idea of another marriage, they had no plans to seriously consider his choices. Why they would say what they had. Why they would tease him but take such gentle care of him when all he had done was have a little wine.

He fretted, and the assistants brought him tea, and then food he did not ask for but dutifully ate.

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