The Scholar's Heart by Antonia Aquilante

Author:Antonia Aquilante [Aquilante, Antonia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: gay romance
ISBN: 978-1-63477-263-1
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Published: 2016-05-30T04:00:00+00:00

TRISTAN HADN’T been surprised exactly by the invitation to the palace for an evening of cards and dinner; he’d been invited to the palace numerous times since Amory became Philip’s lover then husband, as many of those invitations issued by Etan as they were by Amory, at least until a year ago. But Amory’s invitation to something that would be a gathering of mostly Philip’s cousins did surprise him a little, despite it being a casual evening, or perhaps because it was a casual evening. Since he and Etan had fallen out for whatever reason, Tristan was invited to court functions and larger, slightly more formal dinners that Philip and Amory threw, or found himself spending time with Amory alone.

But he hadn’t been invited to this type of intimate evening in quite a while.

“Tristan!”

Tristan stopped nearly at the door into the palace and turned to find Griffen jogging to catch up with him. “Hello, Griffen. I didn’t know I’d be seeing you tonight.”

“Nor I you. But it’s good to see you.”

“And you.” Once Griffen drew even with him, Tristan turned, and they walked into the palace together. “How have you been?”

“Good. Settled in after Bastien left the city, though Mathis does miss having the house to himself I think.” Griffen laughed. “I don’t know why he’s complaining—he spends all his time in university libraries anyway. I couldn’t even get him to come with me tonight.”

They chatted as they strolled through the palace. The guards didn’t stop them when they arrived at the wing containing Philip and Amory’s suite, and they continued on to the suite. Griffen knocked on the door. Tristan felt a rush of surprise and pleasure when it opened and Etan was on the other side. He knew he’d likely see Etan tonight, but that knowledge didn’t diminish his pleasure at doing so.

Etan was balancing a sleepy Julien on his hip, the child’s head resting on Etan’s shoulder, his eyes blinking slowly. Etan was smiling, and his smile stayed in place even as a shadow of something passed through his eyes. He blinked, and the shadow was gone, but Tristan knew he’d seen it, and from the way Etan had glanced between him and Griffen, he could only guess Etan knew something had happened between him and Griffen. Or at least, that Etan suspected. And he didn’t seem happy about it, though Tristan wasn’t sure why. What happened between him and Griffen had happened before anything between him and Etan, and it hadn’t been more than a little fun for both of them. He hadn’t even seen Griffen since.

Griffen seemed oblivious to what Tristan noticed. He greeted Etan with a smile and a one-armed hug that avoided disturbing Julien, and then walked past him into the sitting room to greet the others. Tristan stood for another breath, watching Etan, unsure what to do, but Etan gestured him forward.

“Come in. I was just bringing Julien through to the nursery.”

“He seems to be nearly asleep.” He ran a hand down Julien’s back.

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