Through the Last Door by J. A. Jaken

Author:J. A. Jaken [Jaken, J. A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, Gay / Lesbian / LGBT
ISBN: 9780986233005
Google: gnvWtQEACAAJ
Amazon: B00R3TETGC
Goodreads: 23511477
Publisher: White Owl Publishing
Published: 2014-12-18T23:00:00+00:00

In addition to Hunter and Yura, he asked Haku to join them at the head table as well. Not only did he want to have the comfort of his friends’ presence in the coming confrontation, but he honestly respected their wisdom as well.

“I was never directly in line for the rule of Arashima,” Haku said when Kaori asked him about it. Despite Kaori’s fears, he showed no sign of resentment or discomfort at returning home again after all these years.

“Is it hard for you, coming back here?” He still felt uneasy at the thought of how his father had more or less blackmailed Haku’s family into fostering him at Heaven’s Gate when they’d been children.

The look Haku gave him was annoyed. “Why would it be? I wasn’t lacking for anything at the palace. In fact, I probably had a better time of it than I would have at home, being the youngest of four brothers.”

It didn’t seem like it could be as easy as that to Kaori. He more than anyone knew what it was like to grow up without a family; his mother had died when he was very young, and his father had always been caught up in the business of running the kingdom, too busy to spend any significant amount of time with his son. It had been a solitary, somewhat lonesome existence, even with the companion his father had gifted him with. Could it have been any less so for Haku?

Anything else he might have said was cut off when they reached the dining room, a wide, high-ceilinged chamber with stained glass windows that looked out over the high cliffs behind the estate. The long table in the center of the room was made of fancily carved hardwood polished to a deep cherry shine, each of its high-backed chairs engraved with a single hummingbird arrested in flight.

“Your home is beautiful, Lord Razgul,” Kaori said as he took his seat.

Lord Razgul was seated at the head of the table, directly opposite Kaori. He was a strong, robust-looking man with thick dark hair, handsome in an intimidating sort of way, with the faintest of scars visible at one side of his jaw. He was dressed in heavy, luxurious robes of purple and crimson, with the sharp light of jeweled rings winking on his fingers.

“You are very kind to say so, High Lord.” He inclined his head, offering a smile in Kaori’s direction. “Did you find your journey arduous, coming here?”

Kaori didn’t think it could be his imagination that the smile didn’t reach the man’s eyes. “Some parts were more arduous than others,” he admitted. He wasn’t about to mention the sanchuu; such a topic was not conductive to good digestion.

Razgul’s staff had gone all out for dinner. The main courses included fragrant roast, freshwater fish, thick slabs of ham dipped in steaming juices, and venison. There was bread in all manner of varieties, stewed vegetables in cinnamon sauce, broth with bacon, cream covered in fennel seeds, and gilt sugar-plums.

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