I fought my desire to keep looking up at Julius as he was showing me the nearly empty rooms of his house. I was practically hugging his arm to myself, and I couldn’t seem to get close enough, though I did try to make sure I wasn’t crowding him too badly or tripping him with my less than graceful self. There were a few times that he had turned and bumped into me, and all we could do was look at each other and laugh a bit about it.
“Look here, Naylin.” Julius pulled away from me as we entered a room with a desk that was surrounded by boxes.
He unfolded the top of the box that was closest to his desk and pulled out carvings that were in various stages of completion. I looked in wonder at the intricate detail and gasped in awe at the beauty of their design. Some were recognizable in their form, taking on the shape of known creatures, like bears and lions. Others were rarer, like dragons and gryphons. Still others were unrecognizable or were a combination of different creatures.
I picked up a dragon and ran my hands over the luxurious detail, trying to memorize the scales, wings, and horns. There were some details that were too tiny for a carver to have created so I looked up at Julius, questioningly. “Will you show me?”
My heart skipped a beat as Julius stepped closely, looking down into my eyes. “Show you what?”
While I looked up into his eyes, I could feel myself struggling to remember what I’d just asked. “Show me how you do this?”
I weakly lifted the carving a little higher in my hands, having little room to work with since he was standing so close to me. I could feel my heart fluttering in my chest.
Julius took my hands in his and looked into my eyes a bit longer. “Of course I will, but my tools aren’t unpacked yet.”
“Mmhmm…” I mumbled, running my eyes over his facial features; his eyebrows, the line of his hair against his forehead, his nose, his lips. I felt myself disengage one hand from the protection of his encircled fingers and lift it to his cheek, caressing down to his jaw. Julius moved ever so slightly into it and lowered his eyelids, looking at me through his long, black eyelashes. I traced down his jawline and to his lips, where I placed the back of two fingers against them and brushed ever so softly, feeling the silkiness of his skin. Bringing up a hand himself, he took mine and pressed my fingers against his lips, kissing them softly while never removing his eyes from mine.
“Julius,” I whispered.
“Yes, Naylin?” he asked, as softly as I had.
“Will you kiss me?” I asked, feeling my cheeks heat up into a full blush. I didn’t look away, though. I was not ashamed of how I felt after all these years.
“Now that… I can do.”
He took the forgotten sculpture from my numb fingers and placed it beside him on the desk. My heart was flipping in my chest as Julius fully toward me and softly wrapped me up in his arms. He massaged my back with his hands and slowly ran one up between my shoulder blades to my neck and then into my hair, where he undid the length of ribbon that held it together. My eyes closed almost involuntarily as he ran his fingers into my hair and massaged my scalp. I felt myself relax and tilt my head back without even thinking.
I cracked my eyes open to see such a look of loving devotion on Julius’ face that I wanted to show him that same care. I brought my hands up and smoothed them through his hair at his temples. He smiled at me and slowly came closer, tilting his head a little to avoid my nose.
I closed my eyes as our lips met, and I felt my heart shudder at the intensity of emotion that coursed through me in the innocence of that kiss. His warm breath washed over me, sweet and addicting, and all too soon, Julius’ hands supported our separation as he broke away from my lips. He slowly planted soft kisses over my face—my eyelids, my forehead, my cheeks, my nose, my chin.
As he traced his nose over my cheekbone and into the hair of my temple, he whispered into my ear, “How was that?”
I didn’t answer.
I couldn’t answer.
There were no words.
So, I hugged him and laid my head on his chest as he held me and softly stroked my hair.
“We should go have lunch, sweetheart. I’m sure they’ll be wondering where we are if we linger much longer. That wouldn’t be right.”
I nodded and smiled up at him, not quite trusting myself to speak yet.
We walked hand in hand to the dining room and peeked in on the proceedings. Yaniya was laughing at Shoa and Coran who were imitating some epic battle scene and adding in humorous dialog that had nothing to do with the historical fight.
“Give me a breather, foul serpent! My bad knee is acting up on me!” Coran waved a stick he had obviously scrounged from the ground below the solitary tree in the inner garden.
“You have breathed your last, hero!” Shoa hissed at him as he advanced. Suddenly, Shoa was twisting like he was avoiding something. “Aaahhh! Cheater! Chucking rocks will not save you!”
I could hear Coran laugh a little before he continued with the dialog.
“My rock must be mightier than my blade. I have stabbed you five times, dragon! How much of a pansy can you be?!”
The look on Shoa’s face was amazing. Confusion mixed with outrage warred back and forth. “Pansy? Of what dost thou speaketh?”
“Come off it, serpent. That went out of fashion two centuries ago.” Coran waved his makeshift blade back and forth as he spoke, unconcerned about the dragon before him. He even went as far as to yawn and lay down, posing on the floor as if he were some god contemplating the universe. He didn’t pull this off too well, and the effect was even more comical as he pooched out his stomach and yawned. A rude fart escaped at the end of the yawn, catching everyone off-guard and making Coran’s eyes bug out of his head in surprise.
Yaniya was almost crying as she laughed. I couldn’t help but giggle, myself.
At the sound of my voice, everyone looked toward the doorway and smiled.
“Are you enjoying yourself, Sir Knight?” Julius asked with a grin on his face.
“Muchly, Lad… muchly.” Coran lazily waved his stick a bit more.
“And you, dragon?”
Shoa bowed.
“Yaniya, I trust these two aren’t slaying you too badly with their acting.”
I giggled a little.
“Ahhgh, I haven’t had this much fun in quite some time.” Yaniya wiped her eyes and smiled at us with mirth.
We all laughed, and Julius glanced at the table at the untouched food.
“I do hope that you’ll enjoy the selection. I brought the candied fruits from my previous home. Do try them.”
At that, we waved at the guards and maid and moved on to the next room. Julius helped me to sit beside him on some pillows, and as we ate, we talked.
“That was the battle of Sir Brey and the Swamp Dragon, wasn’t it?” I asked him as I tore off a little meat and bread to dip into the cheese sauce before me.
“Yes. I’m sure they were playing on Sir Brey’s advanced age, which was quite comical. They seem to be quite a pair, don’t they?”
I chucked a little, remembering the laughs I had already had thanks to them.
“Yes, they are. I’ll miss them when this whole thing is over.”
There was some silence.
Is it okay to come out? I heard Titrus ask from the bag.
I undid the top of my purse and allowed him to crawl out and onto the table.
“Ahhh, there’s my little man,” Julius said as he scooped Titrus up. “How has he been treating you, Naylin? I trust he’s behaved?”
“Yes. He’s been wonderful,” I told him.
Titrus nuzzled Julius.
“I knew he would be…”
Something rustled underneath Julius’ collar. As I looked closer, I could see a pair of shining eyes gazing back at me. I gasped a little.
“Mmmm, you must see Shye. She sticks to the shadows mostly, but I’m sure she’ll come out for you if you hold your hand out.”
I did so and was amazed as first one delicate paw and then another came out from under the collar’s shadow. It was followed by a rodent’s head and a thin weasely body that looked strange, like it was constantly shifting. The tail followed, having the same shifting look as the body. Upon closer inspection, I realized that the fur was constantly moving and looked like an unending number of flexible needles, every one of them tipped with a clear and very deadly-looking barb. Her body was reddish in color, fading to black at her nose, ears, feet, and tail.
“She’s beautiful,” I whispered softly.
The golem dipped her head.
Thank you, Shye said.
I could feel Julius’ breath close by, and my heart skipped a little.
“She’s very useful. Her fur is very sensitive to sound and movement, which allows her to detect hostilities and most anything around her. Also, when she feels that her master is threatened, she is a most formidable opponent.”
At this, Shye slowly raised all of her hairs so that over her entire body, there were sword-like barbs. Then, out of her back unfolded three jointed segments that looked a bit like a praying mantis’s claws. They flashed silver in the sunlight that angled slightly through the window.
“I certainly wouldn’t want to run into her in a dark alley!” I whispered fervently and then smiled at the small creature.
Shye’s eyes glittered, and her body folded back up and smoothed out again. She crawled up to my shoulder and perched. Looking down, I saw Titrus also laying in my lap.
“Golem’s don’t form strong affection for just anyone,” Julius said, taking my hand in his and running his fingers over the back. “They will defend out of a sense of honor and duty, but affection is something that a golem only feels toward someone special.”
Julius’ eyes stayed on mine as he dipped his head, brought my hand to his, and kissed the back of it. I blushed, looked away, and then looked back shyly at Julius.
“And I’m one of these special people?” I asked softly.
“Yes, Naylin. Yes, you are.” He leaned over and kissed my forehead.
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