Page 289
He laughs, then withdraws his hand, closing it into a slow fist, and turns back toward the fire.
“Dorian.”
He freezes.
I approach his back, my hand finds the cord of his robe.
“Alexei.”
His shoulders tense.
“Maximilian.”
The knot of the cord yields by a hair as I pull.
“Vasiliev Ashford.”
His hand seizes my wrist, his fingers close, firm, and he turns toward me.
The light is dim, but I can see the color that has risen to his cheekbones. He raises his hand before I can say a word. His thumb brushes the corner of my mouth, lingers for an instant, then presses.
My lips yield, I feel the calloused skin against my tongue, the salt, the heat. He does not break eye contact as I pull back slightly, and he withdraws it with deliberate slowness.
He brings that thumb to his own lips. It slides, then vanishes, his tongue following the motion.
“Behave yourself.”
I am about to retort, but an acrid smell catches in my throat. Dorian furrows his brow and turns sharply. The bread is blackened, the surface cracked, a thin ribbon of smoke rises lazily from the carbonized crust.
“Damn it.”
He snatches it from the embers and sets it on the table with a dull thud. Only then do I notice the bottle beside it. I pour the Port into two ceramic cups taken from the cupboard, the dark liquid slides slow and thick, its scent rising instantly into the air.
“Why did you destroy that bread?” I say, without looking at him.
Dorian returns to the table with something in his hands. Winter apples, the skin dull and mottled, and two pears.
“I thought you were hungry.”
My gaze returns to the blackened bread.
“And I didn’t want to call the servants.”
“Why? I thought you didn’t care about your reputation.”
“I do not, in fact. But you do.”
Then I see him open a parcel.
“And besides...”
Cheese appears under the candlelight, he arranges a slice of bread on the plate and hands it to me.
“Besides?” I press and take it.
“Besides, I wanted to do it,” he says, nodding at the food. “For you.”
At the first bite, the bitterness takes my tongue, I chew slowly. I cough and swallow it down.
