"Tomorrow night." Tilting his head, Dave looked at Orlando and reached up to brush a lock of hair from his face. "And stop trying to distract me." "From what?" "From talking." Oh. Talking. Orlando wrinkled his nose. The last thing he wanted to do when he had Dave naked and in his arms was talk. "Not sure what there is to talk about." "Liar," Dave said, fondly. "Fine," Orlando grumbled, but it lacked heat. He should have known that Dave would be stubborn about this. "What would you like to discuss first?" "Viggo mentioned you spoke to him in my defense." "It was my right as your fledgling." "It was," Dave admitted, "but you didn't have to invoke that right." "I wasn't going to let them sentence you without having a say," Orlando said, quietly. "I'm the wronged party here, and it's not like you just ran off and left me all alone. I had Harry and Karl." "Who had no idea they should have been seeing to your education." "You had your reasons." Orlando looked up, looked Dave right in the eyes. "I know what it's like to fall in love in spite of your better judgment. And I knew enough to know I should have come to you when our lessons stopped. You were always telling me to ask questions and speak up when there were things I didn't know." "The blame was mine. What I did..." "Hush." Orlando placed two fingers over Dave's lips. "You've been sentenced. It's done. And I'm not the only one that spoke in your defense. Your Lawrence flew out here for less than a day in order to speak to Viggo personally. Did he tell you that?" "He... Viggo said Lawrence spoke, but, I didn't know it was face to face." "Probably didn't want you to get your hopes up. Viggo was, um, rather difficult." "He had every right to be angry. I was assistant to the Head of the Council. And his fledgling." "I don't think he was angry." Orlando laid his hand on Dave's chest, felt the steady, slow heartbeat beneath. "I think he was hurt." Dave closed his eyes, nodded. "Again, he had every right. I kept thinking he was going to unmake me and be done with it. I'm still surprised he didn't." "Did he tell you why he decided against it?" Orlando could feel the shudder rippling through Dave when he replied. "He mentioned there were a few people that had a hand in changing his mind." Orlando snorted. "So he admitted that Gerard yelled at him in Council?" "Yelled?" Dave stared at Orlando until Orlando laughed. "He said he raised his voice." "No, it was very loud yelling," Orlando said, grinning as he remembered Viggo's shocked expression. "Stood right up without waiting to be called and shouted Viggo down until he'd had his say." "And you know this because?" "It was a full hearing," Orlando said, grin fading. "I was there as the wronged party." "Christ." Dave's head thumped on the pillow. "A full hearing..." "As you said, you were assistant to the Head of the Council," Orlando reminded him. "Viggo couldn't take any shortcuts. Not with this." "No, I guess not." Orlando placed a kiss to Dave's jaw. "If it helps, I think everyone on the Council was very taken by Lawrence's plea on your behalf. He's quite persuasive." "Tell me about it." "Several of the women couldn't take their eyes off him." "I'm not surprised." "Wish you could've seen their faces when they realized all he was going to give them was just a bit of a flirt," Orlando said, as he rolled to his back and stretched. "I think Viggo almost smiled." "He would." Rolling to his side, Dave grew serious, studying Orlando's face. "Are you really okay with all this?" And there was that question again. Orlando had heard it so many times in the past few days that it was an effort to keep from rolling his eyes. "This meaning...what's happened with you? Or what's going to happen with me?" "It's a moot point to ask if you're alright with what's happening with me." Orlando conceded the point with a nod. When Dave just continued to look at him, he huffed out a sigh. "I'm fine. I don't know why you all don't believe that." Dave tapped him on the nose. "Because we know you. You may want this, but I don't think you're fine at all with giving up the fangs and all that goes with it, even if it's for a year or so." "You don't think Viggo will keep me too busy to remember I don't have fangs?" Orlando flashed his bright smile, then stuck out his tongue when Dave just continued to look at him. "I'll adapt. Besides, it won't be a year or so." "Oh, really?" "Really," Orlando said, with a firm nod. "Uh huh." Orlando debated whacking him with a pillow. "What does Harry have to say about that?" "What do you mean?" "He can refuse to give you the Gift when you ask for it if he thinks you're not ready." "He won't," Orlando replied, with a certainty he was far from feeling. Dave just grinned. "I'll take that bet." "Bastard." He reached over to poke Dave in the ribs. "He won't." "How much are you willing to lose?" Dave asked, and yes, he was definitely far too gleeful over the whole idea. "What are you willing to lose?" "I'm not going to lose," Dave stated. "You may be his chosen pet, but I've known him for over a century. There's no way he'd endanger a person he cared about. No matter what. You should have heard some of the arguments he's gotten into with Karl over the years." "Hmph." Much as Orlando hated to admit it, Dave had a point. "I still say I should be the one deciding if I'm recuperated enough." At that, Dave just threw his head back and let out a loud laugh. "Please, by all means, tell him that." "I will." Orlando hoped like hell he looked more confident than he felt. "He loves you." Dave's voice was all business now. "More than anyone, except for Karl. You really think he's going to do anything to jeopardize you while you're under his care? And even supposing you can talk him into it, you think Karl would let him?" "No," Orlando sighed. Fucking contrary vampires thinking they knew what was best for him. "But I'll know when I'm ready." "I'm just saying don't rush it." Dave crooked a finger under Orlando's chin, thumb caressing his cheek. "You're still a pet. You won't age like a mortal and you'll still be able to handle the both of them. There's no hurry." "Still be able..." Orlando snorted out a wry laugh as Dave's meaning sunk in. "Not likely. Not for quite a while, anyway. At least not according to everything I've been told." "Well, yes. You're definitely not going to be up to sex for the first few weeks...months...however long." "Don't say months," Orlando said with a shudder. "Poor Orli," Dave said, voice dripping with false sympathy. The twinkle in his eyes had Orlando contemplating various, painful forms of retaliation. "Forced into an indefinite term of celibacy. Whatever will you do?" "Fuck off." "I somehow doubt you'll be up for beating off, either, at least for awhile." Orlando just groaned at the pun. "Seriously going to kill you." "You love me too much." "Not right now I don't." "Always," Dave countered, and rolled over, trapping Orlando beneath him, shifting his weight to press Orlando into the mattress. "Bastard." "Love you, too." "Hmph." Orlando wriggled again, arms coming up to twine around Dave's neck. "We finished talking?" "For the moment," and before Orlando could protest the qualification in the statement, Dave's lips were on his, hot and insistent, and it didn't matter. Nothing mattered except the heat between them. Onto Part Forty-Three
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