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He was heading down to breakfast when a quiet voice called out to him from the front of the house. Because he could feel and almost actually see the waves of anger and frustration emanating from the dining room, it was an easy choice to make a detour and see who wanted what from him.
At the very least, it would likely be more interesting than the awkwardness that made up most of the Circle’s meals with each other.
Definitely more interesting, he decided when he caught sight of red, predatory eyes that reflected the dim light of the entrance hall, making it appear as if they were glowing. Almost immediately, questions bubbled up inside him at the sight of this particular Bonded but Harry had to force them down because there was an unspoken agreement that, in this house, they would never talk of certain adventures to certain parts of Nevarah.
Harry scanned the rest of the Gheyo’s face, taking note of the worn expression, the deep bags under the eyes, the hooded lids—absolutely exhausted. But then again, he’d been out all night, so it could only be expected.
“Want to go out for breakfast with me?”
“Is that even a question?” Harry waved behind him toward the dining room. The red eyes followed the motion and a heartbeat later, the Gheyo winced.
“Quickly then, before they notice.”
Harry glanced down at himself, still dressed in his pajamas. They were fine for lounging about in the house, but he knew he’d be on the receiving end of a strong lecture if he went out in public dressed like this. Normally that wouldn’t put him off too much—he did enjoy rebelling against all the rules that his “Alpha” tried to impose on him—but he’d been having a good few days and wanted to avoid the other man as long as possible to maintain that decent mood.
He expected the wave of magic that washed over him to switch his clothes from his pajamas to a Flexi-suit and clothes suitable for public, but he hadn’t expected the source. He turned his head toward the other side of the entrance hall, where a tall, slender form stepped forth from the shadows.
They snapped their fingers and pointed a long, thin one at the Joker. “Itemized receipt so I know what you all ate and from a pre-approved restaurant only. Or else you’re my first choice for experiments for the next month.”
The Joker bared his fangs in silent challenge to the words, but thankfully didn’t say anything. Harry shot a quick grin at his Shadow Bonded, then dashed for the front door.
Once outside, he turned his face toward the rising sun, reveling in the early morning breeze and scent of misty dew. He hated that house so much, with its cavernous, stale feel and how deep underground it went, and it was only when outside that he could start to relax. It would be better if he could feel the sun and wind on his bare skin, but there were very good reasons behind the long sleeves and high neck of the Flexi-suit and robe he was now dressed in.
“We have to run an errand first,” the Joker said as he stepped up beside Harry, automatically taking up a protective position.
“Alright.” It was an easy thing to agree to, because it meant their morning would last longer and Harry would do almost anything to be away from that house and dark, terrible atmosphere.
In hindsight, maybe he shouldn’t have agreed so easily, he thought as he stared at one of the holding facilities designed to detain Gheyos who had broken one law or another, or had been designated as public nuisances.
He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Who did what?”
The Joker beside him grimaced. “I didn’t spend the night alone,” he reminded Harry, and shifted uncomfortably when green eyes snapped open, a flare of irritation appearing in them. “And I don’t have the authority to bail him out myself.”
“And I do?”
Now it was Harry’s turn to fidget uncomfortably when he received a flat look in reply. Because that meant, yes, he did have that authority. Logically, he knew he did—he just hadn’t expected that he would have to do so. Usually when it came to bailing someone out of a holding cell, that was a responsibility that fell on one of the three dominant ranks in their Circle.
“Literally anyone else would have been better than me,” he ground out, still pinching the bridge of his nose. “Even if they would take a pound of flesh or tear off strips of skin like they always threaten to do, they still would have been better options than me.” Because he and this particular Bonded hated each other, couldn’t stand the sight of each other, and always fought, fought, fought. He was more likely to get locked up himself than successfully bail a certain Gheyo Prince out of jail.
“Harry, please?”
Harry sighed, a long, drawn out, furious sound. “You owe me.”
Even though he was sitting on a bench, Quill swayed in his spot, humming quietly as he pitched forward and back, then side to side, in an almost circular motion. Instead of his usual scowl, there was a hint of a smile on his lips.
Harry took note of the normally pale cheeks that were now flushed and the faint odor that drifted from the holding cell toward where he stood. He turned and gave his escort a wide-eyed look. “He’s drunk.”
“Mostly magic-drunk from the Reaping.”
“Mostly?”
His Gheyo grimaced. “It was a long night. We stopped for tea on the way back and someone took the opportunity to lace it with an intoxicant.”
Harry growled, mostly to himself. There were countless Military Circles in the Earth Courts that wanted his out of their way so they could make a name for themselves and any number of them would gladly have taken the opportunity to potentially cause a scene and then bring it to King Raspen’s attention in an attempt to prove Earth Feral wasn’t worthy of their position in the Courts. He tried to stay out of it, avoid those politics as much as he could, and it was true that Quill was probably his least favorite Bonded, but this was an affront that he wouldn’t be able to ignore.
Only he and his Bonded were able to hurt each other. Any outsider that tried would have whatever pain or humiliation returned to them threefold.
“There’s pre-approved restaurants for a reason.”
When no reply to that came, Harry turned to the Gheyos overseeing the holding facility and held out a hand. “Reports?”
It took a few minute to read the report that was given to him. No injuries, no property damage, nothing that involved blade or blood, thankfully. Quill was just the sort of drunk that didn’t like wearing clothes and liked being overly affectionate, even to complete strangers. Even as Harry watched, the Gheyo Prince reached up and tugged at the collar of the Flexi-suit he was somehow still wearing.
“It’s spell-locked,” the ACE in charge of the facility said. “We’ll remove the lock when he leaves, provided he’s sober.”
“Sobering potion is best option when they’re magic-drunk,” someone else remarked. “Couldn’t convince him to take one though. Wouldn’t trust the ones we had in stock.”
“Of course he didn’t,” Harry grumbled. “Willing to drink coffee made by a complete stranger but not take a potion that’s been sealed, signed off by a healer, and carefully monitored.”
“I can … get one of Nick’s?”
Harry glanced over at his Joker. For a brief second, there was a spark of suppressed rage in that glance, but then it was replaced by a flat, unamused look. “Yes,” he said. “Go. Fetch.”
The final word earned him a dirty look, but Harry ignored it in favor of approaching the holding cell and gesturing for it to be opened. He wasn’t supposed to be without one of his Gheyos after all, but thankfully the rules didn’t specify what condition that Gheyo had to be in.
“Give that coffee cup to Nick while you’re at it,” he called absently behind him as the door swung open. “I want to know who’s responsible.”
Quill’s rose-gold eyes slid open as Harry entered the holding cell. They were slightly unfocused, but the Submissive was more thrown by the slack-jawed, slightly awe-struck look that appeared on the Gheyo’s face.
“You came. When he said he would get you, I didn’t think you’d actually show up.”
Harry’s brow furrowed at the words. “Did you ask for me specifically?” He could understand not wanting their Alpha to be the one to come, but surely Quill would have wanted the Circle’s ACE or Beta instead?
“He was most insistent on it,” the ACE in charge of the facility called through the cell door, since he’d been the one to examine Harry’s identification when they first made the request for bail. “You and none of the others.”
Harry scowled and flicked his hand, casting a privacy shield to shield the rest of their conversation from nosy Gheyo outsiders.
He was glad he did, because only a few seconds later, Quill slid off the bench, kneeling on the ground in front of Harry and pressing his face against the other’s midsection. Muscled arms wound around Harry’s waist, holding him in place.
Green eyes widened to almost comical proportions.
“I’m here,” he said after a minute, a bit awkwardly.
“You really shouldn’t be,” Quill said, a hiccup at the end of his words. “Don’t deserve it. But you’re the best of us in that way.”
“I’m really not.” Harry’s tone was dry. His mind instantly wandered back to the many times he had considered killing Quill—not idle thoughts either, but detailed plans—and the few times he had actually pulled a blade on the Gheyo Prince in an attempt to do so. And he hadn’t lashed out only at Quill, he’d taken his anger and grief out on nearly all of his Bonded, hadn’t made half the effort to adapt, to get along, to adjust, even when several of them had made their own attempts.
He stiffened when Quill nuzzled his torso. “You are. I couldn’t see it at first, but it’s easier to see now. It makes me regret that first meeting. And what happened later that night. And that time in the Gheyo sections.”
Harry’s breath hitched. When he’d realized Quill was drunk, even though he’d seen the almost content expression on the man’s face, read the report of what he’d been detained for, he’d still been expecting a more intense, exaggerated version of the angry, hurting Gheyo he knew. He would have never considered receiving such an affectionate reaction, or an apology of all things.
It made holding onto his own anger difficult. Inside, he felt a tiny part of his soul thaw, relax.
Accept.
“You’re probably going to regret this too,” he murmured, and cut off any protests by letting his hand rest on the Gheyo’s head, smoothing down auburn hair.
Quill simply sighed and closed his eyes.
By the time their Bonded returned, sobering potion in hand, Harry and Quill had made their way back to the bench. It had been more difficult than Harry had expected, since Quill hadn’t wanted to let go of him and hadn’t wanted Harry to stop petting his hair. But they’d managed it, step by step, and now the Gheyo Prince’s head was pillowed in his lap.
He still wasn’t sure what to make of this affectionate version of Quill, it was such a drastic change of what he normally expected from the man. But it was oddly endearing, especially when he was able to get a few other truths out of the Gheyo.
Such as why Quill had requested him to bail him out, of all Bonded. As expected, their Alpha was never an option for something like this, with those sorts of charges. Calling in their ACE would mean their King and Queen showing up as well and Harry could agree that those three were a lot together and would probably push things too far, leading to additional charges. And their Beta had bailed Quill out twice already, and had made him promise there wouldn’t be a third time, with many inventive threats about what would happen if there was.
He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the sobering potion floating over to them, and their Joker standing on the other side of the cell bars.
“Bottoms up,” he said, grabbing the potion out of the air and automatically spiking it with a quick cut to his fingertip. “And then a nice greasy breakfast, I think.”
Because if they were getting the chance to eat out, they were going to do it right, in the most unhealthiest way possible.