Wayfarer (Wanderlust 2)

Chapter Twenty-Four

It was nearly noon before Jale knocked on their door. Soren untangled himself from Tanden's arms, pulled on his pants, and answered the door. Jale stood there with her arms crossed.

"Are we still going to the caves?"

Soren shrugged. "I think so."

"Well, then we need to get—" she yawned, "—going."

"Tired?" Soren asked.

"I slept in, too," Jale said. "We all needed the rest. Now get him up, I'll get us some food and see about borrowing some horses for the day." She stepped away, but almost immediately paused and looked back. "Can you ride?"

"I never have," Soren admitted. "But I assume Tanden can."

"Good. Well..." she gestured at the bed, then briskly started down the hall. "I'll find you a friendly horse," she called over her shoulder.

Soren laughed as he shut the door and returned to the bed. Tanden was still deeply asleep. Soren carefully lay down beside him, not quite ready to wake him up.

The night before had been something new. Tanden giving over control not just for the fun of it, but because he wanted to be taken care of. Tanden trusting him not just to do whatever he wanted, but to do whatever was right. Usually when he let Soren take over, there was still a sense that Tanden was allowing it. The role-reversals were never really real. The night before hadn't been like that.

And Soren had done his best to ensure Tanden enjoyed every second of it.

Soren would have liked relax longer, just enjoying the memories of the night before, but he knew that if they wanted to see the caves they really did have to get going. He propped himself up on his elbow and leaned over Tanden. If he had to wake him up and break the peaceful morning, at least he was going to have fun doing it.

He kissed Tanden gently. It didn't take long for Tanden to wake up. He extracted his arms from the blankets to wrap them around Soren's shoulders and pull him closer.

After a moment Tanden released him and nudged him back a bit. "What's this about?"

Soren didn't know exactly how to talk about the night before, even though he wanted to. So instead he said, "I love you."

Tanden smiled. "I know. You made that extremely clear last night." He tapped his fingers against Soren's lips, emphasising his words.

So this was flirty and cocky Tanden, as opposed to vulnerable and sweet Tanden.

Tanden kept talking before Soren could say anything. "But why wake me up?"

"Jale said if we want to see the caves we have to—"

"The caves," Tanden sat up so abruptly Soren barely had time to get out of the way. "Right. I do want to see those." He gave Soren another quick kiss before tossing aside the blankets and getting up. "Come on, mate."

Soren stood up more slowly, and grabbed his tunic from the floor. "Oh, and she asked if you knew how to ride horses."

"Of course I do." Tanden had pulled on his clothing so quickly that he was already slipping on his boots. "I'm a lord. I don't think it's possible to be a lord and not know how to ride." He slid on his jacket, but didn't do it up. "Ah, but I bet you don't. Well, it's fine. I'll help you. Hurry up."

Sera met them in the inn's main room and handed them each a few strips of dried meat. She told Tanden that they would find Jale outside, getting the horses ready. They stepped outside into a bright, warm day, to see Jale packing the saddlebags of one of three short, shaggy horses.