Oh God, Damien knew he liked men! Shit, this was bad! Shit, shit, shit! Aerithen knew he was blushing, he just knew it. It felt like his cheeks were radiating heat from a furnace, but what was it Damien said? That it wasn’t obvious, or was it obvious? Shit, he couldn’t remember, his mind was going a mile a minute and he could barely keep a thought for two seconds!

‘If I didn’t know any better, I would think that you were starting to become a Nightmare yourself given how much heat has focused on your face.’ Pembe came up beside him and hung her head over his shoulder, looking him in the eye as best she could. ‘You just sang praises about your friendship with this man, and yet here you are flustered that he’s made an observation of you. What could you possibly become upset about that…’ The mares presence in his mind quieted, and Aerithen knew this wouldn’t end well with whatever she was thinking.

‘Ah, so that’s it.’ She slowed her pace and fell behind Aerithen, and came astride to the purple mare, Sigal. Pembe’s presence faded from his mind again, and as it did the yellow mare, Xanthe, went to Pembe’s other side. Aerithen had never seen the mares group together like that since it usually disrupted herd dynamics, but he figured it was fine since Pembe initiated the huddle. He was about to turn his head to tell Pembe to get back up here and help me, you crazy bitch when he walked straight into a lamp post.

No, wait, it was just Damien.

Fuck, he was chiseled muscle beneath that damned formal jacket, and that didn’t help Aerithen’s panic in the slightest. He also didn’t notice that he was listing to the side until he felt a set of strong hands grab his arms and fucking hell this needed to stop.

“Whoa, watch where you’re walking, Aeri. You would have walked right past me if I hadn’t been in the way. Look, I’m sorry about what I said, okay? And I won’t say anything to anyone.” Damien was looking at him in the eye with that adorable little shy smile he does and holy hell his eyes were practically glowing in the last rays of sunlight. Aerithen was in serious trouble.

“Uh, sorry. Yeah, it’s fine, uh, yeah.” Damien’s eyes were making him forget himself, so he turned his eyes towards the mansion. Really, what else could he look at? It takes up the entire corner of the block!

It was a very large building, two stories with an attic and basement, and it had two different porches on both levels. Built with nothing but wood and stone by the Waters’ many times great grandfather, the house was a massive structure that inspired awe into any that weren’t locals. But Aerithen had been inside this house hundreds of times and the novelty of it had dulled quite some time ago, though he still was impressed with the size.

Pembe would make a joke at that moment if she wasn’t still gossiping like an old hen.

“Come on, let’s see if Mom is still in the sitting room.” Damien began walking past the gate, but Aerithen was stopped before he could follow.

‘Don’t even think that you can escape from us so easily, little one. We need to speak together. In private.’

Well, if he wasn’t feeling a sense of dread before, he certainly was now.

“Um, actually Dames, I gotta get the herd settled. I’ll show them to the field they can sleep in tonight. The south field is still just used for growing grass, right?” He didn’t wait for the other man to reply before he quickly walked away, keeping that same pace for the trek it took to make it to the field. There was no livestock kept in this field since it was used for growing the grass that became the bails of hay in fall.

With each step farther from Damien, the more his heart settled and his dread of Pembe grew. He’d only ever had one lecture from Pembe not long after they had met, and he still gets chills whenever her voice takes on a serious tone.

‘Stop.’ The command was soft, but said in a firm voice. Aerithen stopped in his tracks, and from the corner of his eye he watched as Livius, Fulvous, and Miltiades kept walking past him to go slightly farther into the field than he and the mares.

This wasn’t looking good for him.

Beyza came around his side, since he still hadn’t turned around to face the mares yet, and she proceeded to shove her head into his torso and knock all the breath out of his lungs. She didn’t do it on purpose. She just wanted him to scratch her.

Did Pembe say something about someone being spoiled? He couldn’t tell since he was currently on the ground gasping for air.

Again.

“Oof...Beyza...guh, you can’t...can’t do thaaaaat.” He was going to be bruised in the morning, and there was nothing to stop it. It seemed that she felt bad for doing it, since she was now in the process of laying next to him. Once she was settled against his side she gently rested her head on his chest.

‘She’s apologizing. She says she’s sorry for knocking you over again, Ree...You’ve spoiled her.’ Pembe now loomed over his head, and the only thing he could see was her head and a few stars to each side. Aerithen started stroking the filly’s neck as he blinked up at her mother.

“Mmmnot m’fault she’s adorable.” Pembe snorted in his face before she walked around to his side.

‘Well, since we now have your attention. Care to tell the females why you never informed us of your...affections towards that young man?’

If any holy deity can hear him now...kill him quickly.

“There’s nothing to talk about.”

‘Oh, but we think there is. It looked to us as if you were afraid that he knew of your “preferences”, but you were comfortable with him during the course of your conversation until that point. Please tell us if we’re wrong, but we believe that you feel more than just friendship for him, correct?’

And now he’s stuck between a rock and a hard place. With no option of leaving alive. So he took as deep of a breath as he could manage, and pushed himself up. Beyza lifted her head enough to let him sit up, but once he stopped moving she settled her head in his lap.

“Fine! I feel more than just friendship for him, are you happy? He’s so smart that sometimes I feel like an idiot with him, he can be approached by anyone and treat them like an old friend, and you know he’ll protect you in a fight. You could break a granite statue with his jaw, there’s no natural green as bright as his eyes, and his hair will never be tamed and it’s the sexiest look imaginable. But you know what? I will never be able to have anything with him because he only likes women, and I’m sure that if I even try to tell him how I feel that he will just tell me that he only sees me as his best friend and nothing more. So I will stay back on the sidelines and cheer him on from there where I know that I won’t get my heart broken. Because that’s where I will always be. I will never be anything more to him than a best friend, a wingman, and an advice dispenser. Plus, he’s the fucking prince! I’m just a nobody, a nomadic blacksmith that can’t say no to his brother that doesn’t even have a very useful Majik for his job! I can’t be anything to him. So I won’t ever try since I know nothing will work out for me.”

‘Well, have you ever tried asking him? Seeing if he feels anything like you do? You’ll never know until you try, little gem. That’s what causes most Humans to make deals with demons; they never try to do what they want to do or to have. And once they get it, they realize how easy it was to get what they wanted without making a deal, and regret that choice for the rest of their time. So please, for all of us, just try. Because if you don’t do it soon, we will make sure to cause quite a bit of frustration for the two of you during our stay here.’

Well, fuck him sideways. He knew they would do it, too.

“I can’t. I don’t want to risk that with him.”

‘Then live the rest of your life in regret.’ Pembe then stepped forward and nipped at his hair, the short strands tugged gently by her careful grooming. Aeri then felt his scalp begin to tingle, but he couldn’t tell if it was from her breath or because it was just really comforting to have his hair messed with. ‘We only want what is best for you. I can see that, despite his rough appearance, he is as kind-hearted as you. And that makes him the best in our eyes.’

“‘Rough appearance’? How does he have a rough appearance to you? He just looks like a prince.” He shuffled Beyza off of his lap and stood.

‘Oh, run along, you silly child. You are tired and need to rest. We can handle ourselves for the night.’ She shoved him along with her muzzle, and he obeyed without question. He was tired, so there wasn’t any reason to argue with her. He began the long trek back to the mansion, feeling his muscles relax as the tension left him with each step he took. Maybe tonight wouldn’t be so bad.