Aliya's Shoes-Chapter 576: Brothers’ night

At this time, the brothers also had a good conversation with each other. It was high time they did.

That evening, they were seated in one of the private reception areas on the estate that was not open to the public.

The faux fire burned low, glowing embers throwing soft light across their faces. For once, neither man carried the usual edge of duty or pride, just two brothers, finally speaking without interruption.

"You know," Ian began, swirling the last of his drink, "We don’t do this often enough. Just sit and talk."

Brad chuckled, leaning back against his sofa. "It’s been so long that I consider this talk a miracle, Haha! Us actually having a conversation instead of you-"

Brad paused, not wanting to continue. Despite what the public might think, the brothers were more in sync than they let on.... and Brad adored his brother, though you would never catch him saying that.

"High time we did."

Silence stretched a moment before Brad frowned, gaze drifting toward the night sky through the open skylight.

"I still can’t wrap my head around the Fae thing. You look as real to me as could be.... And .... Everything the ones I have met do feel... tangled. Like they’re always balancing invisible scales no one else can see."

Ian shook his head slowly. "It’s in their nature. The concept of debt and obligation runs deeper than blood for them. A favour, a promise, those things hold more weight than iron."

"Hm. Must be exhausting, keeping tally like that all the time."

"It is. And yet... it shapes everything. Their alliances, their betrayals, even their affections... and that’s why they have been very insistent with me. My father, Roman .... Was quite the likable person, I have been told. His legacy is too big to be filled by someone other than his offspring." Ian paused, then set his glass aside and stood.

"But that aside, I must go back. This task is one that only I can do."

Brad raised an eyebrow. "Back? To that world? Didn’t you just return?"

A faint smile tugged at Ian’s lips. "Yes. Would you like to come? You can take just a glimpse. Nothing more."

Brad leaned forward, amusement flickering in his eyes. "A glimpse, you say? From all that you’ve told me tonight, it makes me edgy. Can you promise we won’t end up owing anyone our firstborns or an arm and a leg?"

"Hahahaaha! No promises," Ian said dryly, but his tone was lighter than usual.

They both laughed, the sound echoing through the quiet night, the first easy laughter they had shared in a long while.

***

Suzie sat in front of her vanity, in her robe, her signature dress discarded on her bed. She started undoing the pigtails, one braid at a time, consumed in her thoughts, while she absentmindedly ran her hands through her hair.

’I’m not sure how I even managed the courage to hug Murray that night, but I am so glad that I did.’ She blushed at her own thoughts, just as she felt a hand on her legs and calves.

She smiled, not even concerned that there had been no knock on her door or the opening of it. Her man could come in and go at any time, and his timing was perfect!

Murray was on one knee beside her seat. He lifted one leg gently, exposing her almost-white legs, bare of her stockings. He started kneading and massaging it gently, and Suzie sighed. That was heavenly.

Murray finally had a moment alone with her. Murray’s duties as assistant to his master were endless, as he was needed around the clock and needed to be alert at all times. Hers as head maid of the vast estate was no less consuming. To steal even a sliver of time together was a rare victory, so the two cherished moments like these.

Tonight, deep in the stillness, when the great house slept, he finally set both legs down, and before she could speak, he was already getting up and carrying her to the bed and pulling her firmly into his arms.

Although somewhat expected, the transformation startled her. Gone was the disciplined, untouchable figure she’d always seen in the halls and trained with. In his place was someone rawer, someone who held her with a kind of urgency that made her heart stumble.

"You don’t even announce your presence anymore?" she whispered, half scandalized, half giddy and teasingly, knowing that he had never done that.

Murray grinned, boyish yet bold. "What if I did and someone heard? Better to risk your wrath than theirs."

She shook her head, trying to hide her smile. "I thought you’d be the shy kind.... Like being careful. It’s only been a week ...."

"Shy?" he leaned closer, his breath brushing her ear. "Not with you. Do you have any idea how many nights I’ve wanted this? To hold you, without a single eye on us? If I acted timid now, I’d be lying to both of us."

"Oh!"

Her cheeks burned, but her chest felt warm. For all his teasing boldness, she could hear the truth trembling underneath, the longing of a man stretched too thin by duty, who wanted nothing more than to belong to her in this stolen hour. For these two, they never questioned their duties, for they also loved and revered their mistress, Shelby. With Shelby and Ian’s blessings, they had almost let loose in everything they do. Suzie was unsure when her thoughts about Murray had started to skew, but after he and Shelby had gone missing, she just could not stop thinking of him, and was she glad that she had made the attempt at him? Definitely!

"Then don’t lie," she whispered, her fingers tightening in his jacket.

He laughed softly, the sound rich and unguarded. "Careful, Suzie. I might take that as permission to be greedy."

"And if I want you to?" she shot back, surprising even herself.

His eyes widened, then softened with a glow she’d never seen in him before, tender, reverent, and yet still threaded with that daring edge.

’Was this how the Faes were. It was exciting!’

"In that case," he murmured, tilting her chin up, "we’d better make this night count."

He pressed a gentle kiss to her lips, and Suzie let out a soft girly moan. With her hair down her neck and to her back, Suzie almost looked like a different person.

"My brave girl."

Suzie giggled, "You did well for holding her forth with Aliya."

He kissed her again, and Suzie melted into it.

Murray stood up, shedding his upper garments, then lowered back to Suzie, but she placed a hand on his chest, tears brimming in her eyes,

"Why are you crying?" Murray asked, sitting her up and wiping the tears that were about to spill.

"When did you get all these scars?" She whispered, tracing each long scar with her fingers across his chest and down his lower belly. Murray stopped her hand and kissed it.

"Why do you cry over such? They are old wounds."

Suzie was like that because she knew that Fae wounds healed fast, so for such scars to form, then the wounds would have been that significant and deep. Murray’s heart ached, seeing his sunny girl tearing up like that. Everyone could see that since Murray’s return, Suzie’s bubbly self was back, though with a light dim from the Aliya experience.

He pulled her close, then covered them with the blanket.

"Don’t worry, I’m okay."

After that and in the hush of the hour, the diligent shadow warrior and the tireless maid vanished, leaving only two lovers who had finally claimed a moment of their own.

***

The night was still, save for the cicadas in the hedges. In what was now referred to as the Burnett mansion. Angela moved down the corridor like a shadow, posture proper even in secrecy. She knew that Currey was already waiting. Just as she stepped out of the house, she saw him beneath the half-open garden shutters, hands folded behind his back like a man reporting for duty.

"You shouldn’t linger outside," she whispered, though her eyes shone.

"Nor should you," he replied evenly. There was a pause, then softer: "But I’m glad you did."

The words hung between them, restrained yet loaded with the weight of a thousand unsaid things. He offered his hand, not boldly, nor timidly, simply as if it were the most correct thing to do. She placed hers in his, feeling the solidity of his touch.

"You know," Angela began carefully, "when I agreed to courtship, I thought we would continue in... dignified moderation."

"So did I," Currey admitted, but his eyes betrayed him. They burned with a steady quietness, like coals under ash.

The silence grew unbearable, each one as quiet as the other as they stared at each other. He stepped closer, bowing his head as though to speak, and instead kissed her. Not a brush, not a hesitant testing of waters, but a firm, steady kiss that stripped the air of ceremony.

Angela’s eyes snapped open wide at the abruptness. For a heartbeat, she forgot the hour, the mansion, where they were, even her own sense of restraint, clinging back as if they had been lovers for years.

The upper windows slammed open.

"How exciting!!!" Ava peered down her window, which overlooked where the two were. She couldn’t believe her eyes, and Ava was not to pass on such a scene.

"You know? Doing this in Angela’s room would be way better than this?"

Both froze. Currey straightened so fast he nearly hit his head on the closest lintel, and Angela smoothed her dress as though she could erase the kiss from her lips.

Rocky, hearing of this, peered out and pulled Ava back in.

"Ava! Let them be!" Then he slammed the window shut.

They both smiled sheepishly, and Currey kissed her atop the forehead. He took a step back as if to leave, but was reluctant.

And yet, as he shuffled away, sighing, his hand refused to leave hers. Their fingers tightened, and despite her crimson cheeks, her lips curved with the faintest, guilty smile.

"I’ll be travelling for a while and will be unreachable, but I’ll be back soon."

Angela’s smile dropped a fraction, and Currey pulled her in tightly for another searing kiss!

"It won’t be long, I promise!" He whispered against her lips, getting even bolder in the moment.

*********

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