Mathieu (White Flame Trilogy)

by Paula Flumerfelt

  “Hey!” He said, needing a moment away from Solomon. “Want to see something cool? Wait here.” Jumping up, he practically ran out of the circle of trees to where the Western Pillar Flower were preening. He ran his fingers over a few flowers while his blush died down before picking one and taking it back to where his friend was. Sitting back down, he held the flower out. “Pick a color.” Solomon tilted his head and considered for a moment before touching the pale purple petal. “Okay. Wait for it.” Mathieu extracted the chosen petal from the bunch and set the rest of the flower aside. Closing his eyes with the petal held loosely between two fingers, he focused on the exact hue of the color. A small gasp told him he was doing it right. Opening his eyes, he looked down at the strands of his hair which were no longer white, but instead the pale purple. Releasing the now white petal, he smiled. “The color won’t last forever, but it is a nice change. Don’t you think?”

  One moment he was smiling at Solomon, the next he was flat on his back, the blond hovering over him and their faces dangerously close. All his mind could register was the way that Solomon smelled like earth from his earlier planting mixed with his normal scent of lavender, fresh ground coffee, and dew. Then Solomon’s lips were pressed lightly to his, fingers stroking through his hair.

  It only lasted a few moments before the blond was pulling away, retreating a few feet back. “I-I’m so sorry! I don’t know what came over me.” Solomon was on his feet, covering his mouth with a look of horror in his eyes.

  “Um…” Mathieu mumbled, blinking frantically. The kiss had taken him by surprise and now he didn’t know exactly what to say. Finally, he settled on, “Well that was surprising…” Sitting up, he stroked his bottom lip idly. “Guess you weren’t trying to seduce Veronica.” He tried to joke, hoping that Solomon wasn’t about to turn tail and run. It seemed the blond wasn’t retreating at further, so he swallowed hard and ran his fingers through his hair. “Come back, okay?”

  It took a long stare down and a pointed waving motion to reel Solomon back in, but the man sat next to him again. Albeit, there was more between them this time. “You’re not mad.” Solomon observed.

  “No. It was…unexpected, that’s all.” Mathieu didn’t mention the way that his head was buzzing and the base of his skull was tingling with just the small kiss. “Don’t try to molest me while I sleep now, though.” He again attempted to tease. It was easier to act as though he thought it was a joke rather than to consider what the small gesture really meant.

  Solomon looked physically pained by that comment. “I swear, I’m not normally like that. I just…it was…crap.” He pressed his palms to his eyes, hard. “This isn’t supposed to happen.”

  “What isn’t?”

  “Nothing.” The blond said, turning away.

  Mathieu bit his lip. It seemed that whether they ignored it or they talked about it, it was going to be something that pushed them apart. Solomon was already starting to be distant even in the few minutes since it had happened. If he was going to lose Solomon as a friend, he at least wanted his questions answered. “Are you not supposed to be gay, or just not supposed to like me?” He asked, hoping he wasn’t really misreading the situation.

  Solomon heaved a heavy breath and didn’t look at Mathieu. “It’s the latter. Being interested in…a man has never been a problem for me, mainly because no one had interested me.”

  “Really?” He had a hard time believing that no one had ever interested the blond before.

  Rolling green eyes, Solomon finally turned to look at him. “I’m not saying no one was ever attractive, but I was rarely forced into sleeping in the same bed as someone who…catches my attention.”

  “Yeah, I get that.”

  “Listen, I’m sorry, okay? Forget that it ever happened.” Solomon said, getting to his feet. “Let’s get back before Nathan returns. You know how he gets.” He led the way back up the hill, both keeping a slight distance between them.

  The whole walk back they maintained that distance, making things a bit awkward; especially since Mathieu kept slipping with his bare feet. He ended up with quite a few cuts. It frustrated him that Solomon wanted to pretend nothing had happened. Clearly, something had happened, and it seemed he wasn’t the only one who had noticed the other. Until now, he had worked as hard as possible to keep his thoughts pure so as to not make things awkward, avoided thinking of those muscled arms and piercing green eyes. Since the first time they had met, Mathieu had a hard time not blushing at the thought of Solomon’s hand in his hair, or the way that the blond could really get under his skin. But now the door to those thoughts had been opened and he was finding it difficult to push them away, to not think of those slightly chapped lips against his. Shaking his head, he looked at the inn that they were now almost back to. His wandering thoughts had kept his occupied.

  It seemed that something was against Mathieu, however, because Nathan was waiting inside the kitchen for them with a knowing smirk and a small chuckle. Solomon groaned and buried his head in the cupboard under the pretense of needing a drink of water, while Mathieu turned about three shaded of scarlet and stammered out, “I’m-I’m gonna go say, uh, go say goodbye.” Ducking out of the room, he practically ran into Emilia. Taking a deep breath, he brushed his hair back and tried to get a hold of himself. “Uh, where’s your mother, sweetie?” He asked her nicely.

  “She’s in the foyer. Where’s Prince?” Emilia asked, already trotting passed him to the kitchen.

  Rolling his eyes, he muttered a ‘thanks’ before stopped up in the room the wrangle on his boots. It was painful with the cuts on his feet, but he managed a lot faster than the day before. He rather wished that it had taken longer, giving him more time away from the other men. But it didn’t, so he went downstairs to find Veronica. “Hello?” He poked his head into the sparsely furnished room.

  “Here, lovely.” She stood from where she was kneeling in front of the chest, seemingly digging around in there for a set of matching placemats, and straightened her dress. “Are you guys leaving already?” Veronica asked, hands on her robust hips.

  Mathieu smiled politely at her. “Yeah, I think so. I wanted to say goodbye and thank you for the hospitality.”

  “Oh, it’s always my pleasure! The boys always breathe a breath of fresh air back into this place. And Solomon gets Emilia off of my hands for a bit.” She said with a laugh. “I hope I get to see you again. Take care of them, won’t you? Especially the blond one; he needs it.”

  “Eh?” Mathieu asked, wondering if this woman was perhaps psychic and knew what had happened. What bad luck, he thought, considering he had just resolved to not think about it again unless Solomon brought it up.

  “You’re the first boyfriend he’s brought along. You two are a cute couple, even if I’m not really a supporter of gays.”

  “What? Wait! No! It’s not like that! I mean—yes, I’m gay—but it’s not like! I mean, ugh!” His words had started to trip over themselves, and he finally threw his hands up in surrender. It seemed the right words weren’t going to come out, so he just gave up.

  Her face was skeptical. “Really? You mean to tell me that all of the blushing you two are always doing over each other, and the flirting, means nothing? Nathan said you two sharing a room is pretty common, even.” She raised an eyebrow. “I barely saw you two at dinner, and even I thought…”

  “It’s more in a platonic way…” Mathieu said, averting his eyes.

  Veronica smoothed her dress again, frowning. “Well…I don’t really know what to say.” She said. “I mean what I said, thought. You two would be a cute couple.”

  Mathieu nodded and wrinkled his nose in an embarrassed way. “Er, thanks.”

  “You’d better get going,” she suggested. “They’re rather impatient.” Her hand landed on his shoulder in a supportive way. “Good luck.” It was obvious she meant with more than the trip.

  “Hurry up, Mathieu.” Nathan called from the other end of the inn.

  “Told you.” Ver
onica gave him a wink as he ran outside to where the other two were waiting for him. Grabbing the hand Solomon was holding down to him, he hopped onto the back of the tuvash. That small touch had them looking away awkwardly.

  “Er, hey.” Solomon looked over his shoulder at Mathieu.

  “Huh?”

  The blond gave him a quick peck on the lips, blushing and embarrassed. “Ready to go?”

  “Depends, what was that about?” Mathieu asked, clearly confused. He wasn’t protesting, just off kilter again.

  “Just…felt like it.” Solomon said, trying not to meet his eyes. “Is it okay with you?”

  Looking over at the redhead who was watching them intently, Mathieu flushed and looked away. “Yeah. I think I’m okay with it.” Ducking his head, he tucking his face against Solomon’s back, hiding how red his face and neck had become. If Nathan had said something to the blond, he owed the redheaded man big time. If not, he was still a neon shade of red. He would need to corner Nathan later and get the scoop.

  As they started to ride Mathieu cleared his throat. He wanted to talk, but not about the kiss. It seemed those worked better when they weren’t talked about. So, he settled on a topic that seemed interesting, safe, and also had him a bit curious. “So, Veronica said you’d never brought someone else with you. It sounded like she’s known you for a long time and apparently you guys always stay at her inn.”

  “Not as long as some, but longer than most.”

  “How do you know her?”

  Solomon followed Nathan up the path that they had taken earlier, and steered with one hand while they talked. “When she was younger, Veronica was a black market trader. She lived in Unith and used to sell information to the resistance. That was back in the days before Nathan was in charge. She worked with us for a long time.”

  “I’m sensing a ‘but’, though.” Mathieu said.

  “Well, things were going well for her back then. She had a legitimate business, as well as made a good cut on the side from her other dealings, and she was set to live out her life that way. But then she got knocked up.” Solomon leaned forward as the tuvash hopped over a stump. “You know how they say that sometimes when someone has a near death experience, they completely change? It was kind of like that. When she realized that she was pregnant, Veronica stopped worrying about money and started to worry about what kind of life her kid was going to be living if her mother was shady.

  “It took her until Emilia was two before she had a plan. So she contacted us and said ‘I don’t know what I can offer you, but I need your help to get my daughter away from this’. Nathan, being the man that he is, said that we would help her; we showed up and took them away by tuvash. They’re definitely a lot more subtle than a carriage going through the Outer Zone.” Solomon chuckled, “Emilia was riding with me and she couldn’t sleep. She wanted me to tell her a story, so I started to tell her about a princess, it was Mina’s favorite one back in the day.”

  Yawning, Mathieu mumbled, “I assume there’s something important in this story, right?”

  “Yes, of course. Well, the Outer Zone is pretty dangerous and the tuvash got spooked. It tossed Emilia off into the river we were following.”

  “Awe, and you saved her, right?” He asked, with a tired chuckle. Mathieu rested his head against Solomon’s back.

  The blond sighed. “Of course I did. And since then she’s convinced I must be her prince because ‘a prince always saves the princess’. I still regret telling that story.” As the man spoke, his deep voice lulled Mathieu into a light doze.

  ~*~

  “Mathieu? We’re here.” Solomon said, reaching back to gently shake Mathieu.

  Woken by the small nudge, he looked around blearily. “Wha? Oh.” Taking a moment, he slid to the ground and gathered himself. Rubbing his eyes, Mathieu looked around. Then up.

  The tower they were standing in the shadow of was a truly awesome sight. Instead of ice like he had thought it would be made of, it was a structure of some sort of stone. The tower was a shiny black with thick white veins running through it; it went up and up until it was out of sight. “It’s…so beautiful. And kind of scary.”

  “The person who live here are more so.” Solomon pulled a cloak out of his pack and buttoned it around Mathieu’s neck, tucking the still light purple hair under the hood. “Don’t take this off. Promise me.”

  Looking at it and deciding it was made of some sort of fur, he shrugged. The cloak wrapped completely around him. “Uh, okay; I promise. But why?”

  Nathan nodded approvingly to Solomon. “That’s a good idea.” He looked at Mathieu. “This is keep you hidden.”

  “Why do I need to be hidden?”

  “Because someone as potentially powerful as you needs to be protected, idiot. You have to remember that this little boy wanted power so much that he was willing to sell his soul in order to get it. You’re powerful and he wants that. Under this cloak, only your friends will be able to see you. Stay close to me.” Solomon adjusted the hood one more time.

  Mathieu nodded and pulled the cloak tighter around himself, looking at his feet. “Right.”

  “And stay quiet, okay?” The redhead double checked that none of his hair was sticking out before smiling reassuringly.

  “I will. Thank you for this.”

  Nathan nodded. “It’s no problem. Just keep your wits about you. Let’s go.” He led the small party to the door and knocked on the polish wooden door. The sound echoed oddly into the depths of the tower, and Mathieu swore he heard it reverberating all the way up out of sight. Just over his shoulder, he could feel Solomon hovering next to him.

  They stood there until the blood had pooled in Mathieu’s feet, and he had to stomp them softly in order to get it flowing again. It seemed like forever to him, but eventually the tall door creaked inward and a single light appeared in front of them. It led them into the house. Inside, the towas was pitch black and the darkness wrapped around them, pulling them deeper forward towards the unknown. Solomon’s hand brushed over Mathieu’s lower back, reassuring him that he was safe.

  Thankfulness washed over him, glad to be positioned between Solomon and Nathan. It was safe there, or so he thought, and he tried to look around into the undulating darkness. They approached a set of stairs attached to the wall, and Mathieu had to look down so he didn’t fall. The stairs were the same black stone as the outside of the Sky Pillar and they only went up a few steps before leveling out and taking a sharp right. He could only just see Nathan’s red hair in the dim light and followed it, unable to use his hands to feel his way along. Mathieu just hoped there were no missing chunks of the floor.

  The large tower had an ominous feel to it and they seemed to be coming continuously to stairs that only had a few steps. Each window that they passed revealed just how high they had already climbed, low clouds being visible. It was a bit disconcerting, and Mathieu swallowed. He wondered if this was what being afraid of heights felt like. Finger’s snagged the back of his cloak, stopping his as Nathan came to a halt before a pure white door. The small light passed straight through the door, leaving them to stand there in the pressing darkness. The door made an awkward grinding sound and slowly slid up to reveal an opening that both Nathan and Solomon had to stoop through; Mathieu was just the right height to fit.

  The floors here were white, warm stone that was barely detectable under the black, swirling fog that covered the lower region of the room. The room was circular and fairly dim. This place was practically empty and their footsteps echoes around the room as they trio approached two chairs set side-by-side in the center. One was hidden by a gauzy black cloth draped over the back, and both were ringed by a small, black fire. It flickered in response to their presence.

  “Is that you, Nathan? And Solomon? How wonderful that you’ve come!” The chair without the a covering swiveled to face them and a mousy haired boy stood, his soft, high voice fitting his childish face. An accent blanketed his words, every ‘o’ dripping heavily with it.
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  “This is the time specified by you.” Solomon’s eyes narrowed at the young boy, giving a frosty bite to the air. He took half a step forward, subtly moving in front of Mathieu.

  The boy, Enak, as Mathieu recalled his name to be, stood and walked through the dark flames as though they were nothing. His steps had a flowing grace to them, almost like a light lope. If the small boy looked ten with those chubby cheeks and big eyes, Mathieu would be amazed. His coat tails fluttered behind him. “Solomon, you’re so bitter. Tell me, how is my Mina-love? I’d just adore for her to come visit. She is such a charmer. You hoard her far too much.” Enak blinked owlishly up at him.

  Solomon folded his arms, taking up more space than normal. “She doesn’t visit because you make her skin crawl, child. I wouldn’t stray too far from your power source, lest someone attempt to damage it.”

  Smiling brightly, Enak reached up and patted Solomon’s arm before circling around behind them to stand beside the redhead. “So tell me, Nathan, how are things at the headquarters? I hear that a battle plan is being constructed. Do make sure I get a final copy, won’t you?”