Jackdaw by Kj Charles Page A

wandering off the point.” He knew Jonah’s flitting, butterfly mind all too well. “Just the truth.”
    Jonah shut his eyes. “Yes. Right. Very well. Where to start… I don’t know if you remember, no reason you should, but back in October, before…everything, I turned down a job.”
    Ben did remember. Jonah had come back from one of his two-day absences twitchy and frowning. He had said only that he had refused work, and the prospective employer had not been happy, but he had scowled at his plate as he ate, and his normally ravenous appetite had deserted him. Ben had wondered at the time.
    “Let me guess. This job offer was from Lady Bruton?”
    “Yes. A very bad woman, and very dangerous, and half-mad at least, and possessed of a raging grudge against Stephen Day, the justiciar, and his lover, Lord Crane.”
    “His what ?”
    “Lover. Day’s lover.”
    “Day?” Ben repeated, completely forgetting about sticking to the point. “His lover? Did you say a lord ?”
    “Oh, yes. The right noble earl of Crane. Landed gentry. Six foot three of money, mouth and cock. And an utter bastard.”
    “Six— With Day?” Ben was having trouble visualising this. “Are you sure?”
    “Unlikely, isn’t it? And, you’d think, physically unfeasible, but they are conducting an affaire of operatic intensity. No, really. I promise.” His eyes brimmed with amusement at Ben’s reaction.
    “But… My God . I thought he was sympathetic.” Ben considered it for a second. He had a vague feeling that, under the circumstances, the man might have been more helpful. “Well, I wouldn’t have thought it.”
    “Yes, well, think on this: the righteous Mr. Day is quite a lot less righteous in private. He likes restraints .”
    “You aren’t serious,” Ben said, aghast. “Oh.”
    “What?” Jonah was watching his face, and there was something in his expression, a touch of satisfied happiness that he had always worn when he made Ben laugh. The look that had made Ben feel like the centre of the world. “What is it?”
    Ben didn’t give a damn for Day’s personal habits, but that look had made him feel…he didn’t know. Something he couldn’t think about. He answered mostly to distract himself from it. “Nothing. Just that you said restraints, and—well, I thought Day was good at ropes back at the justiciary…”
    “No!” Jonah said with explosive glee. “Oh my God, Benedict Spenser. You let Stephen Day tie you up. You tart .”
    “I didn’t let him, he arrested me,” Ben protested, which was the wrong thing to say. He should have slapped Jonah down. They weren’t on these terms any more. But they had been, and it felt so natural, so alive. “Anyway, I don’t believe a word of it.”
    “God, well, nor did I. Who would? You’ve seen Day, whereas his lordship’s absolutely delectable, if you like that sort of thing—”
    “Do you?” Ben found himself interrupting, with hostility.
    Jonah’s eyes came swiftly to Ben’s, a distinct glow to them. “Well, if you ask me, he’s a bit Blackpool, you know. Nice for a holiday, but you wouldn’t want to live there.”
    “You’re ridiculous.” Ben had to hold back the smile. He wanted to laugh, wanted so much to have Jonah spin his implausible gossip and make the world a lighter, easier place.
    He didn’t want to stop this and talk about awful things, and for just a moment he thought, Perhaps we could not . Just forget. Just ignore. Just have a few minutes on the train where the past wasn’t with them, where he could inhale Jonah’s scent and maybe even sit by him instead of apart. Feel the warmth of his thigh against Ben’s, have Jonah’s fingers tangle in his own, perhaps even, when the train passed through a tunnel and all was dark, he could steal a kiss and things could be as they had been once more…
    Insanity. Sheer bloody insanity.
    Ben stamped down on the little bubble of happiness, and Jonah saw him do it. The smile stayed on his lips, but the light