Page 58 of Search for the Lost

“Focus.” It was kind of funny saying that to Crispin instead of someone saying it to Leo. It was a word that he’d heard a lot over the years.

After a sour glare, Crispin nodded and turned back to Dietrich. “Has my mother passed this way lately?”

“Oh, I couldn’t possibly divulge that information. You know how she values her privacy.”

Crispin scrunched up his mouth. Leo knew that expression—it meant that Crispin was scheming. Not that his beloved would call it that; Crispin preferred planning or strategizing. After a moment of that, Crispin gently pushed Leo to the side and sidled up to Dietrich, smiling and almost batting his eyelashes. “Dietrich,” he purred. “We’ve been searching everywhere for Mother and we’re ever so worried. Couldn’t you—just this once—help me out? Just… you know, nod if she was here recently? I’d be very grateful.”

Dietrich shifted from foot to foot and rubbed his chin. “Well… just this once.” He glanced around guiltily before giving a single quick nod.

Both Crispin and Aspin exhaled in relief, and Crispin squeezed Dietrich’s shoulder. “Thank you. You are a true hero.” He glanced at Leo out of the corner of his eye. “We really are pretty tired. And sort of chocolaty after the bahn-bahn. We’re going to call it a night, but maybe we can chat in the morning?”

“We can chat tonight. I have a comfortable room. With a big bed.” Dietrich wiggled his eyebrows. Then, as if he was registering Aspin and Leo for the first time, he waved in their general direction. “Big enough for three. Or four.”

Okay, that’s enough. Leo stomped his foot and opened his mouth to make a scene, but before he could get out a word, Aspin grabbed his wrist and hauled him through the fairly crowded room. He was strong, and when he eventually stopped, he didn’t let go of Leo. “Stop it! Stop it right now!” Aspin growled.

“He is hitting on my boyfriend! And my boyfriend’s flirting back!” People were probably listening in. Leo didn’t care.

Aspin responded in a hiss. “We need information from him. It’s important.”

“I’m important. At least, I thought I was.” Sure, their relationship wasn’t easy, but Leo—who’d never been in a relationship before—had the idea that few of them were easy at first. Especially when one party was Chaos and the other was Order and they kept getting thrown into different worlds. After the whole body-swapping thing, Leo had gained much more appreciation of what it was like to be Crispin, and he’d had the sense that it was true for Crispin as well. But maybe I read everything wrong.

Aspin finally let him go, and with a moan, Leo sank into a nearby chair. When Aspin spoke again, he actually sounded sympathetic. “You are important. You do understand that Crispin is merely trying to gain that man’s assistance?”

“No. I saw his face when Dietrich arrived. He was like one of those cartoons where hearts bulge out of someone’s eye sockets.” Ew. That sounded a lot more disgusting than he’d intended.

With a put-upon sigh, Aspin crouched beside him. “He is a handsome man. Also, if I’m not mistaken, he was, erm, my brother’s first… dalliance.”

Now Leo hid his face in his hands. Great. Just wonderful.

“Leo, don’t you have a special fondness in your heart for whomever introduced you to the delights of physical congress?”

It wasn’t effective to roll your eyes when your palms were covering them, but Leo did it anyway. “Delights of physical congress? I don’t even know his name.” Leo had been nineteen and had snuck into a bar with a fake ID. He’d made eye contact with a cute guy in the bathroom. The guy—Derek Something? Darrin? Daryl?—offered him a ride home, but along the way they’d instead decided to head a few miles out of town. They’d parked on a levee. They made out. They fumbled with clothes. They’d had awkward, fumbling sex crammed together in the passenger seat of the guy’s ancient Honda Civic. It had lasted about thirty seconds, which was just as well because the gear shift knob and emergency brake kept poking in very uncomfortable places. Then they’d both realized that the car was slowly rolling off the road… down the slope… toward the river.

Leo and the other man had managed to bail out of the car, landing in the dirt with jeans and underwear tangled around their ankles. They were still untangling from each other when the car splashed into the water… and a sheriff’s deputy rolled up beside them in his patrol car.

Delights of physical congress. Sure thing.

Leo lowered his hands and looked bleakly at Aspin. “Crispin has a type, doesn’t he? Tall and muscular and very Main Character. That Wolfsword guy who sold us out when OotL was looking for us, he was like that too. I’m not.”

“Crispin spent a very short time with Wolfsword and, I believe, regretted even that much. His assignation with Dietrich happened when Crispin was very young. It lasted only a few days. He has lasted with you, Leopold, through countless hazards. Much as I might hate to admit it, I very much believe that you are his type.”

For a few moments, all Leo could do was blink in surprise. Finally he said, “You’re being supportive.”

That earned him a very Aspin-like huff, which made Leo smile a little. “I’m not a monster, you know,” said Aspin. “I care about my brother. Even if I’m occasionally slightly remiss in demonstrating that.” He glanced away briefly and cleared his throat. “He’s been endangered more times in the short time he’s known you than during his entire life previously. But he’s survived. He’s thrived. He’s risen to challenges he never would have attempted before. And you helped him achieve this.”

By the end of this little speech, Aspin was orating: he spoke loudly and accompanied his words with theatrical hand gestures. A few of the people nearby stared. Leo didn’t care about any of that. He shot to his feet and attacked Aspin with an enthusiastic bear hug that almost sent both of them to the floor. “I always wanted a brother,” he sniffled.

It was just as well that Crispin showed up just then with Minkis on his shoulder but no Teutonic heartthrob in sight. “Hey, you two haven’t been drinking already, have you?”

Leo and Aspin unwound from the embrace, each smoothing his clothing awkwardly. “I’m hungry,” said Aspin in an obvious attempt to change the subject.

“Good. I’ve booked us adjoining rooms, I’ve arranged to have dinner delivered, and I got a few more details on Mother.” Crispin looked understandably pleased with himself.

They followed him through a door at the back of the room and into an elevator that would have seemed entirely ordinary if there wasn’t a tree growing in the middle of it and if the walls hadn’t been adorned with hunting trophies of creatures that Leo had never seen before. They all had a lot of sharp teeth, and some also had pointy horns.

After they traversed a short hallway, Crispin unlocked an elaborately carved wooden door, announcing, “This is the suite that Mother uses.” Everyone crowded in. It was a very large room, blessedly without hunting trophies. In fact, the Germanic theme had been abandoned here and the space looked more like a very upscale spa-resort, with lots of soft surfaces and everything in soothing creams, sages, and taupes. The centerpiece was a round bed that would have been more than big enough for one of Dietrich’s orgies, but the room also contained several couches, chairs, and giant floor pillows.

“I think that’s your room, Aspin.” Crispin pointed at an unobtrusive door. “I’m told it’s slightly smaller, but⁠—”