Winter's Bees Read Free Page B

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    They were butterflies with delicate long white wings, tapered at the tips, with streaks of orange across the top of each wing.
    "Zeltus etolus," Gilbert said. "Very rare, from the East. It took me forever to raise them correctly, but they are beautiful, aren't they?"
    "They are." Marcel leaned close to have a better look. "Truly amazing."
    "You should have seen them when they were alive. When they flew, the tips of their wings looked like streamers coming out behind them, fluttering in the breeze."
    "I'm sorry I missed it." Marcel looked up, meeting Gilbert's gaze. There was sadness there Marcel hadn't expected to see, enough sadness to send a shock to through him, and he reached out without thinking to clasp Gilbert's shoulder again.
    "Gilbert… ?"
    "I'm sorry too." Gilbert pulled away, taking the case back over to its display cabinet. "Do you want to stay? I'll have tea brought up." He turned back to Marcel.
    "That would be lovely." The desire to pull Gilbert close, hold him and make him tell Marcel what was wrong was still there, still strong. Marcel clenched his good hand against it. "But Gilbert, what is wrong?"
    "It's nothing, you were just gone for so long and I missed you." Gilbert's shoulders were still hunched in a way Marcel didn't like.
    "I should have written more." Marcel crossed the space between them and pulled Gilbert into a hug.
    "No, it's fine, true, I don't want you to feel badly." Gilbert pulled away from Marcel's embrace enough to look up at him. "I know the trip was important for your research and that you enjoyed it. I've just—been out of sorts lately."
     Marcel scrutinized his face, trying to figure out if Gilbert really was fine. There was definitely something preying on his mind, which Marcel revolved to get to bottom of sooner than later. But the overwhelming sadness was in Gilbert's eyes, not erased but hidden away again.
    "If you're sure." Marcel reached out and ruffled his fingers through Gilbert's hair, causing Gilbert to, as he always did, step back with a scowl and huff of indignation. Marcel chuckled at the look Gilbert's face. "So are any of your sisters at the palace today?"
    "Out of luck, unfortunately." Gilbert led the way towards the door. "Charlotte is readying her troops to move back up to the Northern border. And Henri is trying to convince stuffy academics over at the University at Colline to take her new cataloging system for the library seriously. They should both be at the Christmas ball, though, unless Charlotte decided to move her troops out early."
    "Your father said we should announce the engagement at the Christmas ball." It was a genius idea to bring back up the tenuous subject of their marriage. Marcel felt like kicking himself as soon as the sentence had left his mouth.
    Gilbert paused as they came into one of the smaller sitting rooms. For a long moment, Marcel thought he wasn't going to answer. "Yes," Gilbert finally said. "Yes, that might be a good idea."
    Idiot. They had spent less than two hours in each other's company since Marcel's return to Challant and in that time Marcel had mostly succeeded in upsetting Gilbert one way or another. He needed to get his head out of his own backside and remember how to be Gilbert's friend and nothing more. Gilbert was right; he had been gone for far too long if he couldn't even remember to do that.
    For lack of anything better to do while he berated himself, Marcel settled on one of the couches.
    "I've never seen that arm before."
    Gilbert's soft words startled Marcel out of his bout of self-loathing, and he looked just as Gilbert settled beside him on the couch.
    "Is it new?"
    "It is, actually." He was fairly very close now, so Marcel concentrated on the prosthetic arm in question. It was indeed one of his new ones, and he was fairly impressed that Gilbert, who was not the most fashion forward of people, had noticed.
    He had been born without his left arm and with his right leg twisted and unable to grow muscle properly.