Luther had to admit, if only to himself, Fayt possessed a certain kind of . . . something. Whatever the quality happened to be, Luther could not say, but he knew one thing for certain. Despite everything the young man had endured, Fayt had somehow managed to retain a naiveté that no one else ever had. Those who went on quests like Fayt had and had lost what Fayt had lost were changed forever, their innocence gone. Yet, the green-eyed man had managed. Such a feat baffled Luther, and he wanted to get his hands on Fayt to find out more. It was a strange mixture of beauty and sadness Fayt possessed, and Luther wanted to taste it for himself.

The blond also knew he had to be careful when it came to approaching Fayt Leingod. His counterpart probably believed him to be dead and would possibly attack him on sight. Luther did not want that. He wanted submission from Fayt, complete and absolute. He wanted to hear the younger man cry out Luther's name as he explored and delved into every part of Fayt's body. Such ideas were not farfetched but were unobtainable at the moment. In Luther's estimation, Fayt probably did not want much contact with anyone, not after finding Sophia Esteed in bed with Cliff Fittir. To get what he wanted, he would have to remain hidden from Fayt for a while, or at least find a way to disguise himself.

'I can warm him up to the idea of me being in his life permanently, though,' Luther thought as he watched Fayt walk back to his hotel room. 'All I need is time and that is something I have plenty of.'

A smirk touched his features as the door to Fayt's room slid open . . .

* * *

Fayt felt exhausted, just bone-weary and limp-muscle exhausted. It was a good thing, really. The waters of the hot springs had done wonders for his body. In spite of the exhaustion, he felt rejuvenated, like he could take on anything that came his way.

'A good sign,' he mused. 'It means I'm more like myself again.'

He smiled to himself as he walked back to his room. A few more days of the hot springs and he would be able to leave. Where he would go, he did not have an idea, but he had gotten used to traveling. Anywhere would be just fine.

As he drew closer to his room, the scent of roses grew stronger, and Fayt's smile dissipated some. He had been smelling the flowers for a better part of the day, and it baffled him as to why. Had someone dumped an entire bucket of rose oil onto herself in front of his room? If so, it had been a ridiculous idea. No one needed to smell the roses that badly.

With a shake of his head, Fayt keyed in the room code, and the door slid open. His jaw dropped and his eyes widened at the sight before him.

Someone had decorated his room. Vases of red roses were on the desk and bureaus, and candles had been lit. Between the vases and candles were several white boxes. The bed had been remade with blue silk sheets and a soft-looking comforter. An envelope rested in the center.

For a moment, Fayt thought Cliff might have found him. The Klausian had an uncanny knack for seeking him out to apologize whenever things between them had gotten bad and Fayt needed time to think things over. It scared him because he knew things between he and Cliff would never be the same ever again.

Then the irrational fear left him and Fayt took a deep breath to calm himself. While Cliff had always sought him out, the Klausian had never done any sort of grand, romantic gesture towards him. Theirs had been an instant relationship, one where the courtship period had lasted a day before they ended up in bed together. Someone else had found him.

'Or maybe someone got the wrong room by mistake,' he thought, taking slow steps towards the bed. 'No one even knows I've left yet.'

Confident that had to be the case, Fayt picked up the envelope to find out whom everything was for. Once he had that information, he could take the gifts to the front desk and inform them of the error. He read the name printed on the paper then almost dropped it. In bold, black ink, it read:

Fayt Leingod

Someone had found him.