A/N: I am so sorry, I was sure that I uploaded chapter 22, but I didn't check it because I was heading out. And then I tried to reupload it from my phone but it kind of kept loading up the wrong chapter even though I made extra sure to choose the right one, so I justz deleted it until I got back home. So sorry for the confusion! But now have fun with the right chapter!

Berwald and Mathias returned around noon, with news and a bundle of meat skewers, still dripping with grease fresh from the fire. We quickly fetched Emil from his room and sat once again in Berwalds and Tinos room gnawing the tasty meat from the wooden skewers. It wasn't hot anymore, but it was still delicious, although I wasn't quite sure what meat I was currently eating for the taste was unfamiliar to me. But I decided not to ask; after all we didn't always have enough money to afford meat, so I didn't really know much about it.

After we had finished, Mathias told us that they had indeed managed to buy us a place on one of the merchant's caravan that would leave the city in a few days, they weren't on direct route to the capital, but the detours were only minor and they seemed to be the most decent ones around so they figured it was fine. The merchants were on their way into the Northern Mountains, carrying goods with them that would be needed by the people living there to face the upcoming winter, in turn they would buy the furs and pelts the mountain hunters had collected during the summer and sell them on their way back.

We were expected to help out though, but neither of us did mind. I only wondered if it wouldn't be better to get as fast as possible to the capital, seeing that they obviously didn't know yet that Orusha was threatening the border towns yet. But Mathias said he had taken care of that, sending a bird to his father with a short message. I didn't know that you apparently could rent pigeons to deliver your messages. But the service was limited to a few major cities, because each pigeon could only fly between two places and for a small town like ours it just was not profitable.

We didn't need to buy provisions though; food was included in the price, but we would have to take care of our sleeping arrangements, but I supposed we would just use the bedrolls again. Only this time we would buy some additional blankets and warm clothes, in case something like with Tino happened again.

And Mathias proposed that we take weapons with us, in case we needed to defend ourselves. After what had happened with Ludwig and his troop, I was all for that idea, although I didn't know how to handle a weapon. But it would definitely feel safer with than without one.

So it was settled then, the caravan would leave in three days, so we had time until then to get everything that we needed. I decided to use that time to work with my hands and use them as much as possible. The salve was helping with that, but they were still a little stiff and flexing them took some effort. And there were a few spots where I didn't feel anything. The little finger of my left hand had no feeling to it at all, I could move it though. But according to the doctor there was nothing to worry about, the feeling might never return, but as long as I could move it, it would be alright.

But for that I needed something to do with my hands, just flexing them the whole day was proving to be boring and I was forgetting it all the time. So I would go out for a bit to find something to work my hands on. Mathias of course was all too eager to accompany me. He said he wouldn't want me to go out alone, since I was so cute and adorable some random stranger might try and snatch me away. So heavily blushing I let him tag along, but not without slamming a well aimed elbow into his ribs. I felt bad for him instantly though, after all he had meant only good so I slipped an arm around his waist in a silent apology and let him throw his arm around me in a protective gesture. But I made clear that I would immediately revoke this privilege if he so much as dared to grope me in inappropriate places.

In truth I felt actually flattered by his excessive care, it almost made me feel as if I was the most precious thing in the world. And for Mathias I probably even was.

It was early afternoon and the streets were full of people. The sky was decorated with fluffy white clouds, but in the East the clouds were dark and heavy with rain. I just hoped that they clouds would stay where they were, since it was such a nice day. We sauntered through the streets, not really knowing where we were going but not really caring either. I watched the people passing by; most of them were walking at a swift pace, going on with their business and not pausing once to admire the nice setting around them. The streets were cobbled with a nice red shaded stone, the facades of the houses were painted in various colors and the sun was peeking through the clouds every now and then, casting a warm glow above everything.

There was a big market in the Southern part, beyond the river that flowed through the city, where travelling merchants had set up their stalls, offering goods from all over the continent. The market was fairly bigger than the spice market, and it was not limited to only spices. On this market one could purchase almost everything; clothes made of leather, wool or even silk, fruits and vegetables, meat and fish, living animals, from cats to chase our rats to horses to ride in battle, herbs and medicine, jewelry and pottery, furniture and wood and even some rare goods from beyond the boundaries of our small kingdom. But this was not a trading hot spot, so none of the big trading routes led through this city and rarely a merchant from outside the kingdom found his way here.

We walked past the stalls, halting here and there to take a look at the presented goods, but nothing really caught my interest. But I had to drag Mathias from the stall of a jewelry vendor, where he was about to buy an expensive looking pendant with a blue stone that 'matched my eyes'. As much as I appreciated the thought, I just didn't feel comfortable with him spending so much money on unnecessary things for me.

I was about to give up hope to find something to busy my hands with when I noticed a booth that sold braided strands of what appeared to be horse hair. What caught my eyes were not the beautifully crafted items, but that the owner also sold strands of the used hair.

This was just perfect.

We used to braid wheat in the harvest season for good luck and to celebrate the Yule festival later in the year. But this was almost as good. I approached the vendor and haggled a little with him, but in the end I got some thick strands of different colored horse hair for a reasonable price, albeit Mathias had to pay once again. The vendor carefully wrapped the strands in wax paper and handed me the small packet with a smile.

I could use this to not only train my hands, but also to make something nice for Mathias to repay him at least a little for what he had done for me. I had to smile at the thought of me and Mathias wearing matching pieces of braided horsehair. It would be nice if I could add some kind of stone to put in some unique meaning, but I didn't have the money and since this would be a gift it didn't feel right to entirely rely on Mathias to get the parts. Maybe I could find something else that fitted our characteristics? I would definitely look into that.

We would have continued our leisurely stroll over the market, but by then the first drops of rain had started to fall. Mathias wasn't deterred at all by the threat of getting 'a little wet', but I could see that the heavy rain clouds from earlier were closing in, and would most likely unleash a downpour on us. So I grabbed Mathias by the hand and pulled him along, to the exit of the market area and out onto the streets. We were not the only one who suspected a shower, most people hurried even more than usual or tried to seek shelter in nearby shops. The drops of rain now came faster and in greater numbers. I was glad that the horse hair was wrapped in wax paper that would protect it at least from the rain.

We only made it about halfway to the inn, when the clouds fully released their contents. We stumbled under the overhanging roof of a nearby house, clothes soaked almost to the skin and watched in wonder as the world around us turned grey and vanished behind a thick curtain of rain. Mathias slung an arm around me, pressing my cold and wet body against his equally cold and wet body. We needed to find shelter soon or else we would catch a cold, or in my case my cold would grow worse. But there was no way we would be able to make our way back to the inn like this. It was almost impossible to make out shapes, and we would only get lost if we tried to find something in this still unfamiliar city.

As if they had heard us, the door to the house under whose roof we had sought shelter, was opened and a friendly voice sounded: "You two must be freezing, don't you want to come in and wait until the rain has passed?" We turned around to see a good looking man with wavy blond hair standing in the door frame. He was smiling at us and gestured at us to come in. He looked slightly familiar, but I couldn't place where I had seen him before.

Because of a lack of better options Mathias and I stepped into the house behind the stranger, glad to be out of the cold. There was a moment of awkwardness when we would all stand in the hallway, shuffling to get out of our shoes and try at the same time to leave as few water on the floor as possible. "My name is Francis Bonnefoy by the way," the stranger said as he took our jackets to hang them in the bathroom to dry. "And you are?"

We both said our names and after another smile and a "Pleasure to meet you," we got shooed into what appeared to be the living room. Another male already sat on the couch, a somewhat disgruntled look on his face, and suddenly I remembered where I had seen Francis before. "You two were the ones who got fish waste dumped over their heads a few days ago." I exclaimed without thinking. I could hear a light chuckle from Francis, but the face of the man of the couch grew even more with displeasure. "That's right, you saw?" Francis came around to sit beside the other male, putting an arm around him that was immediately pushed away.

I only nodded, unable to meet their gazes. "Yeah, sorry." But Francis only waved his hand. "It's okay, Arthur here and I only got in a little argument over… ah some minor details and we got carried away." Arthur had elbowed Francis in the ribs, before he could say whatever he wanted to say originally. "Anyways," he grumbled, "who are you guys?""Arthur mon cher, that is not very nice, those two are Mathias and Lukas, and I 'ave invited them to wait 'ere until that 'orrible rain 'as stopped." Francis' suddenly spoke with a heavy accent that caused Arthur to blush and avert his eyes, mumbling something that sounded a lot like 'unfair using your accent like that'.

They were really a curious pair, but I thought it impolite to inquire, after all Francis had offered us shelter from the rain. "So are you two a couple?" But apparently Mathias thought otherwise.

"No we're not." Said Arthur.

"Yes we are." said Francis.

Before this could go any more out of hand, I decided to intervene. "Thanks again for letting us stay here." I said, and nudged Mathias, who thankfully caught on and issued his thanks too. "Don't mention it." Arthur grumbled to our surprise. "Would you like to have some tea? And maybe get out of those clothes, they are pretty wet. I'm sure Francis would love to share some of his clothes with you." His words caused Francis to jump up and call out: "Oh right how could I forget about that, you're going to need some towels to dry up. How about you just use the bathroom, while Arthur here makes you some tea? And I will get you something dry to wear in the meantime."

Since the wet fabric on my skin had become clammy, I was all too eager to get dry again. I didn't even mind the somewhat dirty looks Francis gave us when Mathias and I entered the bathroom together. They seemed more of a playful nature though, so I didn't think too much of it, but I still made sure that the door was locked. But I should have known that the danger lied within the room, the moment I had locked the door, Mathias was on me, pressing me against the wood that separated us from the outside world and planted a heated kiss on my lips.

I wanted to protest, but Mathias' hot demanding tongue pushing against my lips was too much and I gave in, slightly moaning as his hands peeled the wet clothing from my skin. "I can't help it." He whispered into the kiss, "You look so damn hot in those wet clothes." Another throaty moan escaped my parted lips, as he griped my limp member into his hand. "Mathias-" I tried to reason, we were in the bathroom of some people we had just met, and this was definitely not the right place or time to do something like this, but I was shushed by Mathias' who once more forced me into battle with his tongue. "Sht, you don't want to alert our hosts, do you?" He teasingly mocked and I knew that I wouldn't get out of this. But truth was; at this I didn't really want to get out of it.

I was naked by now, Mathias hands and lips were all over me, turning my previous cold and clammy body into a hot quivering mess that begged for his attention at that one point he so deliberately missed. The danger of being discovered only added to my arousal and I would have moaned and begged shamelessly for Mathias to just fuck me, if I hadn't been forced to be quiet. But even like this Mathias knew pretty well what I wanted.

"Turn around and place your hands on the wall." I did as he said, pressing the palms of my hands against the cool wall, feeling exposed and vulnerable, which caused me to get even more aroused, if that was even possible. Mathias spread my cheeks and I yelped as his finger entered me, but was punished for the break of silence as Mathias immediately ceased every movement. I bit my tongue and waited until Mathias saw fit to continue his preparation. My insides were still raw from the other day, but the pain only added to the pleasure I felt. I had never thought I could be so masochistic, but apparently I was, and not even the slight stinging of my hands against the walls could dampen my pleasure.

And then after more stretching and panting and biting back moans, Mathias finally, mercifully pushed into me, filling me with his heat and forcing me to once more dig my teeth into my lip to prevent me from crying out in pure bliss. I needed only a moment to adjust, and then Mathias pulled back almost to the tip, only to slam back into me with full force. I could taste blood, in my effort not to scream I had torn through the skin. A hand sneaked up and covered my mouth, holding back the moans that threatened to escape as Mathias continuously thrust into me, nailing my sweet spot each and every time.

I could hear Mathias grunt as his hip slapped against my back, making lewd noises that echoed through the room, and then his other hand was around my member and moved in time with his thrusts and I moaned into Mathias hand. My nails dug into the wall in a desperate attempt to hold onto something, the tightened skin around the cuts stung and protested, but I didn't care, all I wanted was to reach completion with Mathias filling me with his essence.

Mathias hit that special spot inside of me with an especially forceful thrust and I bit down on Mathias hand as I reached my climax, spitting all over the hand that was gripping me. Mathias continued his thrusts a few more times before he tensed up and came deep inside of me.

I was panting and noticed with slight discomfort that the wall, where my hands were, was smeared with blood. The wounds had reopened again. Mathias took my left hand, the one with the deep cut across the palm and raised it up to his mouth, gently kissing the wound, before he rested my hand against his cheek. My legs felt a bit wobbly so I let Mathias help me to sit down on the edge of the bath tub. Then he wetted a towel and cleaned me up from head to toe, carefully massaging my backside to ease the pain a little.

We hurried to get dressed with the clothes Francis had given us in advance, and exited the bathroom after carefully eliminating every trace of our little adventure. I couldn't meet Francis' eyes as I sat down in the living room, gratefully accepting the cup of tea from Arthur; I sat there and looked down. Somehow I got the feeling that they both knew very well what we had been doing, but were only too polite to say anything. I really shouldn't let Mathias do everything he wanted, but it had felt so damn good. I had some problem with walking though, but I could always force Mathias to carry me.

I wrapped my hands around the cup of tea as best as possible and tried to drink without spilling. The newly applied bandages and the lingering stiffness made it hard to bend my fingers properly so I couldn't use the handle. Francis noticed my struggle and asked with an arched eyebrow: "What happened to your hands?"

Mathias and I exchanged a glance, "Long story."

...