Glory in Our Defiance • Zarry

14. - With You in the Dead of Night

Leicester, May 1485

It takes them less than an hour to get to Leicester on their horses. They ride fast, too fast to have any kind of conversation while they are on horseback. But once they arrive to Leicester and get past the city gates, they slow down their horses enough to talk.

"Are you sure you know where we are going?" Zayn asks as they wander the streets of Leicester.

"Absolutely," Harry replies. "I have been here a few times. The house he resides in is not far from the All Saints Church. He should be there alone but there is a possibility that another brother or a student could be there. But do not worry, I trust Brother Fidelis. We will be safe."

This city a lot more lively than the tiny town of Market Bosworth. Even though it's after midnight, there are drunken people stumbling in the streets and even a few harlots call out to them, offering their services.

Eventually they get to the part of town where the All Saints Church lays. It is a lot quiter because no good Catholic would open a tavern or a brothel right next to a holy place.

The moon above them luckily lights their way because it is full and Harry can clearly see the thin tall house of Brother Fidelis. It's really a parsonage but currently All Saints Church doesn't have its own priest so the Church rented the house for monks and use it as a makeshift school.

When they get in front of the house, they get off their horses and tie them to a post placed there for exactly this purpose. All the windows are dark so Harry hopes they will be able to wake Brother Fidelis up.

Harry knocks on the door quite forcefully. He hopes they won't attract any attention from some lowlives that might be roaming the streets at this hour.

"What if he is not here?" Zayn asks after a few minutes of no response.

Harry sighs but he doesn't want to even acknowledge that possibility. He leans against the door with one hand and look downs at his dirty boots. "He must be here. And if he is not, we will just find an inn here in the city. It is risky but still better than travelling through the night for so long."

He feels a hand on his left hip and Zayn's body warmth to his right. The sensation suddenly takes over Harry, the memories of how they used to share the same bed coming in strongly. He missed Zayn so fucking much. It was unbearable in some moments. Falling asleep in a cold bed was harder when he knew he could share it with another wamr body, with a person he loves who would wrap his arms around Harry and Harry could feel his lover's chest against his back all night. Now they are so, so close to it again.

"Would be a bit reminiscent of our first night together," Zayn whispers into Harry's right ear before he hooks his chin over Harry's shoulder and properly wraps his arms around him from behind. "I still remember that look in your eyes before you first kissed me. Almost wild, feral. And it was so fucking beautiful, I knew right then and there that you would capture me wholly and completely."

"I think I fell in love with you the moment I saw you in that tavern," Harry confesses before trying the door again. "You are more beautiful than any of your portraits. Even though you looked at me with so much hatred, I just wanted you. Then I got you and all of that hatred dissipated into thin air and I could finally see how lovely and kind you really are."

"I could never truly hate you, Harry," Zayn admits. "I love you more than anything in the whole world."

"I do too," Harry replies. "We could turn around, maybe? So we could-"

The door opens then. Harry hastily removes Zayn's arms from his waist, gaining his composure before smilling at a grumpy-looking Brother Fidelis in just his nightgown, sleeping hat and slippers with a lantern in his left hand.