The two main characters in my BL enemies-to-lovers romantic fantasy meet first as children. This part describes when they first meet up again as adults.
“Toom?”
My name was drawn out in the Rakim accent, but the voice was familiar. And I knew only one man from Rakim who would forgo the honorific and call me simply Toom.
Before I even turned around, I said, “Hello, Niako.”
It was a good thing I spoke before turning because after turning, my breath froze in my lungs. In the flickering light of the streetlamp overhead, his dark clothing and dark skin and hair created fascinating long lines, and the white of his eyes, his teeth, and his tunic glowed. But what really stole my breath was the way his dark eyes studied me, dragging his gaze slowly from head to foot and back up as though uncovering a fascinating new discovery. When his eyes met mine, he raised an angular black eyebrow.
“You look… different,” he said.
Even in the dim lamplight, certain differences would be obvious. I had grown to over six feet — a couple inches taller than him, by the looks of it — and years of hard training had covered my broad shoulders and arms in solid muscle mass. Sun-streaked blonde hair and bronzed skin highlighted my blue-green eyes. I had been told many women and men in Fooja found me attractive, but Niako’s eyes and voice felt more speculative than admiring, like a physician examining unforeseen changes in a patient.
“And you look exactly the same.”
It wasn’t quite true, though. His long-lashed gaze and high cheekbones still oozed arrogance, and he remained tall and slim. However, lean muscle now stretched across his long limbs in perfect proportion, and where his tunic hung open at the top, a few curly black chest hairs caught the light. He looked… good Goddess, he looked stunning. Too perfect to be real.
I tamped down that thought immediately. No good would come from thinking like that. Not here in Rakim lands, and especially not about Niako.
