"So it is," Hermes said softly, shifting where he was sitting to give into the temptation to do exactly that, smoothing out a small section of Alcuin's hair to start braiding it whether or not he had ties to secure them.
"It was hard to keep the masks up," he said, able to be frank as always with Alcuin especially when it was just the two of them. "Not when every part of me was seething with rage at the lies in the air." Alcuin would never. Not in a million years. "But we do what we must, don't we?" He cleared his throat. "And maybe steal a few jewels out of spite anyway, but that's just to be expected isn't it?"