17. Damon

17

DAMON

A moon's turn ago, Damon had gone to Inez in her solar. He'd had her send her handmaidens from the room and explained that he would be made Warden of Vashti at the Hero's Gala where he would receive the Order of Azuria.

"There will be much work to do before we move to Felgrace. With Kres gone the household will need more of my attention. Tavi is mild, perhaps too mild to command the authority needed for a seneschal, but he will do for the time being. And he will be capable of managing Sanglora when the household moves to Felgrace. I will find a new man to oversee Felgrace. Perhaps Vindar will recommend someone when everything is official. I could take one of the junior keepers of the Rose Palace. I would like you to help with the decision about the new seneschal. You will have an important role in running Felgrace."

Inez looks at him. She looks surprised by the statement. "You would not prefer I remain in Sanglora?"

"Of course not. You are my wife. But," he pauses. He knows he has to tell Inez this. It would be cowardly not to. " I will be taking the slave I brought from Jur-Mattan. In Vashti, he will be my favoured. He will attend me in bed."

Inez looks confused by this statement, as well she might, "You will live in depravity?"

Damon looks down. "Yes. Selim has granted me this."

Quietly Inez says, "He has granted you leave to shame me."

"I do not mean to. This will be a hidden sin. The Rose Court have promised to ignore it and we will be far from Attar. You will be mother to my children. Please, Inez, I never wish to bring you anything but peace. You know my nature, but I swear to you, I will protect your honour with my final breath."

"Did you renounce any claim to the throne as part of your bargain?"

Damon looks at her. Is that her main concern? Not that he intends to lie with his male slave in Felgrace. "I cannot renounce something I do not have."

"Then how did you have Selim agree to…" They are alone in the solar but her voice still drops low. " That. "

"I gave them information about Queen Jareleezi."

"The old Queen of Jur-Mattan? Why would Selim care about that?"

"She is a descendant of the Hevelikar. Selim believes the Hevelikar took valuable items from the Rose Palace and hid them in Jur-Mattan. When we reached Pellex, Jareleezi escaped and she may have taken these items."

"What items?"

Damon sees no reason not to tell her. "Books."

"What books?"

"The Books of Alios."

"Alios," says Inez, with a small note of reverence in her voice.

"You know of Alios? The old faith? "

Inez looks around the empty room as if being cautious all her handmaidens have truly left. She says. "I do. A little. My mother had a shrine to the twin Gods. Long ago. But why would a pure land that worships Zai want such heathen books?"

"They wish to have them destroyed."

"And they would give you so much? Simply for information to find these books they want destroyed?"

Damon nods. "Do not ask me what the books contain. I do not know."

"Is that why Selim is allowing you to lie with your slave? To get more information?"

"I…" he could lie. His lie is right there. But he does not lie to his wife. He says, "No. Lying with him in Vashti is my reward from Selim for what I have already told him."

Inez nods. "Then so be it."

Less than half a moon's turn after that conversation, Damon wakes in the middle of the night to find Inez standing by his bed. Tears on her cheeks.

He sits up and takes her hand, "Wife? Are you unwell?"

"Damon," she says, "Husband, I am sorry. The Feast of Surrus did not bless us. My moon blood has come. I do not carry your child."

Damon feels a lump form in his throat. It hurts his heart to see Inez like this. With her hair down and her face pale, she looks so young. He gestures for her to sit down on his bed and puts his arms around her. She lets him hold her. She sobs on his shoulder.

"I am sorry," she says again .

Damon strokes her hair. "Sweet wife, you have no reason to apologise to me."

"But, Damon," Inez pulls back from Damon's arms and looks at him, "I am not carrying your child. I must bear you sons. You will have to cover me again."

Damon nods. "I will try, wife. Perhaps if we found a way to be allowed to use another draught."

Inez shakes her head. "Husband, I fear your use of a love draft is angering Zai. I have heard talk from my handmaidens that using such drafts prevents a seed being planted. I have even heard that some use the draft for just that reason."

Damon swallows. "Then we will find another way." He thinks a moment, but the solution seems obvious. "I fear I cannot cover you without the love draught. I am sorry, wife, I cannot rouse myself for you. But when we move to Felgrace, you must take a lover. A man you enjoy who will father our children. I cannot expect you to live as a Bride of Zai."

Inez's shock is clear in her voice. "You would sanction such a thing. Adultery is a crime against Zai."

"Wife," Damon says sweetly, "believe that I would not see it as a sin. And any child you birthed would be my son and heir to all I have. You know what I am. You know that I am sly. And you have kept that secret and preserved my honour and I can never truly repay that debt. But let me do this. Find a man who pleases you. Lie with him and we will have a family."

"You would raise a bastard as your own son?"

"Gladly."

Inez sniffs. She wipes her eyes with the back of her hand. "And what of Zai?"

"What of Zai? If Zai is truly powerful, he made me what I am. He decided not to bless your womb." Damon takes one of Inez's hands. "Inez, I fear you must regret choosing me over Atticul. If you had married him you would be mother of the future Emperor by now."

Inez shakes her head. "No," she says, she sounds so sure. "No, I would not."

Damon pushes back the wolfskin cover and linens on his bed. "Come. Lie here with me. Stay for the night."

"Are you sure?"

Damon nods. Inez climbs into his bed.

Damon lies quietly with his wife in his arms, like a glimpse of a simpler life. She smells sweet, like almonds and faintly of her moon blood.

Softly, Inez says, "There is another way."

"I cannot," Damon says. "Please, wife, I wish there was another way I could honour you as you deserve."

"You could bring him to our bed," Inez says. "Your whore. We could all lie together and you could touch him while you cover me."

Damon doesn't know how he feels about such a suggestion. Would Lyr even agree? Damon thinks he might.

"I'm sorry," Inez says, clearly taking Damon's silence for offence. "I did not mean to suggest such a thing. It would be a great sin."

"Please, dear Inez, you have nothing to apologise to me for." He pauses. What he has with Lyr is so private. So deeply intense and desperately secret. But he wants to give Inez everything. He says, "Perhaps in Felgrace, we could try."

Damon and Inez travel to the Rose Palace in a golden carriage sent from the Imperial Stables. Their belongings, attendants, servants and slaves follow in a series of wagons behind, Lyr amongst them. People stop and cheer as the carriage passes, calling the name of Damon Darekul, One Man Army, Saviour of Azuria.

Damon wears a red jerkin and red breeches, the colour of war and victory. Inez has a gown of red satin, embroidered with roses in silver and gold.

The Gala will be three days of feast and tournaments, with Damon's Order of Azuria presented on the last.

They arrive in glory and are escorted to the Tower of the Heir.

Damon's father, Prince Rafus is there to greet them in his wide, open parlour, a beautiful and comfortable room with settles and cushions and glittering curtains at windows that face west towards the Gleam and the mountains. Damon hasn't seen his father since his wedding to Inez. He rarely leaves his main residence in the Ivory Palace to travel to the capital these days, but he is here to see his eldest son given the Order of Azuria.

Rafus is a small, neat and extremely charismatic man. He is more than fifty summers, but his eyes have the distinctive Darek glitter of silver, and he carries the title of Crown Prince with the bearing of a much younger man.

Rafus envelops Damon in a great hug. Despite the fact he's a much smaller man than his son, he still manages to make Damon feel like a child when he embraces him. The top of his head is under Damon's chin. He sighs with pleasure before pulling back and rising on his toes to kiss Damon on his cheeks and forehead.

"My son," he says, joyfully. "My fine son. Oh, you have done your father proud – an entire Gala for your honour."

Turning to Inez, Rafus kisses each of her pale hands in turn. "My beautiful daughter of love – a fine addition to my house and my line." He keeps hold of Inez's hands as he turns to Damon. "You must fuck her well and hard Damon, put a babe inside her. I have only one grandchild to my great chagrin." He strokes Damon's cheek. "My firstborn son." He leans in and kisses the place he touches. "Your mother would have been proud of you."

My mother, Damon thinks. The whore you love so much because she proved that you could father a child after years of failing with your first wife.

When he thinks this, he notices his father's first wife is there too, hovering behind Rafus. If she has any feelings about Rafus's effusing over his bastard son, she does not show them. Princess Karo has always been a dignified, studious woman. She is tall and slender, taller than her husband, and wears her dark hair cropped short, something Damon has not seen on any other Azurian woman but the Brides of Zai.

Damon greets and offers his hand to her. She takes it, but loosely. Damon has never known what Karo thinks of him.

Ullinor, Rafus's second wife is also with him. The mother of Atticul, Ferra, and Endrew is a pale-skinned blonde woman with a much more rounded figure than Karo's. Damon greets her too, but she declines to shake his hand. She has always been much more outwardly hostile to Damon.

Is she the source of Atticul's jealousy? Damon thinks of Lyr's concerns. Could the origin of Atticul's fear about the Ullinor question be Ullinor herself?

Damon turns and looks back at Lyr, sitting with Inez's three handmaids on a wooden bench at the wall. He is shocked at the way his heart catches in his throat. Want – just from a glimpse of him – pure pounding lust. The feeling is so strong he is amazed no one seems to notice.

Rafus explains that they are expected in the Hall of Twelve for a ceremony to mark the Imperial Army's return from Ik-Sundal, and takes Damon's arm as they walk together through the palace with their attendants processing behind.

The Hall of Twelve – the grandest chamber in the entire palace – is vast. Here, the Artemian temple the palace once was is still clearly visible. The twelve Sidu of Artemia are carved into the ceiling of glittering pink stone.

They are announced by heralds to great cheers, as Damon is proclaimed, "Master Damon Darekul, Hero of Azuria, The One Man Army," and escorted to the wide space in front of the high table, where Selim sits in his grey robe and bare feet, a fresh mark of Zai etched on his forehead. He is flanked by the members of the Rose Court, richly dressed in formal robes of office. Including – Damon notes – Atticul.

Damon kneels, Inez too, before they rise at Selim's command and take their places on the dais.

Next to Selim are three empty chairs. One for Rafus, at the Emperor's right hand, the other two, for Damon and Inez – truly places of great honour.

Lyr stands behind Damon as his cupbearer. As he steps forward to pour the wine. Damon allows himself the small pleasure of touching Lyr's finger with his own. The touch – in this place, The Grand Hall of The Rose Palace – feels like wildfire.

"And now," Rafus exclaims, "the only thing I need to complete my joy is my other hero son. Where is my Sweetpea? My beloved Endrew?"

"Endrew will be here soon, Father," Atticul says from a little further down the table, on the other side of Selim.

Atticul glances from Rafus to Damon and raises a dark eyebrow. "Brother, of sorts, how are you? I did enjoy your feast. I am hosting a Pleasure Night in the Tower of the Heir tonight, perhaps you will attend and I can return the favour."

"What feast was this?" says Rafus, leaning past Damon to speak to Atticul.

Inez says, "We celebrated the Feast of Surrus."

"Ah, Surrus," says Rafus thoughtfully. "Surrus is one of the most honoured prophets of Zai. Some scholars, Doroth Zain tells me, consider that she is Zai's mother."

The family reunion continues. Princess Ferra arrives late to the hall, looking as fragile as ever on the arm of Vindar. Umbert accompanies them and he races up to Rafus when he sees him. Rafus grabs him, standing from his seat to swing him into the air, getting a scream of delight from his stout grandson.

"So blessed a man am I," Rafus says, sitting back down and seating Umbert on his lap." See this, my son," he is talking to Atticul, pointing to Umbert. "My only grandchild. I want you married within the year. My sweet Lilac Doe is married to the Great Chancellor Vindar, my hero King Damon is wed and hard at work creating strong grandsons with my fair daughter of love, Inez. I want to see you doing your duty, Atticul. I need more grandchildren. Playmates for my sweet Umbert. "

Umbert laughs. "Grandsire, I ride," he says, trying to encourage Rafus to jolt him up and down on his lap to mimic a horse at gallop.

Atticul nods, but says nothing. Damon wonders if he noticed their father referring to him by his old pet name, ‘King Damon.'

Quietly, Damon says to Rafus, "Father, you should not call me King Damon in front of Atticul."

Rafus leans close. "Atticul ought to remember his position. I am the heir of Azuria, Crown Prince, but I should not be. I am a third son. If Emperor Markus had not been a great sinner, or if Emperor Selim had fathered even one son, I would not be. Atticul needs to understand that birthrights are slippery things."

Damon thinks perhaps Rafus taught that lesson to Atticul too well.

Before Damon can say another word, the Heralds' trumpets blast and the cry goes up, "Prince Endrew Darek, Duke of Vashti."

Rafus jumps to his feet, setting Umbert down from his lap. "My boy," he cries out as Endrew enters the hall in great triumph with an entourage that numbers more than forty. Dressed in boiled leather armour and a helm with the Darek crest gleaming bright. He approaches the high table and bows low before the throne.

"A drink," Rafus cries, "to my son. Scourge of Ik-Sundal."

As far as Damon knows, the drive into Ik-Sundal has been a disaster. But this is no place for that, here in the heart of the Rose Palace.

Lyr appears at Damon's elbow to refill his cup for the toast. Damon turns to look at him. Delicately, very briefly, Lyr bites his lip. Damon joins the toast as Selim walks down from the dais and bows to Endrew. He bids him sit on a chair. A moment later two priests appear with the golden bowl and Selim kneels to wash Endrew's feet.

Lyr is still close behind Damon. He leans down, "Why is he doing that? He is Emperor?" he murmurs.

"He is the humble servant of Zai." Damon wonders what Lyr would think if he knew that this custom was done often. That Selim had washed Damon's own feet only a few moons ago and that he had done so many times.

The first time it happened was when he was being sent away to the army. Selim had washed Damon's feet slowly in his private prayer room .

When Selim's ritual is done, the feast begins with great extravagance. Servants bring forth heaving platters of roasted hog, bowls of candied flowers, sweet berries and bread. There is more pear wine and, for the nobles, pearl tonic with calcis, Endrew's favourite drink.

Next to Damon, on the other side from Inez and his father, sits a woman. When she speaks Damon realises she is the woman he met in Emperor Selim's dining room, Lady Underlia. "Master Damon Darekul," she says. "How wonderful to see you again. What an honour to be seated with such a hero."

"Thank you, My Lady," says Damon. "His Imperial Highness must favour us both."

" Master Damon," Lady Underlia says, "You know it's a great injustice you aren't styled Prince Damon and allowed to use the name Darek unadorned by your shame."

Damon smiles, but he is a little shocked at such a bold statement in the Hall of Twelve. "I am a bastard, My Lady, my very creation was a crime against Zai. That is reason enough that my name is Darekul and I bear no inherited title."

"Crime against Zai," Lady Underlia says in a low, almost scoffing tone. "But the crime was not yours. I suppose you are used to paying for your father's sins." She takes a drink from her glass of pear wine. "Prince Rafus sins to create you and then uses you to pay for it when he sins again."

There is a small, awkward silence. Damon drains his cup of wine solely so Lyr will come and refill it.

Damon enjoys watching Lyr as he moves forward and refills the cup again. As Lyr steps back, Endrew comes over. He smells strongly of pearl tonic. He hugs Damon and slides onto his lap the way he used to do as a young boy. "I've missed you so much, brother," he says. "We needed you in Ik-Sundal. I failed. The men do not fear me like they do you. I had to rely on Trysta to command your battalions."

"Trysta is a good commander. You were right to seek her guidance."

"My men thought me weak, that I took advice from a woman and a Plumian slave."

Damon shakes his head. "I took advice from Trysta many times. I miss her." He realises how much he misses her as he says this. Like a great hole inside him.

"She won my pleasure slave from me in a game of arca," Endrew says, then laughs. "But you should go and greet her. She is here. All your old battalions are with me to see your heroism rewarded at the ceremony tomorrow, but Trysta was required to sit at the back with the women."

Damon's heart skips. It seems amazing that Trysta could be here and he did not know it. He pushes Endrew gently off his lap and gets to his feet, scanning the room.

Endrew points. Damon follows his direction and sees her. How could he not have noticed her before? She is at an unmarried women's table – one of the farthest – sitting with Opeth. Damon cannot wait. He takes Lyr by the wrist, "Come," he says. "Come, Lyr, we must greet Trysta."

Lyr has met Trysta. He was there when Damon said goodbye to her. Lyr – he would suspect – knows how much Trysta means to him. However, there is no real reason to take Lyr with him, but he doesn't even think about the reason why.

Over at their table, Damon embraces Trysta and Lyr hugs Opeth and another, smaller woman with them. "Razelii," Lyr says, his voice full of delight, "this is Razelii. My friend." He looks at Trysta. "She is with you? "

Damon says to Trysta. "She is the slave you took from Endrew?"

"Lyr, the male pleasure slave of King Ramel," Trysta says, greeting Lyr, "Yes, Razelii is under my protection."

Razelii smiles at Lyr. "I am Trysta's now. She won me from Endrew in a game of arca." Razelii laughs.

Trysta puts an arm around her. "She is the slave of a slave."

Both of them seem happy about it.

"Damon, your home is beyond my imaginings," says Trysta. "Look at this place." She tilts her head back, "The great spring from where all of Azuria begins. I have never seen anything so fine." She says to Razelii, "This great palace was built on the site of The Rose Temple. The biggest Artemian temple in the world."

"Yes," says Opeth, "See the Sidu remain, carved into the ceiling. This room must have been the prayer hall."

"The Dareks hate the Hevelikar and Artemia, and yet they keep those carvings," Lyr says quietly.

"Perhaps they were too beautiful to destroy," says Opeth.

"Are you interested in the old Artemian temple? Much of it remains," says a male voice from a figure a little further down the table. Damon looks over at him. He is dressed in the white and grey robes of an acolyte of Zai. His face is veiled with a grey cloth. Even his eyes are covered with just a stripe of grey lace to allow him to see. Damon wonders how he eats. He had not been sure, until he spoke that he was even a man.

Acolytes of Zai do not typically veil their faces. Although a few do, especially among the sects that believe vanity is a sin. It is far more common among the Brides of Zai than any male acolytes .

"The Hare here knows much about the history of Azuria," says Trysta. "I like you, Hare."

Lyr looks at the Hare curiously. "Why do you sit with the women?"

"Ah, merely old tradition," says the Hare. "A Zai priest from the enforcers is put at each female table. For protection."

Damon is surprised that the Hare is an enforcer under the command of Gelen the Green. Gelen the Green's enforcers are fearsome. This man does not look like he could enforce anything.

"There are levels of the Rose Palace where no one ever goes," says the Hare. "It extends far beneath the earth all the way down to the Gleam in places. Some are dangerous and impassable. Parts are walled off, but walls can be broken through. The Hevelikar built a labyrinth beneath the ground. It cannot be destroyed. The whole palace would fall without it. I would like to map it all someday. I explore it when I can."

"What have you found?" Damon asks, interested. "I grew up here. I have seen some of the tunnels as a boy."

The Hare's voice is wistful. "Halls of glass, halls of iron, underground gardens full of strange plants... there is a library, abandoned for a hundred years."

"A library?" Lyr glances at Damon.

Damon knows what he is thinking. He thinks it too. The Books of Alios. A hidden library. Are there other copies? Could there be copies here? In the Rose Palace? If he found them, what else could he secure for himself?

The Hare looks at Lyr, then at Damon. "Master Damon, please, I would speak to you in private."

Damon is still looking at Lyr. He looks wary. But the Hare seems as harmless as a man could be.

As Damon hesitates, the Hare says, "Please. I assure you it is of great importance. Bring your sword. And your slave, if you wish."

Lyr shrugs at Damon. Damon has to admit he is curious about what this priest could have to say to him. "Very well," he says.

Opeth, Razelii and Trysta are laughing about something, they barely notice as the Hare leads Damon and Lyr to a withdrawing room at the back of the hall.

The Hare closes the door. The room is small. Two wooden chairs are close to a small flickering fire. The room has no windows. On one wall of the room is a tapestry, so large it covers it completely. It shows King Sarelik on his black mare, his great army behind him, driving the heretics out of the Rose Temple. Damon puts his hand on the hilt of The Amber Blade.

The Hare says, "What books in particular do you seek?"

Damon takes a breath. He does not feel that the Hare is a threat. Oddly, he feels strangely inclined to trust him. The room has no other exit, but he walks over to the fire and turns with his back to it. Letting the Hare stand between him and the door. A sign of his status. His confidence that the Hare could not stop him leaving if he wished to. Lyr follows, standing beside Damon, as Damon says, "Books that were taken by the Hevelikar to Jur-Mattan when Sarelik overthrew them."

The Hare nods. "You mean the Books of Alios? What do you know about them?"

"Nothing that I will tell you," Damon says, although he does wonder what the Hare might know.

"Perhaps," says Lyr, far more softly, "you could tell us what you know of them?" Damon glances at him. He feels a little warm inside at how Lyr seems to have anticipated Damon's own thoughts .

The Hare smiles. His face is open and easy. He says, "Certainly. They were in Jur-Mattan. Queen Jareleezi, the mother of King Ramel, fled Pellex with them. Selim wants to find them and destroy them. Your slave, Master Damon, was close to Jareleezi in Jur-Mattan. I am an acolyte of the Order of the Enforcer. Gelen the Green himself is interested in meeting your slave in case he knows more."

Damon puts a hand on Lyr's arm and says, "He will not touch him. I have assurances from the Emperor. I will be taking him to Vashti."

"I know," says the Hare, lightly. "Gelen the Green has expressed his dismay about that choice."

"If you have brought us here to threaten Lyr on the wishes of Gelen the Green, I would warn you to reconsider," Damon says tightly.

The Hare shakes his head. "Oh, no, not at all. Gelen the Green would never disobey Emperor Selim. I tell you this only so you know how I know these things. I brought you here because I am interested in the Books of Alios. I wonder what Selim wants to hide. Do you know anything about what the books contain?"

"No." Damon looks at him with narrowed eyes, "Do you?"

"Could there be copies of the Books of Alios in this hidden library?" asks Lyr.

Even through the veil, the Hare's expression is modest. "I have not read the books of Alios. I have not seen them in the old library. But I have been working on a translation of the works of Batraous. The philosopher."

"Should that name mean anything to me?" says Damon. "I was educated as a prince and I studied all the great philosophers. I have never heard of Batraous."

The Hare nods. "I am not sure that Batraous would be counted as one of the great philosophers. He lived in the early days of the Hevelikar dynasty. His works are mostly forgotten, but I have found them in the library. He writes a lot of the myth of Priam – Pia and Prim – he believes they existed."

"He was Priam," says Damon. "No wonder his works are forgotten."

"I am from Klish," Lyr says simply. Damon looks at him. He can't help it. He would spend the rest of his life staring at Lyr if he could. He looks so sweet and delicate in his pale shirt. He only wears simple roughspun, not much smarter than the shirt and breeches he wore as a kitchen slave, but he looks as fine in them as a prince. Damon is struck by the sudden wish that the Hare would leave them. He could be alone in this room with Lyr. Take Lyr's sweet mouth in the Rose Palace. The idea of that makes his heart thump.

"You know of the Dark Water?" The Hare is saying to Lyr. "The reason no ship can cross the Priam Sea?"

Lyr nods. "I do. I have not seen it. But the Dark Water is very real."

"Batraous travelled to Klish to see it. He writes that the Dark Water was caused by Pia and Prim being sunk beneath the ocean a thousand years ago."

"That is the legend," says Lyr. "Even on Klish, few people believe it is true."

"The legend of Priam is a crime in Azuria," says Damon. "And it is nonsense. What could do such a thing as that?"

"Bellator," says the Hare. "According to Batraous."

"What's Bellator?" Damon narrows his eyes. He thinks he has heard of Bellator. Once, somewhere.

"According to the writings of Batraous, Bellator are the offspring of Bell-ai fae who had children with the demons of the Amber Forest. Half-fae, half-demon creatures called the Bellator."

Damon scoffs. "This sounds like a story for children."

"I was always told that the Bellator were demons," says Lyr. His voice sounds a little hollow. Even fearful.

The Hare shrugs. "Part demons. Part fae."

Damon says, "What has this to do with the Books of Alios?"

"This story is in the Books of Alios. Batraous refers in his writings to the stories in the Books of Alios as the source for his ideas. He seems to be saying that the stories in those books are true. And that they have something to do with the Bellator sinking Pia and Prim."

"Does he say more about these stories?"

"Not in detail. He writes a lot of the Priam Legend. How the Bellator ruled the lands of men thousands of years ago. And how they were finally defeated by men."

Damon nods. "So, an old legend. And a heretical one."

"More than heresy," says the Hare, lowering his voice. "The most important part is that Batraous writes that the Hevelikar are prophesied to save Azuria from the return of the Bellator."

Damon is shocked by this. He has never heard such a treacherous thing said aloud before. "And he read this in the Books of Alios?"

The Hare nods. "He lived during the reign of the Hevelikar. If the Hevelikar took the books to Jur-Mattan, those could be the ones he read. But his writings, if I find more, may contain further details about what was written in the Books of Alios."

Lyr says, "The Hevelikar were his patrons. He would want to claim they were the saviours of Azuria."

Damon nods, but he thinks, if the Books of Alios do claim that the Hevelikar are the saviours of Azuria, that would be a reason for Selim to want them destroyed. He says, "The Hevelikar are almost all dead. They will not be able to save us from anything."

The Hare says, "The Hevelikar are almost gone, but their line is preserved. The Darek family are descended from the Hevelikar."

Damon notices Lyr look at him suspiciously. "The Dareks are the Hevelikar?" He sounds shocked.

The Hare looks at Damon. "You know your history. You said yourself you had the education of a prince. When your ancestor King Sarelik defeated the Hevelikar, he had the last Hevelikar king – King Maider – executed along with his twin sons. Many more Hevelikar nobles were killed too. The ones that weren't fled most notably King Maider's aunt, Evangel, who took many Hevelikar treasures to Jur-Mattan."

Lyr says quietly, "Jareleezi is the descendent of Evangel. She told me so, many times. She is the last Hevelikar, she always said."

"But that isn't true," says the Hare. "Jareleezi might have the Hevelikar name, but she is not the last. King Sarelik married a Hevelikar. "

"Yes," says Damon, remembering this piece of history. "Queen Perpetu, the first Darek queen. The Twice Traitor Queen. She was the mother of King Damon. She was a cousin of King Maider, I think. Sarelik married her to promote his legitimacy. Perpetu agreed to convert to Zai. And she was his queen."

"She was his queen and your ancestor," says Hare.

"Yes, but she cannot be called a Hevelikar."

"Nevertheless, she had their blood. And she was the mother of your namesake, King Damon."

"These are things that happened hundreds of years ago," says Damon .

"Things that happened hundreds of years ago affect us now, every day," says the Hare. "Much blood has been shed to retrieve the lost Books of Alios. The doomed advance into Ik-Sundal was to retrieve the Books of Alios. The conquest of Jur-Mattan was to retrieve the Books of Alios. Now Selim and the Rose Court will want to send an army into Ismagaar. All for those books… because someone knows what they say about who will be the true saviour of Azuria when the Bellator return." The Hare glances towards the door. "I will be missed. I should return to the feast. But we should meet again. Let me show you some of the writings of Batraous."

"Perhaps," says Damon, wondering if he could use these works to gain more favour from Selim.

The Hare nods. "Shall I tell them you were delayed?"

Damon says, "What do you mean?"

"Only that perhaps you would care to rest in this room. It is mostly unused. I could say you were called away to inspect something in the stables. You could dally here if you wish."

Damon's heart is suddenly in his mouth. The Hare's meaning is quite clear. He shakes his head at the Hare, "No, that will not be—," he begins, but Lyr slides close to him and takes his hand.

"Thank you," Lyr says to the Hare. "I think perhaps we need a moment alone."

"Of course. Do not worry. I will ensure you are not missed." The Hare nods and leaves them.

Damon looks at Lyr, his heart still beating hard. "Why did you do that? We cannot be alone here. We are only yards from the Hall of Twelve and the entire Rose Court."

Lyr says nothing. He simply leans closer and kisses Damon softly on the lips. Then whispers. "I am sorry. I know I was the one concerned about the dangers here. I just wanted one kiss." His voice is breathy with arousal. "I cannot stop staring at you."

Lyr is looking at Damon with wide eyes.

Damon sucks his bottom lip. He sounds unsteady when he says, "I feel like I'm burning up, having you stand behind me," he says. "Serving me."

"I know," Lyr says. "I could tell from the way you looked at me."

Damon feels his lust overwhelm him like a great tide. He should control this, he knows he should but he cannot. "Slave," he says as he grabs Lyr by the shoulders and kisses him again. Hard, so much harder, driving his tongue into Lyr's mouth like he wants to consume him. Lyr gasps as he responds, moaning his answering desire into Damon's mouth, as Damon pushes him back against the wall beside the fireplace.

Lyr is a panting mess. Damon can feel Lyr's hardness against his thigh, he rubs his body against it. Lyr moans.

But that's all he dare risk. He pulls back. He looks at Lyr's breathless face. "We should go," Damon says, his voice rough. "This is not the place."

Lyr nods. Damon is glad he agrees. If Lyr had protested Damon isn't sure he would have had the will to argue.