18. Lyr

18

LYR

A s they leave the room to walk back to the Hall of Twelve, they run into the Hare coming towards them. Quietly he says, "I was coming to warn you. Your brother Atticul comes this way looking for you.

"If Atticul is looking for me I should leave before he tries to drag me to his Pleasure Night," Damon says, but he says it too late. The words are barely out of his mouth when Atticul rounds the corner.

Lyr notices Damon move subtly in front of him. As a slave, he knows he ought to be walking behind Damon, behind his Master, not at his side, but he can't help feeling the gesture is protective.

"Ah," says Atticul, strangely cheery, "there you all are. The bastard and the slave. I heard you had vanished off to the stables for some reason."

Before either of them can respond, Endrew comes up behind Atticul. He seems very drunk, wobbling with every step. "Damon," he says merrily. "Come with us."

"Yes," says Atticul, "Come along, bastard, it's time for the real party. "

Endrew links his arm with Damon's. "We're holding a Pleasure Night in Atticul's chambers. Selim has blessed it. Everything is permitted. You must come."

Damon stands still. "I don't think I need to attend your party, Atticul."

"Come on, Bastard," says Atticul. "You can bring your friends. Even that strange veiled creature."

The Hare nods "I am sorry, Your Grace, it is forbidden for me. I am an acolyte of Zai."

Atticul's eyes stretch wide. "Is that thing male? A new addition to your harem, I suppose."

"Please come, Damon," says Endrew, looking up at Damon, "It has been a long hard campaign in Ik-Sundal. I missed you so. And it has been so long since I've supped with you."

Damon looks at Endrew. He is looking at Damon with an expression of desperate hero worship. Damon glances from Endrew to Lyr. "Very well," he says. "I will come for a short while."

Lyr follows behind Damon and Endrew, back to the Tower of the Heir.

Damon takes Lyr first to the quarters that have been assigned to him and his household. Inez is there with her handmaidens. She stands up when Damon walks in. "Damon? Is all well? I wasn't sure where you had gone."

"I was just speaking to some old friends, back from Ik-Sundal." He is unbuckling his sword belt as he speaks. "Wife, I have to attend Atticul's Pleasure Night. Endrew wishes it and he has endured enough with the doomed campaign he was forced to lead. I hope not to stay long." He puts his sword on a low table.

"Will you be spending the night there?" Inez says.

"Not if I can avoid it," Damon says. "I will take the slave. "

Inez looks concerned. "Is that wise? People will surely question why you have such a slave at a Pleasure Night."

"He has to go. Atticul asked him. It would be an insult for a slave to refuse such an invitation."

Lyr looks at Damon's sword on the table. "Are weapons not allowed?" he says. He is not sure he has ever spoken in Inez's presence before. Inez looks at him slightly surprised, like she is amazed to hear his voice.

"Pleasure Nights have many rules," says Damon. "They are permitted during times of revelry for soldiers. Certain transgressions are allowed at such an event. Some crimes against Zai, for example, will be overlooked at a Pleasure Night, as you will see if my father is attending."

"Crimes against Zai," says Lyr. "Like adultery. At the Pleasure Night, you would be able to lie with a woman who was not your wife?"

"I would. If I wished to," Damon says.

"Pleasure Nights are only for men and unmarried women," says Inez. She doesn't sound annoyed about it. More as if she is bored by the entire idea. "It is not like the Feast of Surrus – a sacred rite, in its way. Pleasure Nights are an unholy creation of the Hevelikar. Many people are amazed Doroth Zain allows them to continue. They are rare but, they do still happen sometimes." She looks at Damon. Lyr gets the impression it is hard for Inez to look upon him for too long. "The Imperial Army has retreated from Ik-Sundal. It is a way of ensuring the soldiers do not revolt after such a defeat by reminding them of the special freedoms soldiers can enjoy even in the heart of the empire."

Damon nods to her, "Indeed."

Lyr is wary. This Pleasure Night sounds wild, lawless. A place where Damon's hidden enemy might attack. "Perhaps we should find an excuse. Not go," he says .

Damon looks carefully at Lyr's face. He follows Lyr's gaze to the sword on the table. Then nods. "I will take precautions," he says. "We will be safe."

Damon opens a small chest on the table. He takes out two daggers, weighing them in his hands, before selecting one. He puts one leg up on the table and pushes up his breeches, before strapping the dagger to his ankle.

Inez raises an eyebrow. "You are taking a weapon to a Pleasure Night?"

"Just one. No one will know it is there."

Inez says nothing, but she does not look pleased. Lyr is sure this is a great transgression. But he is glad of it. He plans to stay very close to Damon this evening.

Damon steps his foot down from the table. "I hope to return before the midnight bell, wife."

Inez tilts her face and allows Damon to kiss her cheek.

Lyr finds it strange to see such a thing, especially when it only feels like moments ago that Damon had held him to the wall in that room with the giant tapestry and kissed him like he wanted to drown in it.

Damon leads Lyr down the stairs of the Tower of the Heir to a suite of rooms on one of the lower floors. Before they even pass through the wide black doors, Lyr can hear the sounds of revelry. Pipes and drums and singing ring out under shouts and cheers. Damon and Lyr enter the chamber to find it full of people drinking and puffing on pipes of moonleaf. The crowds appear to be mostly whores and soldiers. The whores are dressed very indecently, loose fabric that covers little skin.

Damon greets Trysta with a firm embrace. She wears her black leather jerkin and has Razelii on her arm, dressed in wisps of gauze. Across the room, Lyr can see Opeth is here too, on Atticul's arm, in a garment so brief she is practically naked.

"What do you think of your first Pleasure Night, King Ramel's pleasure slave?" says Trysta.

"It is surprising," Lyr says. "Azuria thinks Jur-Mattan depraved, but in Pellex – although Ramel had a harem of women he took as often as he took his Queen – there was nothing like this. No public coupling. But since I have been here I have seen The Feast of Surrus, and now this. Both things that would never happen in Jur-Mattan."

Trysta laughs. "Welcome to the hypocritical bosom of Zai," she says, lifting a flagon of ale.

Before long Damon has his own heavy flagon of bitter argent and Lyr is drinking pearl tonic. The taste is still unpleasant, but he chose it because he enjoys the way it makes his head feel light and his limbs go soft. He takes it slow, however. He wants to feel calm, but still be able to be vigilant. Lyr enjoys having time to talk to Razelii and Trysta, standing close to Damon, laughing when Trysta mocks him. When they start telling old stories, his mind drifts a little and he thinks of what it would have been like if Damon had let him go to his knees in that small room with the tapestry, the desire he'd have seen on Damon's face even as he would have looked down and said no, that they shouldn't. How beautiful he would have looked when he succumbed. The taste of him.

He thinks of the salt-musk taste of Damon's cock. How big it is. How easily it fills his mouth. The feel of it deep in his throat. The way it makes it hard to breathe so his skin prickles all over.

Lyr might have only experienced it once, but he feels like nothing in the world is as good as Damon's cock in his mouth.

Trysta and Razelii take their leave, keen to see more of the Pleasure Night. The urge to kiss Damon is sudden and overwhelming. He knows he can't. Not here, but he aches to.

He should be used to this feeling of frustration by now, but he isn't. He satisfies himself by pressing close to Damon's side.

He is shocked when Damon turns and does kiss him, pressing his lips to Lyr's. His lips are cool and taste of bitter argent.

Lyr pulls back in shock and frowns at him. "But we must not," he says quietly. "We must be discreet."

Lyr licks his lips. He tastes the bitter argent and something else. He looks into Damon's eyes. He doesn't look quite right. Lyr's belly sinks with a cold feeling. Is Damon simply drunk? Has he drunk so much, so quickly? Surely Damon would not allow himself to get drunk in a situation like this.

Is he drugged?

Damon laughs. He strokes Lyr's face. "This is a Pleasure Night," he says, "and you are my pleasure." Lyr can hear a slight slur in his words.

Lyr grabs Damon's wrist. "Atticul is here," Lyr says urgently, through tight teeth. "He would have many witnesses to anything you do."

Damon smiles. "He is. And there is nothing he can do. Pleasure Nights are sanctioned by the Emperor himself. Sins are permitted. I cannot be condemned for anything that I do in this room." He strokes his other hand up Lyr's thigh, over his breeches and under his shirt. "The same rules apply as the ones on The Azuria Ascendant. Sins are permitted. You are permitted." Damon leans in and kisses Lyr again, deeply this time, his tongue slipping into Lyr's mouth.

Lyr's head spins. He fights to struggle out of Damon's arms, pulling his mouth free, although he wishes with all his heart he didn't have to. He aches for this too. He aches so much. "You would not," he whispers, "have done this on the Azuria Ascendant."

"But I should have," Damon says, voice deep with lust, "I wanted to. I wanted you. When Atticul dosed you with foribunda, I don't know how I controlled myself. But I was worried about rumours then. I was scared of people knowing what I am. Now, I care not. I will be named Warden of Vashti. I will take you to Felgrace. I will spend every night of my life drowning in your body."

"But that has not happened yet," Lyr whispers tightly. "We are not safe yet."

But when Lyr looks around the room. It seems Damon is right. There are many whores present, many crimes against Zai being committed. He cannot see any other men kissing men, but Razelii and Trysta are entwined together on a settle, only partially hidden from the room by some blue gauze curtains. Many of the men in the room are watching them keenly.

Atticul is nearby, but even he is saying nothing about Damon kissing Lyr. He does have Opeth on his lap, nuzzling his neck, so perhaps he is distracted.

"Azuria is much more decadent than it appears," Lyr says.

"Do you think so, slave?" Damon says, fingers dancing up and down Lyr's flank under his shirt. "Do you like it here? Would you let me take you behind one of those curtains?"

"In public?" Lyr exclaims. "In front of all."

Damon says, "I should have taken you at The Feast of Surrus, in the grove, in front of everyone. Made you scream. Shown them how you scream on my cock. I should do that now." His hand slides down, into the front of Lyr's breeches. "Show every man here the pleasures of sins of the body."

"Damon?" Lyr says, stepping back before Damon's hand reaches his cock. He has never heard Damon speak like this in a public place. He snatches the cup from Damon's hand. He sniffs it. The scent is mostly bitter argent, but there is more. "There's something in your drink," he says. "What's the drug that's in pearl tonic and poppy cake?"

Damon looks at Lyr with glassy eyes. "Sofi?"

"Yes. Damon, there's sofi in this. A lot of it. Do you feel strange?"

"I feel good," says Damon, sounding unconcerned. "You worry too much. I want you. You cannot refuse me, you're my slave."

He leans in for another kiss, but before their lips meet, Endrew comes lurching over. He has his own silver cup of pearl tonic. "Brother," he says, embracing Damon, "I have missed you wildly." He kisses Damon's cheek. "Should I get you another drink?"

Lyr remembers that it was Endrew who gave them these drinks. Endrew passed Damon this cup. Why would Endrew drug his brother?

Damon glances into Endrew's cup. "Neat pearl tonic, brother?" he says. "Don't you want some calcis in that?"

Endrew laughs. "All the calcis is gone. Someone drank it. I am forced to drink it like this." He makes a face. "It's bitter." He twists away from Damon and prods Lyr's belly. Lyr flinches as Endrew continues, "I'm so glad you kept this slave. I can see he makes you happy." He looks back at Damon, his expression guileless. "So you really are sly? I always thought Atticul was lying."

"He's not lying," Damon says plainly.

"So what of Inez?"

Damon looks down. "Inez will want for nothing. She is my wife."

Endrew looks like he wants to ask more about this, but before he can, Atticul comes swaggering over to them, an arm around Opeth's waist. "Bastard, you seem happy. I suppose you have me to thank for your lover here." He flicks at the hem of Lyr's shirt. "You and I both found pleasure in the conquest of Pellex. Shame about yours, Endrew." Atticul nods his head toward the curtain Razelii and Trysta are behind. "Sly fucking is clearly a very popular form of depravity in Jur-Mattan."

"Don't be churlish," Endrew says. "I do not mind it. Trysta served me well. She deserves her pleasure as much as any soldier. Without her, I would have died in Ik-Sundal. The advance was bloody and cruel. Our Imperial Army is much depleted without General Damon."

Atticul makes a soft sound and looks at Damon. "Really? You miss our great hero? Our One Man Army?"

Endrew laughs. "Of course I do."

"Perhaps you should suck his cock then," says Atticul. "He'd enjoy that I am sure."

Damon has not said anything for a while, Lyr had thought it was because he was so intoxicated. But when Atticul says that, Lyr feels Damon's body tense. Usually around Atticul and his stupid taunts, Damon keeps a firm control on himself. Will he do that now? Lyr has already witnessed how little control Damon seems to have of himself. Could he do something stupid?

Really stupid?

Does someone want him to do something stupid ?

What if Damon attacked Atticul? Even killed him. That would make Endrew heir second and Damon would probably be executed. Lyr looks at Endrew's sweet face. He can't be behind this, surely?

But what is Damon capable of? What could he end up doing if he lost control of himself? He killed those two bodymen of Atticul's with his bare hands, unarmed. Lyr remembers that dagger on Damon's ankle and moves slightly, putting himself in between Damon and Atticul. As he does so, he exchanges a glance with Opeth. Opeth smiles and turns to Endrew, "Perhaps you should find a whore to entertain you, my prince," she says in her most seductive, musical tone.

"I tried," says Endrew. "The one I wanted said I was too deep in my cups for her to take my coin because I would surely fall asleep with my face buried in her sweet cunt." He laughs.

Atticul sneers. "Show this whore to me," he says. "How dare she refuse you, you are a Prince of Azuria."

Opeth strokes Atticul's chest. "Let me take your brother. I am the finest whore here. Surely a prince should have the best."

This seems to appeal to Atticul's vanity in just the right way. Lyr is not surprised. He has seen Opeth's skills before.

"Yes," says Atticul, "why not? Sweetpea, try the very best. My own concubine. The greatest whore in Attar."

Opeth steps forward, smiling sweetly. She takes Endrew by the hand and leads him behind one of the glittering gauze curtains.

When they are gone, Atticul smirks at Damon. "So, now you are about to receive Selim's favour, are you going to fuck your invert right in front of me?"

Damon raises an eyebrow. "You'd like that, wouldn't you? "

Atticul doesn't answer this, instead, he looks at Lyr and says, "Tell me, slave, how does my bastard brother's cock taste?"

Lyr swallows. He can feel the danger in the air rising every time Atticul speaks. "Why would you want to know that, Your Highness?" he says warily.

"I wonder whether the Darek seed has a distinct flavour. I'll tell you what, get on your knees. Sample mine so you can tell us." Atticul's hands are on the front of his breeches.

Damon makes a low growling noise at the back of his throat like a possessive animal. "Stop this now, Atticul," he says in a rumble of a voice that goes straight to Lyr's cock. If Damon had his sword, Lyr is sure he would have drawn it.

Atticul simply laughs. Lyr is sure any other man would have stepped away from Damon after he growled like that. He's like a coiled spring.

What did he do in Pluma-Ferris to earn the name One Man Army? How many people did he kill?

"Come on, Bastard," says Atticul. "I have shared my whore with my blood kin, you should share yours."

"You touch him and you die, brother," Damon says in a tone that raises the hairs on the back of Lyr's neck.

Atticul laughs again, but this time it sounds hollow. He glances towards the guards standing at the edge of the room. "Very well. Then where is that veiled creature of yours? I have often wondered if I ought to sample your sins of the body. How delightful must they be that you would take such risks for them?"

"The Hare is not mine," Damon says in a more even tone. "I have never met him before. And he is an acolyte of Zai, of the Order of the Enforcer. "

"Really?" says Atticul. "What company you keep. Even better. Fetch him."

"Fetch him? You'd fuck a man dedicated to Zai?" Damon raises his eyebrows.

"Don't lecture me on morality, Bastard, when you have your sly whore on your arm. I saw you with that stable cur, I know what you are. What you've always been, you degenerate cocksucker."

" Fuck. You ," Damon says in a tone that suggests everything has just stepped up another notch. This could turn violent any second.

Without a thought, Lyr steps more directly between them. Atticul reacts to this by grabbing a handful of Lyr's shirt and yanking him close. Lyr can see the wet of Atticul's mouth as he says in a low snarl, "I gave you an order, slave. Get on your knees. You can suck him if you prefer. Show me, show me how you swallow his cock."

Lyr feels Damon move in close behind him, a big hand on his waist. "Unhand him now or you will regret—," Damon begins.

Atticul shoves Lyr sideways and he stumbles as Atticul hits Damon. His punch lands well. His fist collides with Damon's jaw and is hard enough to knock him off balance. Damon, lax on sofi, goes down. Heavy. Stunned on the floor.

Atticul looks shocked to have knocked Damon down. He grabs Lyr by the wrist and twists it. Lyr gasps in pain.

"My sweet stupid whore," Atticul drawls. "I said you would regret your foolish choices, didn't I? Now, you will show me how well you take cock,"

Atticul with another twist of Lyr's wrist, forces Lyr to his knees on the stone floor. Damon's prone body is behind him. Damon groans, still stunned. Lyr moves fast, casting his hand back to grab the dagger from the strap on Damon's ankle.

"Stay back," Lyr snaps, brandishing the dagger.

Behind him, Damon groans, "Lyr, no."

Atticul stares at the blade. "You pull a blade on me, slave? I am the heir second of Azuria. Holding a weapon in my presence is enough to have you ripped to pieces in the Punishment Square."

At the same moment, the gauze curtain Opeth and Endrew vanished behind flutters and Endrew comes racing out. Opeth is behind him, fastening her gown, saying, "Come back, Sweetpea. It is no dishonour to spend fast. It is a tribute to my mouth that you were so enamoured."

Endrew races up and grabs hold of Atticul's shoulder. He sees the dagger. His eyes are wide. "Atti, what's happening?" he says, pale-faced.

What happens next, all happens so fast…

Lyr is still on the floor with the dagger pointing at Atticul, as Atticul shakes Endrew off him, clearly thinking this is some kind of attack from behind.

He shoves Endrew off and down, throws him towards Lyr and Damon on the floor.

And Endrew falls in a tumbling heap of drunken limbs.

And as he falls, he falls chest first, right on to the dagger Lyr is holding.

His body makes a terrible sound as he is impaled on the blade, but Endrew says nothing at all. Lyr is looking right into his face. He's dead. He looks so shocked.

Opeth, racing up behind Atticul, screams. Atticul makes a howling sound of rage.

The whole room seems to ignite.

Lyr takes his hand off the blade in horror and Endrew's body falls to the floor, the dagger's handle sticking out of his chest, blood blooming from it, starting to form a dark shape on the floor.

Damon struggles to sit up. Lyr watches his face as he begins to understand what has happened. He looks at Lyr.

"The whore stabbed Endrew," Atticul shouts. "Stabbed him to death! The whore is a Juran spy. Loyal to Hevelikar. Guards, take him to the dungeons!"

Lyr's head is swimming. There are heavy hands on him. Palace guards. Hauling him to his feet as Damon snarls, lifting himself off the floor.