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Don't think, he'd said, because it was easier than saying, Take me for who I am.
He couldn't bear that suddenly. He wanted it without pretences, without excuses, his fingers curling hard into Laurent's hair.
'It's me,' said Damen. 'It's me, here with you. Say my name.'
'Damianos. -- C.s. Pacat

It was like watching a man smile as he surrendered himself to drown in deep water. -- C.s. Pacat

You see a panther opening its jaws, you don't get your dick out. -- C.s. Pacat

Damen knew that he had to lie. It was beyond dangerous to talk about this with Laurent. -- C.s. Pacat

Let me tell you what is going to happen. You are going to be executed. You are going to be executed whatever you say or do. But I will spare your women, if they agree to answer my questions.' Silence. -- C.s. Pacat

Say it,' said Damen. 'I yield.' It was gritted out. Laurent's head turned away to one side. 'I want you to know,' he said, the words thick and heavy as they pushed out of him, 'that I could have done this any time when I was a slave. -- C.s. Pacat

It's not naive to trust your family.'
'I promise you, it is,' said Laurent. 'But I wonder, is it less naive than the moments when I find myself trusting a stranger, my barbarian enemy, whom I do not treat gently. -- C.s. Pacat

Laurent asked, 'Is it different than with a man?' 'Yes,' said Damen. It was different with everyone. He didn't say this aloud; -- C.s. Pacat

The guard said, 'Our orders are no one in or out.'
'You can tell the Prince that,' said Damen, 'after you tell him you let through the Regent's pet.'
That got a flicker of reaction. Invoking Laurent's bad mood was like a magical key, unlocking the most forbidding doors. -- C.s. Pacat

Damen felt it then, the first dizzy edge of new emotion, and he let go his hold of Laurent like a man fearing a precipice; and yet was helpless. -- C.s. Pacat

Can you stand? We need to move out. It's not safe for you here. Too many people want to kill you.'
After a moment, Laurent said, 'Everyone to the south, but only half the people to the north. -- C.s. Pacat

I'm glad you're here,' said Laurent. 'I always thought that I'd have to face my uncle alone.'
He turned to look at Damen, and their eyes met.
'You're not alone,' said Damen.
Laurent didn't answer, but he did give a smile, and reached out to touch Damen, wordlessly. -- C.s. Pacat

I would court you, with all the grace and courtesy that you deserve, -- C.s. Pacat

Auguste preferred women. He told me I would grow into it. I told him that he could get heirs and I would read books. I was ... nine? Ten? I thought I was already grown up. The hazards of overconfidence. -- C.s. Pacat

It was like being pleased by a thorn blush, feeling fond of every prickle. -- C.s. Pacat

If we just knew which end to start with,' Lamen said. It was suddenly obvious that Lamen had no idea what to do. With a clear moment of insight, Charls saw that Lamen was not a cloth merchant's assistant. He was the prince's private companion, and had no real skills whatsoever. 'Guilliame, -- C.s. Pacat

Laurent said, 'If Jord wants to get down on his knees for Aimeric, he should know exactly who he's crawling for.' * -- C.s. Pacat

You weren't making love to a slave, you were making love to me.' And he couldn't think that through clearly but he could catch a glimmer of it, a glimmer of the edge of it. 'I thought you wouldn't, I thought you'd never - ' He took a step forward. -- C.s. Pacat

It was an impressive fight.'
'Yes, I know,' said Laurent.
He didn't smile when he said things like that. -- C.s. Pacat

Time unslid the knot of any last ribbon of tension. -- C.s. Pacat

You broke a man today. Doesn't that affect you at all? These are lives, not pieces in a chess game with your uncle.'
'You're wrong. We are on my uncle's board and these men are all his pieces.'
'Then each time you move one of them, you can congratulate yourself on how much like him you are. -- C.s. Pacat

To gain everything and lose everything in the space of a moment. That is the fate of all princes destined for the throne. -- C.s. Pacat

We could try some other arrangement."
"You're right: it should be me in front
and you carrying the horse. -- C.s. Pacat

Stay with me until this thing is done, and I will take off the cuffs and the collar. I will release you willingly. We can face each other as free men. Whatever is to fall out between us can do so then. -- C.s. Pacat

Damen's understanding of Laurent rearranged itself, in order that he might despise him more accurately. -- C.s. Pacat

That's right. He is Charls. I am Charls. We are cousins,' said Charls, gamely, 'named after our grandfather. Charls. -- C.s. Pacat

He thought of Laurent's delicate, needling talk that froze into icy rebuff if Damen pushed at it, but if he didn't
if he matched himself to its subtle pulses and undercurrents
continued, sweetly deepening, until he could only wonder if he knew, if they both knew, what they were doing. -- C.s. Pacat

Torveld favoured Laurent with another of those long, admiring looks that were starting to come with grating frequency. Damen frowned. Laurent was a nest of scorpions in the body of one person. Torveld looked at him and saw a buttercup. -- C.s. Pacat

I'm not going to use the knife," said
Damen, "but if you're willing to put it in
my hand, you underestimate how much I
want to."
"No," said Laurent, "I know exactly what
it is to want to kill a man, and to wait. -- C.s. Pacat

That was their Prince for you, a twisty, vicious fiend who you should never, ever cross, unless you wanted your gullet handed to you on a platter -- C.s. Pacat

Stop enjoying yourself," Damen murmured. "We're going to be killed, any minute."
"Giant animal," said Laurent.
"Stop it. -- C.s. Pacat

Then, in the spirit of benevolence, "Your face is well balanced." She slapped him encouragingly on the back, "You have very long eyelashes. Like a cow. -- C.s. Pacat

From the severe, straight-backed posture to the impersonal grace of his cupped yellow head; from his detached blue eyes to the arrogance of his cheekbones, Laurent was complicated and contradictory, and Damen could look nowhere else. -- C.s. Pacat

Red. Red, the colour of the Regency, scrawled over with the iconography of the border forts, growing, fluttering. These were the banners of Ravenel. Not only the banners, but men and riders, flowing over the hilltop like wine from an over-full cup, staining and darkening its slopes, and spreading. -- C.s. Pacat

You're better than I am.'
Damen couldn't help his amused breath of reaction to that, or the long, scrolling look from Laurent's head to his toes and back again, which was probably a little insulting. But really. -- C.s. Pacat

You have Charcy. I have Fortaine. He stared at the words, written in familiar, unmistakable handwriting. I'll receive you at my fort. * -- C.s. Pacat

You seem to vacillate between assistance and assault. Which is it?'
'I'm not surprised you've driven three men to try and kill you, I'm only surprised there weren't more,' said Damen, bluntly.
'There were,' said Laurent, 'more. -- C.s. Pacat

He'd been kissing Laurent and that should not be interrupted. His eyes returned warmly, possessively to their object: Laurent looked like any young
man who has been pressed against a battlement and kissed. The slight disturbance of the hair at Laurent's nape was wonderful. -- C.s. Pacat

How can you trust me, after what your own brother did to you?"
"Because he was false", said Damen, "and you are true. I have never known a truer man. -- C.s. Pacat

He did remember being supported by two of the guards, here, in this room, while Radel stared at his back in horror. "The Prince really . . . did this?" "Who else?" Damen said. Radel -- C.s. Pacat

When Laurent turned to face him, his
eyes were dark. His lips were parted
uncertainly. He had lifted his hand to his
own shoulder, as though chasing a ghost
touch there. He did not look exactly
relaxed, but the movement did look a
little easier. -- C.s. Pacat

Once in his life - Laurent got only two words out before the man simply did what most people wanted to do when speaking with Laurent: he hit him. -- C.s. Pacat

I think if I gave you my heart, you would treat it tenderly. -- C.s. Pacat

Laurent had stopped dead the moment he had seen Damen, his face turning white as though in reaction to a slap, or an insult. -- C.s. Pacat

You look like a whore.' The soft words barely stirred the air by Damen's ear, inaudible to anyone else. Laurent murmured: 'Filthy painted slut. Did you spread for my uncle the way you did for Kastor? -- C.s. Pacat

The dogsman said, 'Tread lightly. Your master's in a vicious mood.' Well, that was order restored. -- C.s. Pacat

Is there anyone at this court who isn't my enemy?"
"Not if I can help it," Laurent said. -- C.s. Pacat

You're in a strange mood,' said Damen. 'Stranger than usual.'
'I'd say I'm in a good mood.'
'A good mood.'
'Well, not as good a mood as Volo,' said Laurent. 'But the food's decent, the fire's warm, and no one's tried to kill me in the last three hours. Why not? -- C.s. Pacat

Then Laurent turned and saw him, and
the pressure in his chest grew like pain
as Laurent greeted him, half stripped and
bright-eyed. -- C.s. Pacat

Damen to Jord about Laurent: 'He needs me,' said Damen. 'I don't care if you tell the world. -- C.s. Pacat

My honourable barbarian. I wouldn't have picked that as your type.' 'Type?' 'A pretty face, a devious mind and a ruthless nature.' 'No. That isn't - I didn't know she was . . . I didn't know what she was.' 'Didn't you?' said Laurent. 'Perhaps I . . . I knew she was ruled by her mind, not her heart. -- C.s. Pacat

He knew that he was vulnerable to her in this state, that her expertise, like Laurent's, was in finding weakness and pressing down. He looked over at Laurent and said, flatly, 'Deal with it.' Laurent -- C.s. Pacat

Laurent flushed. The colour hit his
cheeks hard, and a muscle tightened in
his jaw as whatever he felt was forcibly
repressed. It was not like any reaction
that Damen had ever seen from him
before, and he couldn't resist pushing it a
little further. -- C.s. Pacat

Order me to stay, he wanted to say, and couldn't. -- C.s. Pacat

Trust you?' said Damen. 'You flayed the skin from my back. I have seen you do nothing but cheat and lie to every person you've encountered. You use anything and anyone to further your own ends. You are the last person I would ever trust.'
[ ... ]
'Go, then. -- C.s. Pacat

I hated you," said Laurent. "I hated you so badly I thought I'd choke on it. If my uncle hadn't stopped me, I would have killed you. And then you saved my life, and every time I needed you, you were there, and I hated you for that, too. -- C.s. Pacat

The Crown Prince was camped at Nesson this very minute, on his way to the border to stand up to Akielos. He was a young man serious about his responsibilities, Charls said. Damen had to make an effort not to look over at Laurent, gambling, when he said it. -- C.s. Pacat

Don't, said Laurent, toy with me. I - have not the means to defend against this. -- C.s. Pacat

The Veretian palace, afroth with ornament, paid only lip service to defence. The parapets were purposeless curving decorative spires. The slippery domes that he skirted would be a nightmare in an attack, hiding one part of the roof from the other. -- C.s. Pacat

By this time, the camp was cleared, and the newly pitched tents looked like softly glowing globes, the light from lamps inside turning the tent skins to warm gold. -- C.s. Pacat

That's right, I'm still captured,' said Damen.
'Your eyes say, "For now,"' Laurent said. 'Your eyes have always said, "For now. -- C.s. Pacat

Damen said, 'I made him a promise.'
'And when he learns who you are?' said Jord. 'When he learns that he is facing Damianos on the field?'
'Then he and I meet each other for the first time,' said Damen. 'That was also a promise. -- C.s. Pacat

It was like being pleased y a thorn bush, feeling fond of every prickle. Another second and he was going to say something ridiculous like that. -- C.s. Pacat

He wondered what commands the Regent would have given to Govart. Do as you please and don't listen to my nephew. He thought, probably something exactly like that. -- C.s. Pacat

Laurent said, 'No. I'm not here to - ' He said, 'I'm just here. -- C.s. Pacat

Laurent, just turned twenty, and possessing an elaborate mind with a gift for planning, detached it from the petty intrigues of the court and set it loose on the broader canvas of this, his first command. -- C.s. Pacat

I know who you are, Damianos,' said Laurent. -- C.s. Pacat

What makes you think Kastor is the weaker man? you don't know him.' 'But I'm coming to know you,' said Laurent. -- C.s. Pacat

After a long moment, Laurent said, I'm going to need some help standing up. -- C.s. Pacat

Order whatever punishment you like, from the coward's distance of a chain-lenght. You and Govart are two of a kind. -- C.s. Pacat

This is close quarters.'
'Close enough to see your eyelashes,' said Damen. -- C.s. Pacat

It was true; it was somehow not even a surprise, more like a truth that had grown for some time on the edge of his awareness, now brought into sharp relief. He thought: two thrones for the price of a few hire swords and a dose of pleasure drug. -- C.s. Pacat

Last night, in the evening darkness of the tent, he had pulled this gift from his packs and looked down at it, feeling its weight in his hands. Once or twice before, he had thought about this moment. In his most private thoughts, he'd imagined it happening with the two of them alone together. -- C.s. Pacat

Reporting to Jord, Damen found himself caught in a conversation that he wasn't ready for. 'I could tell from your face. You didn't know he could fight.' 'No,' said Damen. 'I didn't.' 'It's in his blood.' 'The Regent's men seemed just as surprised as I was.' 'He's private about it. -- C.s. Pacat

In other words, the Regent was to be informed that his Captain had been well and truly turned off, in a manner that could not be painted as a revolt against the Regency, or as princely disobedience, or as lazy incompetence. Round one: Laurent. They -- C.s. Pacat

[After the Captain of the guards went into the wagon, where Laurent dressed as Jokaste was wearing a short blue dress]
'The stories of Lady Jokaste's beauty are not exaggerated,' said the Captain, man-to-man, as they wound their way across the countryside. -- C.s. Pacat

To take off the collar required a blacksmith. He -- C.s. Pacat

Perhaps if you were not a foot taller, or quite so broad across the shoulders.'
'It's considerably less than a foot,' said Damen.
'Is it?' said Laurent. 'It feels like more when you argue with me on points of honour. -- C.s. Pacat

No, I don't care. Tomorrow you leave. But you're mine now. You're still my slave tonight. -- C.s. Pacat

Damen pushed himself up on an elbow, and propped his head on his hand, his fingers in his hair. He saw that Laurent was looking at him. Not watching him, as he did sometimes, but looking at him, as a man might look at a carving that has caught his attention. -- C.s. Pacat

If it hurt it was fitting. It was simply kingship. -- C.s. Pacat

I want your best room,' said Laurent, 'with a big bed and a private bath, and if you send up the house boy, you'll find out the hard way that I don't like sharing.'
He delivered the innkeeper a long, cool look.
He's expensive,' said Damen to the innkeeper, by way of apology. -- C.s. Pacat

He had the choice of the poor with no other way to survive, the choice of a child powerless to his elders, the choice of a man when his King gives him an order, which is no choice at all, and yet still more than is afforded to a slave. -- C.s. Pacat

I'll stay,' said Damen. 'You know I'll stay for as long as you - ' 'Don't,' said Laurent. 'Don't lie to me. Not you.' 'I'll stay,' said Damen. 'Three days. After that, I ride south.' Laurent -- C.s. Pacat

It was like watching a boar try to take on the endless blue of the sky. -- C.s. Pacat

Friends,' said Laurent, 'Is that what we are?'
[ ... ]
Damen said, with helpless honesty, 'Laurent, I am your slave. -- C.s. Pacat

Charcy is claimed for Akielos.' As he rose, Damen wrapped his hand around its wooden pole and planted it in the earth. The -- C.s. Pacat

I'm not sure that's quite what I asked,"
said Laurent. His voice had the same
quality as his gaze. "This is close
quarters."
"Close enough to see your eyelashes,"
said Damen. "It's lucky you do not have
the size to breed great warriors. -- C.s. Pacat

The cuff, unmistakably, was the twin to the one Damen wore, altered last night by a blacksmith for Laurent's finer wrist. Damen said, 'Wear it for me.' For -- C.s. Pacat

Tell the guards to sleep with their legs closed.
And Aimerick. -- C.s. Pacat

For a moment he thought Laurent wasn't going to do it. But in public, Laurent had no recourse to refusal. Laurent extended his hand. And then waited, palm outstretched, his eyes lifting to meet Damen's. Laurent said, 'Put it on me.' Every -- C.s. Pacat

You just surprised me,' said Damen. 'Sometimes I think I understand you, and at other times I can't make you out at all.'
'Believe me, that sentiment is mutual. -- C.s. Pacat

Damianos," Touars said. "Princekiller."
It was the last thing he said. Damen
pulled the sword out. He took a step
back. -- C.s. Pacat

There was a man I was supposed to meet. He's got all these ideas about honour and fair play, and he tries to keep me from doing the wrong thing. But he's not here right now. Unfortunately for you. -- C.s. Pacat

And with returning awareness, he saw as if for the first time the bodies of the men that he had killed to get to the Regent's decoy, and beyond that, the evidence of what he had done. The -- C.s. Pacat

Something to say?' said Laurent
Jord was holding off from them. The same stubborn distaste was in his voice. 'Not with him here.'
'He's your Captain,' said Laurent.
'He knows well enough he should go.'
'While we compare notes on spreading for the enemy?' said Laurent. -- C.s. Pacat

Congratulations,' said Damen. 'You've forced my hand. You have what you want. Delpha, in exchange for your aid in the south. Nothing given freely, nothing done out of feeling, everything coerced, with bloodless planning.' 'Then I have your agreement? Say it.' 'You have my agreement.' 'Good, -- C.s. Pacat

Damen tore off a piece of the bread, and then he looked at the men by the fire, and then he looked at Damen, a long, cool look that would have been difficult to hold if Damen had not had, by now, a great deal of practice.
And then he said, 'All right. -- C.s. Pacat

He loved the way that Laurent kissed, as if Damen was the only person that he had ever kissed, or would ever want to. The -- C.s. Pacat

With a clear moment of insight, Charls saw that Lamen was not a cloth merchant's assistant. He was the prince's private companion, and had no real skills whatsoever. -- C.s. Pacat

Damen said, 'Men, sometimes.'
'In the absence of women?'
'When I want them.'
'If I'd known that, I might have felt a frisson of danger, lying next to you.'
'You did know that,' said Damen -- C.s. Pacat

Auguste had fought with honour. He had
been the one honourable man on a
treacherous field. -- C.s. Pacat

Laurent said, 'Hello, lover.' It -- C.s. Pacat

I remember. You take a great deal of
pleasure in small victories." Damen
quoted Laurent's words back to him.
"It's not small," said Laurent. "It's the
first time I've ever won a play against
my uncle. -- C.s. Pacat

But after a moment Laurent turned his eyes elsewhere, and then closed them, and they both made their way to sleep. -- C.s. Pacat

Damen was smiling helplessly. 'that was adequate.' 'You've been waiting to say that.' The words were only a little blurred. -- C.s. Pacat

You were right about Kastor,' Damen said.
It was all he said. -- C.s. Pacat

It was the earring. Laurent was always so austere. The earring reframed him. It gave the appearance of a sensual side, sophisticated and subtle. -- C.s. Pacat

It's lucky King Damianos is at Delpha,' said Charls, uncertainly. 'There's no need to worry that the Prince is away so close to the Ascension.' 'Yes, this would be a terrible idea otherwise,' said Lamen. -- C.s. Pacat

Together we can do what we cannot do apart. -- C.s. Pacat

There was a strange doubling, brother for brother, Laurent close as Auguste has been, and Damen even less defended, Laurent's fingers on te place where he had been run through. -- C.s. Pacat

Damen had half expected a gaudy parade costume, but Laurent had always defined himself against the opulence of the court. And he did not need gilt to be recognised under a parade standard, only the uncovered bright of his hair. -- C.s. Pacat

I miss you too,' he said. 'I'm jealous of Isander.' 'Isander's a slave.' 'I was a slave.' The moment ached. Laurent met his gaze, his eyes too clear. 'You were never a slave, Damianos. You were born to rule, as I was. -- C.s. Pacat

When he closed his eyes, he felt how it might have happened: slowly, Laurent's mouth opening, Laurent's hands lifting hesitantly to touch his body. He would have been careful, so careful. Aimeric -- C.s. Pacat

Damen now knew the precise number of arrows Laurent needed to have trained on him in order to shut him up. It was six. -- C.s. Pacat

Why? Do you want to spar? We can
keep it friendly," Damen said.
"No," said Laurent. -- C.s. Pacat

You cut his head off. It makes it a little difficult for him to suck your cock. -- C.s. Pacat

And any hope Damen had that Laurent
could control this scene ended as
Laurent's face shuttered, as his eyes went
cold, and with the sharp sound of steel,
his sword came out of its sheath. -- C.s. Pacat

This," said Laurent, "is a little more - "
It was a word of sharp points: " - intimate," he said, "than ice."
"Too intimate?" Damen said. Slowly, he was kneading Laurent's shoulders.
He did not usually think of himself as someone with suicidal impulses. -- C.s. Pacat

All bad things were done in the dark. -- C.s. Pacat

If you served the King,' said Damen, 'how is it you now find yourself in the Prince's household, and not his uncle's?' 'Men find themselves in the places they put themselves,' Paschal said, closing his satchel with a snap. -- C.s. Pacat

The collar came first, and when Guerin drew it from his neck he felt the collar's absence like a lightness, his spine unfurling, his shoulders settling.
Like a lie, cracking and dropping from him. -- C.s. Pacat

That is the man you face. He has more honour and integrity than any man I have ever met. He is dedicated to his people and his country. And I am proud to have been his lover. -- C.s. Pacat

Why do you give me good advice?"
asked Laurent.
Isn't that why you brought me with
you? Instead of speaking those words
aloud, Damen said, "Why don't you take
any of it? -- C.s. Pacat

It's what I came here last night to say. I'm going to take care of it.' 'Promise me,' Damen heard himself say. 'Promise me we won't let him - ' 'I promise.' Laurent -- C.s. Pacat

Guilliame came to talk to him, since they were the same rank.
'Lamen. That's an unusual name.'
'It's Patran,' said Damen.
'You speak very good Akielon,' he said, loudly and slowly.
'Thank you,' said Damen. -- C.s. Pacat

Your inclination appears to be much as
it was last night."
Damen found himself saying, "You talk
the same in bed," and the words came
out sounding like he felt: helplessly
charmed. -- C.s. Pacat

A brother's love? You don't know him at all, do you. What's a death but easy, quick. It's supposed to haunt you forever that the one time he beat you was the one time that mattered. -- C.s. Pacat

Laurent entered, an edge to his grace, like a leopard with a headache. -- C.s. Pacat

I miss you," said Laurent. "I miss our conversations. -- C.s. Pacat

Now, Laurent was beside him. Aloof, untouchable Laurent was beside him, kneeling on the wet marble hundreds of miles from home, with nothing in his eyes but Damen. -- C.s. Pacat

As the heavy latticed iron beetled above
their heads, Damen found himself
wanting it, wanting disruption, a cry of
outrage, or of challenge, wanting it as a
release to this
feeling. Traitor. Stop.
But none came. -- C.s. Pacat

To the alliance,' agreed Alexon, the words echoing back from those seated around the fire. To the alliance. Charls saw Lamen lift his cup and incline it towards the Prince, who echoed his gesture, the two of them smiling a little. Lamen, -- C.s. Pacat

He was content to wait, his bare limbs on the sheets heavy, the gold slave cuffs and collar his only adornments. He felt the warm, wonderful, impossible fact of his situation. Bed slave. -- C.s. Pacat

You've spent a morning with him and you're warning me off. Just wait,' said Damen, 'until you've spent a full day with him.'
'You mean that he improves with time?'
'Not exactly,' said Damen. -- C.s. Pacat

You put Govart,' said Damen, 'in a cell with Laurent?' 'Yes.' Guion spread his hands. -- C.s. Pacat

I can't protect you as I am now, Laurent had said. Damen hadn't thought about what protection might entail, but he would never have imagined that Laurent would step into the ring on his behalf. And stay in it. "I -- C.s. Pacat

If he was aware of anything beyond the fight, it was of an absence, a lack that persisted. The flashes of brilliance, the insouciant sword work, the bright presence at his side was instead a gap, half filled by Nikandros's steadier, more practical style. -- C.s. Pacat

Rumours of Damen's enslavement in Vere had spread like fire through the camp. To see the Veretian Prince wear the gold cuff of a palace bed slave in turn was shocking, intimate, a symbol of Damen's ownership. Damen -- C.s. Pacat

I didn't send them after you,' said the cool, familiar voice. 'I sent them after the Regent's Guard, who were making enough racket to raise the dead, the drunk, and those without ears. -- C.s. Pacat

It's me,' said Damen. 'It's me, here with you. Say my name.' 'Damianos.' He -- C.s. Pacat

If he could do it, Damen could do it. He could make impersonal negotiations, speak in the formal language of kings. The ache of loss didn't make sense, because Laurent had never been his. He had known that. -- C.s. Pacat

I tried that too,' said Laurent. 'I don't like to think of myself as predictable. But apparently I cycle through all the normal responses. Shall I tell you what you're going to do when I stick the knife in for the first time? -- C.s. Pacat

Nephew. you were not invited to these discussions.'
'And yet, here I am. It's very irritating, isn't it?' Said Laurent. -- C.s. Pacat

Keep your mouth off my brother. -- C.s. Pacat

I don't know. I don't know why. I don't know what I did to make him hate me as much as this. Why we couldn't go as brothers to mourn - - our father - 'You -- C.s. Pacat

Damen held himself very still. This easy way of speaking of Auguste was new, and he didn't want to disturb it.
After a moment, Laurent said, 'He would have liked you.'
'Even after I started courting his little brother?' said Damen carefully. -- C.s. Pacat

Lamen though of modest origins was a thoughtful young man who spoke Veretian very well, even if his knowledge of cloth was lacking. 'I -- C.s. Pacat

You came', said Laurent.
'You knew I would', said Damen.
'If you need an army to take your capital', said Laurent, 'I seem to have one'
Damen let out a strange breath. They were gazing at each other. Laurent said, 'after all, I owe you a fort -- C.s. Pacat

Laurent said, 'What do you think of Jord?'
'I like him,' said Damen. 'You should be pleased with him. He was the right choice for Captain.'
There was an unhurried pause. Aside from the sounds Damen made when he picked up a vambrace, the tent was quiet.
'No,' said Laurent. 'You were. -- C.s. Pacat

He found himself looking down at Laurent, his eyes passing slowly over the delicate skin, the lamp-darkened blue eyes, the elegant curve of cheekbone, interrupted by a stray strand of blond hair. -- C.s. Pacat

I lack," said Laurent, "the easy mannerisms that are usually shared with," you could see him pushing the words out, "a lover."
"You lack the easy mannerisms that are usually shared with anyone," said Damen. -- C.s. Pacat

The advice of his father came back to
him, never to take your eyes off a
wounded boar: that once you
engaged an animal in the hunt, you must
fight it to the finish, and that when a boar
was wounded, that was when it the most
dangerous animal of all.
That thought nagged at him. -- C.s. Pacat

If you were a pet, I would have gifted you enough by now to buy out your contract, many times over."
"I'd still be here," said Damen, "with you. -- C.s. Pacat

Stay back, old man. It isn't your business. This is the Prince of Vere.'
'But
I only paid three coppers for him,' said Volo, sounding confused. -- C.s. Pacat

Damen thought that if Laurent was holding his hand, he must be dying. -- C.s. Pacat

He wasn't sure how it would be, but
when Laurent saw who was beside him,
he smiled, the expression a
little shy but completely genuine.
Damen, who hadn't been expecting it,
felt the single painful beat of his heart.
He'd never thought Laurent could look
like that at anyone. -- C.s. Pacat

You're so loyal to him. Why is that?"
"I'm not a turncoat Akielon dog," said
Aimeric. -- C.s. Pacat

If someone kills your family you don't rest until they are dead. -- C.s. Pacat

You really do have ice in your veins,
don't you, said Damen. -- C.s. Pacat

You fill me with horror," said Jord. His
hands were tight on his knife. Both his
hands, now.
"Captain," a voice called. "Captain!"
Damen's eyes were on Jord's face.
"That's you," Jord said. -- C.s. Pacat

It's not a trick,' said Laurent. 'You'd let me go,' said Damen. This time it was Laurent who was silent, gazing back at him. Damen said, 'And - until then?' 'Until then, you are my slave, and I am your Prince, and that is how it is between us. -- C.s. Pacat

There was no immediate disaster. -- C.s. Pacat

You spent the night in the Prince of Vere's rooms.' 'I spent ten minutes in his rooms. If you think I fucked him in that time you underrate me.' Nikandros didn't move his horse out of the way. -- C.s. Pacat

Coiled and personal, Laurent's gift was a Veretian whip, made of gold.
Damen recognized it.
[ ... ]
His gaze flung to Laurent. He knew he had flushed, he could feel the heat in his own cheeks. In front of the gathered generals, he couldn't say, What have you done? -- C.s. Pacat

The two walked off together, leaving Damen with Aimeric.
'He hates you,' said Aimeric, cheerfully. -- C.s. Pacat

A ludicrous boyish hope flared that someone would come to help him, and, carefully, he extinguished it. -- C.s. Pacat

He said it to Laurent. Laurent said that from this moment on, any Veretian who struck an Akielon would be executed. He trusted the honour of the Akielons, he said. Only a coward hit a man who wasn't allowed to hit back. It -- C.s. Pacat

You're still wearing it."
He couldn't help but say it. Laurent's wrist was heavy with gold, like the colour of his hair in the firelight.
"So are you."
"Tell me why."
"You know why," said Laurent. -- C.s. Pacat

I should make you watch, said Laurent, while he's stripped down for every man in the troop to have him."
Damen stepped forward. "You don't mean this. You need him as a hostage."
"I don't need him continent," said Laurent. -- C.s. Pacat

The ache of loss didn't make sense, because Laurent had never been his. -- C.s. Pacat

He said, 'Is there a child?' 'I have told you that there is,' said Jokaste. 'I wasn't talking to you,' said Damen. The attending women seated around Jokaste were of varying ages, from the eldest of perhaps sixty to the youngest, Jokaste's age, around twenty-four. -- C.s. Pacat

The doors closed, behind him; he turned,
and saw Laurent.
His stomach dropped, a moment of
confused shock
he'd never expected to
see Laurent here. -- C.s. Pacat

Laurent said, 'I have recently learned that sometimes it is better to simply smash a hold in the wall. -- C.s. Pacat

No. Wait. I ... wait.
Damen stopped, and turned. Laurent's
gaze was edged with indecipherable
emotion, and his jaw was set
at a new angle. The silence stretched out
for such a long time that the words, when
they came, were a shock. -- C.s. Pacat

I don't know how this interrogation found its way into my bed. May I ask where I can expect it to travel next? -- C.s. Pacat

They agreed on a rendezvous, and Laurent took off with the restrained urgency of a man who has to find some way to hide sixteen hands of bay gelding behind a shrub. -- C.s. Pacat

Enguerran looked up at Damen. The last
time they had faced one another,
Enguerran had been trying to
bar Damen from Touars's hall. An
Akielon has no place in the company of
men. -- C.s. Pacat

I want you to know,' said Damen, carefully, 'that I haven't done anything to encourage the idea that I-that you and I-'
'If I thought you had, I'd have had you tied to a post and flogged until your front matched your back. -- C.s. Pacat

I don't have sleeves to carry handkerchiefs in,' said Damen. 'I wouldn't mind being given a knife.' 'Or a fork?' said Laurent. -- C.s. Pacat

When laced into his clothing, Laurent's dangerous grace lent him an almost androgynous quality. Or perhaps it was more accurate to say that it was rare to associate Laurent with a physical body at all: you were always dealing with a mind. -- C.s. Pacat

Laurent could inspire homicidal tendencies simply by breathing. -- C.s. Pacat

If you are concerned that my memory for wrongs against me is longer than ten months,' said Laurent, 'there's no need for anxiety. I am sure you can persuade me you were genuinely mistaken. -- C.s. Pacat

The delicate thing that had grown between them had never had a right to exist. -- C.s. Pacat

Because a king maker would always choose the weaker man. The weaker the man, the easier he is to control.' Damen -- C.s. Pacat

Laurent said, 'I didn't think anyone was good enough to get past your guard.' 'One person,' said Damen. -- C.s. Pacat

Not everyone could have the blissful equanimity of Lamen, who seemed to pay the Prince no deference of rank, a piece of very good acting. Charls -- C.s. Pacat

He was under no illusion that he was going to be taken to the campfire to roll around with Laurent. If anything, he was going to be taken to the campfire to watch Laurent do some inventive sidestepping. -- C.s. Pacat

He felt a throb of happiness, and said nothing, just lay on his back and looked up at the stars.
"It's like old times," said Damen, though the truth was, he had never really had times like this. -- C.s. Pacat

You remind me of him. He was the best man I have ever known. -- C.s. Pacat

By that time, Damen had received the tally of the dead: twelve hundred of us, six and a half thousand of them. He -- C.s. Pacat

So he's tame,' said Estienne, and reached out tentatively, as though to pat a wild animal.
It was a question of which part of the animal he was patting. Damen cknocked his hand away. Estienne gave a yelp and snatched his hand back, nursing it against his chest.
'No that tame,' said Laurent. -- C.s. Pacat

Contrary, aren't you,' said Damen softly, thumbing over Laurent's cheek.
'Fuck me,' said Laurent.
'I want to,' said Damen. 'Can you let me? -- C.s. Pacat

Laurent was a nest of scorpions in the body of one person. -- C.s. Pacat

You see?" said Laurent. "He has forgiven me for the small matter of the whip. I have forgiven him for the small matter of killing my brother. All hail the alliance. -- C.s. Pacat

There is little sense in pitting a lesser sense of duty against a greater one. No leader could expect loyalty to hold under those circumstances. -- C.s. Pacat

My scorn and contempt,' said Laurent, 'are not in need of your leniency. Lord Touars, you face me in my own kingdom, you inhabit my lands, and you breathe at my pleasure. Make your own choice. -- C.s. Pacat

A kingdom, or this -- C.s. Pacat

After a long moment Laurent said, with painful honesty, "I ... find it difficult to let go of control."
"No kidding," said Damen. -- C.s. Pacat

There was a warmth in his chest whenever he looked at Laurent. He didn't look often for that reason. -- C.s. Pacat

Laurent's fair skin and blue eyes were a combination that was rare in Patras, rarer in Akielos, and a particular weakness of Damen's. -- C.s. Pacat

A golden prince was easy to love if you did not have to watch him picking wings off flies. -- C.s. Pacat

He is a prize," said Torveld warmly. "I'll wager you never thought a prince could be jealous of a slave. Right now I would exchange places with you in a heartbeat." You -- C.s. Pacat

I hurt you, Laurent."
"That's enough, stop," said Laurent.
"It wasn't right. You were just a boy. You didn't deserve what happened to you."
"I said that's enough."
"Is it so hard to hear? -- C.s. Pacat

Men find themselves in the places they put themselves -- C.s. Pacat

It took me until I was nine to realise he was letting me win. I just thought I had a very fast pony. -- C.s. Pacat

The constructed arrogance of the display was intentional. It said, exquisitely: Did you exert yourself at Charcy? I have been here examining my nails. Nikandros -- C.s. Pacat

The Akielon slave would (of course) assume treachery on the part of the Veretian forces, after which he would launch some sort of noble and suicidal attack at Charcy that he would probably win, against ridiculous odds. -- C.s. Pacat

To keep. I wouldn't wear it.' said Laurent, 'though I don't believe your imagination is having any difficulty with the idea. -- C.s. Pacat

Laurent said, 'Hello, lover. -- C.s. Pacat

We should - ' 'And we will.' Laurent turned to him, sliding fingers into his hair. 'But first, we have the morning.' * -- C.s. Pacat

Think he'll kill him? another
speculated.
Damen knew the answer to that question.
Laurent was not going to kill him. He
was going to break him.
Here, in front of everyone. -- C.s. Pacat

You wrestled him without any clothes on.'
'That is sports, -- C.s. Pacat

Having made the decision to let Damen in, Laurent had not gone back on it. When the walls went up, it was with Damen inside them. But -- C.s. Pacat

It was so close to his own thoughts - that everything he knew was gone, but that this was here, in its place, this one bright thing. -- C.s. Pacat

He didn't care who Laurent took to bed. He -- C.s. Pacat