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Thin hysteria threatened for a moment: he smelled faintly of roses.
The courtiers were nondescript except for one: a young man with an astonishingly lovely face—the kind of face that would have earned a small fortune on the slave-block in Akielos. Damen’s attention caught and held.
“I hear the King of Akielos has sent me a gift,” said the young man, who was Laurent, Prince of Vere.
Laurent had stopped dead the moment he had seen Damen, his face turning white, as though in reaction to a slap or an insult.
“What’s your name, sweetheart?” said Laurent, not quite pleasantly.
“I speak your language better than you speak mine, sweetheart.”
This is a comedy
But the Prince—Laurent’s particular blend of spoilt arrogance and petty spite—had been unbearable.
Thats the love of your life!
“You have a scar.”
“What was the Prince’s mood?” “Delightful,” said Damen.
“They are natural hot springs,” Radel explained, as though to a child. “The water comes from a great underground river that is hot.” A great underground river that is hot. Damen said, “In Akielos, we use a system of aqueducts to achieve the same effect.” Radel frowned. “I suppose you think that is very clever.”
Kastor had not held back against him, and he had been so proud of that,
Now he remembered the black look in Kastor’s eyes and thought that he had been wrong about many things.
“Kastor sends two dozen slaves trained to worm their way into the bedchambers of the most powerful members of court. I’m overjoyed.”
“How many men did it take to collar you in Akielos?” “More than two,” said Damen.
Damen’s understanding of Laurent rearranged itself, in order that he might despise him more accurately.
A COMEDY
I wouldn’t have thought of that. He has a mind for details.” “Yes, I’m learning that,” said Damen.
Maybe he just wanted another chance to fight something. Preferably an insufferable yellow-haired princeling.
“Don’t be presumptuous,” said Laurent, coldly. “Too late, sweetheart,” said Damen.
Veretians, thought Damen, made things needlessly complicated for themselves.
Much more of this, and he was going to clank as he walked.
“Against my orders. The second time, against the advice that it might lead to his death. Almost, it did.” “He’s alive. The advice was incorrect.”
“Be grateful I retain Acquitart,” said Laurent, “which by law you cannot take away and which besides has no accompanying troops and little strategic importance?”
“I think there is an old caretaker at Acquitart. Shall I ride to the border with him? We could share armour.”
“You look like a whore.”
He was diabolical.
Damen thought that given the choice between the lash and a conversation with Laurent, he might actually choose the lash.
“He’s not very talkative,” remarked Vannes. “It comes and goes,” said Laurent.
“Oh,” said Laurent. “No. Nicaise . . . no. That would wreck you. I wouldn’t do that.” Then his voice became almost tired. “Maybe it’s better if you think that I would. You have quite a good mind for strategy, to have thought of that. Maybe you will hold him longer than the others.”
“Come on. Let’s go. You can watch me get told off by my uncle.”
He really loved him huh
To abuse someone who cannot resist—isn’t that monstrous?”
“You would really sacrifice your pride over the fate of a handful of slaves?” He had worn the same look on his face at the ring; he was gazing at Damen as though he was searching for an answer to an unexpected problem.
“What would I have to gain from—” Damen broke off. “I don’t know how to convince you. You don’t do anything without a dozen motives. You lie even to your own uncle. This is a country of deviousness and deception.”
“Wrong,” said Laurent. “How lucky I am to have servants to point out my shortcomings. What makes you think I will tolerate any of this, even if I believed what you are saying to be true?” “Because you can end this conversation any time you like.”
My toxic trait is I think this is flirting
He realised that at some point he had begun to think of being alone in a room with Laurent as dangerous.
“He’s thirteen years old,” said Damen, and found himself subjected to Laurent’s long-lidded gaze. “Is there anyone at this court who isn’t my enemy?” “Not if I can help it,” Laurent said.
“So he’s tame,” said Estienne,
Damen knocked his hand away. Estienne gave a yelp and snatched his hand back, nursing it against his chest. “Not that tame,” said Laurent.
It was said that the Empress of Vask kept two leopards tied up by her throne. Damen tried not to feel like one of them.
“Is ambition needed in a king?” said Laurent. “Or is it simply needed to become king?”
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.
“He looks combative, but he’s really very docile and adoring,” said Laurent, “like a puppy.” “A puppy,” said Torveld.
In the stretched-out moment that followed, Damen thought explicitly about killing him.
It was wasteful of nature to have bestowed those looks on one whose character was so unpleasant.
“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.
Flirting
Damen had never before seen half a dozen soldiers reduced to compliant housekeeping by the sheer force of one man’s personal arrogance. It was almost instructive.
“It’s too dangerous. Leaving now would be seen as an admission of guilt. The Regent’s Guard wouldn’t hesitate to have you killed. I can’t . . . protect you, as I am now.” “Protect me,” said Damen, flat incredulity in his voice. “I am aware that you saved my life.”
It's Starting!
But Laurent’s only reply was a breath of laughter, which strangely showed more than anything else how close to the edge he was.
Stop an assassination. Scale a wall. Fight Govart. What else?
Damen and the terrible, hortible, no good, very bad night
“So was my answer. I don’t know how this interrogation found its way into my bed. May I ask where I can expect it to travel next?”
HA
“Yes, apparently I have fucked my enemy, conspired against my future interests, and colluded in my own murder. I can’t wait to see what feats I will perform next.”
