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Damon shakes his head. “It was complicated.” He pauses. He should stop this conversation. It’s enjoyable, but too intimate. He barely speaks to anyone like this, except perhaps Trysta. He takes a breath, “Let’s talk of something else. Tell me about you. About Klish. I have never been to Klish. What is it like? All I know of is that it is known for magical arts and The Cult of Priam.”
And he wants to ask, burns to ask, is everyone in Klish like you? Do they all recite beautiful Magaar poetry in sweet sing-song with their eyes half closed? Do they look like you with fine-boned faces and bright blue eyes and mouths that I want to bury my cock in?
Of course, he does not. Would not dream.
“It is. There are a lot of very great magicians in Klish. But I was not in one of the clans that practise magic.”
“Are you Priam? If you are Priam I suggest you keep quiet about it.”
“You mean the Cult of Priam? No, I am not one of them. I was raised Artemian. But Priam have many temples on Klish.”
“They cause fires in Attar. And start riots.”
“I did not know the Cult of Priam had reached Azuria. I did not know anyone spoke of The Legend of Pia and Prim outside of Kilsh.”
“It is a crime to be Priam in Azuria.”
Lyr smiles sweetly. “What isn’t a crime in Azuria?”
Damon catches Lyr’s dancing eyes and laughs.
Lyr leans back in his chair. He seems delighted to have made Damon laugh. He sounds relaxed and happy as he says, “I used to see Priam speakers in the market when I was a boy, but I never paid them any attention. Even on Klish, they are seen as crazy. All I know about it, truly, is the Dead Water. At the end of Klish, beyond the last island begins a stretch of sea where no ships can sail. Any ship that tries is sucked down to the bottom of the sea and some say, beyond, into the earth below the sea to the lair of a great monster. A demon. You cannot sail from Fanost or Jur Mattan to Archelia. You cannot cross the Priam Sea. Because of the Dead Water.”
Damon remembers talk of this when the invasion of Jur-Mattan was planned. Anyone who suggested sailing from Fanost along the coast to Jur-Mattan was told no, that it was impossible. That Zai would not allow it.“ He nods. “The Dead Water is where the islands of Pia and Prim were?”
“Yes. If they ever existed, of course. But the Dead Water is where they were meant to be. Before they were sunk a thousand years ago.” Lyr shrugs. “That is the legend. The Priam think they are still down there and the people live still.”
Damon gazes at Lyr, half-listening, half letting his thoughts idle on what it would feel like to touch him. He knows terrible things must have happened to Lyr in Jur-Mattan or perhaps before that, on Klish. Things that caused those ritualistic scars visible on his arms and legs.
He would do anything to keep this man safe.
This man who makes him laugh. Damon can’t think of many people who can make him laugh so easily as Lyr seems to be able to.
He likes to see Lyr laugh too. When that sweet face lights up, he looks truly beautiful. It makes Damon wonder what Lyr would look like when he comes undone.
To see his face change and break with pure pleasure.
His cock stirs at the thought.
“What does it mean exactly?” Lyr says, “Sins of the body?” It catches Damon out of the blue. Did Lyr read his thoughts?
Or does he share them? Is he thinking the same? He is a male pleasure slave. Trained to please his Master. Damon feels something snap tight inside him. The realisation he is falling into Atticul’s trap.
“It means being sly,” he says. His voice sounds less playful and more sour. “Luxoli. Men lying with men. Women with women. Even desiring such a thing is forbidden.”
“And that is a crime against Zai?” Lyr says with a nod. Like he knows these things. Damon wonders if he really does. “Zai is a cruel faith. It has many rules. Many punishments.”
“Indeed,” says Damon,
“But Zai allows it when you are at sea? On a ship?”
“Zai allows soldiers to take comfort during war when they are not on Azurian soil. He understands life is different in battle. The rules about sins are relaxed. Pleasure slaves and the like are permitted. Even if the soldier is married.”
“And even if the pleasure slaves are men?”
“What men do while they are fighting for the glory of the empire is no crime. So long as they win their battles.”
“So do you lie with pleasure slaves while you are at war?”
