Page 16

“I do not.”

“With men?”

“No.” Damon pauses. He isn’t sure why he admits this, but he does, “There was one, a few years ago. He’s dead.”

Lyr nods with a bitten lower lip. “So you are sly as Atticul claims. He wants to use that against you. He’s put us in this small cabin with one bed because he is going to make people on this ship think you bedded me whether you actually do or not.”

“Yes.”

“So,” Lyr tips his head to one side, “it would make no difference, would it, if you did?”

“Perhaps. But I will not.”

“Do you not wish to?” Lyr holds Damon’s gaze.

“That matters not. I do not lie with slaves. My mother was a slave.”

Lyr’s tongue flickers over his bottom lip. “It’s been a long time hasn’t it? Since you lay with anyone. I can tell.”

This makes Damon shiver. Because it is true. He lay with Inez on their wedding night. But that was a duty, not a pleasure. And other than that, he has been as chaste as a priest of Zai since Merkle died, as chaste as Emperor Selim himself. “I told you,” he says, and his voice sounds deep and heavy. “I do not lie with slaves.”

“I think that is correct, but simply because you do not lie with anyone. “

And that’s it. That’s enough. That is far too far down a dangerous road for Damon’s liking. Far too close to giving Atticul what he wants. He feels shaky all over. He stands up so suddenly Lyr jumps.

“I will leave you,” he says. His voice, that had been soft, almost amused only a few moments ago, is a hard snap. “I do not wish to spend the whole voyage sitting in this cabin.”

Damon wonders if it is obvious that this is a lie.

He owns Lyr. Sweet, funny, defiant Lyr, with his sharp mind and eerie beauty. He’s aboard a ship, beyond the reach of Azurian law. He could bed him. He could.

He won’t.

4

LYR

Lyr is left alone in the cabin for a long while. He walks around, which doesn’t take long. It’s a very small cabin. Damon has left the jug of ale on the table. Lyr fills his cup and drinks it. He thinks of his time in Pellex, in Blackstone Castle.

Lyr had once thought his whole life would be spent under Queen Jareleezi’s knives and flames. He had always assumed he would die on her stone table when her rituals demanded more than blood and pain. Until her Gods told her something she needed him to do.

Jareleezi. Even thinking her name makes Lyr feel light-headed. He has escaped her, but her presence still looms over him. The Azurian army is chasing her with Damon’s ship. She is the member of the Pellex court who they think escaped to Ik-Sundal, protecting her treasures.

But it seems strange they are chasing her to Ik-Sundal. He wonders if they are wrong about where she has truly gone.

Lyr sits down at the table and drinks more of the ale. Its water-weak, made to quench the thirst. As he drains his cup he is glad to find his thoughts wander from Queen Jareleezi to his new Master. Damon Darekul is not what Lyr expected. Jareleezi told him Damon would be a cruel warrior. A vicious, merciless man with but one weakness. But Damon is not like that at all. He is a thoughtful, honourable man. A handsome man. A man Lyr feels safe with.

And Damon is determined not to touch Lyr. Not to indulge the desires he considers a weakness.

It’s late in the day when someone knocks on the cabin door.

Lyr walks over to open it and finds Opeth standing in the doorway. He had almost forgotten she was on the ship too. He is so thrilled to see her, he feels tears prickling at his eyes as she pulls him into a familiar hug.

“My dear little Lyr,” she says. “I don’t have long before that spoiled prince wakes and misses me, but I had to see you.” She places a crooked finger under Lyr’s chin and lifts his face so she can gaze at him. “Now, have you got anything to drink?”

Lyr nods. “Yes, but only weak ale.”

“Ale will do,” Opeth says, gliding into the room. “Oh, it is tiny,” she says when she can see the size of the cabin. “He said it was. He is so pleased about it.” Opeth sits down and pours herself some ale using Damon’s abandoned cup. “He truly thinks he’s pulled off the cleverest plan the world has ever seen, putting you in here with his bastard brother. He must desire you himself, he is so certain you are irresistible.”