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Damon looks genuinely hurt. “No, Lyr, no. You did nothing wrong. Far from it. The only person who did anything wrong is me. I have a wife. My desires shame Inez. What happened in the orchard was folly. If it had been anyone other than her.”

“It is better that it was Inez?”

“Only because she has almost as much to lose as I, if my sins were to be discovered.”

“What would she lose, if it were discovered that you were sly?”

Damon’s voice sounds rough. “The rumours about me already cause her shame. But if I were to be arrested and charged with sins of the body, I could be exiled and all my possessions taken. Our marriage would be dissolved. The scandal could mean she might not find another match.”

“Do you love Inez?” Lyr says as bluntly as he dares.

“She is my wife. I owe her my protection,” Damon says in his own blunt tones. He takes a breath. “But life is not so simple. The news I brought a sly whore back from Pellex has reached Selim’s ears. He has demanded I give you up so I am not stained by the fact.”

“Oh,” says Lyr. “Atticul told me he would do that. Go to Selim and tell him about me. He said he was going to insist I was killed.”

“Selim did ask me to give you over to him.”

“You are to give me over to Selim? What would that mean?”

“I imagine the Enforcers of Zai would execute you.”

“Is that why you have brought me out to this grove? Is it to wish me farewell?”

To fuck me farewell?

Could that really be all Damon wants of him? To fuck him and then hand him over to his death? Lyr has always known Azuria would be full of dangers for him. Dangers that could mean death. Jareleezi had told him so.

But if he is to die, to be handed over to death, he hopes he is right. He hopes that before that happens, Damon takes him deep into the grove and makes love to him. He knows he is foolish to hold such a wish to his heart. Nevertheless he does. He aches for Damon like no feeling he has ever known.

“No. I will never allow that to happen,” says Damon. “I have revealed a secret about you to Selim. I had to do it to protect you. I told him you were Jareleezi’s slave. They are desperate to find her. The campaign into Ik-Sundal was only ever to capture her. When Selim believed Jareleezi was in Ik-Sundal, he made me another offer. The battle has not gone well there. The Sundals are vicious. Far more vicious than the Jurans.”

“And they don’t have you,” Lyr says softly.

“No. They don’t. And Selim knows this too. He offered to make me Warden of Vashti in return for rejoining the army and conquering the desert. But I told him that I knew from you that Jareleezi would not be found in Ik-Sundal. Of course, when I told him that he said that I ought to hand you over anyway, so you could be interrogated for what you knew. But I said that you trusted me. I intimated that you were my lover. He accepted it. He has allowed me to keep you as I am best placed to find out all you know.”

“All I know about Jareleezi?” Lyr says, voice shaky.

“Yes. I can protect you this way. They are very keen to locate something she has, the Books of Alios. If you know where Jareleezi has taken them, I could use this information to secure our future.”

“Secure it how?”

“Selim made me a second offer. He will make me Warden of Vashti in return for information about Jareleezi. Vashti is a country in the west and part of the empire. If I were sent there, I could take you and perhaps we would be far enough away from Attar and the rule of Zai that we could…,” Damon stops walking suddenly. He takes hold of both Lyr’s hands. His touch makes Lyr gasp. Damon’s expression is strange. “Lyr, I cannot live my whole life resisting you, I have tried it for half a moon and it is killing my soul. Selim told me that if I could give him information that led him to Jareleezi and the treasures she has in her possession, he will give me Vashti and my heart’s desire. He knows what my heart’s desire is. He knows what I will ask for. You. I will take you to Vashti and be safe from Zai’s laws.”

Lyr can hardly speak. His breath seems to stall in his body. “Truly? Selim would grant such a thing?”

“I believe for those books he will do anything.”

“And we must give Emperor Selim information about where Jareleezi has gone?”

This grove is much darker than the orchard, the trees are far more closely packed. The air is cool and scented with dampness. It feels eerie to be here, with Damon. With Damon telling him he has been trying to find a way for them to be together.

But there is one problem with Damon’s plans, he needs information about Jareleezi that Lyr cannot give him. “You need me to tell you where she is? I do not know.”

Damon looks at Lyr shrewdly. “You were with her for seven years. You may know more than you think. Tell me everything about her. We will find something.” Damon gestures to a mossy spot at the base of a large oak tree. “Sit down here.”

Lyr looks down. “Sit with you? Are you sure?”

“Yes. Lyr, do not worry, I have been instructed to do this by the Emperor himself.” Damon is smiling.