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Before either of them can respond, Endrew comes up behind Atticul. He seems very drunk, wobbling with every step. “Damon,” he says merrily. “Come with us.”
“Yes,” says Atticul, “Come along, bastard, it’s time for the real party.”
Endrew links his arm with Damon’s. “We’re holding a Pleasure Night in Atticul’s chambers. Selim has blessed it. Everything is permitted. You must come.”
Damon stands still. “I don’t think I need to attend your party, Atticul.”
“Come on, Bastard,” says Atticul. “You can bring your friends. Even that strange veiled creature.”
The Hare nods “I am sorry, Your Grace, it is forbidden for me. I am an acolyte of Zai.”
Atticul’s eyes stretch wide. “Is that thing male? A new addition to your harem, I suppose.”
“Please come, Damon,” says Endrew, looking up at Damon, “It has been a long hard campaign in Ik-Sundal. I missed you so. And it has been so long since I’ve supped with you.”
Damon looks at Endrew. He is looking at Damon with an expression of desperate hero worship. Damon glances from Endrew to Lyr. “Very well,” he says. “I will come for a short while.”
Lyr follows behind Damon and Endrew, back to the Tower of the Heir.
Damon takes Lyr first to the quarters that have been assigned to him and his household. Inez is there with her handmaidens. She stands up when Damon walks in. “Damon? Is all well? I wasn’t sure where you had gone.”
“I was just speaking to some old friends, back from Ik-Sundal.” He is unbuckling his sword belt as he speaks. “Wife, I have to attend Atticul’s Pleasure Night. Endrew wishes it and he has endured enough with the doomed campaign he was forced to lead. I hope not to stay long.” He puts his sword on a low table.
“Will you be spending the night there?” Inez says.
“Not if I can avoid it,” Damon says. “I will take the slave.”
Inez looks concerned. “Is that wise? People will surely question why you have such a slave at a Pleasure Night.”
“He has to go. Atticul asked him. It would be an insult for a slave to refuse such an invitation.”
Lyr looks at Damon’s sword on the table. “Are weapons not allowed?” he says. He is not sure he has ever spoken in Inez’s presence before. Inez looks at him slightly surprised, like she is amazed to hear his voice.
“Pleasure Nights have many rules,” says Damon. “They are permitted during times of revelry for soldiers. Certain transgressions are allowed at such an event. Some crimes against Zai, for example, will be overlooked at a Pleasure Night, as you will see if my father is attending.”
“Crimes against Zai,” says Lyr. “Like adultery. At the Pleasure Night, you would be able to lie with a woman who was not your wife?”
“I would. If I wished to,” Damon says.
“Pleasure Nights are only for men and unmarried women,” says Inez. She doesn’t sound annoyed about it. More as if she is bored by the entire idea. “It is not like the Feast of Surrus – a sacred rite, in its way. Pleasure Nights are an unholy creation of the Hevelikar. Many people are amazed Doroth Zain allows them to continue. They are rare but, they do still happen sometimes.” She looks at Damon. Lyr gets the impression it is hard for Inez to look upon him for too long. “The Imperial Army has retreated from Ik-Sundal. It is a way of ensuring the soldiers do not revolt after such a defeat by reminding them of the special freedoms soldiers can enjoy even in the heart of the empire.”
Damon nods to her, “Indeed.”
Lyr is wary. This Pleasure Night sounds wild, lawless. A place where Damon’s hidden enemy might attack. “Perhaps we should find an excuse. Not go,” he says.
Damon looks carefully at Lyr’s face. He follows Lyr’s gaze to the sword on the table. Then nods. “I will take precautions,” he says. “We will be safe.”
Damon opens a small chest on the table. He takes out two daggers, weighing them in his hands, before selecting one. He puts one leg up on the table and pushes up his breeches, before strapping the dagger to his ankle.
Inez raises an eyebrow. “You are taking a weapon to a Pleasure Night?”
“Just one. No one will know it is there.”
Inez says nothing, but she does not look pleased. Lyr is sure this is a great transgression. But he is glad of it. He plans to stay very close to Damon this evening.
Damon steps his foot down from the table. “I hope to return before the midnight bell, wife.”
Inez tilts her face and allows Damon to kiss her cheek.
