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“Ceruleum. With traders.” Harok speaks in slow, simple Ambolk. Tobi concentrates to understand the word. “Exceli attack. Traders attack by Exceli many times. I send warriors. More attack. Tomorrow I will go with warriors I send.”

“Yes, Irgorye” Tobi says, although he does not hide the note of disappointment in his voice.

“A van. A rill. A vervan,” Harok says bluntly.

A familiar phrase Tobi knows. I go. I kill. I return.

Harok points over at the bed. “A vervan coo.” I return here.

“Irgo Harok go,” Tobi says in Ambolk, “ai…” he makes a sad face. He can’t remember the word for sadness.

Harok slides a hand beneath the surface of the water. He wraps it around his own cock and Tobi’s, stroking them together. Tobi moans at the touch, leaning into Harok. The sweet familiar pleasure of Harok’s palm on his cock. He rests his forehead on Harok’s shoulder. “Elizzia,” Harok coos. “Ei laraman.”

Don’t be sad.

Harok’s fist tightens and moves faster. Tobi feels himself already close to falling into pleasure, but thinks, laraman, yes, that is the word for sadness.

He lifts his head. “Irgo Harok van, ai laraman,” he says, half a gasp as he looks up into Harok’s face and repeats himself. “Harok van. ai laraman.”

“Ei laraman,” Harok says again, then something else in Ambolk Tobi cannot follow all of, “A vervan coo. Ai suskara mallet. Ai kushir. Esich en melucia…”

“A vervan mellet?” Mellet is the Ambolk word for bed, according to Lymok it specifically means a bed used for coupling. He hopes he has asked Harok if he will return to their bed.

Harok gasps, tipping his head back to show Tobi his thick neck as his hand moves even faster. The water is splashing, tipping over the edge of the bath tub onto the floor. “Sho, Suskara,” Harok says, voice a broken moan of pleasure. “A vervan mellet.”

As he speaks, Tobi reaches his peak, spending with a broken cry. He hears Harok growl with an echo of his own pleasure.

They both gasp and breathe heavily for a moment. Tobi feels Harok’s arms tight around him, but the thought of not sharing Harok’s bed for three whole nights still makes him ache.

“Why Irgo go?” Tobi says. “Send warriors not Irgo.”

Harok says something like, “Suskara, I am Irgo. I am Irgo Harok. ”

Tobi can feel tears prickling behind his eyes. The rush of spending along with this conversation is too much. He doesn’t want Harok to leave him alone here. He doesn’t want Harok to ride out into the forest and face the Exceli. Tobi says, “But, danger. Exceli.”

Harok nods. “Exceli enemies, Suskara. I slay enemies.” He touches his chest. In Artemian he says,“Beast.”

Tobi laughs. “Beast,” he says, as a tear spills. His voice cracks. “My beast.”

“Beast,” Harok says. before kissing him deeply and slowly. “Esterillika.” A word Tobi learned almost a moon’s turn ago. Part of Harok’s formal title. Esterillika Irgo, Maren Rillani.

Unkillable King, Demon Slayer.

When the kiss breaks, Tobi cannot speak. Harok shifts, moving himself from under Tobi and standing up in the bathtub. Water streams down his naked body. He looks truly magnificent. An Unkillable Irgo. The Esterillika Irgo. Harok steps out of the bath. He takes Tobi by the hand and leads him over to the bed. They lie down together, Tobi held in Harok’s arms. Their bodies are still damp, wetness seeps into the bed linen. Tobi has never lain with Harok in his bed while the sun was up before.

“Suskara, tomorrow I go. I return after three nights. You will sleep alone,” Harok says in his simple, patient Ambolk, as if he is concerned Tobi has not understood him.

“Ereyek, ei,” Tobi says sadly.

“Suskara,” Harok says sternly. “I am Irgo. Command me not.”

“How I sleep?” Tobi says, finding the Ambolk words. “Without Irgorye cock?”

“You sleep…” Harok says and then something Tobi doesn’t understand.

“I don’t understand you,” Tobi says in Artemian.

“Suskara sleep. Copperhead Circus,” Harok says in Artemian, then points over his shoulder.