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Harok looks back at Tobi. He points to the floor. “Fran-da,” he says.

Tobi knows what that means. He gets on his knees. He looks up at Harok. “Dekuna?” he says, brightly, hoping to snap Harok back to himself. Tobi has not seen Harok in this foul a mood since the time he felt Tobi had insulted him at dinner.

Is that what this is? Has Tobi done something that Harok feels makes him look weak?

“Ei,” Harok says sharply, followed by some Ambolk Tobi doesn’t understand but Harok seems to be making it clear he did not find that amusing. Tobi can’t seem to get through to him. It is almost as if this Harok is someone else.

Harok stands impassively as Tobi remains on his knees until Olladin and Cel return with Tobi’s chest. They set it down beside the firepit. Tobi watches as Harok nods and Olladin takes the shirt, breeches and another waistcoat from the chest and tosses them into the firepit to be consumed by flames.

Harok finishes by throwing Tobi’s cloak, too, into the firepit.

Seeming satisfied, Harok turns and walks up the steps to his throne on the dais. “Kushir, idi.” he says, pointing to the cushion beside him. Tobi gets up from the floor. He walks up the steps after Harok, aware of the whole hall’s eyes on him as he takes his place, kneeling in only his alit with Baby beside him.

Tobi is left where he is, mostly ignored by Harok for the rest of the day. Some healers come and tend to the wound on Harok’s chest with a paste of clay and moss that they apply to the wound then cover with linen strips. With this done, Harok speaks with various courtiers and warriors in clattering Ambolk. And all the while Tobi kneels beside him. At one point Sami appears and takes Baby back to the stables, looking a little wary as she does it, but Baby behaves sweetly. Tobi watches them go.

All afternoon he is made to kneel, burning deeply with anger and humiliation. Dinner comes and goes and eventually, Harok takes Tobi’s wrist and leads him from the hall. When they get to Harok’s bed chamber, Harok pulls Tobi to him and kisses him hard. Tobi feels his body respond to Harok, but the last thing he wants is Harok taking him to bed like nothing happened.

He pulls his mouth off Harok’s and tries to twist away, but Harok is too strong. His hands on Tobi’s waist are like iron.

Tobi looks up at him. “No,” he says firmly in Ambolk. “I don’t want this. I will sleep...” He points to the door to his own chamber.

Harok’s eyes are still dark. His face looks different, changed. “No. Suskara, you kushir,” he says in a low growl. He leans in and kisses Tobi again.

Tobi keeps his mouth firmly closed, struggling until he manages to pull back enough to spit. “No. Irgorye beast,” he says, running out of Ambolk and saying in Artemian, “You’re a fucking demon.”

Harok looks at Tobi in shock. “Suskara?”

“You are cruel,” Tobi spits up at Harok in Artemian. He does not care to speak in Ambolk. Not now. He puts his hands on Harok’s wrists. “I cannot stop you if you force me,” he says. “but I will not let you pretend I am willing.” He stares into Harok’s eyes.

Harok looks at Tobi blankly.

He doesn’t understand. Tobi lifts his chin and says, “Ei, Irgorye. Ei. Ei dekush.”

Harok’s grip on Tobi’s waist seems to soften at this. He looks angry, but there is something else in his eyes. Something like defeat.

“Suskara nothing,” Harok spits in Ambolk. “Suskara kushir. Obey Irgorye. Warm bed. Suck cock. Wear alit.”

“No,” Tobi snaps back. “No. You took me from home,” Tobi says in Ambolk. “I am good kushir. I obey. I warm bed. I open legs. You treat me bad.”

Harok says, “No treat bad. Kushir safe in Urynwud. Warm. Many food. Suskara free in halls. Beast free in halls. Ambolk lessons. Bed pleasure, Suskara scream.” In Artemian, he adds, “What Suskara want?”

This question seems to spark something inside Tobi.

He feels like he could cry.

What does he want?

He doesn’t know how to begin to explain what he wants. To Harok or even to himself. He wants so many things. He wants to be acknowledged by his father. He wants his mother to know who he is. He wants to go back to that year he lived in the Rose Palace, when life was so, so sweet. He wants to find a way back there so he can protect his mother from whatever happened to her. But he cannot ask for any of that, so he says, “I want clothes. No alit. Clothes.”

“No,” Harok says. “No. Clothes for kushir is freedom. Kushir mine.”

“No,” Tobi snaps back. “I no…” he pauses, but the right word appears after a moment of thought, “possession.”

“You possession, yes,” Harok says back. “Kushir Irgo’s possession. Suskara mine.”

Tobi doesn’t even think. He slaps Harok’s face. Harok grabs his wrist, eyes flashing a real danger that makes Tobi’s breath catch. Will Harok hit him back? For a moment Tobi thinks he might. The thought of that terrifies him. Harok is so strong. He could kill him. He could likely kill him with a single hit.

But Tobi doesn’t back down. He doesn’t step back. “Not possession. Man. I am a man, just as you are,” Tobi says.