‘Shall I ask you how you did it? What he looked like when your sword went in?’
‘No,’ said Damen.
‘Or shall I tell you about the illusion of the man who gave me good counsel. Who stood by me. Who never lied to me.’
‘I never lied to you.’
The words were awful in the silence that followed them.
‘“Laurent, I am your slave”?’ said Laurent.
He felt the breath forced out from his lungs.
‘Don’t,’ he said, ‘talk about it like—’
‘Like?’
‘Like it was cold-blooded; like I controlled it. Like we didn’t both close our eyes and pretend I was a slave.’ He made himself say the exposing words. ‘I was your slave.’
‘There was no slave,’ said Laurent. ‘He never existed. I don’t know what manner of man stands before me now. All I know is that I am facing him for the first time.’
‘He is here.’ His flesh ached as if he had been prised open. ‘We are the same.’
‘Kneel then,’ said Laurent. ‘Kiss my boot.’
He looked into Laurent’s excoriating blue eyes. The impossibility of it was like a sharp pain. He couldn’t do it. He could only gaze at Laurent across the distance between them. The words hurt.
‘You’re right. I’m not a slave,’ he said. ‘I am the King.’ He said, ‘I killed your brother. And now I hold your fort.’
As he spoke, Damen drew out a knife. He felt rather than saw all of Laurent’s attention swing to it. The physical signs were small: Laurent’s lips parted, his body tensed. Laurent didn’t look at the knife. He kept his eyes on Damen, who looked right back at him.
‘So you will parley with me as with a king, and you will tell me why you called me here.’
Deliberately, Damen tossed the knife onto the floor of the tent. Laurent’s eyes didn’t follow its path. His gaze held steady.
‘Didn’t you know?’ said Laurent. ‘My uncle is in Akielos.’
CHAPTER FOUR
‘LAURENT,’ HE SAID, ‘what have you done?’
‘Does it bother you to think of him hurting your country?’
‘You know it does. Are we playing now with the fate of nations? It won’t bring your brother back.’
There was a violent silence.
‘You know, my uncle knew who you were,’ said Laurent. ‘He spent this whole time waiting for us to fuck. He wanted to tell me who you were himself, and watch it wreck me. Oh, had you guessed that? You just thought you’d fuck me anyway? Couldn’t help yourself?’
‘You ordered me to your rooms,’ said Damen, ‘and pushed me down on the bed. I said, “Don’t do this”.’
‘You said, “Kiss me”,’ said Laurent, each word enunciated clearly. ‘You said, “Laurent, I need to be inside you, you feel so good, Laurent,”’ He switched to Akielon, as Damen had, at the climax, ‘‘it’s never felt like this, I can’t hold on, I’m going to—’’
‘Stop,’ said Damen. He was breathing in quick, shallow breaths, as he might after heavy exertion. He stared at Laurent.
‘Charcy,’ said Laurent, ‘was a distraction. I have it from Guion. My uncle sailed for Ios three days ago, and by now he has made landfall.’
Damen moved three steps away, to let that information sink in. He found himself with his hand braced on one of the tent poles.