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“You don’t have ashen passion, do you?”
“Not like the others at The Bunch, no.”
“But you let some people think you do?”
“When I must.”
“So that if someone wants to dig into why their prince has now taken to hiding himself away from his public, they will find a suitable explanation? Something bad, but better than the truth: that their prince both likes boys and is a satyr?”
No response came, but he hadn’t expected one.
“Which of those truths is the bigger secret, I wonder,” Aurelius continued. “The boys or the beast?”
Calix exhaled ruefully. “Either would taint my lineage and disqualify me from the throne.”
Aurelius had expected no further response, but after a long while, Calix continued. “But the boys, I suppose. In the mid and low polities of Greater Ardora, you can find rural shrines to satyrs. They are revered and called upon by people who don’t know any better. Infertile couples. Those with ashen passion. But no one, anywhere, gives sacrifice to men who fuck other men.”
“Well, I can see why some people might worship the beasts! Those powers you have are incredible. Can you do that to anyone? Just walk up and make someone hornier than they’ve ever been?”
“It isn’t just for sex. It’s for any passion. For family, for friends, for battle, for competition. Whatever it is, if a person already has some passion for it, I can take that feeling and enhance it to extreme levels. Sex is just... the most visceral. The most... satiating. For me. For... for the beast.”
“You say it with bitterness? But what I experienced was wonderful.”
“We don’t do it as a kindness,” spat the prince. “We feed on it. We are little better than flies and vultures. Believe me, if you’d experienced my full abilities, you wouldn’t think it wonderful. You were fortunate we were interrupted before night fell. On the day before the sable moon? If not for your cousin, I don’t think I’d have been able to stop myself.”
Aurelius furrowed his brow. “The moon really matters that much?”
“It’s more manageable closer to bronze. Much harder to use powers around that time. But I always feel it. Even on the brightest moon, it’s still like having a thirst you cannot quench. A throat stripped dry and being surrounded by the clearest, coolest water, whispering for you to guzzle it.”
“And on sable moons?”
Calix stilled. The sun did not falter. No cloud drifted across the sky. Yet, the air seemed to cool.
“I change.”
“As in...”
“You are a prince, Aurelius. You’ve received the best education. I change.”
“We don’t technically have princes in Mestibes. Or kings and queens for that matter. It is more of a first among equals arrangement.”
“This isn’t a joke,” he said. “On the night of the sable moon, I become... that thing. I’m not me anymore. I’m... it.”
Aurelius turned to face the tiniest sliver of moon, faded aqua against a deep blue sky. “So last night, you grew goat horns?”
“Yes.”
“And proper fur?”
“Yes.”
Aurelius gestured to his crotch. “And your...”
Calix rolled his eyes and stood, dusting his hands. “What difference does that make?”
“Oh, please, Your Highness. Do you think we won’t end up fucking?”
“We won’t. Ever.”
