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He could only imagine what she would offer him, and he was in no hurry to confirm it.
Not yet at least...
He blocked the worst of the sun and gathered his bearings. Just as he was about to start the long walk back to his own bed, he was confronted with the last person in the entire city he wanted to see.
Across the street, chatting amiably to an old man tending a stall stacked high with eggs, was Ramuna Securia. Their eyes met properly for the first time since she’d shared the news of Xiber crossing. Not that he’d needed her for that, as it transpired—the messenger centaur had also left a letter from the archon on his own doorstep with the same news.
Rather than shoot her usual glare, the high envoy bid farewell to the trader and walked over, the slightest hint of victory on her face. “My, my, Herald. I didn’t expect to see you this far out,” she said, pointedly glancing at the sign over the inn.
As prudish as she was, she had still been here for almost three decades. And she surely knew that the Swaying Stem was the sort of place you booked by the hour, not the night.
He didn’t give her the satisfaction. “Here to gloat about your pet snagging a prince, are you? When it was me, it was an affront to Mesti! But when it is her, you are just going to sit back and allow it to happen?”
She gave him an infuriating smirk. “I have no opinion on the matter beyond that which might offend the goddess, Your Excellency. And in this case, I can find no reason to object.”
“Prince Calix is gay!” he said, dragging her into a quiet alley between the inn and a stable. It was cooler and smelled of fresh hay. “Is that not reason enough?”
“I have been here long enough to know that the prince has been with both men and women. And unlike you, Ms. Cosmin has only pure intentions.”
Aurelius scoffed. “No one is as innocent as you think, Ramuna.”
“And few, Herald, are as wicked as you imagine.”
“Wicked? You want to talk about wicked? Fine! For someone like you, I must be the fucking epitome of wickedness. I don’t lock myself away every sable moon. I’ve got the urge for a drink and fuck now and then. And worst of all, I do it with other men! Isn’t it disgusting? What a beast I am! Do you pray for me, Ramuna?” Aurelius grabbed the nearby wall, steadying himself. “Because I think it is far more wicked to knowingly condemn our homeland to a slow death through inaction, than it is to try and fuck a man to stop it all from happening!”
Her eyes narrowed. “Not long after I was first posted here, my nephew was found in bed with another boy.”
“Of course you would say...” he started, before his ears caught up. “What?”
“Yes, shocking. A scandal upon House Securia. Cornel was appalled. In his panic, my brother wrote to me, asking what he should do. He intended to send the boy on patrol with the peace corps, slaying beasts and keeping compact with the outskirt towns.” She had a faraway look in her eyes. “Would you like to know what advice I gave him, Herald?”
“That a bit of blood and brutality would turn the little sinner into a real man?” he spat.
“I said that he was a sweet child. That he was respectful of his mother and had a gift for poetry. I told him that if the boy was prepared to be more discreet with his activities, he should be accepted with understanding.”
Aurelius scanned her face for deception but found none. “A nice story. But I am well acquainted with Cornel Securia. He has two adult daughters and no sons.”
“Indeed,” she said, her lips pursed.
The silence grew as realization bashed through his hangover.
He’d heard the stories from the few, terrified boys back home who shared his inclinations. Enlistment was a simple solution for such waywardness. Even the threat of it was enough to silence tongues and stay sinful hands.
Because it was a dangerous life in the Mestibian peace corps. Particularly for those boys more used to swallowing swords than swinging them.
It was a man’s life. Danger and death. Beasts and bandits and broken bones.
And if the battles didn’t finish the job, there were all those quiet roads and high hills that a feeble young boy from a scandal-averse family might lose their footing on.
Securia’s face was fire now. “So believe me, Herald, any objection I have with your behavior has nothing to do with your sexuality.”
“Then what?”
She sighed. “Mr. Savair, Mestibes has survived on the border of Rinath for over twenty years since the Compact, and for centuries before that. We have weathered three country-wide wars with our city intact. Our families sleep safely in their beds. And we have achieved this by laying down our arms and building peace. But if we strike a military deal, what message would that send? To Mesti? To the rest of Dynosia?”
“It would say that we are human, Ramuna. That we are prepared to do the rational thing and defend ourselves!”
“No, it would show that we are cowards. That we would abandon our values at the first sign of danger. Then the goddess would have no reason to protect us. We would be dooming ourselves.”
