AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Family secrets, Your Majesty,” winked a large woman with tits like wrinkly melons. “Of course, I could never give them away.”
“And I suppose I’d be wasting my breath asking you once again to take responsibility for my vineyards? I am afraid my current vintner favors the more delicate varieties that the sea wolves buy. Not the proper ball kickers for an old soldier!”
“No breath from you is ever wasted, Majesty!”
The queen and Calix stood stoic-faced, but Zosime was already rolling her eyes. She clearly knew this routine well, and by the looks of it, they were settling in for another long conversation.
Aurelius looked around in annoyance. There were thirty more stalls around the grounds. At this rate, it would be dusk before they finished up.
I’ll never get Calix alone at this pace!
Zosime crossed her arms and gave a loud sigh, gesturing for another refill. The red sloshed into her cup, a single drop skipping off the rim and onto the grass.
And Aurelius had a wicked little idea. Something involving the colors red and white...
“Tiggy, don’t be nervous. I think you’ll be great at this,” he said.
She cocked her head. “Great at what?”
“This!”
Before the surprise even registered in her eyes, Aurelius pushed her through the crowd. Teigra crashed right into Zosime, causing the princess’s cup to tumble over her himation—streaking the white cloth red.
Aurelius ducked. “Can you believe it?” he said, putting on his best Ardoran accent. “This Mestibian wench just said she could outdrink the princess!”
“Outdrink Her Highness?” scoffed someone nearby. “Bullshit!”
“Let her have it, Zos!” called an old woman, her cheeks the same color as the wine dripping down Zosime’s furious face. “Show that uptight marble lounger how we do it in Ardora!”
“Yeah!”
“Go on, give it to her!”
Aurelius didn’t wait to see the result. Instead, he scrambled out the back of the growing throng and slowed to a saunter. As people rushed by, he stretched himself out, extending his arms overhead, before running his hands down creamy legs, revealing a peek of buttock kissed by the summer breeze. Only then did he give a lazy glance over his shoulder.
Calix looked away hurriedly, a blush spreading fast across his cheeks.
Aurelius grinned. But instead of walking toward the prince, he strolled right on by, wandered up past the edge of the festival grounds, past the royal villa, all the way up the sun-drenched hills beyond.
And as he did so, he whistled a little tune—a familiar ditty about a satyr laying its seeds deep into fertile soil.
He waited until he was at the cliff-top before looking back.
Quite a way behind, far enough to have had a moment of indecision, Calix was following.
49
TEIGRA
Zosime’s nostrils flared. Teigra hunted for Aurelius but couldn’t see him over the sudden press of the crowd, now barracking for a drinking contest that she had supposedly called for.
“No! I didn’t say anything about outdrinking you,” she said, raising her hands.
The crowd laughed. All but the queen, who weighed Teigra’s face. “I don’t think this is a good idea,” she whispered to the king.
“Nonsense!” he said, slapping both Zosime and Teigra on the backs with a force stronger than his withered frame. “If there is one thing we like in this polity, it’s a bit of good clean competition!”
The crowd cheered, encircling the stall like a noose. Any escape pathway was gone.
