Page 118 of The Concubine King
“Eth—Your Divinity,” Poyut said quickly, casting a glance at Verusias.“I think it best I stay with you.”
Ethyr sighed.“I’ll be fine, Poyut.You need to rest.”
“He’ll be fine, Poyut,” Verusias repeated, and she straightened, doing an admirable job of keeping a neutral face and not eying him as Ethyr knew she wanted.“Ithen is annoyingly vigilant.”
Ethyr looked at the man standing where Verusias had left him.“Is he your King’s Guard?”
“Yes,” Verusias said affectionately, leaning his face into his hand dreamily.“Eighteen years dealing with me and it still didn’t deter him from fucking me when he finally could.”
“Verusias—” Ithen spoke up stiffly.“Please.”
The man glanced over his shoulder to raise his eyebrows at him.“Oh I’m sorry, are we rewriting history now, hm?Or should I say you were eager to fuck me so you could shut me up?”
Ithen sighed and rubbed a hand over his face.
“Come along.”Verusias took Ethyr’s hand and pulled him into the corridor.Two attendants were waiting in the hall, whom Verusias instructed to show Ethyr’s guards to their rooms, then he walked with Ethyr through the estate, Ithen a few steps behind.
Verusias didn’t release his hand, swinging it a little as they walked.For some reason the skin contact was comforting.“Sounds like you’re having a more exciting reign than I did.”
“Yeah,” Ethyr said, trying not to make it too bitingly sarcastic.“Exciting.”
“I was shocked when I found out the gods chose a peasant to succeed me.They must have really wanted to shake the status quo.”
Ethyr looked up at him, attention piqued.“Did you get that sense?When you were with them?”
“I don’t know,” Verusias sighed.“They said they try to stay out of mortal affairs, so it seemed rather contradictory.”
“All of them?Did you interact with all the gods, or just a few?Did they tell you why they chose you?”He was bursting with questions, now that the topic had been breached.Here was the only person he’d ever met who could relate to his situation—as close as anyone could, anyway.“How many times a month did they ask for you?Did you ever meet the king who was before you?”
Verusias glanced sidelong at him with an amused smirk and he closed his mouth.
“Usually all the gods.”Verusias shrugged.“I think they felt obligated to be there.And yes, Divine Kolius, I visited him a few times.He lives a little ways down the river from Mahyria.”
They left the hall through an open doorway, stepping into the vast landscape behind the building.
“Usually all the gods?”Ethyr prodded.“Were some missing sometimes?”
“Hmm… Catocus didn’t often stay around for longer than an hour or two.Gnaeus and Ithna never seemed keen to be there either, but they rarely missed an offering.Well, Kiaro—he was a rare sight.And when he did show up, he never said or did much of anything.So not all of them, I suppose.”Verusias led Ethyr into the fruit trees.“Do you have a favorite fruit?”
“W-wait…” Ethyr shook his head.“Did the other gods… did they not…” He struggled to get the words out.He glanced at Ithen, trailing ambivalently behind them, and lowered his voice.“Did they want anything other than sex?”
“Hm?”Verusias plucked a fig and polished it against his hip.“Of course.I played the lyre for them—and the flute.Those two are my expertise.Langath liked to play alongside me, the lute or fiddle.I served them drinks and food and talked about human affairs, they were interested in getting my perspective on such things.I played games with them… Langath got me interested in drawing.”
Ethyr was speechless.When Verusias noticed, he offered a reassuring smile.
“Well… you aren’t exactly educated in any of those things, are you?”
“I’m learning,” Ethyr mumbled.He spoke up again.“And Gallus?Varuut?Ainder?”It was a relief to speak about them with someone who knew them like he did, knew what it was like, even if it sounded like they had wildly different experiences.
“Oh, Ainder loved a good fuck,” Verusias laughed.“He was always egging me on, egging the others on… loved watching me fuck Gallus.”
“O-okay,” Ethyr shut the topic down, flushing hot and regretting bringing Ainder up.
“Gallus was more interested in dancing, but he found out quickly I wasn’t that good a dancer, even with a lifetime of lessons.”Verusias pulled a pear from a tree and offered it to Ethyr.He took it, since it was already picked and it seemed silly to waste.“What do they like doing with you?”
Ethyr looked away and took a giant bite of pear.
They meandered through the trees, Verusias proving a more talkative companion than Ethyr could have hoped.He told Ethyr about growing up in the temple and his studies; how from the moment of initiation they were told it was the most devoted of them who would be chosen as king.Verusias was completely self-assured that he deserved and had earned his place as king, studying and practicing from sun up to sun down and giving himself wholly—body, mind, and spirit—to veneration of the gods.But it sounded like that was what most priests did, anyway.
