Page 42 of The Concubine King
“Hmmm.”Gallus tapped his chin in thought.“Have you tried feeding one to the others?”
“Yyyes,” Catocus said slowly, narrowing his eyes.“I used to have thirteen.”
Ethyr couldn’t hold back a laugh then.At least the others chuckled too.It was nothing like the actual story but Ethyr was not about to tell them that.They never asked what happened in it or what the ending was, choosing instead to make it up as they went along, which resulted in outlandish nonsense that had Ethyr in tears from laughing.The funniest moments were when they broke character all together; the removal from any sort of reality or knowledge of normal behavior couldn’t help but be hilarious.There was a sidebar where Catocus and Gallus discussed how often a human needed to poop and, without asking Ethyr, settled confidently on once a month.
There was a long, stretched out scene of Gallus, taking the role of the hunter’s wife, flirting with Catocus, the ‘farmer’, while Ainder mercilessly critiqued them for it.It was followed by a very real sex scene, which Ethyr mostly averted his eyes during.
It ended with Catocus giving Gallus—the ‘hunter’ once more—a slap on the back and an indifferent, “Yep, she’s unfaithful.”
Ethyr almost couldn’t believe it when the two bowed and the others clapped, indicating that that was the end.Gallus whipped upright, his stoic hunter persona returned to his usual exuberance.He grinned and bowed a few more times as Catocus, much less interested in adulation, went to sit down and steal a goblet of wine from Langath.She only sighed and poured herself another from the pitcher.Gallus gave one last sweeping bow before falling between Ethyr and Ithna, forcing them both to scoot over and make room.
“Wonderful!Splendid!”Varuut praised as she finished clapping.She stood on her knees and leaned over the table to reach Gallus, not caring that her long, untethered hair trailed in the food as Gallus tilted his head back to accept her kiss on his mouth.“One of your best.Your talent has no limit.”
“I know, I know,” Gallus sighed, taking the wine Ithna handed over.“It is a blessed curse, being as skilled as I am.”He turned a cheeky grin and wink to Ethyr, nudging him with an elbow.Ethyr blushed, though he didn’t know why, and reached up to rub his warm neck.
“What do you think, Ethyr?”Ithna asked around the new obstacle between them.“Would you act in a play?”
Ethyr shook his head reflexively at the very thought.“O-oh no, I wouldn’t dare.”
“Why not?”Gallus asked with one of his perfect pouts.“You couldn’t get much worse than Catocus.”
“Excuse you,” Catocus said.Gallus ignored him.
“It’s quite fun,” he continued, playing with a lock of Ethyr’s hair.“Don’t you ever wish you could be someone else?”
More and more these days.The thought sobered Ethyr’s mood.Gallus noticed and dropped his hand.
“Did I say something wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” he said lightly.
“You probably upset him with your big mouth,” Catocus sneered.“Can we humiliate Gallus now?”
“You know that’s impossible,” Langath said.
Ethyr hoped they would continue speaking and he could stay out of it, but attention returned to him.He forced a smile.
“I’m okay, really.”
“He’s tired,” Varuut said.“He’s had a rough few weeks.”
Ethyr looked to her in surprise, unable to stop the question leaving his lips.“You know about that?”
“Of course.We’re not so far removed from mortals to not know that all of this would be overwhelming to any of them.”She waved her hand.“Leaving your home, going somewhere you’ve never been before, doing things you’ve never done… It’s a lot.And humans get tired so quickly and easily.”
Ethyr opened his mouth, then closed it.They didn’t know he’d run away.According to Yorith, that was best.But he couldn’t imagine any of them, other than Catocus maybe, going on a destruction streak for something as small as being denied access to him.
Maybe he could find out.Now that he’d been coaxed to speak, there was a snap of courage inside him to continue.
“Do you ever sleep?”He decided to ask an innocuous question first.
“Not unless we want to pass the time,” Gallus answered.He paused.“Or rather, want time to pass.”
Ethyr blinked at him.
“If we sleep, it usually ends up being years before we wake again,” Gnaeus explained from the end of the table.“Sometimes decades.But we don’t require it like humans do.”
“Oh.”Ethyr glanced at the food on the table.“But you eat.”
