Chapter Eleven
And then, in the night, she opened her mouth and began to tell me, of her past days, many an amazing thing…
-The Song of Ayar
The Essail Border:
Gemond
There had been bright lights ahead in the town of Gemond, and he had ridden three days hard to be here in order to reach Raymond House tomorrow. This is why he sat in the travern, a little weary, ready for bed until a moment ago when Anthony had seen the boy. He had it on very good word that the King’s sister would be there one more day or so, entertaining the King and Queen of Sussail.
How strange, Anthony thought, that he always referred to Morgellyn as the King’s daughter and now the King’s sister though she had been Queen pf her husband’s kingdom for the easy part of fifteen years. He did not relish being in her country or in her house at all, but he was in the service of his lord, and Cedd needed a wife. To drag his feet and hope to chase the royal party down after they left Morgellyn’s acquaintance was a comfort he would not allow himself.
There were some comforts Anthony Pembroke allowed himself, though. There was that young man, ivory skinned with coral lips, pale blue grey eyes, hair that shone like polished bronze, and Anthony moved with the smoothness of a hunter to follow him out the door.
“Do you get good business in these parts?”
The boy smiled at him. He had almond eyes and a grave, serious face. These boys were not stupid.
“I make good business in all parts, sir,” he said.
“What will you charge for me?”
The boy looked him up and down.
“I’ll have you for free.”
“Don’t be foolish,” Anthony said. “I’m a rich man and you ought to charge a rich man out the nose.”
The boy looked serious. He nodded as if he were learning something.
“How do you want it?” he asked Anthony. “We could… the alley? Most men like it in the alley.”
“I am not most men and I have no wish to disgrace you or myself. I have a bed, and nice apartments. I’d like it in the bed and I’d like it to be pleasurable for the both of us. And I’d like you to be well paid for your time.”
“No one ever said that to me,” the boy reflected. “No man I’ve been with.”
“Maybe because no man ever lived like you,” Anthony suggested.
The boy made a courtly bow, seeming to mock himself more than he mocked Anthony Pembroke.
“Let us be off,” he said. “And I promise I will earn my money this night.”
“Oh!”
“Does it hurt? Do you want me to stop?”
“No, no,” the boy said as he gripped the window and looked out onto the town. “No, just… be gentle with me. At least at the start.”
Anthony nodded, and slowly he pressed himself inside of that beautiful bronze haired boy while the boy’s eyes widened and his mouth widened, and he made a small sound. He reached back to pull Anthony inside of him, and their rhythm began.
The boy panted, trying to stay quiet. As he gripped the window ledge and screwed himself to receive Anthony, he whispered, “Please… Can I shout?”
“If you wish,” Anthony said through gritted teeth, pressing into him deeper. He stopped and fucked him rapidly, then stopped again.
“It excites me, actually.”
As Anthony fucked him, and the boy gripped the window he cried out into the night, and the villagers heard him cursing, calling, exulting. In the inn, across the yard of the inn, they heard the roar of Anthony’s orgasm, the boy’s wail.
Silence. Two shadows moving in the square window.
Darkness.
“Do you want to leave or do you want to stay?”
A flame unfurle in the dark as Anthony lit his pipe, and the smell of it filled the room. For a moment, by the low light, the boy saw him, broad chested, handsome, sitting up naked in the bed.
“I was leaving,” the boy said. “Usually that’s how it happens.”
“Would you like to travel with me? I’m on my way to Raymond.”
“And be… your catamite?”
Anthony shrugged. “Among other things. You have a mind about you, and a pleasant personality. Or do you want this always?”
The boy did not speak at once. When he did he said, “Sir… I do not need saving. If that is what you are about. Some men are about that. They see a boy and want to save him.”
“We all need saving,” Anthony said. “And we all need patronage. We all need help. Do you wish to make your way in this world as something more? If you do, come with me.”
In the dark, the boy looked thoughtful. God, Anthony thought, he’d been with so many boys in the past, sweet, kind often, but not very bright, not capable of much more than fucking. But, the look on this boy’s face.
The boy looked to him.
“Would I be your squire?”
“Squire and secretary.”
“And catamite?”
“That’s an awful word. It sounds like parasite.”
“It’s less than a lover and more than a whore.”
“I know what it is and if you want to sleep with me while we travel that’s fine, and if you don’t I’ll find someone else. The truth is, when we return to Kingsboro you will simply be my squire and secretary. When I am there… I am commited to another.”
“Many men are commited to another. That doesn’t bother me. Yes, I would be glad to come with you, Lord.”
He stood up and Anthony ached for him a little. He was of medium height with a lovely body. Lovely was the only word for it. He had that slim softness of youth, the strength and beauty of a growing boy. The face turned to him had a wisdom that threatened to become world weariness, and a bitterness if he stayed on the streets too long.
“Do you have a name?” Anthony asked.
“My name is Teryn.”
“Do you wish to sleep in your own bed or in this one?”
Teryn cocked his head, looking confused.
“You are confused because no one has ever given you a choice.”
“I choose you, tonight,” Teryn told him, coming to the bed, his young sex already rising, already hard as was Anthony’s under the blankets.
