Captive Prince: The Execution of the Dead (Book 1)

Damiana (Part 2)

When Damen awoke the next day, the pale spring sun was breaking through the windows and curtains of the royal bedroom. As usual, Laurent got up very early and left the task of offering breakfast to the Akielon to a servant. Damianos ate his breakfast and headed for the corridors, having learned that the Veretian King was on his way to the wine cellars of Arles.

As he traversed the somewhat winding paths of the royal area of the palace, Damen came upon Sorem of Ver-Tan exiting one of the bedrooms in a silk robe over nightclothes.

The man had his dark hair a bit disheveled and his shirt was open to the collarbone, revealing a cottony white, hairless chest with a few red patches. Behind him stood Councillor Audin, blushing fiercely in the face of Damen.

The King of Akielos twitched his eyebrows as the Councillor of Vere bowed his head reverently, while the emperor clasped his hands in the typical Vaskian salute. Apparently, Sorem had taken shelter in Audin's bed after Vishkar's incessant taunting.

The Vaskian also blushed a little and closed his robe with some decorum, saying:

"I have lost my way a little in the labyrinths of this wing. The palace of Arles is huge. Yesterday I was so drunk that I couldn't find my room and Councillor Audin let me sleep in his chambers. Damianos of Akielos stayed at the party until the end yesterday?"

"No. King Laurent and I retired to the royal bedroom..."

Damen watched the two men with some embarrassment. Audin was a man in his early forties with copper-colored hair, gray eyes, and freckled skin. Laurent considered him a disciplined master of foreign languages and cultures. Damen, on the other hand, could not sympathize with Audin, vividly remembering how the Councillor offered him Nicaise in the ring when everyone thought he was a pet.

Audin also closed his robe and asked Damen, placing his hand gently on the emperor's shoulder:

"Will Your Majesty of Akielos meet the King?"

"Yes. Please excuse me, Councillor and Your Imperial Majesty... Enjoy your stay, Sorem..." - the Akielon declared, embarrassed when he caught the two men with deep rings under their eyes, after a fuck that probably lasted from morning to night because of the damiana herb.

Damen, overcome by curiosity, walked through the Great Hall and found that the fragments of the previous night had already disappeared. Laurent's servants and the courtyard slaves did an impeccable job of picking up empty cups, fruit peels, and bread crumbs from the floor and sending them to the tank or the trash. Spring flowers and leaves were also thrown away.

The secretions and remains of a romantic encounter had been dried and roughly scrubbed from the tiled floor and furniture upholstery with soap and water. The bed on which Nikandros, Isander, and Pari lay had been dismantled and returned to its original setting. The veils had possibly been folded and returned to Charls.

The lamps remained unlit and the incense dust had been swept away. The last night would slumber like a dream. For some, it was something to be remembered. For others, it was forgotten and buried.

Damen crossed the stone archway that led to the palace's kitchens and wine cellars. Servants walked from side to side carrying copper pots of steam and baskets of vegetables and fruits. Broths boiled in cauldrons at high heat. On a bench, a woman with strong arms plucked a duck with a soft neck. And a servant next to her was cleaning the scales off a very pink salmon with a sharp machete.

All reverently dried their hands on the greasy aprons. The King of Akielos raised his fingers, signaling that they did not need to act like this. He was the intruder who invaded the work, the rhythm, and the orchestra of the people who separated; washed, gutted, cut, boiled, and cooked everything that would feed the court.