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.But Erasmus had something Laurent lacked: a vulnerability, a need for caring, and a yearning to be mastered that was almost palpable.In Laurent there was only a patrician coolness, and if the purity of Laurent’s profile drew the eye, Damen had the scars on his back to prove that one could look, but not touch.‘You planned this!’ said Nicaise, his low voice was a hiss.‘You wanted him to see—you tricked me!’ In the same voice a lover might have said: How could you! Except there was anger there too.And spite.‘You had a choice,’ said Laurent.‘You didn’t have to show me your claws.’‘You tricked me,’ said Nicaise.‘I’m going to tell—’‘Tell him,’ said Laurent.‘All about what I’ve done, and how you helped me.How do you think he’ll react? Shall we find out? Let’s go together.’Nicaise gave Laurent a look that was desperately, spitefully calculating.‘Oh, will you—enough,’ said Laurent.‘Enough.You’re learning.It won’t be as easy to do next time.’‘I promise you, it won’t,’ said Nicaise venomously, and he left without, Damen noted, giving Laurent his earring.Fed, sated and entertained, the court dispersed and the Council and Regent sat down and began negotiations.When the Regent called for wine, it was Ancel who poured it.And when he was done, Ancel was invited to sit beside the Regent, which he did, very decoratively, with a well-pleased expression on his face.Damen had to smile.He supposed that he couldn’t blame Ancel for ambition.And it wasn’t a bad achievement, for an eighteen-year-old boy.There were courtiers aplenty in Damen’s homeland who would consider it the height of accomplishment to attain a king’s bed.The more so if it was a position of any permanence.Ancel was not the only one to have gotten what he wanted tonight.Laurent had delivered all Damen had asked for, tied up neatly in a bow.All within the space of a day.If you put everything else aside, you had to admire it for sheer organisational efficiency.If you did not put everything else aside, you recalled that this was Laurent, and that he had lied and cheated in order to bring this about; you thought about Erasmus, dragged through a night of horrors, and about what it meant for an adult to trick and use a boy who, for all he soundly deserved it, was still only thirteen.‘It’s done,’ said Laurent, who had come to stand beside him.Laurent seemed, bizarrely, to be in a good mood.He leaned a shoulder rather casually against the wall.His voice was not exactly warm, but nor was the ice edge polished to cut.‘I’ve arranged for Torveld to meet with you later, to discuss the transportation of the slaves.Did you know that Kastor sent them to us without any handlers from Akielos?’‘I thought you and Torveld would have other plans.’ It just came out.Laurent said, ‘No.’Damen realised that he was pushing at the limits of Laurent’s good mood.So he said, not without difficulty, ‘I don’t know why you did any of this, but I think the others will be well treated in Bazal.Thank you.’‘You are permanently disgusted by us, aren’t you?’ said Laurent.And then, before Damen could speak: ‘Don’t answer that question.Something made you smile earlier.What was it?’‘It was nothing.Ancel,’ said Damen.‘He’s finally found the royal patronage he was looking for.’Laurent followed his gaze.He calmly appraised the way that Ancel leaned in to pour wine, the way that the Regent’s ringed fingers lifted to trace the line of Ancel’s cheek.‘No,’ said Laurent, without much interest.‘That’s done for appearance’s sake only.I think not all the practices of this court would meet with the approval of Torveld’s delegation.’‘What do you mean?’Laurent detached his gaze from the Regent and turned it back on Damen, his blue eyes showing neither his usual hostility, nor arrogance, nor contempt, but instead something that Damen could not make out at all.‘I warned you about Nicaise because he is not Councillor Audin’s pet.Haven’t you guessed yet whose pet he is?’ Laurent said, and then, when he didn’t answer: ‘Ancel is too old to interest my uncle
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