A knock on the door.
Who could that be? Probably a servant here to ask him some inane question about breakfast or baths. He stalked over to the door and yanked it open.
A servant boy was indeed there. “Pardon me, sir, but there’s someone to see you.”
What?
“He was very insistent,” the boy continued.
You mean he gave you quite a bit of coin, Ezekiel thought. He grimaced. “I don’t want to see anyone.”
“Too bad,” said another voice, one from the shadows behind the servant. And then Gabriel was pushing his way through the door, standing so close to Ezekiel that they were practically touching.
Ezekiel stumbled backwards.
Gabriel was smiling that boyish, carefree grin of his.
“Out,” Ezekiel growled. He wasn’t sure if he meant it to Gabriel or to the servant boy.
But it was only the servant who listened, bobbing his head in obedience and pulling the door shut in his wake.
Ezekiel stared at Gabriel. His body started to shake.
Gabriel cleared his throat. “Sorry to show up on you unannounced and so late.”
“What do you want?” Ezekiel said.
“I need to explain,” said Gabriel. “I thought before I couldn’t, but I realize now—”
“No need.” Ezekiel went back to the window and focused on a candle across the street, burning bright and strong.
“There is, though,” said Gabriel. “I can’t bear it if you think that I hurt your sister. You see, the thing with Leah—”
“A cover,” said Ezekiel, his voice choked. “You married her because you need to keep up appearances.”
Gabriel made a surprised noise.
Ezekiel turned to look at him. “The barmaid was full of stories about you.”
Gabriel shrugged. He was still grinning. “Well, what can I say? Leah was just what I needed. My father doesn’t—”
“The child isn’t even yours, is it?”
Gabriel ran his thumb over his lip. “Well, officially, I’d never admit that. But I have to say I have absolutely no interest in whatever’s under women’s skirts.”
Ezekiel massaged the bridge of his nose. “And Honor. Why didn’t you marry her?”
“I thought I could get out of it somehow.” He raised his eyebrows wryly. “It never seemed quite fair to her, you know, being married to someone like me. My father, however, was most displeased. He had a talk with me recently, and would have had me married to Honor within a month. But… well, she passed before that could happen.”
“Passed? She fell off a balcony. Maybe it was an accident. Maybe it wasn’t.”
“You can’t still think that I—”
“I suppose you don’t have a motive anymore.” Ezekiel turned back to the window.
It was quiet.
Gabriel spoke up, his voice soft. “You’re disgusted by me. By the fact that I’m attracted to men.”
Ezekiel swallowed. “It’s unnatural. Anyone would find it disgusting.” But his voice wasn’t steady.
Gabriel sighed. “I had hoped that you might…” There was no smile left in his voice. “Are you going to say anything about this? I don’t really care, but it angers my father.”
Ezekiel turned back around. His gaze settled on Gabriel’s lips, then strayed to the man’s shoulders. He looked up at the ceiling.
“If you feel you must tell your family, then I suppose I can’t stop you,” Gabriel continued. “I would only say that you might consider the fact that it really doesn’t—”
Ezekiel reached out and ran his knuckles over Gabriel’s cheek.
Gabriel’s voice died in his throat.
Ezekiel shut his eyes. He grasped the back of Gabriel’s neck, his fingers digging into the other man’s skin. His voice came out gravelly. “Why did you come here tonight?”
Gabriel blinked. “To tell you about your sister.”
“It couldn’t have waited until the morning?” He tightened his grip. He moved closer. Now there was barely an inch between their bodies.
Gabriel exhaled.
Ezekiel could feel the other man’s breath on his face. “You shouldn’t have come. I don’t… I’ve repented of my sins, and I’ve sworn to never again…” He trembling.
Gabriel’s tongue darted out and ran over his bottom lip. “To never again what?” he whispered.
Ezekiel dug his fingers deeper into Gabriel’s neck.
Gabriel winced, but he was grinning again. “Oh, Ezekiel, you’re a very bad man, aren’t you?”
“Shut up,” said Ezekiel.
Gabriel reached out and tucked his forefinger under Ezekiel’s chin. He tugged the other man’s face to his.
Their lips met.
* * *
Gabriel rolled away from Ezekiel’s body, his head falling away from the other man’s thigh. He lay on his back, staring up at the ceiling.
Ezekiel’s head was at the other end of the bed.
Gabriel could smell the lingering scent of their mingled sweat. He liked the smell, always had. He sighed, feeling content. It was much later now, sometime in the wee hours of the morning. Ezekiel’s candle had burned down, and now it was covered in rivers of wax.
Ezekiel got up off the bed.
Gabriel watched the other man shrugged into his sleeping cloak.
“You should go,” Ezekiel said, his back to him.
Gabriel chuckled. “Ordering me around, hmm? Have you forgotten who I am?”
Ezekiel turned and shot him a nasty look. “This was a mistake. It won’t happen again.”
Gabriel propped himself up on his elbows. “Oh, of course not. I can tell that you had no idea what you were doing, and this was all new for you.”
“That’s not the point.” Ezekiel sat down heavily, drawing his hand over his face. “I’m not new to this kind of iniquity. I know its temptation. But I have sworn—”
“There’s nothing wrong with two men having a go at each other.”
Ezekiel gave him a shocked glance. “What?”
Gabriel tugged at one of the sheets on the bed, fingering it idly. “It’s perfectly natural. Men have been doing it since the dawn of time.”
“Whenever this kind of sin has been prevalent, it has destroyed society. God punishes—”
“Stop it. Why are you saying these things?”
“They’re true.”
“Do you think they’re true? The first time you touched another man’s cock, that he touched yours, did it feel wrong? Or did it feel right? Very, very right?”
Ezekiel got off the bed. “Sin feels good. That doesn’t mean it is good.”
Gabriel rolled his eyes. “I feel sorry for you. It must be horrible, all the time feeling as if you’re deeply flawed, that all the things you want are evil and wrong. No wonder you seem like you’re in a perpetually bad mood.”
Ezekiel picked up Gabriel’s breeches from the floor and hurled them at the other man. “Get out.”
Gabriel peeled the pants away from his face, laughing. “On the other hand, maybe it accounts for all that bottled up… passion.” He sucked air between his teeth. “I swear, there were things you were doing with your tongue—”
“Stop.”
Gabriel shrugged. After an orgasm, he was in a generally good mood—everything was fuzzy and nice. He didn’t want to get in a big argument. So, he began to pull on his breeches. “Listen, I was serious about wanting to help you find your sister’s body. I’ll talk to my father about it.”
“You don’t need to do anything,” said Ezekiel. “I’ll talk to the emperor myself.”
“Well, he might not see you,” said Gabriel. “On the other hand, I can usually make him listen to me, even if I do it only by making him angry.”
Ezekiel sunk both of his hands into his hair. When he did it, it made his cloak gap open and expose his nude body.
Gabriel grinned at the view.
“You don’t understand.” Ezekiel dropped his hands. “I can’t j
ust decide that it’s okay to be a faggot.”
Gabriel made a face. “Do we have to use that word?”
“My father—”
“My father doesn’t like it either,” said Gabriel. “But the way I figure it, he’s eventually going to die, and then I’ll be the emperor, and I’ll do what I like.”
“Well, I’m not the emperor’s son,” said Ezekiel. “And I’m not my father’s heir, either.”
“So, what does he care, then? He doesn’t need you to make sons so that you carry on the line. It really shouldn’t make any difference to him what you do.”
“It’s a horrendous sin. It’s unnatural.”
“I’ve seen dogs in the mansion mounting each other. Both male. I’m not buying this unnatural idea.”
“We’re not animals.”
Gabriel chuckled. “Aren’t we?”
Ezekiel squeezed his eyes shut. “Just go away. Please.”
“I will talk to my father.”
“I don’t need you to—”
Gabriel kissed him.
Ezekiel seized the other man and held onto him, thrusting his tongue into Gabriel’s mouth.
Gabriel liked that. Most of his bedfellows were so timid with him, probably because they were of lower class, and they were frightened of hurting him, or because they weren’t very experienced. But there was something so fierce and fiery about Ezekiel.
Ezekiel shoved Gabriel away. “Go,” he rasped.
* * *
Gabriel was waiting in his father’s study the next morning, sitting at the emperor’s desk with his feet propped up. When the door opened, he greeted his father brightly, “Good morning.”
The emperor saw him and his eyes widened. “Gabriel?” Then his face started to turn red. “What do you think you’re doing in here?”
“I want to talk to you,” said Gabriel. “You see, I spent a good portion of the day yesterday with Ezekiel of Caroly. Honor’s brother?”
“I have told you repeatedly that I don’t appreciate having my private spaces invaded. Now, you need to get out of my chair, out of my study, and out of my morning. I don’t have time for your shenanigans.”
Gabriel stayed put. “Very odd thing about Honor, though.”
The emperor crossed to the desk and threw his son’s feet down on the floor. “Out!”
Gabriel sighed. He was beginning to feel like everyone he knew was yelling at him to get out. “Listen, Father, this is important, and I really only need a few answers—”
“You’re in my chair, and I hate that.”
Gabriel got out of the chair. “Well, it’s going to be my chair at some point, isn’t it?”
“You, my boy, would make a terrible emperor. I’ve said it to you before.”
“Yes, too bad that we follow an antiquated system of male primogenitor, isn’t it? But since you’re a stickler for tradition, there’s nothing you can do. I’m the heir, and that’s that.”
The emperor settled into his chair. “I don’t want to talk to you right now, son. I’m very busy running this empire, something you wouldn’t know anything about, since you’re too busy gallivanting about and embarrassing me at every single moment.”
Gabriel rolled his eyes again. “Seriously, Father, I only have a few questions about Honor. Now, if you could just—”
“You really are an embarrassment, you know that? Always have been. Ever since you were a boy.”
“Father—”
“You were young, but you were strange. Always strange. Never satisfied with the status quo. Always pushing. Pushing. You and your sister both, actually. You with your books and reading and those experiments you’re doing, which everyone knows are sinful and against the teaching of the holy men. And your sister, who only wants one husband, like a common girl.”
“But that’s not why I’m here,” said Gabriel. “Listen, you told Honor’s family that her body couldn’t be sent to them. Where is—”
“Do you have any idea what your sister’s gone and done?”
“I’m sure I don’t. Michal and I don’t spend a lot of time—”
“She got herself the bean in the necromancer cake. Somehow, she did it. I don’t know how, but she managed it.”
Gabriel cocked his head to one side. “Michal’s the necromancer’s intended?”
“The idiot girl practically volunteered to be eaten.”
“Well, there hasn’t been a necromancer—”
“I want to keep my children safe. I really do. I want what’s best for my empire, but I also want my children alive and healthy. I’m not a monster. But between the two of you, I can never be sure if you won’t both end up dead.” The emperor grimaced.
Gabriel furrowed his brow. “Father, surely Michal will be safe. A necromancer isn’t going to rise.”
The emperor sighed heavily. “No one thinks that, do they?”
“Listen, can we just talk about Honor for a moment?”
“Honor?” The emperor turned to him, his eyes full of confusion. “What? You’re not much of an honorable son, if that’s what you—”
“No, no, Father. Honor, the daughter of the regent of Caroly.”
The emperor nodded slowly. “Yes, the woman who would have been an appropriate wife for you if she hadn’t gotten herself killed.”
“Yes,” said Gabriel.
“What about her? She’s dead. And you’ve gone off and married some common girl for your first wife, which is really just the most despicably terrible thing you could have ever done. Really, Gabriel. I know it might be difficult for you, since you’ve spent all your youth chasing boys instead of girls, but how could it have escaped your notice that it’s not appropriate to have a common woman as a first wife?”
Gabriel glared at his father. “I was only trying to make things better. You told me I had to get married and—”
“That wasn’t what I meant, and you know it.” The emperor was seething. “It’s barely past breakfast, and you’ve already got my blood boiling, boy. I suggest you take your leave of me. I can’t bear looking at you for one more second.”
“But you haven’t let me say anything at all,” said Gabriel. “I’ve been trying to ask you something.”
The emperor folded his arms over his chest. “Ask me what?”
“The body of Honor. No one knows where it is.”
The emperor cleared his throat and cast his gaze down at his desk. “Buried, I suppose.”
“But how?” said Gabriel. “The moratorium never received her body. We can’t find anyone in the castle who—”
“We?”
“I told you, I spent hours yesterday with Ezekiel, Honor’s brother. His father sent him here to collect Honor’s body.”
The emperor got out of his chair and went across the room to the door, which he opened meaningfully. “Tell him the body’s been buried. Now get out of my study.”
“Buried where?”
“How should I know?”
Gabriel crossed the room. He stopped in front of his father and peered into his eyes. “Did you see her body, Father?”
“Me?” The emperor pointed at himself. “You’re asking me if I buried her?”
“No, that’s not what I—”
“Get out, Gabriel. I don’t have any more patience for you this morning.” The emperor nudged Gabriel out the door.
“Father—”
The emperor slammed the door.
Gabriel tried the knob.
Locked.
He slumped against the door. Well, that hadn’t gone well, had it?
* * *
Leah, Gabriel’s wife, might have been left behind, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t be useful.
That was the reason she’d manipulated her way into being the emperor’s wife, after all. To be useful. Now, she was in the mansion, and she thought it might be helpful to know all about its layout, about the daily activities of its inhabitants. The rest of them had left her that night, and it had devastated her, but she’d pulled herself
together. When she found them again, they’d be so pleased with all the information she’d gathered.
Gabriel didn’t suspect anything. Why should he? He believed her sob story, and he had no idea who she really was.
The problem was that she couldn’t leave her quarters, and she felt as if she were little more than a prisoner. Certainly, her cage was a gilded one. She had run of an entire wing of the mansion, and it was furnished with all manner of lavish and expensive effects. She liked the soft sheets, the beautiful dresses, and the delicious food that was brought to her several times a day.
But Gabriel was content to leave her trapped in her wing until she had given birth. He wouldn’t let her leave. And to make matters worse, he wouldn’t even come to see her. She wasn’t alone, not exactly, because she had the company of an army of servants, but she might as well have been alone. She supposed she could have grilled the servants on the activities of the nobles in the mansion. If she couldn’t investigate herself, she could at least find out by questioning. However, she knew that was a bad idea. The mansion servants were horrible gossips.
Why if it hadn’t been for mansion servants, she might never have known about the emperor’s and Gabriel’s argument concerning his lack of a wife and his predilection for sucking cock. Leah didn’t care at all that her husband was a faggot. She knew that the holy men said such things were a sin, but they also said that the suffering of the common people was ordained by God as a test of their faithfulness. Leah had watched her own mother die of an infected wound, the formerly strong woman wasting away with fever. Throughout it all, her mother’s faith had never wavered. God is testing me, child, and I must prove myself worthy by submitting to him, her mother whispered through dry, cracked lips. Her mother had suffered. Days and days writhing in pain, her body so hot it almost burned Leah’s fingers when she put a cool cloth on the woman’s brow. She had never heard her mother scream so. Not until that day.
Well.
Leah decided right then and there that a God who did that to people was a God she couldn’t use. So whatever God thought about Gabriel’s preferences, Leah didn’t care. Besides, her heart belonged to another, so a marriage like this was easier for her to take. She didn’t have to be affectionate with Gabriel, didn’t have to share his bed. She liked it that way.
And anyway, supposing she never managed to find the others again, or to help them by gathering information about the mansion, well, it wouldn’t be a bad life for her unborn child. Her baby, heir to the emperor’s throne.
Empire of Rust Page 5
