Does It Matter?

Chapter 13

Brayan had expected Maric and Dara to be done talking by the time the men were done eating, but when the last bowl was empty and they still hadn't emerged from the room he decided not to bother them. Dara was a bed slave, after all, and there was a bed in the room they were in. It wasn't hard to imagine what was delaying them.

After an hour, though, the men were getting restless and Brayan was becoming concerned. This was starting to get beyond the limits of Maric's sexual stamina.

He went upstairs and knocked on the door.

It was Dara who opened it, fully dressed and looking surprisingly unruffled. The room did smell of sex, but in a place like this Brayan wasn't sure it hadn't always smelled that way.

Dara kept his eyes aimed squarely at Brayan's collarbone. Sometimes it felt like he was better at remembering himself with Brayan than he was with Maric. "Yes, sir?"

"You didn't kill Maric, did you?"

"What? No!" Dara stepped to the side so that Brayan could see into the room.

Maric was laying on the bed, completely naked and fast asleep. Dara had tossed a blanket over his ass to preserve his modesty, as though Maric's ass was something Brayan had never seen before.

"Relax, Dara. That was a joke."

"Oh, ah— sorry, sir."

"That's okay. I know I'm not a very funny person." Brayan watched Maric for a moment. He really was thoroughly knocked out. "So, will you be coming with us?"

Dara nodded. "He promised that I could. Please don't change his mind, sir."

"What makes you think that I could?"

Dara was staring at Brayan's collarbone with such focus that it obviously required conscious effort for him to remember to do it. "He respects your opinion. He would listen to you, sir."

"He respects my opinion because I know when to give it. I advise him and I guide him when he needs it. I don't overrule his wishes when he knows what he wants."

Dara winced. "That's what I did, isn't it, sir?"

Brayan hadn't intended it as an admonishment, but he could see how Dara had taken it that way. "Do you think he would let a slave overrule him? No. He wants you with him. Things just became complicated. I understand his feelings on the matter and I don't hold this situation against you."

"Thank you, sir."

Brayan watched Dara for a moment, but just then he seemed like nothing more than a simple, nervous young man. "What I don't understand are your feelings. Or if that's even what this is about for you. Do you have feelings for the prince, or did you return to him for some other reason?"

Dara opened his mouth, and then closed it again and thought for a moment before finally speaking. "I don't think you can have feelings for a prince any more than you can have feelings for a chair. You can have feelings about it, but it's not a person. It's a thing."

"I'm going to have to disagree on that. I'm quite sure Maric is a person."

"No, that's what I'm trying to say. A prince is a thing. Maric is a person. I don't have feelings for the prince. I have feelings for Maric."

A mix of emotions flooded Brayan's gut. Relief, apprehension, both in equal parts. But the one he hadn't anticipated was envy. He didn't want this slave to talk about him like that and he had no desire for Maric's affection, but the genuine feelings they had for one another... Love had never been something Brayan had sought out, but he couldn't deny its elure. Surely everyone felt that way.