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It is only the fifth time Kes had been part of this ritual showcase we go through.
You can see it in his eyes, that he still can’t quite believe that it’s real. He whispered to me in the first light of dawn after the very first time he stood with us, black leather, white satin, golden gleaming skin. Whispered and the words just flooded out of him; about things we’d done and how it felt to stand there, being watched and weighed and chosen for the first time, and to know that he held his place with us by his merits. I teased him a little, that he should be dreaming of being a kept man, a jewel for my quarters without ever having to lift a finger. I will not do that again. In some ways expectations have weighed heavy on his past, but in others … No matter. He is wanted for his skills here, and more than pays his way.
And it is he who is wanted most of all this evening, if I judge our patrons well. The Lord Knight who sent his messengers for us seems disinterested – he will be footing the bill, no doubt, but this is not his fancy. No, it is his young wife who walks around each of us, and flicks her eyes comparing each of us to some mental template. She is very young, and pinched thin, though it cannot be through any want of food, and her eyes are large in her face. There is something not altogether healthy about her look, nor her swift, pecking motion. I do not have to turn my head to know that Skein is considering this carefully, calculating which questions to ask, what to permit and what to forbid at the bargaining table. Oh yes, it is my boy who takes her fancy tonight, and as her Lord Knight’s eyes have scarcely left her since she stood to inspect us more closely, I suspect that he will pay for whatever she wishes.
You can see it in his eyes, that he still can’t quite believe that it’s real. He whispered to me in the first light of dawn after the very first time he stood with us, black leather, white satin, golden gleaming skin. Whispered and the words just flooded out of him; about things we’d done and how it felt to stand there, being watched and weighed and chosen for the first time, and to know that he held his place with us by his merits. I teased him a little, that he should be dreaming of being a kept man, a jewel for my quarters without ever having to lift a finger. I will not do that again. In some ways expectations have weighed heavy on his past, but in others … No matter. He is wanted for his skills here, and more than pays his way.
And it is he who is wanted most of all this evening, if I judge our patrons well. The Lord Knight who sent his messengers for us seems disinterested – he will be footing the bill, no doubt, but this is not his fancy. No, it is his young wife who walks around each of us, and flicks her eyes comparing each of us to some mental template. She is very young, and pinched thin, though it cannot be through any want of food, and her eyes are large in her face. There is something not altogether healthy about her look, nor her swift, pecking motion. I do not have to turn my head to know that Skein is considering this carefully, calculating which questions to ask, what to permit and what to forbid at the bargaining table. Oh yes, it is my boy who takes her fancy tonight, and as her Lord Knight’s eyes have scarcely left her since she stood to inspect us more closely, I suspect that he will pay for whatever she wishes.
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