Just a little in-progress commentary:
Unpleasant agony? Was there such a thing as pleasant agony? Well, there had been a few times in Ilaeia when the erotic torment of being bound and teased had been akin to a kind of agony, but he’d still loved every second of it, so that might be called pleasant agony. But surely Prince Anoremin didn’t mean anything like that!
Oh, yes he did. And how perfect is it that Naritano likes being tied up, too?
Swallowing a mouthful of cookie, Prince Anoremin stared at the bounty before him, then looked at Naritano. His hypnotizing golden eyes descended to wander the plates again, then looked back up at Naritano. “Are you a gift from the gods?” Prince Anoremin’s voice sounded dazed. “Have you been sent to inspire me? To test me?”
“I thought that you might come by again,” Naritano explained, “and I didn’t want to send you away hungry, so I made a few things.”
“A few things,” Prince Anoremin repeated. “Tano, singularly beloved child of the gods, that is an entire hen.”
“You seemed pleased, the last time I served you an entire hen. I thought that you might like another one.”
Is it silly of me to find that little exchange unbearably, sweetly romantic? I feel like I'm channelling Anosanim.
Remin gave his presentation first. He spoke about one of his favorite former pharaohs, the thirty-second, who’d been very pious and had authored several important religious texts. After discussing the pharaoh’s religious work and impressing upon his audience how proper and scholarly and faithful she’d been, Remin then described what an unrepentant prankster she’d been. She’d been notorious, among those closest to her, for changing something in only one person’s perspective. For instance, she’d make a horrible stain appear on someone’s clothing, but no one else in the room would see it but the person wearing it. Once she sent a tiny bug buzzing around the royal diplomat during a discussion with visiting ambassadors, who couldn’t figure out what he kept fanning at and began to imagine that he was trying to send them secret, not very discreet messages.
It's good to know that Kudorin isn't the only pharaoh with a weird sense of humor.
He was torn; half of him wanted someone safe as a buffer at his side, like Anikira or one of his aunts, while half of him dwelled on his fun memories of younger days, when he’d spent festival days flirting, teasing, and enjoying lustsex. That half of him didn’t want a safe buffer companion; that half of him wanted a man.
But he knew where he could find someone who fit into both categories.
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Kudorin smiled.
Selorin glanced around to see if he could figure out what Kudorin was smiling at. “What?”
“Keep feeding stray animals,” Kudorin murmured, “and they’ll keep coming back.”
And if they keep coming back until you, and then you and they suddenly realize that you're perfect for each other and after a bit of angst about OMG-he's-the-royal-high-priest/OMG-am-I-actually-in-love-with-my-best-friend, they get married and live happily ever after with lots of kinky lovesex.
