‘Not quite,’ said Damen.
There was a moment of silence. It was Erasmus who broke it.
‘I . . . was always taught that a slave’s duty was sacred, that we honoured our masters through submission and they honoured us in return. And I believed that. But when you said that you were sent here as punishment, I understood that for men here, there is no honour in obedience, and it is shameful to be a slave. Perhaps I had already started to understand that—even before you spoke to me. I tried to tell myself that it was an even greater submission, to become nothing, to have no value, but—I couldn’t—I think it is in my nature to submit, as it is not in yours, but I need someone—to belong to.’
‘You have someone,’ said Damen. ‘Slaves are prized in Patras, and Torveld is smitten with you.’
‘I like him,’ said Erasmus, shyly, blushing. ?
?I like his eyes. I think he’s handsome.’ And then he blushed again at his own boldness.
‘More handsome than the Prince of Akielos?’ Damen teased.
‘Well, I never saw him, but I really don’t think he could be more handsome than my master,’ said Erasmus.
‘Torveld wouldn’t tell you this himself, but he’s a great man,’ said Damen, smiling. ‘Even among princes. He spent most of his life in the north, fighting on the border with Vask. He’s the man who finally brokered the peace between Vask and Patras. He’s King Torgeir’s most loyal servant, as well as his brother.’
‘Another kingdom . . . In Akielos, none of us thought we’d ever leave the palace.’
‘I’m sorry that you’ll have to be uprooted again. But it won’t be like last time. You can look forward to the journey.’
‘Yes. That is—I . . . I will be a little frightened, but so obedient,’ said Erasmus. And blushed again.
The first to return were the foot-huntsmen and the dog handlers from the first station, who were bringing back a set of exhausted hounds, having released a second fresh set as the riders swept past. To them also fell the job of destroying any dogs that were wounded past recovery by the sharp-tusked boar.
There was a strange atmosphere among them, not only the heavy, tongue-lolling fatigue of the hounds. It was something in the faces of the men. Damen felt a twist of unease. Boar hunting was a dangerous sport. At the mouth of the tent, he called to one of them.
‘Has something happened?’
The dogsman said, ‘Tread lightly. Your master’s in a vicious mood.’
Well, that was order restored.
‘Let me guess. Someone else brought down the boar.’
‘No. He did,’ said the dogsman, a sour note in his voice. ‘He ruined his horse to do it—she never had a chance. Even before he rode her into the fight that shattered her rear ankle, she was blood from flank to shoulder from the spur.’ He pointed his chin at Damen’s back. ‘You’d know something about that,’ he said.
Damen stared at him, suddenly feeling faintly nauseated.
‘She was a brave goer,’ he said. ‘The other one—Prince Auguste—he was a great one with horses, he helped break her in as a filly.’
It was as close as any man of his station would come to criticising a prince.
One of the other men, eyeing them, approached a moment later. ‘Don’t mind Jean. He’s in a foul mood. He was the one had to stick a sword through the mare’s throat and put her down. The Prince tore strips off him for not doing it fast enough.’
When the riders returned, Laurent was riding a well-muscled grey gelding, which meant that somewhere in the hunting party a courtier was riding double.
The Regent came first into the tent, stripping off his riding gloves, his weapon taken by a servant.
Outside, there was a sudden baying; the boar had arrived and was likely being stripped down, its belly skin cut open and all the internal organs taken out, the offal given to the dogs.
‘Nephew,’ said the Regent.
Laurent had come with soft, padding grace into the tent. There was an aseptic lack of expression in the cool blue eyes and it was very clear that vicious mood was an understatement.
The Regent said, ‘Your brother never had any difficulty running down a mark without slaughtering his horse. But we aren’t going to talk about that.’
‘Aren’t we?’ said Laurent.