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He had always been beautiful - like a sword to the heart, Damen remembered thinking, and it was true, still. Four months had changed a great many things, but not that.
"It's rude to stare," said Nicaise, glaring.
"He's Akielon," said Laurent, before Damen could quite decide how to respond.
Laurent sounded a little amused, a lot like he was being very careful not to reveal any other emotion than that. Damen wondered when he had found out that Nicaise had survived, against all odds, and then he wondered whose head the Regent's herald had brought them, and how many people had known that it had not been Nicaise's.
This one pleaded for you.
"He's an animal." Nicaise wrinkled his nose. "Like the rest of them."
"Perhaps you should not have come, if you find the company so disagreeable," said Laurent.
Nicaise scowled. Looking at you is distasteful. And yet here he was, in Akielos. Looking at Laurent. Expecting Laurent to do or say something, clearly, for all that Nicaise acted as if he had come here merely on a whim, as if this meeting was nothing but a coincidence, an annoyance.
"I would have expected that you had trained your slave to talk properly by now," said Nicaise. "Or maybe you prefer him that way? Silent?"
Laurent shrugged. "Occasionally, he has things to say that I find pleasant to hear."
"Occasionally?" asked Damen, stung in spite of himself.
"You disgust me," said Nicaise. He was looking at Laurent when he said it.
Laurent's expression was calm, almost serene. "You'll understand when you're older. Probably. I hope."
Nicaise still looked like a boy, soft around the edges, but his voice was that of a young man. Damen could not imagine desiring him, but he could imagine looking at the person Nicaise might become in another three, four years and finding that person pleasing to look at. Of course, that feeling would only last until Nicaise opened his mouth.
"I'm not like you," said Nicaise.
"No," Laurent agreed.
"I'm not going to just - "
"Enough," said Damen.
"He gets a bit bossy sometimes," said Laurent, his tone just shy of apologetic. "But then, as I pointed out, he is a barbarian. I have resigned myself to his lack of proper manners. If you intend to spend any prolonged amount of time here, I would suggest that you learn to do the same."
Damen did not want to consider what Nicaise might do, given a 'prolonged amount of time' in Ios.
And yet. This one pleaded for you.
"Well?" said Nicaise, lifting his head. Because of course, he would never ask. It wasn't in him. To ask someone for something, anything, to Nicaise was to show weakness, to acknowledge that someone else had the power to hurt you by refusing.
"Well?" Laurent echoed, turning to Damen. "Shall we give him to someone? I believe that you mentioned being cross with some of our kyroi."
"Not that cross," said Damen, before he could consider his words.
Nicaise, perversely, looked faintly pleased for the first time in the conversation.
"Ambassador to Patras, then?" Laurent proposed brightly. "We've been considering names for close to a week, and it really wouldn't do to keep King Torgeir waiting for much longer."
"Stop mocking me," said Nicaise. His expression was no longer pleased.
"I'm not mocking you," Laurent replied. "I'm teasing Damen. Learn to tell the difference."
"Here?" Damen asked. "You want to keep him here?" It would, he supposed, allow them both to keep an eye on things. Nicaise no longer had anyone to protect him, after all; if - or rather: when he offended someone, he might get himself into serious trouble.
Well, he might get someone into serious trouble, at any rate.
"Nikandros has been complaining about his workload," said Laurent.
Nikandros had been doing nothing of the sort. Nikandros had been looking for a new assistant, but Damen did not think that position would be in any way suitable for a sharp-tongued, impatient and all-around unpleasant fourteen-year-old boy.
"There, it's settled then." Laurent smiled, turning back to Nicaise. "I'm sure you and he will get along just fine. He likes soldiers, and pretty women."
Nicaise sneered. "He sounds exactly your type."
"Doesn't he?" said Laurent. "Damen will show you where he works. Do try not to kill him in your first week. We need him more than we need you."
"I hope you don't expect me to thank you."
"Never," said Laurent.