Page 28 of Garden of Poisoned Delights

Flick spilled out of his arms and pressed his nose to the cover. His gold eyes snapped open, wide as tea saucers, and he breathed in the cover.

ADVENTURES IN IPERIOS.

“It’s a new book series,” Hektor told him, sitting down as Flick started drinking up the words, “by this man called Scout from Thalassa. This one’s about a haunted lighthouse in Diabolos.”

I LOVE HAUNTED THINGS, Flick said.

“I know.”

Flick finished the book, his mind reeling with tales of plucky young kids who befriended ghosts and sirens who were afraid of thunderstorms. He jumped into Hektor, and Hektor laughed, laying a hand on his chest like he did when he wanted Flick to know that he felt him there.

I LOVE YOU MORE THAN ANY SUGAR BIRD IN THE WORLD.

Hektor smiled and lay back on the bed.

“Yeah,” he said. “Me, too.”

* * *

Laurent returned to the House of Onyx, brimming with deliciously satisfied dominant energy and an equally satisfied, very under Sabre, to find his courtesans having some sort of sugary, dessert-laden orgy in the kitchen.

“What precisely—” Laurent began, then held up a hand when Yves, Margritte and Nanette all started talking at once. “Never mind. Just make sure I get some of that orange blossom cake, and we’ll let this be.”

Sabre was still chuckling when they went to their room, licking something sticky off his fingers that looked like the residue of a caramel treat. “I am sure there is a story behind this whole thing. Aren’t you curious?”

“Of course, but I can’t tell them that,” Laurent said, pushing Sabre down on the bed and climbing on top of him. He kissed him, tasting caramel, and smiled against Sabre’s mouth. “Rule number one of being a house lord, Sabre, is always keep the upper hand, even if you have no idea what is going on under your own roof.”

“Is that so?” Sabre murmured, reaching up and sliding his sticky fingers through Laurent’s hair. “Truly, you are a fount of knowledge, my lord.”

“Hush, brat, and if there’s caramel in my hair you aren’t going to be able to sit for a week.”

“Oh, no,” Sabre said, eyes wide, and laughed as Laurent kissed him silent.

It wasn’t until later, Sabre sprawled loose-limbed and messy on their bed, that he remembered the gift he’d brought back for Charon. Laurent climbed out of bed, drew on a silk dressing gown and swept his hair up into some semblance of a bun as he grabbed the gift and padded quietly out of his room and up the back stairs toward Charon’s.

He knocked once. Laurent would never, ever enter a courtesan’s room without permission, not after his tenure in the House of Gold where privacy was nonexistent and the desire for it viewed with deep suspicion. At Charon’s quiet entreaty, he opened the door.

There, he found Yves curled up under an afghan, his blond curls damp and held back with a colorful scarf. He was reading a book, nibbling on what appeared to be a few leftover sweets, and he smiled at Laurent and gave him a little wave before going back to his reading.

Charon was dressed in loose linen pants, the ones he wore when he wasn’t seeing clients, and a simple undershirt that left his tattooed, muscular arms bare. He was on the couch where he took his favorite clients, holding them close and making them tea after he beat them until they cried and shook and came so hard, he usually had to carry them down the stairs. Instead of a client beside him, though, there was a blue fox with bright gold eyes, curled up on a pillow while Charon fed him sweets from a chipped ceramic plate.

HELLO LIGHT-BRINGER. I HAVE LEARNED RESTRAINT AND DECIDED IT IS NOT FOR ME.

“Hear, hear,” Yves murmured, flipping the page, which meant that Flick was speaking to everyone, not just Laurent.

“You have, have you?” Laurent said, and shook his head as Charon continued to feed Flick little bits of sugared candies and what appeared to be fish, which was possibly the worst meal Laurent could ever imagine eating.

YES.

I DO NOT RECOMMEND RESTRAINT. HAVING ALL THE FISH WHENEVER YOU WANT IS MUCH BETTER.

“Have your fish and eat them, too, little one,” Yves murmured, flipping the page.

The fox blinked his big gold eyes up at Laurent.

MY BOY IS SLEEPING FROM TOO MUCH MAGIC.

I AM HERE FOR ADORATION

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