Page 35 of The Pleasure Contract

I open my mouth to answer, but instead snatch up a sock, then its twin, putting them together to turn the tops over to pair them up.

Looking at me like I’ve just shit in his cereal, Zek practically slaps at my hands before I give up the pair of socks. He separates them from the pairing I’d created and smoothes them out on the bed, one on top of the other, before carefully rolling them up from the toe. He then unzips what must be a special Lois sock bag and dutifully places the pair with its brethren, all nestled together neatly like a perfectly placed sock mosaic.

Beside me, DJ plays the theme music to Hitchcock’s Psycho.

I silence her with a look.

Before I get a chance to even attempt to fold anything else, I feel the rail ship start to slow beneath our feet, the constant high-speed hum in the background dropping in tone, too.

“What’s going on?” I ask, going to the window, watching the buildings go by, but not as fast as they had done before. DJ follows behind me as if coming to take a look herself. “Are we there already?”

The rail ship slows even further, the shift in motion making me lurch a little.

Zek remains completely composed. “We are stopping in a few towns so that Prince Az can meet with his drakball fans,” he says, not even looking up from what looks like a complex origami project he’s completing with a silk scarf.

With that, I feel the rail ship come to a complete stop, and outside I hear chanting.

Peering out the window, I see a station. Xaviann rail stations aren’t like any train station I’ve seen on Earth, though. They’re open; with fountains, manicured shrubs, pavilions, and the whole vibe of a really clean and quaint ‘town square’ – quaint in vibe, not in size, though. This is the first one we’ve stopped at, and there’s got to be at least a football field’s worth of space on either side of the ship.

And that space is full – and I mean full – of Xavianns gathered together. They stand there waving and cheering. Some of them have painted their faces and horns in what I think are Az’s team colors. Some of them are wearing really cool hats that make it look like they have Lady and Puff sprouting out of their heads.

It’s a little overwhelming.

The crowd erupts into a new level of volume, some of them now practically jumping up and down in excitement. “Prince of the skies! Prince of the skies!” they chant.

Then, I see him – Az stepping off the rail ship, flanked by some security to keep the crowd at bay.

I can only see the back of him from this angle, but I know he’s giving them that effortlessly handsome, boyish smile – the one that could charm the underwear off a nun.

Or make me write out a whole fuck-buddy contract.

Az waves at the crowd, pointing out at some of them as if he knows them and is happy to see them there.

Does he know them?

People are screaming for him.

This is insane.

“W-… why don’t people react to him like that in the Northern Principality?”

I feel Zek come to my side, but I’m still transfixed by the scene on the other side of the window.

“Some people do,” he says, and from the corner of my eye, I can see movement, so I know he’s still folding some damn clothes. “But they see him often in the city back home. They’re used to him, and they respect him as one of their Princes.”

I continue watching out the window. He starts signing things for the crowd with this pen-thing that writes in glowing blue ink; pieces of paper, photographs, shirts, even some horns.

I look at the faces of them all – beyond excited to see him in their town. Their eyes practically glowing with admiration as he approaches with that smile.

I even see some of the female Xavianns give him things that he doesn’t sign and doesn’t give back – he just tucks whatever it is into his pants pocket and gives the women a smile, his horned head ducking slightly as if he’s thanking them. And it takes a while for my brain to figure out what I’m witnessing – what it is they’re giving him.

Permission tokens.

They’re slipping him their Permission tokens.

… And he’s taking them.

That…