Page 38 of The House of the Red Balconies

“Loukianos!” Hylas withdrew his hand, forcefully, and got to his feet. “I’m going to send for a chair to take you home.”

“Oh, I can do that,” said Lada, jumping up too. “Please, let me do that.”

“Absolutely. Go ahead. And sorry about—all this. You seem lovely⁠—”

“So do you, sir. Good—good luck with everything.”

“Let’s get up now, Loukianos,” said Hylas, crouching to look the governor in the eye.

“I don’t feel altogether well,” said Loukianos thoughtfully.

Then he leaned forward and vomited directly onto Hylas’s chest.

Hylas cleaned himself up and was able to borrow a fresh tunic to wear home, but he still arrived back at the Red Balconies feeling like he needed a bath. When he came into the deserted courtyard, he was greeted by the sound of water splashing in the newly restored fountain. He filled a bucket and headed for the men’s bath.

There was a lamp lit in the outer room of the bath, and the inner door was closed. Yawning, Hylas set down his bucket and stripped off his borrowed tunic. He opened the door.

The inner room of the bath was lit only by a taper burning in a socket on the wall, but the air was warm and steamy. Zo was sitting on a low stool in the shadows. He looked up at Hylas, dark eyes wide.

He was an elegant shape in the warm semi-darkness, long limbs bare and wet, black hair falling softly over his shoulder. He was sitting with his forearms on his knees, holding a dripping sponge that he had been using to wash himself from the basin of warm water in front of him. He must have built a fire in the masonry stove in the corner to warm the water and put another basin on the stove to produce steam.

He smiled. “Hello, Hylas. I didn’t expect to see you.”

“I … didn’t expect to see you.”

Of course he should have realized, from the lit lamp and closed door, that there was someone in the bath, but he hadn’t. He never would have opened the door if he had thought Zo was inside. Zo was from one of those places where people didn’t bathe communally. He deserved his privacy.

And yet Hylas went on standing there, not retreating and shutting the door, because Zo was looking at him with … appreciation?

It was not right. He was middle-aged. Zo was young and beautiful—so, so beautiful, with that flawless skin and supple, gently curvaceous frame—and it was not right for Hylas to stand there, nearly naked, under Zo’s scrutiny, and feel suddenly, absurdly desirable.

“I shouldn’t let the steam out,” Hylas said, reaching for the door handle.

“Yes, but—stay on this side of it?”

“I will.”

He shut the door and came to sit on the built-in bench opposite Zo, mimicking Zo’s posture with his arms on his knees. Zo dipped his sponge in the water and squeezed it out.

“You won’t believe the night I had, Hylas.”

“No? Was it good?”

“So bad.”

“Did you get thrown up on, though?”

Zo grinned. “Oh, your evening was good too, was it?”

“Well, parts of it were all right.”

“But did you have to pretend to be a ravished innocent for a man who refers to his cock as a ‘lustful spear’?”

“Oh, no!” He hadn’t thought about why Zo would be bathing in the middle of the night, but presumably—well, it would be messy, and if you hadn’t enjoyed it … “Are you all right?” He didn’t know if it was the right question, but it was the one that came to mind.

Zo’s smile softened. “I’m fine. Timon’s not patron material, though. He doesn’t really like men. I think he likes the idea of fucking a boy every so often for variety, or to show his range or something. I don’t see him really becoming attached. Which is a relief, because Angels of the Almighty, is he rubbish in bed. And has a bit of a mean streak, actually, which I wouldn’t like to explore further.”

“I’m sorry,” said Hylas with feeling.