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“There are stranger things in the world,” Zayan said, wondering. Maybe it was true? It must cost a mint to staff an actual castle.

Tom said, “I suppose we’ll find out tomorrow. I have a meeting with him in the morning, and I have tons of questions. I can’t wait. I want to get to work.”

“I bet you do,” Zayan interjected quietly, sitting down on the bed and spreading his legs enough to tease. The robe cooperated beautifully, slipping in silky folds to expose one full leg and barely conceal his more private enticements.

Tom continued, apparently not seeing the invitation in front of him, “I want to get my hands on those crazy compounds from the pitcher plant. I’ve never seen anything like them. Hoyle gave me a big whiff this morning, and I got an instant erection, hard as a rock.”

There he was, talking about erections, and he still hadn’t realized where he was. Maybe the task of seducing the nerdy Tom Dalton wasn’t going to be as easy as he first thought.

“I think Hoyle got hard too, but I didn’t ask. He made some funny comments, though. You know, he’s the reason I’m here. He gave Bluebeard that mystery compound that stumped my entire lab.”

Zayan let himself watch and listen. Tom was excited, true, but he was excited about chemistry and not the nearly naked man right in front of him. But his first impressions were well confirmed—he was rather cute. Tom was also wearing one of the silk robes, untied to show a pair of white briefs. He was no athletic god, carrying some extra weight around the middle and without the slightest hint that he’d ever been in the sun, but he had a delightful tuft of light hair between his pecs and a promising fullness in his shorts. Without needing to try, Zayan felt his own arousal start to build, straining to break free from the soft folds of his robe.

But Tom still didn’t seem to notice, too excited to sit down, marching around the room and gesticulating madly. “How on earth are we going to assay the potency of this compound once we start purifying the active principle?”

Was he losing his touch? He’d never had trouble luring men into his bed. He batted his thick eyelashes and flashed a smile that promised everything, and then gave them everything and more. His enticements seemed to work with Tom in the sauna. With the simplest gesture, he could have had Tom on his knees in the steamy heat. But here, with the perfect opportunity, while he was dangling his bait so enticingly, Tom continued to yammer on about science.

“I’m guessing the erotogenic effect only works on primates. I suppose I can give all the samples the sniff test, but that’s a lot of excitement all at once. Maybe I could ask you and Hoyle to help test them?”

He ground to a stop there and gave Zayan an expectant look, finally noticing the tent Zayan was building.

“Oh, um,” Tom said, flushing deep red. “I didn’t mean…”

“I think you should ask Thierry,” Zayan joked, shifting the robe to cover himself more fully. Obviously, the time wasn’t right, yet, to seduce this shy boy. It was clear he had competition in his seduction—somehow, he’d have to find a way to distract Tom from the irresistible call of his first love, science. But tonight, he'd simply chalk this aborted seduction scene up to laying the groundwork. He added with a grin, capturing some of Tom’s rampant enthusiasm, “It would be easy. You could have Thierry sniff each sample and ask him if he gets a boner.”

Tom barked out a laugh at this, saying, “Oh man. Can you even imagine?”

“Apprentice, follow me,” Bluebeard said after breakfast the next morning, rising from the table and heading for the door without waiting for acknowledgement. Zayan caught up with him halfway across the courtyard, and Bluebeard continued, “We have much to discuss.”

Bluebeard guided them to the gatehouse and into a spiral staircase on the west side. They wound up two levels and emerged into a spacious common room, similar to the room on his bedroom level but more finely appointed. They went immediately to a crowded study full of treasures: mounted skeletons of a pelican and something that looked like a bobcat, an antique globe of the earth and a modern globe of the moon, brass telescopes and microscopes, and shelves and shelves of books. A pile of dusty tomes sat on a well-worn clawfoot table at the center, and Bluebeard steered him to an antique chair.

First off, Bluebeard tossed a small velvet bag onto the table, noisily clanking as it landed in front of him. With much anticipation, Zayan pulled open the drawstrings and tipped a few gold coins into his hand. They were beautiful, sparkling pure in the morning light, impressed with a rose on one side and a castle on the other. Château des Fleurs.

“That should cover your first few months. If you’d like to break them down into more usable currency, Thierry can help you with either Greenhaven coinage or anything you’d like from the other side.”

Bluebeard grinned, looking extremely proud of himself, so Zayan quit his gawping and said, “Thank you, Mage.”

“Best not share this with Thomas. As you might imagine, I have a different arrangement with him.”

“Not a problem,” Zayan confirmed.

“How are you proceeding with him?”

“Quite well, I would say, despite only just arriving. He came to my room last night during the commotion.”

“And a filthy business it was. Would that I could do without the villagers entirely, but that’s not a viable option.”

Zayan had nothing to say about that, so he said nothing, simply slipping the bag of gold coins into his pocket. Gold coins! Already this gig was exceeding his already high expectations.

“And now we begin,” Bluebeard said, taking a seat opposite at the table. “Our arrangement with Thomas is only a small part of your duties here at the Château. I have recently come to the realization that I need an assistant, someone to carry on the alchemical practices that support the Château. I have judged that you have the requisite talent and drive to fulfill this need.”

He laughed and said, “So what, I’ll be making gold?”

Something about his tone must have been disrespectful, because Bluebeard burst from his chair and slammed both hands on the table, saying, “That’s enough of that. You are my apprentice, and you will speak with respect.”

Zayan jumped from his chair and took a step back. He could easily see Bluebeard was serious, and angry. Driven by the bag of gold in his pocket, he immediately sought to defuse the situation. This gig was too good to lose with a few careless words, so he could certainly play along with whatever delusion was driving the man.

“I apologize, Mage Bluebeard. That was impertinent of me. It will not happen again.”