A Drink Before Battle [MxM] ✅

2: I'll Just Have A Look

2. I'll Just Have A Look

Sevei was pulled along by this twittering cloud of silk and perfume, across the room and up a few steps to a raised area bound in ornate railings, where they continued their flirtatious mobbing of him.

"Go on now, all of you," a satin-smooth voice raised through the chatter. "Let the General sit. You've all got other things to do."

The flock parted to reveal the proprietor of the House, Kyrzhan Damah, reclining in an indolent posture behind his private table.

Sevei gave a melodramatic gasp upon seeing him. He had known Kyrzhan since they were children. The itinerant nature of army life didn't allow him to visit very often, and his mind could never quite square his memory of the nervous, buttoned-up, overly-proper youngster he'd known in their small hometown in Valesk with this heavenly vision of some descended deity of carnal delight.

Kyrzhan wore his dark, mahogany-red hair long and waved, one side tucked back to display a row of sparkling gems along the edge of his delicate ear. His amber eyes were subtly lined in black kohl and shadowed all around with wisps of red powder, causing them to appear enormous against his gracefully thin face. He was draped in a loose-fitting robe of glittering brocade which hung open to reveal his smooth chest, some sort of skin cream enhancing his milky skin with a pearlescent sheen.

An elegant crystal glass dangled from his manicured fingertips, and he gave Sevei a dazzling smile before taking a sip, his reddened lips lingering seductively on the edge of the glass.

Sevei rolled his eyes with a grin. As the boys all departed with a chorus of discontented sighs, he slipped behind the table. Kyrzhan set his glass down and leaned forward to kiss his cheeks one after the other, then sat up straight. Sevei slid along the bench to cuddle up to Kyrzhan's side. They linked arms and laced their fingers together, one hand rough and calloused, the other buttery soft and be-ringed, and they both pressed in, leaning the sides of their heads together.

For a long time, they sat in silence just like that, both gazing across the room to the musicians on the stage. Sevei allowed the undulating music to lull him into a comfortable reverie along with the scent of Kyrzhan's perfume, a spicy note that wouldn't clash with the incense billowing throughout the room.

Across the way, a man seated alone at the table, his curtains parted to watch the musicians himself, cast occasional furtive glances their way.

Sevei wasn't worried about being seen. Even if any of his own men were here, they might not recognize him in the dim setting, and if they did, they'd have to rat themselves out to rat him out. He'd come dressed in a plain dark tunic and trousers and left his sword behind, armed only with boot knives. Next to Kyrzhan, he should look like just another customer, although who could afford the host might be a curiosity. Kyrzhan was very expensive.

Kyrzhan shifted beside him and sighed softly.

"There are so many things..." he said.

"I know," Sevei replied.

"I don't need to tell you to be careful."

"I'm just going to babysit the river," Sevei said in a reassuring tone. "I've seen a lot worse. This'll be like a vacation. I might do some fishing."

"You've seen bandit gangs and nomads on the Eastern border throwing rocks at you."

"Hey, don't underestimate the nomads. They are respectable foes. And those bandits are vicious. I've got a few scars I could show you-"