Read 04c Dreams of Fire and Gods: Gods for Free Online Page A

to leave his bed. He doubted he would bother to bathe at all, if Jekh wasn’t still doing it for him.
    As Sael leaned back in the tub, his valet rolled up the sleeves of his tunic and crouched down beside him so he could run the washcloth over Sael’s body.
    “It’s a lovely day out this morning, if I may say so,” Jekh said conversationally, striking up the friendly banter he normally used at these times.
    Sael merely grunted. The day was most likely the same as any other day had been in Harleh over the past several weeks—blue and overcast. But Jekh continued to relay such news as there was and mild tidbits of gossip. Nothing unpleasant or distressing, of course. Just anything he thought the dekan might find entertaining. Sael seldom acknowledged any of it.
    After a while, Jekh fell into silence, and Sael welcomed it, relaxing into the warmth of the water and the soothing caresses of the washcloth. But he gradually became aware of something he’d never noted before—Jekh was breathing heavily. Not wheezing, as if he were ill, but breathing as if he were… aroused.
    Sael had grown so used to thinking of the servant as a nurse that he’d forgotten he was also a handsome young man—one whom Koreh had been very jealous of. Suddenly, the bath no longer felt relaxing. With Jekh panting in his ear, and the washcloth sliding caressingly along Sael’s legs and inner thighs….
    Sael reached out and grabbed Jekh’s wrist when the washcloth slid into his crotch. Certainly Jekh had washed… everything… before today, but now something was off. “Jekh,” he said quietly.
    “Yes, Your Lordship?” The young man’s voice was coarse with arousal.
    Sael suddenly felt extremely uncomfortable. “This isn’t…. Let me up, please.”
    “Sir?”
    “Hand me my towel,” Sael ordered the valet, as he thrust the young man’s hand away from him and stood up in the tub.
    Jekh looked shocked, but he assisted the dekan in standing and stepping out of the bath onto the towel that lay on the stone floor. Then he handed Sael a second towel to dry himself with. “Your hair, sir….”
    Sael knew that his hair was half wet and still tangled from sleep, but he was too angry to care about that. “Master Koreh has been dead less than two weeks, Jekh! I can’t believe you would….” He trailed off, not wanting to give voice to the thought.
    But the valet didn’t need clarification. “I’m very sorry, Your Lordship. I meant no disrespect to the memory of Master Koreh. But you seemed…. I thought it might help….”
    Sael toweled himself off, conscious for the first time that he was standing completely naked in front of the man. Hang it all! He’d felt completely at ease with Jekh. The young man had been the perfect valet. Why did he have to spoil everything with an attempt at seduction?
    “Is this why you insisted upon being my nurse while I was ill? In the hopes that I would take you on as a concubine?”
    Jekh seemed unable to think of a response, which confirmed Sael’s suspicions. He felt himself blush, embarrassed not only by memories of Jekh cleaning him and bathing him, but also by the knowledge that Jekh had done so not out of loyalty, but with the intent of advancing his position in the house of Menaük. The personal valet of a royal already had considerable power among the household staff, but becoming Sael’s concubine would have added yet another layer of prestige in that circle.
    Sael wasn’t completely naïve. He knew his brother had had several sexual encounters with female servants before his marriage. It wasn’t uncommon in noble houses for those types of relationships to go on behind closed doors. Perhaps Jekh had been used to that with his previous employers. He was a very attractive young man. Sael could see that. But the thought of touching anyone other than Koreh nauseated him.
    “Jekh,” Sael said, attempting to rein in his anger, “your service has been exemplary….”
    Jekh’s face went pale