The Invisible Hands - Part 1: Gambit by Andrew Ashling Read Free Book Online Page B

Tenaxos asked.
    The young man had obviously been wrapped up in thoughts of his own.
    “Oh, no, not really, Sire,” he answered, as if waking from a day— dream. “I just kind of expect it to be there, and it isn't. I can't stop myself from checking once in a while.”
    “I'm sorry,” the high king said, sincerely.
    “It's nothing. I understand why it was necessary and Your Majesty has been more than generous compensating for it.”
    “Make me a count instead of a baron, and you can cut off the right one as well,” the young man thought.
    5
Tenaxos scraped his throat.
    “Yes. Splendid attitude. Most commendable, My Lord.”
    “Who cares that you have been, and actually still are, a whore?
    My youngest elevated farmers and horse breeders. How easy it is. Almost cheap. Letters patent and a plot of land will buy you a man.
    Temporarily at least.”
    “Any news of His Excellency, the ambassador of His Majesty Vartoligor XIII?” the high king asked.
    Landar Parmingh, Baron of Davellon, curled his upper lip.
    “The ambassador seems to have no inkling as to what is happening.
    I made it a point to ask, in a very roundabout way, if he thought war was imminent. As far as I could discern that is not the case.”
    The high king was both relieved and disappointed, but his face remained blank.
    “If you don't mind me asking, My Lord, the whole endeavor seems to be distasteful to you. I would have thought, with your previous line of enterprise, that you would be more stoical about this. That you would be able to look at it as what it really is. Just business. Something that has to be done, and in this case something that has to be done in the interest of the realm.”
    The young baron looked at the king with some surprise shining through in his eyes.
    “Does he really want to know? Does he care? Or is it rather that every scrap of information, no matter how insignificant it may seem to be, can have its importance in his eyes?”
    “It's just, Sire, that what you so aptly call my previous line of enterprise was actually nothing more than a lucrative hobby. It was me choosing them. I set the boundaries. Whatever generosity they showed 5
me, was at their own discretion. More or less. I know very well how it
    looks — what in fact it was — but it felt entirely different.”
    Annoyed, he felt himself flush. The king saw it and smiled.
    “Don't be embarrassed, My Lord. I am a man of the world and I understand fully that sometimes our actions are dictated by circumstances, necessity or both.”
    “If only it had been that,” Landar thought.
    Actually there had never been a pressing need for him to prostitute himself. For that, if the truth be known, was exactly what he had done.
    His brother had taken care of him as well as he could. He had provided for him. Landar had never gone hungry, always wore clean, reasonably new clothes and he had always had a roof above his head. Tomar had been a good, responsible older brother. A father almost. He always had taken care of the necessities of life. But that had been it. His friends had more. Like spending money.
    Quite by accident he had met this man in his late twenties. Landar had seen him gawking with that unmistakable look of longing. Taking the initiative he had walked up to him. He turned out to be rather nice, though he wasn't much of a looker. They had drunk a few beers and he saw how the man was trying to gather his courage to pop the all-important question. Landar had feigned not to notice and smiled teasingly, borderline mockingly. He had given the man almost a scare, when finally he had dared ask if Landar would sleep with him and he had immediately replied “Sure.” “Really?” the man had asked, astounded.
    He had been skittish, and Landar hadn't been surprised that afterwards — barely twenty minutes later — he had asked that they leave the hired room separately. He had thrown a few coins on the nightstand saying, “That should be enough. Keep whatever change