Brayan had expected Maric and Dara to be done talking by the time the men were done eating, but when the last bowl was empty and they still hadn’t emerged from the room, he decided not to bother them. Dara was a bed slave, after all, and there was a bed in the room they were in. It wasn’t hard to imagine what was delaying them.

After an hour, though, the men were getting restless and Brayan was becoming concerned. This was starting to get beyond the limits of Maric’s sexual stamina.

He went upstairs and knocked on the door.

It was Dara who opened it, fully dressed and looking surprisingly unruffled. The room did smell of sex, but in a place like this, Brayan wasn’t sure it hadn’t always smelled that way.

Dara kept his eyes aimed squarely at Brayan’s collarbone. Sometimes it felt like he was better at remembering himself with Brayan than he was with Maric. “Yes, sir?”

“You didn’t kill Maric, did you?”

“What? No!” Dara stepped to the side so that Brayan could see into the room. 

Maric was laying on the bed, completely naked and fast asleep. Dara had tossed a blanket over his ass to preserve his modesty, as though Maric’s ass was something Brayan had never seen before.

“Relax, Dara. That was a joke.”

“Oh, ah—sorry, sir.”

“That’s okay. I know I’m not a very funny person.” Brayan watched Maric for a moment. He really was thoroughly knocked out. “So, will you be coming with us?”

Dara nodded. “He promised that I could. Please don’t change his mind, sir.”

“What makes you think that I could?”

Dara was staring at Brayan’s collarbone with such focus that it obviously required conscious effort for him to remember to do it. “He respects your opinion. He would listen to you, sir.”

“He respects my opinion because I know when to give it. I advise him and I guide him when he needs it. I don’t overrule his wishes when he knows what he wants.”

Dara winced. “That’s what I did, isn’t it, sir?”

Brayan hadn’t intended it as an admonishment, but he could see how Dara had taken it that way. “Do you think he would let a slave overrule him? No. He wants you with him. Things just became complicated. I understand his feelings on the matter and I don’t hold this situation against you.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Brayan watched Dara for a moment, but just then he seemed like nothing more than a simple, nervous young man. “What I don’t understand are your feelings, or if that’s even what this is about for you. Do you have feelings for the prince, or did you return to him for some other reason?”

Dara opened his mouth, and then closed it again and thought for a moment before finally speaking. “I don’t think you can have feelings for a prince any more than you can have feelings for a chair. You can have feelings about it, but it’s not a person. It’s a thing.”

“I’m going to have to disagree on that. I’m quite sure Maric is a person.”

“No, that’s what I’m trying to say. A prince is a thing. Maric is a person. I don’t have feelings for the prince. I have feelings for Maric.”

A mix of emotions flooded Brayan’s gut. Relief, apprehension, both in equal parts. But the one he hadn’t anticipated was envy. He didn’t want this slave to talk about him like that and he had no desire for Maric’s affection, but the genuine feelings they had for one another… Love had never been something Brayan had sought out, but he couldn’t deny its elure. Surely everyone felt that way.

“My job, and my role as Maric’s friend, is to act in his best interests,” Brayan told Dara. “For a while, I thought that was getting you as far away from him as possible, but now I see that’s not the case. Don’t worry about me. If I ever act as anything but an extension of Maric’s will, I’ve stepped out of line.”

“Okay, but—” Dara hesitated, then nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“No. What were you going to say?”

“Just…” Dara’s eyes drifted up and met Brayan’s. “You’re a person too, Brayan.”

“Okay,” Brayan said reflexively and almost took a step backwards. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. It was like having a stranger shove their hand down your pants without warning. Maybe you would have been amenable to it, given the right context, but intimacy never felt good when it was unexpected. 

“Sorry, sir,” Dara said, quickly dropping his gaze again. “I didn’t mean to overstep. I just think it’s not good for anyone to feel like their job is all that they are.”

“I understand and appreciate your intention, and I prefer you speaking to me openly because teaching you not to left me with no understanding of this situation between you and Maric. It wasn’t productive. Just… please be careful who you say those sorts of things to. You’re going to be around a lot of people who will not appreciate having their status brushed aside. Especially not by a slave.”

“I understand, sir. I wouldn’t have said that to you if I didn’t think there was a person behind the job who was worth talking to.”

“The person behind the job is so disinteresting that he hates time off because he doesn’t know how to keep himself entertained when he’s not working. There’s not much of value there. Trust me.”

“You can still be the person while you’re working, sir. The Captain cares about the prince. The person cares for Maric.”

“Ah. Yes, I have been starting to see some potential for conflict there.”

Dara nodded and glanced back at Maric. “Would you like me to wake him up, sir?”

Brayan let out a long, slow breath as he thought. Finally, he shook his head. “No, let him sleep. By the time we’re done with everything, we’ll be behind schedule anyway. I’ll send Raedon back to fill Paige in on what’s happening while he sleeps.”

“Would you mind asking if he can bring the uniform I left there back with him, if it’s not too much trouble? I had some spares in the back of the wagon, but someone may have thrown them out after I left.”

“I’m sure they’re still there. The men may not understand what has been going on between you and Maric, but they know well enough not to throw anything that belonged to you away without his say so. But yes, I will ask Raedon to bring the uniform you left there back with him.”

“If you can find one of my uniforms, would you mind having someone bring it up, sir? I think Maric prefers me in his colours. And a basin of water and a washcloth, if it’s not too much trouble. I smell of horse.”

There was some instinctive part of Brayan that wanted to push back against a slave asking for so many things, but that wouldn’t have been helpful. These were all reasonable requests that were ultimately in service of Maric. “You smell of more than that. I will have someone bring you those things. Have you eaten yet?”

“Has Maric?”

“No.”

“I’ll wait for him to wake up, then.”

“You’ll eat now and if you’re hungry when he wakes up, you’ll eat again. We don’t need the guilt of him feeling like he’s neglected your needs again.”

“Ah. That’s true, sir.”

“Is there anything else you need before I go?”

“No, just…” Dara hesitated, eyes fixed on Brayan’s collarbone. “Thank you, sir.”

“Don’t thank me,” Brayan told him. “I’m just doing my job.”