He slapped the ass of the boy nearest the table and the young elf set to work. “A glass of wine?”
“Yes,” Rianaire said. “More than one.”
The boy poured the wine into two finely crafted glasses and sat them on the small table that separated the seats. He poured a third and handed it to Mion. The elf took a sip from his own glass and ran a finger idly down the back of the boy at his other side.
“It seems this will be a troublesome season,” he said thoughtfully, looking at the boy’s back as his fingers traced over its youthful shape. “Even my business is suffering. Well… outside the city is doing as it always does in Bais. Cold air necessitates warm bodies, of course.”
He pulled his hand away from the boy before continuing. “And now horsefolk in the province. It’s been quite some time since they were bold enough to head this far north. No doubt you have plans for dealing with that.”
“Hm,” Rianaire sipped the wine. “So much as I can. The lack of a Binse has hampered my efficiency more than I’d hoped.”
“And so you need to build a new one.”
“Exactly that. This Bais will be a cold and trying one at its best. Supplies have been short from the south. The threat of attack is not one to be ignored.” She took another sip of the wine and sat the cup down on the table in front of her. “I would have you be my Binse of Coin.”
Mion swirled the wine in his glass and looked Rianaire over. “Binse of Coin. A hefty position for a whoremonger.” He laughed. “I don’t imagine I am well-suited to the position.”
Rianaire crossed her legs and waited. There was nothing she could say beyond the initial offer. Mion was never a man who could be convinced by anyone’s word but his own.
“Yes,” he said, looking off contemplatively. “I fear I am not the sort.” He turned to Rianaire and continued. “My greatest joy in life, lover, is the game. I live to play and to win. Could you imagine what would become of me if I controlled the game? There would be nothing to win. I would exist to make losers of those who wished to be the man I once was. I…”
He stopped speaking there, and looked off past his gathered guests, absently. There was more to consider, she could see. She sat, hoping he would find something, but she was not entirely hopeful.
“No,” he said finally. Rianaire was immediately annoyed at the waiting. “I cannot. Ignoring it going against my nature, the work would distract from my preferred manner of living.”
“To be naked and cock-deep in small boys.”
He raised his glass in salute. “Very emphatically yes.”
Mion drank deep from the cup and pulled it away. “However,” he said swallowing, “I would be remiss if I allowed my most fabulous of lovers leave my company without some manner of solution. What ever would you think of me if such a thing happened?”
Rianaire let her hopes rise just the slightest bit but kept any hint of it from Mion. She smiled wryly before she spoke. “My thoughts of you aren’t so quickly replaced as your tiny lovers.”
“Nor are you so tiny.” He flashed a glance at her breasts for the first time since she’d arrived. “Oh, but you do flatter me so well in your subtle ways, lover.”
“So, this offering that you would make to your benevolent Treorai?”
“Ah, yes, yes.” He waved a hand at her as he shoved his wine glass into the boy’s hand at his right. “There is a man in the province fit to be Binse of Coin. If I were to give you the truth of it, his being installed would be beneficial to us both. Tola is his name and there is not a soul on this earth who could buy his honor.”
Mion chuckled to himself, looking down at the table wistfully. “He’d likely give his life before he let a single discrepancy into his books.”
Rianaire was curious. “You knew him?”
“Long ago, yes. He controls some of your busiest docks now, in Casúr.” Mion pushed the boy at his right toward the wine and the boy obliged in refilling his cup.
“And you would not be put out by his appointment to the Binse?”
“Would it matter?”
“No.”
Mion smiled. “I said it before, in so many words. I live for the game. A game where the judge bends easily is more play than challenge. A simple victory is not a satisfying one.”
“I fear we differ in that view,” Rianaire said as she lifted her wine from the table. “I would have a life free of effort were it within my power.” She finished her glass of wine in a single drink and stood.
“Leaving? With the dress, I had assumed…”
Rianaire looked down at herself and back to Mion. “It had been my intention. The city makes me stir crazy, you know. But you have given me good cause for a vacation and so I fully intend to have one.”
Síocháin moved to get her furs and Inney came around the end of the couch.
“That is sure to upset someone.”
Rianaire laughed at the suggestion as Síocháin draped the furs around her. “The great joy of being the Treorai is that you do not have to pay any mind to who you upset within your own province.”
“Though sometimes they try to kill you.” Mion added, sipping the fresh glass of wine.
“Ha!” Rianaire walked toward the door without looking back at him. “Only a problem if they succeed, lover.”
Síocháin opened the door and they left. On the first floor, the girl seemed surprised to see them.
“Treorai, I was not called. Are you…”
“We are leaving. He had arranged you for my visit?”
The girl nodded.
Rianaire clicked her tongue in
