After several minutes of Euan cleaning my mess with his tongue, I gathered my thoughts and, being a gentleman asked.
“Is there… anything I can do for you?” It would have been rude to not return the favor—especially as my guard was well and truly down and we were in the dark!
Euan moved back up the bed “Ohhh Ben”, Euan said in a lusty groan, “Your spill still tastes like the ambrosia of the Gods. I recall I could never get enough!” Euan praised, and then kissed me on the lips. I tasted the bitter saltiness of my seed and I groaned as he savagely plundered my mouth. He drew back and then asked.
“Do you care for me, Ben?”
I found this question odd, especially after what we had just done.
“I am a man of my word. I told you back then how I cared…still care”, I admitted and then wished I had not been so forthcoming with my declaration.
“Then will you do something for me?”
“Of course. Tell me!”
“But…it’s embarrassing.”
“Tell me,” I insisted. Haltingly Euan continued.
“I’ve been experiencing difficulty… maintaining… my stand. I wonder, would you help me fix it?”
I was perplexed. “I don’t know what you want me to do. I could use my hand or mouth on you if that is your pleasure—”
“No. I… have attempted that with several men to no avail. It’s all rather vexing if I’m honest. I’ve spoken to Dr. Sinclair and he said that it is a thing that occurs in some men as they age and I should abandon all of my lustful delusions and thank the Good Lord for my continued robust health.
“Is he not right?”
“No, he is not right!” Euan said adamantly.
“I live for tasting life’s pleasure. Abstinence might be acceptable for some, but I am not meant to live like a monk!” He said coldly, and I felt the barb of derision at my choice to live in denial of my desires.
“There is only one way to fix my problem…”
“And what is that?”
“I want you to use The Staff of Asklepios—“
“What?” I was stunned.
“Its powers apparently work better if the Staff is administered by one who knows the recipient's heart. You, dearest Ben, know me like no other man, you always have. If you… use the Staff on me… I believe that together we can cure me of my frightful infecundity!”
Perplexed, I sat up in bed. Was this the real reason Euan invited me to Dunecht Hall? I had not seen him in years and the invitation was out of the blue. It seemed that the other art collectors received their missives weeks before me. I got my letter in the last post and was given just an hour to make the Caledonian Sleeper. Had Euan lured me here at the last opportunity with the intention to seduce and manipulate me into using the Staff on him to cure his flaccid prick?
Did he ever intend to sell the Staff to me at all?
The Night Light
“My father tried to use it, you know, the Staff,” Euan said as he lay back in bed beside me, his hands behind his head.
“He thought it would make him young again and cure the disease in his liver. However, he could not get the ritual right. You see, he was missing a vital element–the Staff cannot be used alone. It must be administered by one who knows the recipient's heart. I don’t think my father had a bloody heart, and so no one truly knew him. The doxies who he brought up here to use it with him left the estate bruised and degraded after he flew into a temper when it didn’t work.”
“How do you know this?”
“He spoke in delirium. I heard many things I wish I had not.”
We could not continue a conversation of this importance in the dark. Searching my bedside table, I found a box of sulfur matches and lit my candle. I turned to Euan and saw, framed by a silver beard, his lips were full and swollen, and cheeks pinked from our exertions. Euan’s eyes looked at me and were as playful and lust-filled as ever I’d seen them.
Against my better judgment, I had succumbed to his seduction and wished his fingers and lips did not make me shiver so with desire.
“What exactly do you expect me to do? I said, exasperated. I did not like that Euan thought me so easy to manipulate. But, gathering my thoughts I reminded myself I was no longer a boy. This tryst was a slip-up, one hour of pleasure. Never again would I put my heart on display as I had done with Euan in my youth. He could never be my be-all-and-end-all. There was life after Euan Ardmillan, and I had made a good, albeit solitary life
