SEREGIL was very pleased when an invitation from Selin arrived a few days later, asking them to meet him and Duke Reltheus at the Drake for some gambling that evening.
The Street of Lights gambling houses were, like the brothels, lavish establishments, surpassing some nobles’ houses in the richness of their appointments. The Drake was a favorite of the middle echelons of Rhiminee nobility, and it was not unusual to see members of the court on their way to one of the private gaming rooms.
They found Selin and Reltheus at a bakshi table, where Reltheus was being badly beaten by a wealthy dowager. When the last of his pieces had been captured, he paid his wager and bid the lady good night.
Selin made the introductions. “Your Grace, allow me to present Lord Seregil of Rhiminee and Lord Alec of Ivywell. My lords, His Grace, Duke Reltheus of Tenmont.”
“Well met, gentlemen.” Reltheus clasped hands with them warmly. “Young Selin has been singing your praises. You’re said to have Illior’s luck at the gaming tables, Lord Seregil. I was hoping a bit of it would rub off on me tonight. My purse is a good deal lighter than it was when I started out.”
Seregil smiled. “Then you must play with us, Your Grace.”
“Enough of titles here,” the man scoffed. “Names are good enough among gamblers. Do you play the stones?”
Seregil lifted the bakshi pouch from his belt and rattled the pieces. “Now and then.”
“A round then. Which of you will partner me?”
“Youth against experience, I say. Alec, you partner with Selin.” Seregil took the dowager’s place across from Reltheus and poured his stones into the wooden trough carved into the elegant tabletop in front of him. Alec and the young lord took their places to either side and did the same. Seregil and Alec had both brought their best sets for this place. Seregil’s were lozenges of the finest blood-red carnelian carved on the backs with dragons; the symbols incised on the fronts were highlighted with gilt. Alec’s were round pieces of dark blue chalcedony, with Illior’s Eye on the back, and the symbols limned with silver. His were still shiny, while Seregil’s were well worn from years of use. So were Reltheus’s onyx pieces, inset with gold. Selin’s, cast in silver, had seen considerable play, too.
Bakshi was everyone’s game in Skala; the rich played with fine pieces at tables like this one, while the poor squatted with their fistful of scratched pebbles over a gaming grid drawn in the dirt or chalked on a floor or the deck of a ship, vying to make the serpent, flower, snare, and spear patterns for wagers.
“I’m surprised we have not met before,” said Reltheus as he and Seregil took the first round with two serpents and caught half a dozen of Alec’s pieces with a snare.
“Alec and I move in more modest circles,” Seregil replied with a smile.
Reltheus chuckled at that. “Every man’s an equal over the gaming table, as the saying goes.”
“But you both know Archduchess Alaya, don’t you?” Selin put in, unwittingly shifting the conversation in the right direction.
“A grand lady, indeed, but I doubt she’d remember me,” Seregil demurred. “She did used to pinch my cheek when I was at court, but it has been many years since I’ve spoken with her.”
“You speak of years, Seregil, but look at you!” Reltheus exclaimed, slapping down a counter and capturing two of Alec’s pieces. “That enviable Aurenfaie youth. If I didn’t know better, Lord Alec, I’d say you had a touch of that blood
yourself. You have something of that look about you. But you’re from Mycena, aren’t you?”
“Yes, I am. But there are rumors of mixed blood,” Alec explained, as he always did when the subject came up. “My family was in trade and traveled in the south.”
“Ah. Well, it suits you. Don’t you think so, Seregil?” The man gave him a wink.
“I do, indeed.” Seregil slid one of his coursers into place to block Selin’s serpent.
“Then it is true, what they say of you two?”
Seregil glanced up with a slightly crooked grin. “More than likely, whatever it is. Do you know Alaya well?”
“Oh, yes, I attend her salons. You should join us. I’m sure she’d be glad of your company, with her taste for handsome young fellows. You’ll be expected to provide some sort of entertainment your first time, however, and you will be judged accordingly.”
Seregil smiled to himself. He knew just the “entertainment” to bring.
They played for several hours, with the money washing back and forth between the two pairs, then went to the card tables to try their luck at Hawk and Hunter. Seregil won mercilessly there, and the other players finally gave up and departed.
“That was thirsty work,” said Selin. “Where shall we go to drink at this hour?”
“I know a very welcoming establishment,” said Seregil.
They all piled into the duke’s carriage and Seregil directed the driver to Eirual’s house just down the street, where a pink lantern glowed invitingly over the door.
“Your Grace, my lords, come in!” the doorman, Manius, said, ushering them in at once. “I will inform the mistress that you are here.”
The lavish reception hall was filled with courtesans and their patrons for the night. Beautiful women of every description lounged around the room in silk gowns and jewels fit for any lady, entertaining their partner or partners for the evening. In a pink-lantern house, all the patrons were men.
The other three colors, white, blue, and green, signaled other combinations. Alec had once unwittingly stumbled in under a green lantern and found himself surrounded by male courtesans intent on entertaining him, much to Seregil’s amusement.
It was an elegant room, and rather exotic, reflecting the owner’s taste. Tapestries covered the walls, rather than murals, giving the room a warmer atmosphere in spite of the size, and displaying lush but tasteful scenes of carnal pleasures. The incense scenting the room was musky and sensual. At the far end of the room, a blond girl was plucking a lute, accompanying Myrhichia as she sang a love song.
Manius disappeared up the sweeping gilded staircase at the back of the room, returning a moment later with word that Eirual was still receiving visitors.
They found her in her broad, silk-hung bed. The explicitly erotic murals that covered the walls seemed to stir with a life of their own in the light of dozens of fine beeswax tapers.
As was the custom in this particular street, and in some of the finer houses on Golden Helm and Silvermoon, too, if truth be told, she held her evening salons from her bed, where she sat propped up against lavish silken bolsters, clad in an embroidered velvet dressing gown, the front of the lacy nightgown beneath it open to reveal her breasts. Several of her courtesans were there as well in similar dishabille, and there were half a dozen male guests already in attendance, Duke Malthus among them, talking and laughing over their wine and sweetmeats.
“Seregil, my love! And the handsome Alec!” Eirual greeted them gaily. “And you’ve brought friends. Duke Reltheus, it’s so good to see you. And this handsome young man.” She gave Selin a twinkling smile. “Didn’t I see you at Alec’s party?”
“Yes, mistress,” Selin managed, looking a little flustered. Seats were found for the newcomers, and wine was poured.
Reltheus sipped his and nodded. “Even in these times, you still serve excellent wine, my dear. How ever do you manage it?”
“Oh, I have my ways,” she told him. She turned to Alec
with a roguish pout. “What brings you here tonight? I’m sure it’s not to seek my custom.”
“Your company, of course, dear lady,” he replied.
Eirual laughed and turned to Reltheus. “I had no idea you knew this pair of rogues.”
“I’ve only met them tonight, and soon learned that it’s better to play on their side than against them.”
“I’ve lost many bets to them,” Malthus told him. “Yet I can’t seem to forgo their company.”
“I’m beginning to understand why,” Reltheus declared, and Seregil could tell the man was more than a bit drunk, and comfortable in these surroundings, as he’d hoped.
Seregil raised his cup to him. “May we have many more such nights of debauchery. What is life without pleasure?”
“To pleasure!”
Seregil and Alec sipped their wine sparingly while the others indulged more deeply. When the duke was flushed and merry, Seregil gave him a wink and said, “I understand you attend Archduchess Alaya’s salons. Does she entertain in this fashion?” He took Eirual’s hand and kissed it.
