Page 29 of Measure of the Stars

“I hate cakes,” he said.“But I like you.It’s frustrating, really.Your family is blue-blooded enough that you should be an insufferable tyrant, but here you are.”

“Perhaps I’ve been at sea too long to be a tyrant.”Delauney glanced up at Wes, then tentatively rubbed the sole of his foot.Wes groaned and stretched like a cat, which Delauney took as permission to continue.

“Lennox was at sea longer than both of us,” Wes said.“But I don’t want to think about that.Spirits, you’re good at this.Do you believe in sirens?”

Delauney smiled to himself.It seemed that being under made Wes’ thoughts as scattered as Delauney’s.“Not really.If there were any, they’d have made themselves known by now, and I suspect that most accounts are just very dehydrated sailors mistaking a dolphin for a fish-person.”

“I ran into some people who claimed to be sirens,” Wes said.Delauney moved up to his calves, kneading the hard muscle there.“But they didn’t even have tails.That rather ruins the illusion, doesn’t it?And where would they put their cocks, in any case?You never see that in the wood-cuts people sell on the docks.”

“Wherever dolphins put them, I suppose,” Delauney said.He was bemused despite himself.He should have still been mortified, but a fuck-drunk Wes was too disarming for that.

“Wheredodolphins put them?”Wes asked.He swung his legs up onto the bed.“You should eat something.”

“Haveyoueaten?”Delauney asked.

Wes smiled to himself.“Well...maybe a little.”

He was probably thinking about cock.Delauney knew that’s what he’d be doing in Wes’ place.That meant that he probably hadn’t eaten at all, and he’d gone out of his way, while in the throes of subspace, to fetch Delauney something to eat instead.

Delauney divided the fritters in half and handed one to Wes.Thankfully, Wes seemed too under to protest.Delauney sat next to him on the bed, eating his own half while trying not to notice the way Wes licked his fingers.

“Did you know that in Kallistos,” Wes said, breaking the silence as though he’d been carrying on a full conversation in his head, “they used to have this week-long festival to search for the god of love?”

“But there isn’t a god of love,” Delauney said, handing Wes a cloth to wipe his hands.While Staria had its spirits and folktales, Starians took a cavalier approach to the divine.Other countries believed in the gods, but Delauney didn’t pay much attention to their temples or traditions.The denizens of Diabolos seemed to think that the gods could walk around like ordinary people, but no one spoke of a god of love.

“That’s the thing,” Wes said.“Shouldn’t there be one?But there isn’t, so some people in Kallistos decided that they’d gone into hiding.So every few years, they’d have this huge festival to try and lure the god out, and people would sign up to be sacrifices.They’d kill a rabbit and paint their faces with its blood, and everyone would know that they were marked, so they’d be...”Wes waved a hand vaguely.“Available.You know, for anyone who wanted to take them.The theory was that the god would be drawn to whichever sacrifice had been used the most.”

“That sounds unpleasant,” Delauney said.

“Really?”Wes looked genuinely surprised.“I’d love that.A whole week to be used by everyone who wants you?”

“Yes, but the poor rabbit.”

Wes sighed.“All right, no rabbits.And I wouldn’t want what happened at the end of it all, either.”Delauney frowned curiously.“During the last recorded festival, all the sacrifices disappeared,” Wes said.“Every single one.That’s why they don’t have the festival anymore.But the concept is still nice, that’s all I’m saying.”

“So you’d like to be available,” Delauney said, “or is it that you’d like to be part of a religious ritual?”

“If the ritual’s fun, maybe both.I like being worshipped,” Wes said.“But worship can mean anything.So much of submission involves dominants doting on us, haven’t you noticed?”

“What about the sadists?”Delauney asked.

“Oh, they’re the most worshipful of all of them,” Wes said.“There’s very little difference between a sadist with a chain flogger and a priest kneeling before their god.Andwe’rethe ones they want.They’re praying tous.”

“Don’t let any gods hear you talk like that,” Delauney said.He’d never thought of submission in that way.It had always just been a part of him, with no depths to plumb or shadowy corners to explore.But it felt as though his experience at the alley had changed something in him, like a long-forgotten creature stirring the sediment at the ocean floor.

Wes fell asleep next to Delauney, smiling in the calm, satisfied way of a submissive who’d been thoroughly worked-over.Rather than disturb him, Delauney gently eased himself a few inches closer to his edge of the bed.He lay like that for some time, listening to Wes breathe as his whirling, scattered thoughts pulled him into restless dreams.