JК
Danse Macabre :: Гамильтон Лорел
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Jean-Claude raised his face, beautiful and empty, his face when he was hiding what he was thinking. «Is it Belle you miss, or the ardeur ?»
«Both.»
«I cannot give you Belle, but the ardeur is mine to share.»
Such eagerness on Augustine's face for an instant. A need so raw it filled his eyes with fire like lightning's glow behind gray clouds. Then his face stilled, all that hunger hiding away, but we had seen it. For in that instant, I was no longer seeing the room like some floating phantom. I was inside Jean-Claude's head as I had been inside him and Belle in the earlier memory.
Augustine's voice was as empty as his face when he said, «It is a gift, Jean-Claude. I would be your friend. Friends do not count the costs of favors.»
We were surprised, and had been too long with Belle Morte to trust it. «I would have bargained my body to gain what you offer so freely, Augustine.»
«And that is why I offer it freely. Yes, I long to be with her again. I will love her until the end of the world, but I did not always like her, or what she forced us to do.» His face darkened with memories, but he waved them away, and smiled. «I would have stayed with her forever, doing her bidding, her willing slave, even though I knew her to be evil. I was too» — he seemed to search for a word — «immersed in her to ever wish to save myself, or save all those she wished me to enslave for her. If she had not cast me out, I would never have been strong enough to go.»
«You refused direct orders from her. Some at her court still speak of it.»
He nodded. «Even someone as weak as I am has things he will not do.» Such sorrow on his face, such loss.
We laid our cheek against his hand where it lay on the chair arm. We rolled our eyes upward, so we could watch his face. His hand was very still under our cheek, as if he'd stopped breathing. «Let me share the one gift I have with my only friend.»
He fought to keep the eagerness off his face, but only half succeeded. «You do not have to do this, Jean-Claude. I meant what I said. It is my gift to you.» There was a tension in his hand where it lay, as if his body fought to be still but his hand betrayed him.
«I know your preference is for women.»
«As is yours,» Auggie said.
«Yes, but Belle does not share her personal men with other women.»
Auggie smiled, and the smile was friendly but nothing more; it didn't match the growing tension in the hand that lay under our cheek. His voice was mild as he said, «Unless it is a woman she wished for us to seduce.
Jean-Claude raised his face, beautiful and empty, his face when he was hiding what he was thinking. «Is it Belle you miss, or the ardeur ?»
«Both.»
«I cannot give you Belle, but the ardeur is mine to share.»
Such eagerness on Augustine's face for an instant. A need so raw it filled his eyes with fire like lightning's glow behind gray clouds. Then his face stilled, all that hunger hiding away, but we had seen it. For in that instant, I was no longer seeing the room like some floating phantom. I was inside Jean-Claude's head as I had been inside him and Belle in the earlier memory.
Augustine's voice was as empty as his face when he said, «It is a gift, Jean-Claude. I would be your friend. Friends do not count the costs of favors.»
We were surprised, and had been too long with Belle Morte to trust it. «I would have bargained my body to gain what you offer so freely, Augustine.»
«And that is why I offer it freely. Yes, I long to be with her again. I will love her until the end of the world, but I did not always like her, or what she forced us to do.» His face darkened with memories, but he waved them away, and smiled. «I would have stayed with her forever, doing her bidding, her willing slave, even though I knew her to be evil. I was too» — he seemed to search for a word — «immersed in her to ever wish to save myself, or save all those she wished me to enslave for her. If she had not cast me out, I would never have been strong enough to go.»
«You refused direct orders from her. Some at her court still speak of it.»
He nodded. «Even someone as weak as I am has things he will not do.» Such sorrow on his face, such loss.
We laid our cheek against his hand where it lay on the chair arm. We rolled our eyes upward, so we could watch his face. His hand was very still under our cheek, as if he'd stopped breathing. «Let me share the one gift I have with my only friend.»
He fought to keep the eagerness off his face, but only half succeeded. «You do not have to do this, Jean-Claude. I meant what I said. It is my gift to you.» There was a tension in his hand where it lay, as if his body fought to be still but his hand betrayed him.
«I know your preference is for women.»
«As is yours,» Auggie said.
«Yes, but Belle does not share her personal men with other women.»
Auggie smiled, and the smile was friendly but nothing more; it didn't match the growing tension in the hand that lay under our cheek. His voice was mild as he said, «Unless it is a woman she wished for us to seduce.