by A. J. Demas
Damiskos laughed, but he felt rather weak and as if he would like to sit down himself.
“You, um, may need stitches for that arm.”
“What? Oh, the … Yes. It hurts quite a lot.”
“Have someone look at it on the ship, if you can—don’t wait until you get back to Boukos. And take it easy. You lost a good deal of blood, and then did a lot of running around—it would be abnormal if you didn’t feel a bit unsteady on your feet. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”
“Yes, First Spear.”
Damiskos sat on the couch next to Varazda, not very close. He wanted to make this easier for Varazda, however he might do that. He didn’t want to burden Varazda or leave him with regrets. But what could he say?
You can go. Don’t worry about me. You can withdraw your invitation, and I won’t feel hurt.
“You must be tired yourself,” Varazda said.
“Pff. I just got to stand around being decorative. I didn’t even have to shout at anyone. But I would like a bath.”
Varazda laughed. “You’ve earned it. You were … down on the jetty … I was in awe.”
“What? No, you weren’t.”
“Well, it felt like awe. Maybe that’s not the right word.”
There was a little silence between them. Damiskos realized, of his own accord, that Varazda was not going to withdraw his invitation. He felt choked with emotion. After all, it had really happened. This was not the end.
“I have to go, Dami,” Varazda said finally. “I don’t want to. Write to me as soon as you know when you can come?”
“Of course.”
“You can send it care of the Zashian embassy.”
“Yes. I’d have thought of that myself eventually.”
“God. Dami, the look on your face. How is it that we make each other so happy?”
“I don’t know how I make you happy—if I really do—unless it’s that you enjoy having brought a wretched man back to life.”
And finally he allowed himself to reach for Varazda and fold Varazda in his arms, silky and strong, delicate and steel-cored, all the gorgeous complexities of him. Varazda leaned against Damiskos, just resting in his embrace, and Damiskos held him gently until it was time to let go.
THE END
Look for the second book in the Sword Dance trilogy, coming in 2020!
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LIST OF PLACES
Sword Dance is set in a fictional world loosely based on the cultures of the ancient Mediterranean. Here are some details about the places mentioned in the story.
Pseuchaia: A group of city-states, mostly on islands, with a common language and religion, usually in alliance with one another but not always.
Pheme: An island and a very large city on that island. Pheme is a republic and the most powerful city-state in the region. The city is located on the west coast of the island; the interior of the island is mountainous, and there are villages and seaside estates around the coast.
Boukos: A city on an island of the same name, a short sea-voyage to the northwest of the island of Pheme. For the last eight years, Boukos has had a trade agreement with the kingdom of Zash. A permanent Zashian embassy was established seven years ago. None of the other Pseuchaian states has an official alliance with Zash.
Zash/Sasia: A sprawling kingdom on the mainland to the east of the islands of Pseuchaia. Their language, religion, and culture are very different from those of Pseuchaia. Zash is what they call their kingdom; Pseuchaians find this difficult to pronounce and so call it Sasia.
Suna: The main seat of the king of Zash.
Deshan Coast: A politically volatile region in the west of Zash. Pheme has colonies and a military presence in the region, where they cooperate unofficially with the king of Zash to keep the peace.
Rataxa: A famous cultural centre in Zash. Called “Ratases” in Pseuchaian.
Gudul: An obscure provincial palace and city in Zash.
Seleos: One of the Phemian colonies on the Deshan Coast of Zash.
Laothalia: Nione Kukara’s villa on the north coast of the island of Pheme.
Laokia: A village near Nione’s villa.
Kos: Another island city of Pseuchaia, famous for its arts and learning.
Ariata: A mainland state, culturally Pseuchaian but often at war with the island cities, famous for austerity and military discipline.
Tentines: A chain of small islands between the larger islands of Boukos and Pheme. There is a shrine to Opos on one of them. They provide the best route to and from Boukos and Pheme, because they allow ships to stay within sight of land for the entire journey.
Gylphos: An ancient kingdom in the south, once powerful but today subordinate to Zash.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I’m grateful to have had the help of a number of wonderful, talented people in the writing and publication of this book.
Alexandra Bolintineanu talked me into returning to this story when I was bogged down in a different project, and pointed me toward the source for Eurydemos’s “philosophy”—thanks, I guess? Lee Welch, beta-reader extraordinaire, gave me feedback that led to a major overhaul of the plot. Victoria Goddard spent a weekend talking over the second draft with me while driving me around Prince Edward Island. May Peterson helped me with that crucial last step of the recipe, “season to taste.”
Aud Koch drew the absolutely perfect cover art, and Lennan Adams of Lexiconic Design completed the beautiful design of the cover.
Thanks to all!
ALSO AVAILABLE
On a night when the whole city is looking for love, two foreigners find it in the last place they expected.
The riotous Psobion festival is about to begin in the city of Boukos, and the ambassador from the straightlaced kingdom of Zash has gone missing. Ex-soldier Marzana, captain of the embassy guard, and the ambassador’s secretary, the shrewd and urbane eunuch Bedar, are the only two who know.
Marzana still nurses the pain of an old heartbreak, and Bedar has too much on his plate to think of romance. Neither of them could imagine finding love in this strange, foreign city. But as they search desperately for their employer through the streets and taverns and brothels of Boukos, they find unexpected help from two of the locals: a beautiful widowed shopkeeper and a teenage prostitute.
Before the Zashians learn what became of their ambassador, they will have to deal with foreign bureaucracy, strange food, stranger local customs, and murderers. And they may lose their hearts in the process.
One Night in Boukos is a standalone romance featuring two couples, one m/f and one m/m. It tells the backstory of the Zashian-Boukossian trade agreement referenced in Sword Dance.
Find One Night in Boukos on Amazon and in Kindle Unlimited:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DJW2HMJ
They met on a battlefield and saved each other’s lives. It’s not the way enemies-to-lovers usually works.
Adares comes from a civilization of democracy and indoor plumbing. Rus belongs to a tribe of tattooed, semi-nomadic horse-breeders. They meet in the aftermath of battle, when Rus saves Adares’s life, and Adares returns the favour. As they shelter in an abandoned temple, a friendship neither of them could have imagined grows into a mutual attraction.
But Rus, whose people abhor love between men, is bound by an oath of celibacy, and Adares has a secret of his own that he cannot share. With their people poised for a long and bitter conflict, it seems too much to hope that these two men could turn their fleeting happiness into something lasting. Unless, of course, the relationship between them changes the course of their people’s history altogether.
Something Human is a standalone m/m romance set in an imaginary ancient world, about two people bridging a cultural divide with the help of great sex, pedantic discussions about the gods, and bad jokes about standing stones.
Find Something Human on Amazon and in Kindle Unlimited:
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https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GLLWQMW
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
A.J. Demas writes about love and imaginary politics in a fictional ancient world. She has been making up stories since she was a little girl but only recently discovered the romance genre. She lives in Toronto, Canada, with her husband and cute daughter.
Find out about upcoming books and more here:
www.ajdemas.com
A.J. also publishes fantasy and historical fiction with a metaphysical twist under a different name (her real one). You can find those here: www.alicedegan.com