“You’re a pleasure servant?” he whispered at last, wide-eyed. If Javier was a pleasure servant, that meant… “You have sex with Master Idhron?!”
Javier laughed at his expression. “Gods, you’re such a kid. Of course I do. That’s my job.”
Eridan could only stare at him.
He didn’t know why he felt so floored. Every initiate knew that Masters of the Order weren’t actually monks, as the rest of the planet thought of them. After all, pleasure servants existed in Hronthar for a reason. But Eridan still couldn’t wrap his mind around Master Idhron doing something as undignified and emotional as having sex. It just seemed… wrong.
“Why would you even want to be a pleasure servant?” Eridan said, and then flushed. “No offense.”
Javier shrugged. “None taken. But why wouldn’t I want to be one? It’s a good job, and mostly pleasant.” He rolled his silver-gray eyes. “Unless you’re stupid enough to fall in love with your employer. Then it obviously sucks when they cast you aside for a shiny new toy, which always happens eventually.”
Eridan listened to him talk about sex and love with a very surreal feeling. He wasn’t as innocent as Javier thought—everyone in the Initiates’ Hall had at least some idea about sex—but he still couldn’t imagine offering his body for a living. Even if the apprentice thing didn’t work out and he was transferred to the servicing department of the Order, Eridan would have never chosen being a pleasure servant as his profession. He could work in the security department, as a memory-wiping specialist—he was decent enough at erasing memories. Or maybe in the administrative department. There were always Masters in need of stewards to manage their off-world estates.
But a pleasure servant? Something about it turned Eridan’s stomach, the same something that always made him too proud, the same something that said I’m better than that.
Immediately, he was ashamed of his thoughts. Javier seemed like a nice guy. Eridan wasn’t better than him.
He still couldn’t imagine Master Idhron doing something as emotional as having sex.
“So, what is he like?” he said before he could stop himself.
Javier gave him an amused look. “You do realize that there’s a non-disclosure clause in my contract, right?”
Eridan chuckled. “Please. There are ways around it. You can still talk in vague terms.”
The other guy rolled his eyes, but he was smiling. “I’m afraid I have nothing juicy to share. He doesn’t even use me often enough.” He looked vaguely affronted. “I think he finds sex a waste of his time, just a physical function he has to deal with. He always looks like he has a million things on his mind, more important than whatever I’m doing.”
Yeah, that sounds more like Castien Idhron, Eridan thought wryly, though he blushed, imagining his Master sitting with a bored, haughty look on his face as Javier sucked his—
Ugh. Why was he even thinking about it?
He really needed to work on his shields now.
***
Eridan looked in the mirror, eyeing himself critically. The clothes were a good fit. They were made in the traditional style for apprentices; except they were in white and brown colors instead of the shades of blue the apprentices wore.
Eridan looked at his shoulder-length hair and scrunched up his nose. He had never liked how wavy his hair became the longer it got, but initiates weren’t allowed to tie their hair back. When—if—he became Idhron’s apprentice officially, his Master would braid a thaal into his hair, which would mark him as a claimed apprentice.
But for now, Eridan couldn’t do anything about his hair.
Fuck, he detested this hairstyle. It made him look… effeminate. Not that there was anything wrong with looking effeminate, but it had always made his life harder at the Initiates’ Hall. Being a throwback, a male who produced natural lubrication when he was aroused, had always made him an easy target for crude jokes about his “boy-pussy”—seriously, if Eridan didn’t hear that word for another century, it would be too soon—but being pretty just added insult to the injury.
At least his classes with other initiates would be limited now, which was the only good thing about the situation.
Eridan went still as something at the back of his mind tugged.
Oh.
Idhron was finally back.
Wetting his lips nervously, Eridan headed downstairs.
In the past four days since he’d moved into Idhron’s mansion, he’d gotten used to it and could navigate it easily despite its size. Truth be told, he already felt more at home in this mansion than