Free Clan and Crown by Tracy St. John

calculating bastard had left or how far he’d managed to
run by now.
    All the pleasurable warm feelings fled.
The air rang with curses as Egilka burst from the bed and stormed
to his carrysack. The Imdiko yanked on an outfit consisting of a
light shirt and pants. As he did so, he tried to ignore the sick
feeling of betrayal knotting his gut.
    He found a hair tie and stomped into
the bath facility to gather his long hair in a ponytail. Staring at
his irate visage in the mirror, he asked himself, “Well, what did
you expect? This is Clajak we’re dealing with. You should have kept
watch over him all night to be sure he didn’t skip out! Damn it,
how stupid am I going to look returning to Kalquor without
him?”
    The fury ebbed a little, showing Egilka
the welling hurt that pierced his anger. Clajak’s confession of how
he’d desired Egilka for years had sounded sincere. That the prince
had admitted pain over not being seen by Egilka as anything more
than a boy had touched the Imdiko. Then when Clajak had loved him
with such compassionate command, Egilka had allowed himself to hope
their union might be more than about duty. Last and best had been
that sweet sinking into the feeling of security, of being with
someone who would look out for him as much as he’d look out for
Clajak.
    All along, Clajak had been plotting his
escape, turning on the charm as Egilka had seen him do to others so
many times before.
    “I’m an idiot,” he told his reflection.
“He’s a shit. I will kick his ass all over the place for playing
me, and then I’ll give him the ass kicking that I deserve for
letting him play me. Maybe then we’ll both learn our
lesson.”
    First, he was going to have to find
Clajak.
    Egilka’s first stop was the greeting
desk in the foyer of the inn. He spoke to the amethyst-furred
Joshadan there. Clajak had been seen all right, leaving not long
after the Imdiko had fallen asleep. It hadn’t taken Clajak even an
hour to skip out after fucking Egilka.
    The Imdiko seethed with anger but took
pains that it didn’t show. He asked the helpful Joshadan for
directions to a certain drug dispensary Yuder had recommended. The
Nobek emperor had mentioned Egilka might visit it should Clajak
prove reluctant to go home. The Crown Prince had probably left
Dantovon by now, laughing his stupid ass off at having eluded
Egilka. In case he hadn’t, the furious Imdiko thought it best to be
prepared.
    Egilka thought that if he’d been smart,
he would have visited the dispensary the moment he’d set foot on
this twice damned planet. Muttering under his breath to himself, he
set off for the center of the city.
    The day was already muggy with rising
humidity. The nearby jungle’s fetid smells mixed with that of open
air food vendors, the ozone wash of poorly maintained shuttles, and
body odors of dozens of different species in various stages of
cleanliness. Amusements tempted at every turn; liquor dispensaries,
drug parlors, and clubs blaring music to theaters with acrobatic
and freak shows. There were arenas with sporting exhibitions.
Gambling halls also abounded.
    However, it was sex that Dantovon sold
more than anything. Egilka could barely walk half a dozen steps
before someone beckoned, promising the handsome Kalquorian pleasure
he’d never known before. The brothels, open around the clock, rang
with continuous calls from its workers. They trumpeted enticements
from the ordinary to the bizarre.
    The invitations made the Imdiko think
of Clajak, the Dramok’s delightful body crushed against his. Those
thoughts made Egilka moodier than ever.
    As busy as Ler was that morning, it was
sedate compared to the festivities offered and enjoyed at night.
After dark, the crush of bodies in the streets might keep a person
standing in the same spot for half an hour. Most didn’t mind as the
atmosphere of decadent celebration meant drinking and sex were
available wherever you ended up ... if one wasn’t too
picky.
    With the sun climbing