"I accept your service and yourself with thanks, warrior."
Keith took her hands and rose, then bowed to her. "You do me great honor, Thakur."
"The honor is mine," Cortin replied. "Are there any formalities that need to be taken care of?"
"I'll handle those when we finish here," Medart said. "His release from service, back pay and allowances—but it'll be up to you to notify his clan and make arrangements for his tattoo."
"When we're done here, as you say." Cortin turned to her new sworn man. "To give you a status recognized here, I'm commissioning you a Royal Enforcement Service officer. Now, would you like to test your theory?"
"Very much, Thakur." Keith paused, then continued apologetically. "I'm afraid I don't know how, though. One of our strongest customs forbids any same-sex physical intimacy. Since it seems yours doesn't, that no longer applies to me, of course—but the fact remains that I have no such experience."
Cortin chuckled. "That can be remedied easily enough, if you decide you want to, but for your present purposes you don't need experience. All you have to do is take hold of him, snugly enough to provide a friction surface but not tight. The eroticine will make him take care of the rest."
"That sounds simple enough." Keith reached for the prisoner.
The Sandeman didn't look too sure of himself, Odeon thought, when he took hold of the prisoner's erection and the man began moving. Well, Keith had said he had no experience with men … It looked like he was a quick study, though—starting to rub and squeeze in a way Odeon was sure he'd like to experience. Without the drugs, of course.
And, Odeon thought, it seemed pretty clear that Keith enjoyed the pain he was inflicting. That brief smile as moans became cries reminded him again of Joanie; Keith's reaction to his first third-stage was a far cry from Odeon's own. Still, he told himself, maybe Keith's pleasure shouldn't be a surprise, since the Protector's role included the punishment of sinners.