Page 2 of Sugar & Dragon Act I: Temptation

Kora smiled again. “I knew you would be interested.”

Dago smiled back. He did not answer.

“I admit,” the woman said, “I had some doubt regarding one candidacy, but I gave in to the master’s reasoning and looked at the matter from a broader perspective. As the queen of a progressive country, I cannot allow stereotypes and prejudices to cloud my judgment. I have to show the way.”

Should I clap?Dago wondered.

“As you probably guessed,” she continued, “I called you for a reason.”

Bored with the slow pace of the conversation, Dago decided to speed it up. “I suppose I am one of the candidates the Archmagus mentioned. Best from a reasonableperspective but not from a political viewpoint, because of my family’s reputation. Youinvitedme here to test my goodwill. Am I wrong, Your Highness?”

The queen took a long, slow sip.

“You are not wrong,” she admitted eventually, “but you are not entirely right either. As I said, Ilion is a progressive country. Many magi have a dope of nightmarish blood in their veins. It doesn’t bother anyone, as long as the magus doesn’t get too carried away by his nightmarish instincts. It is not about your family’s reputation. It is aboutyourreputation.”

“And what’s wrong withmyreputation?”

Kora raised her eyebrow.

Dago crossed his arms.

Kora shook her head in disbelief, then laughed, genuinely amused. “You really do not see the problem?”

“No,” Dago said, struggling to contain his irritation. “Will you enlighten me, Your Serenity?”

“Have you ever heard the word ‘philanderer?’”

For a moment, Dago was only able to stare. Then he spoke slowly, as if he was dealing with a slow-witted child. “Are you suggesting, Your Majesty, that the obstacle standing in the way of myprofessionaladvancement is mysexualpreferences?”

Kora leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table, and peered at him over her intertwined fingers. “I said we live in a progressive country, not an enlightened one.”

Dago took a long, slow sip.

“What advice do you have for me then, Your Highness?” he asked.

“How about being more discreet?”

“As discreet as you, Your Glory?”

Kora diplomatically didn’t answer.

Dago leaned on the table in a similar way to her. “Let’s assume that I stop seducing naïve girls, whose mothers are usually most outraged by the lack of proposal from my end, and I start leaving parties unostentatiously with emotionally stable women. Will this be enough to improve my reputation?”

“Yes,” Kora said.

“No,” Haron said.

Kora and Dago glanced at the pale man with jet-black curly hair sitting at the portable table, who until now had seemed completely absorbed in writing something on a long papyrus scroll.

“If someone who has no control over his desires assumes the office of Archmagus,” the secretary said, crossing his dark gaze with Dago’s, “it will elicit more concern than respect. If you think aboutlong-term power, you need to either become an ascetic or get married. Considering the additional benefits, I would advise the second solution.”

“Haron!” Kora spoke the man’s name as if she couldn’t decide if she was amused or outraged.

“What additional benefits?” Dago asked. “Apart from those carnally obvious.”

Haron didn’t seem bothered by Kora’s reaction, because he continued baldly, “If you marry a woman whose reputation, both her family’s and her own, exceeds yours, your value in people’s eyes will significantly increase.”

Dago and Kora reached for their cups at the same time. They drank until they emptied them and could contemplate their bottoms.

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