The House of the Red Balconies by A.J. Demas EPUB & PDF

The House of the Red Balconies by A.J. Demas EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online

• Status: Available for Free Download
• Authors: A.J. Demas
• Language: English
• Genre: contemporary romance
• Format: PDF / EPUB
• Size: 2 MB
• Price: Free

“By the gods, Hylas,” said Governor Loukianos, leaning back on his
couch and raising his wine cup, “you are going to love it here. This island
makes Boukos look like a jurist’s funeral.”
Hylas, on the other side of the governor’s dining room, tried to smile as
if that idea did not alarm him. Boukos, he had always been told, was a place
of extreme decadence. And the island of Tykanos was worse? He clenched
his fingers over the wet collection of olive pits in his palm and watched
Loukianos drink. The man did not look decadent himself: his raised right
arm was tanned and muscular, his greying blond hair further whitened by
the sun. His high spirits seemed exaggerated, as bright as the colours in the
frescos of his summer dining room.

“I–I will do my best to appreciate all that Tykanos has to offer,” Hylas
said seriously.
“Splendid!” Loukianos grinned at him. “I’ll show you around all the tea
houses myself.”

“That is very kind of you, sir.”
Hylas had heard of tea; it was a kind of eastern drink that kept you
awake. That did not sound very decadent either. He felt relief.
“Let me think,” Loukianos went on. “Where should we start? There are
six of them: the Jewels of Tykanos, that’s what we call them. The Bower of
Suos, that’s my usual haunt, though some of my friends prefer the Amber
Lily, and it does have its charms. We go to the Sunset Palace and the
Peacock from time to time, because one has to, and Myrrha’s is good for a
laugh.”

Hylas wasn’t paying much attention to this. He was debating whether to
put the olive pits in his hand on the table or drop them on the floor. He had
accumulated so many of them now that he was concerned either action
would call attention to itself. There were no empty dishes on the table, so he
had been waiting to see what Loukianos would do, but Loukianos had not
eaten any olives.

At home—in the place he tried not to think of as home anymore—Hylas
would have spat the olive pits on the floor without a second thought. In
Pheme, where he had lived for most of the last five years, the rules were
more complicated, and you would get dirty looks when you discarded bones
or pits or rinds in the wrong way.

“I’ll take you to the Red Balconies,” Loukianos was saying, “for the
sake of completeness, and because it’s the oldest house on Tykanos, though
these days it’s known mostly for its food and music.”
Hylas nodded as if any of this made sense to him. So the tea houses also
served food and hosted musical performances; he supposed that made
sense.

“I am … I am sure it will be a pleasure to visit them all, sir,” he said,
“after working hard every day on your aqueduct.”
“Excellent, excellent.” Loukianos reached for the dish of olives. “Don’t
worry, you’ll have plenty of spare time. Perhaps more than you’d like.
There are always delays on this island. Sourcing the stone, finding the

For More Read Download This Book

EPUB