"They outgrow it."They outgrow it." "Wait a minute," I said. "Just like that, they outgrow it? That's all you have to say for what is... is..." "Paederasty," Aaden said. "Not a very accurate word, I'm afraid, since it more accurately depicts a state of catamisis rather than what I count myself as." "Catamisis?" I asked. "Keeping a boy strictly for sodomy, because they're 'tighter' than girls." "Oh," I said, shivering. "Aaden," I said, looking up at him, "Tell me what you are. I've never said that before, because I've never felt you had to put it into words. Now I do. What are you?" "We can keep using the word 'paederast,' if you like," he said, sitting down in the sand and gesturing for me to take a seat opposite him. I slid down off the rock and took up a patch of beach. "It's not that inaccurate, either, if you keep what I tell you foremost in your mind." He paused, looking up at the sky as if looking for a message. "Before I tell you 'what I am,' let me tell you that I think you know the answer already. Because if you honestly thought I was abusing Khai without consent or wisdom, you would have killed me. That's how your mind works, Ken-- You know it and I know it. We based our relationship, which we call 'love,' on rules. |