reviews_and_ramblings | The Red Sash by L.E. Bryce

This is a short story but it is very well built and plotted, so much that it gives you the idea to be longer. At the beginning of the book a wealthy man, Tamasin, presents himself and his bed slaves to the readers. Tamasin is a merchant of some sort, probably no more in the primis of his adult age, he has a wife and three sons, so he has fulfilled his "social" duties and now he can enjoy some privileges of his own; every years he spent the hot months in his villa with some servants and above all with his three bed slaves, Urrit, Elagan and Semoy. The three men, young and handsome, are different in looks, behavior and also origins.

Elagan was the oldest of the three and he was still there when Tamasin bought the house; he is a strong man, with a strong will, but he is "used" to be a slave; he questions his master, but more as a play than a real need to contrast him. Urrit was raised in his homeland to be a sex slaves, and always for him is centered around his "skills"; he has never considered any other life for him and so he is almost detached about it, freedom is not something he missed since he has never had it. And then Semoy; Semoy was not taught in the art to be a sex slaves, and he had very bad experience with men in the past; he arrived in Tamasin's possession not to be a bed slave, but Tamasin was fascinated by this young and shy man; probably he didn't do him a favor to choose him for that role, probably Semoy would have preferred to work with his hands doing an hard work, rather than being pampered and waiting for the nights when the Master chooses to make him wear the Red Sash, the sign that he is the chosen for the day. Of the three Semoy is the one that probably, even if unwilling, gives to Tamasin the most sincere response during their encounters, and it's clear that Tamasin favors him among the other. But Tamasin has duties, his family and his business, he can't neglect and at the end of the summer he has to come back to them.

I like as the author describes Tamasin, he comes out like almost a pater familias, a man who cares for his bed slaves like a man would care for a most cherished property, but he is not selfish or indifferent; it was not an easy task, since Tamasin's character was not an easy one. Tamasin has not regrets for what he is doing, there is not concept of sin or unright behavior; having homosexual relationship or possessing slaves is an ordinary thing, and so Tamasin doesn't question it in his mind; but Tamasin wonders if his slaves are happy, if he is not imposing them something they don't like: this is the good side of Tamasin, since, as before, it's not his due to wonder it, a slave is a property and as a property someone could believe he has not feeling. Urrit, for example, is a bit like that, he was stripped of his personal conception of pleasure, sex is not more something that has to bring pleasure to him, but only to his Master; probably now Urrit finds "his" pleasure in something else, but no more in sex.

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