Bagoas in Repose

I was born in a noble military family and trained as a warrior. My father promised to present me to the King once my training was over. However, before that happened, my father and mother were killed in a political conflict and I, myself, was sold to slavery.

The slaver said I possessed extraordinary beauty and thus my fate as a slave was decided immediately. I was sent to a special house to be trained properly for my new role. It took them significant time to make my body flexible but unbreakable, and do the exact opposite with my noble spirit of a young warrior. But I was not the first and not the last slave who passed through the hands of my new masters, and so in the end they succeeded to corrupt my soul to the point that I couldn't recognize myself. I was turned into a very supple and pleasing entertainer, with only faint memories of my past life.

At the end of my training I mastered several different dances, as well as numerous flexible poses that I could use fluently to amuse my masters. I was then sold to a rich man who treasured me like the biggest and rarest diamond, but soon some people came and took me away without explaining anything. Only a few days later I understood that I was taken to the King's palace. I was too beautiful for that rich man, they said, beautiful enough to appear before the King's own eyes.

But not only that, even the King was so astonished that he began calling for me every day. The King wasn't particularly fond of boys, he had a whole harem of beautiful women and girls, but in his eyes I seemingly outshaded them all. I ended up having to lay by the King's throne at all times and be charming so that the King could please his eyes with my beauty at any time.

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The story was inspired by and based very loosely on Mary Renault's book "The Persian Boy"