Instead, he took the initiative. Hadrian (…) deigned to speak to a boy from the backwater province of Bithynia, and asked if I was enjoying myself. His voice was bathed in honey. I blushed and stammered in reply. (…) That day my soul sprouted feathers, took wing. Eromenos, Melanie McDonald (an obscenity that this book is out of print while things like The Song of Achilles gather praise)