I’d hardly dealt with the madam who was our landlord. There was no need when Rolina saw her every other evening at the pleasure house. The half faerie was also a friend of Rolina’s, which was how she’d gained employment after her husband disappeared.
Yet a slow blink of her kohl-painted lashes was the only reaction when I informed her of my guardian’s fate.
“Rolina’s gone.”
Morin’s ivory-gloved hand touched her ample chest. “I heard. Ghastly, isn’t it? What those wild ones can get away with.” Tutting, she said, “Such risky business, trading with the lawless folk. Why, you’re lucky to have escaped unscathed, dear darling.”
I nodded. I fell asleep each night to the memory of that flesh-and-bone-eating mist, knowing I had indeed been fortunate.
Sensing she was not here to offer condolences, I did my best to keep from growing stiff as I clenched the door and awaited the reason for this visit.
Morin’s smile waned, her hand sliding from her chest. “I do wish we could put off such a conversation, but it’s already been some days, and I’m afraid the matter cannot wait any longer.” Her gaze flicked over my shoulder. “Not if you wish to keep such a fine roof over your head.”
“The rent,” I said, my stomach sinking slightly. I’d begun to assume that was why she was here.
I opened my mouth to tell her I was looking for employment, then closed it when she spoke between pursed lips. “And there’s also the matter of Rolina’s other debt.”
“Other debt?”
Morin sighed and folded her hands before her. “As we both know, Rolina was fond of beautiful things, and beautiful things cost a lot of coin, my darling.”
I shook my head. “I’m afraid I still don’t quite know what you’re saying.”
“I’ll put it plainly, then.” The madam lifted her pointed chin. “Rolina was my friend, so I gave her exceptions I cannot grant to others. She spent her coin boldly and recklessly, and ahead of her scheduled payments from the Lair of Lust.”
“Oh.” My stomach churned. “But I have no coin to offer you. She spent it all. She—”
“I know.” Morin and her husband managed one of the most profitable businesses in Crustle. I understood exactly what it was, and I understood what was coming when her eyes gleamed a second before she said, “But as sweet as you are, your problems are not my own. The gold must be repaid.”
Gold.
I was nearly too afraid to ask, “How much?”
She arched a brow at my audacity, but then relented with a sigh that failed to stir one tight ringlet. “Ten gold coins, plus the remainder of this month’s rent.”
Shit.
The remaining rent was almost an entire gold coin by itself.
Color drained from my face in a rush that chilled my blood. I had no way of finding such a large sum of coin, and this greedy female knew it.
“I can give you two days to come up with the funds, or”—a slight smile was given with her suggestion—“you can work for me until the debt is repaid and you are a month ahead in your rent.”
I failed to keep from scowling. “But Rolina was never a month ahead.”
“Again,” she said, the sugar slipping from her tone, “Rolina was my friend. You are a faerie I barely know.”
I shouldn’t have been shocked. I’d known where this was headed. I could scent it in the air between us—the thirst for coin beneath her cloying apricot perfume as the madam stepped forward.
I still tensed when she grasped my chin and gently tapped her long nail beneath it. “You’re of mature age now, dear Flea.” She tipped it up with a smile that revealed her sharp canines. Her green eyes roamed my face. “A very fine replacement you shall make.”
The words escaped me before I could trap them. “I cannot work in a pleasure house.”
“No?” Morin stepped back with high brows and a fluttery laugh. “It would seem you’ve been left with no choice, my darling.” Turning away, she said, “I’ll send for you when it’s time.”
Misunderstanding what I’d meant by that statement, she sauntered down the hall to the stairs. All the while I grappled to find a way to inform her that she didn’t want me, and that I would certainly fail in such employment.
I’d never even been kissed.
I should have been heartbroken.
The woman who’d ensured my survival, no matter how grim it had been, was gone. Forever washed from this world. Some tiny part of me should have felt guilty for not doing more to save her. For not adequately warning her of the danger that would befall us if her temper were to flare.
And I had been heartbroken. I’d lost my chance.
Now, I felt nothing but annoyance and an expanding anxiety for whatever loomed ahead.
Pacing the two-bedroom apartment while the bath filled, I stared at the gilded paintings of gowns and lamp-lit streets upon the walls and I thought of the coin. I thought of what it might cost to even so much as attempt to find another way to get what I wanted. To gain what might be my only chance at true freedom.
To finally find all the answers.
The Wild Hunt wouldn’t return for another year. Regardless, I understood now that it had been more than foolish to assume what I needed would be found with the likes of those who would end a life so swiftly because they’d been offended and lacking in patience.
No, there had to be another way. And whatever it was, it was sure to be expensive.
The sky had barely darkened when a gentleman wearing a mustard bow-tie and a monocle over one of his murky blue eyes arrived with a heart-stalling thud on the door. “Madam Morin awaits your escort to the Lair of Lust.”
“Of course she does,” I muttered, knowing better than to refuse although I didn’t need an escort to the building just down the street from the one I resided in.
I still hadn’t decided what to do. I hadn’t determined whether Morin had spoken true regarding Rolina’s debts, nor if it mattered. If she hadn’t, there was no way to prove such a thing. Especially when the evidence filled our apartment in the form of beautiful art, furnishings, wine stains upon the linen and carpets, and fine clothing.
In the end, there was nothing left to do but follow the gent and hope that I could make this meeting short by being honest with Morin about my lack of... uh, romantic experience. Then I would ask for more time to repay the debt, and find employment doing something I could actually do tomorrow.
With the exception of blaming me for her husband’s departure and therefore her fate, Rolina had never spoken of her work at the Lair of Lust. At a young age, I’d eventually pieced together what working for Madam Morin required due to the scents she’d bring home.
The idea of exchanging pleasure for coin had never concerned me, but I wasn’t what they were looking for. Though I’d too often wished differently, I hadn’t any experience with bedding someone. Rolina had wanted me untouched out of fear that my Fae family might not accept me if I’d been sullied by anyone in the middle lands of Crustle.
I found it hard to believe that would be true, given the hungry sexual appetites of faeries. Then again, I’d heard and read multiple contradictory tales regarding my own kin.
The Lair of Lust was a narrow three-story structure jammed between another apartment building and the long-abandoned florist on the corner. The ornate front doors opened to a high-end bar and lounges. Glass chandeliers were visible through the heart-shaped window.