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“Perhaps,” her mistress drawled.
I shuffled my feet, feeling the heat of the alcohol creeping up my neck until I was sure my cheeks flushed, and the room had tilted.
“This is my home, and I’m safe in the Scarlet District.”
This time, I couldn’t help the huff of laughter. “No one is safe here, especially this close to Beggar’s Row. Don’t fool yourself, sweetheart.”
Lady Visha’s golden eyes snapped to mine. She did not approve, and I couldn’t afford to piss her off. I apologized, but the words fell too easily from my mouth.
“Will you force me?” Everen asked.
“No, little Petal. Not today.” She kissed the courtesan’s cheek and turned away. “You see, Maiden, I’m confident you are desperate. You’ve lost your kingdom, you’re bound to a stranger, and you’ve never had friends. I have to believe you are just like Everen and wouldn’t dare bite the final hand that could feed you.”
“Perhaps,” I said, echoing the tone she’d taken with her worker.
She whipped around, moving in a blur. Her saccharine voice had vanished, revealing the serpent. “Do not mock me, Deyanira. It will serve no purpose. Do you want to make a deal with me or not?”
I almost answered. But saying yes might have bound me into a deal I certainly didn’t want to make. “I will make no open-ended deal, Visha. No matter what you slipped into that drink, I know better.”
“Perhaps I should drag this out further, give it a few more seconds to take effect.”
Biting the inside of my cheek, I stepped toward the door, setting the trap. She was cunning, but so, so easy to manipulate. “Suit yourself. I’ll find another buyer for my father’s jewels.”
“Stop,” she barked. “I’ll give you the three hundred.”
I pulled the less expensive necklace from my boot, keeping it concealed within my fingers until she dropped a bag of coins at my feet. The pendant was worth that, if not a bit more, but had she paid the five hundred, I would have given her the satchel of rubies in my other boot. Lady Visha was a serpent. A magic-wielding thorn in this world, but she kept her girls safe, and by that choice alone, I’d never slight her.
She snatched the jewelry from my hand, examining it for several minutes, everything in the air shifting until it felt like this was her world and we were just living in it.
There were lessons to be learned here, though. A seed to plant among the gossiping prostitutes of Perth’s underbelly, as I was dragged into my new reality with absolutely no one and nothing but Chaos at my side. When you dance among demons, you cannot be the weakest creature.
I stepped to the door, and Visha clicked her tongue, spurring Cordelia to move in front of it until her mistress gave me leave. But I was Death’s Maiden. The last in a line of killers, cultivating a title to be feared and respected. Maybe I wasn’t like those who came before me, but I was like no one else, either.
I pulled my infamous blade from my belt as the world swayed again. The grip along the groves designed for my deadly hands steadied me. I placed the flat edge of the blade to Cordelia’s neck and smiled. “Don’t let your mistress fool you, Courtesan. Those who feel safe are the easiest to hunt.”
“Deyanira,” Lady Visha shouted, the delicate thread of desperation riding the edge of her voice. “That is enough.”
I glared, the dark walls beyond the brothel owner blurring. “Of the four people standing in this room, I hold the most power. Isn’t that why you let me walk in here? Isn’t that why you bargain with Death’s Maiden? You don’t give a shit about the jewels. You certainly don’t need the coins you parted with. It’s always a game for you. A challenge. Every word you utter serves a single purpose as you try and fail to trap me.”
Cordelia’s squeal as the edge of the dagger pressed into her neck was enough to hold Lady Visha in place. “I am not weak. I am not desperate. I could end your life right now and take this building as my own, and who would stop me? The new king? His guards? I am not afraid of them. Be grateful for my humanity, Visha. This conversation could have gone in a completely different direction.”
It might have been the adrenaline from shoving steel into my veins, it might have been the lack of food or the alcohol, it might have been Orin’s leftover poison or my weakening resolve, but whatever had happened, I didn’t register my knees buckling until I was on the floor.
“All bark and no bite,” Lady Visha purred, the honey returning to her voice. She moved to crouch before me on the floor. “This world can still break you, but I can keep you safe. Let me help you, Deyanira.”
She held a hand forward, those eyes softening as she waited for me to take it. Cordelia murmured something, Everen answered, but the mumbling voices held no diction as if they’d been spoken underwater. I blinked several times, trying to clear my mind. She wiggled her fingers. “You can stay here, with me, forever if you’d like.”
Each breath was a drumbeat, each blink, the cymbals crashing. My heart, my lonely, eviscerated heart, knew that I needed her. That I could trust her without question. But something in my brain warned me of the serpent, of the familiar taste of magic seeping down the walls.
The door slammed open behind us, breaking the spell as the last person I’d ever expect to see in Lady Visha’s brothel strode in, her face as hard as steel as she grabbed my jacket and helped me to my feet.
Ro.
“There’s a special place in Death’s court for you, Visha,” she snapped, shoving me toward the door.
“Yes,” the brothel owner called back. “Anyone worth their death knows that. Do save me a seat, kitty cat.”
The patrons and courtesans scattered as we stormed down the hall. I tried not to breathe in any more of the toxic haze.
