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She took his grip. “Thank you. I am pleased to meet you.”
He lowered his voice to a husky whisper. “What are we supposed to do now?”
“Whatever you want to do,” she said in a normal voice, so the others could hear.
He heard a chuckle from one of the divans, where a husky middle-aged nobleman was pawing a far younger woman, pulling her gossamer garment off and exposing her breasts for all to see. Bannon swallowed hard, and whispered, “Sweet Sea Mother!”
Kayla was indeed beautiful, and her filmy gown showed her generous figure. A tight sash emphasized her narrow waist and the curves of her hips. A slit up the side showed her creamy calf and thigh.
“I … I think we should sit down,” Bannon said, and stumbled backward to a bench. She dutifully followed.
“Where’s Melody?” Amos bellowed as he looked around the candlelit room. He raised his voice enough to disturb other men who sat with their chosen silk yaxen.
The fire-orange curtains shifted across an alcove off to the side, and a petite blond-haired woman stepped out. She had large, round eyes that appeared dark in the low light of the dacha. She stepped deliberately to Amos, who did not take a step to meet her, expecting her to come to him.
“I am here, and I am for you, Master Amos,” she said.
“Of course you are.” Smiling lasciviously, he took Melody by the arm and dragged her over to join Bannon and Kayla. “These silk yaxen are beautiful and perfect, some of the finest creations of Ildakar.”
“Yes, they’re all beautiful,” Bannon agreed.
Kayla sat next to him, so close that her leg pressed against his. She slipped her arm around his waist and leaned against his chest, but it seemed to be more for balance than for romance.
“The fleshmancers created monstrous weapons during the ancient wars, but the silk yaxen are their finest achievements, if you ask me.” Amos shouted, “Someone bring us more bloodwine! I have a guest here. We must impress him.”
“I’m fine,” Bannon said, “Really, I—”
Before he could finish his sentence, a less attractive serving girl in drab clothes hurried up with a decanter and poured goblets of red wine, one for Amos and one for Bannon. She offered no wine to the two women.
“Silk yaxen are the perfect courtesans, with flawless skin … so warm and silky.” Amos nodded to him. “Go on, reach out and touch it, you’ll see.” He grabbed Bannon’s hand and placed it on Kayla’s shoulder. Her skin felt warm and perfectly smooth. She didn’t flinch. “But don’t expect much conversation. They’re just dumb animals, bred for these pleasure dachas where they serve us. As normal yaxen were created as beasts of burden, these women bear a different sort of burden, and they don’t mind. Do you, Melody?” He looked at her. She dutifully nodded. “Or you, Kayla?” The cinnamon-haired girl also nodded.
Bannon felt unsettled. “You mean they’re like … cattle in female bodies?”
“The fleshmancers bred them for a specific purpose. They serve that purpose,” Amos said. “But don’t expect them to go beyond that. In fact, Melody’s name here implies that she understands music, or that she can sing.” He let out a cool laugh. “I asked her to sing a romantic tune for me once, just because I wanted to think of myself as her lover.” He snorted. “But it sounded like a cat caught in a fleshmancer’s cage. Isn’t that right?”
“Yes, Master Amos,” Melody agreed.
“Show him,” he said, with a taunting tone. “Sing for Bannon here.”
Without a moment’s hesitation, Melody began to sing. Her voice was warbling and uncertain, and she missed several notes of a song in a language that Bannon didn’t recognize. Before she could finish the first bar, though, Amos slapped her hard across the face, stunning her into silence. Melody cowered. “I don’t care what I say, don’t ever sing again,” he said, and slapped her once more, knocking her off the bench.
Bannon rose. “Stop; you can’t do that!”
Amos blinked in surprise. “Of course I can. They’re silk yaxen. That’s what they’re for. Do you think sex is the only kind of pleasure they can give? You’ll discover it soon enough.” He drank his wine all in one swallow, then hauled Melody, stumbling and cringing, across the wide room, knocking the hangings aside. He disturbed other couples grappling in the dimness as he took her toward an unoccupied private room in the back.
Bannon clenched his fists, swallowing hard. The disorientation from the wine burned away. His father had called his mother a whore, accusing her of things that she had never done, finding excuses to beat her senseless. When Bannon was young, he had never understood what a whore was; only after he’d fled aboard a sailing ship and spent time with experienced seamen had he even learned about prostitutes.
For Bannon, his real experience with love had been with the three young acolytes, Audrey, Laurel, and Sage, in Cliffwall. Such beautiful and kind women had taught him many things, had given him pleasure and taken pleasure for themselves, sharing him as he shared them. He still felt dizzy now with those memories, until they cracked and shattered with what those three acolytes had become, turned into monsters by Life’s Mistress.…
From the back room where Amos had dragged Melody, Bannon could hear more slapping sounds as well as whimpering. Jed and Brock had taken their own women into private alcoves, while the husky nobleman seemed unembarrassed to tear the clothes from his silk yaxen right on the divan in the main room. Other customers paused to watch the show.
Kayla sat next to him. “Is that what you would like?” Her warm breath was against his cheek, her rich cinnamon hair lustrous in the orange glow. She seemed submissive and willing, unconcerned with what he might do to her.
His stomach clenched to think of how others had already harmed her. “No … I don’t think so.” He stood, leaving his wine untouched. He no longer felt the slightest bit tipsy. “I … I think I’ll just find my way back and get a good night’s sleep.”
Kayla didn’t try to convince him, didn’t react in any way. She just adjusted herself and sat primly on the bench, waiting for someone else to notice her.
Bannon’s eyes stung with tears as he hurried out of the dacha. He thought there would be mocking jeers as he
fled, but the others took no notice of him. The doorman looked at him as he left, giving a small nod with a surprising hint of respect. Bannon wasn’t sure how to take that.
The man reached into the pot beside the stool and withdrew several coins. “Here, young man. Your money back.”
“But it wasn’t my money. Amos paid for me.”
“Then take his coins. You didn’t use what he paid for.” Seeing the insistent look, Bannon accepted the coins, knowing he could return them later.
He wandered into the winding streets, finding his way after numerous false starts to a main thoroughfare with side streets branching off to middle-class homes, merchant shops, tradesmen. He was breathing hard.
“Sweet Sea Mother,” he muttered again, unsure about this legendary city. He knew that Nathan needed to come here, that it was a vital part of getting his gift back, but Bannon hoped they would leave soon. He could see the upper levels of the city, and knew that if he just kept climbing the steep streets, he would find the ruling tower and the grand villa and his own rooms. He didn’t want to tell anyone what he had done.
As he turned a corner, he encountered a dark, brown-robed figure in the shadows of a side street. A hand darted into a sack and pulled out something bright and silvery, a flash that caught a stray light from one of the glowing streetlamps. The stranger thrust the jagged object into a crack.
Bannon touched the hilt of his sword. “You there, what are you about?”
The hooded figure darted away, melting like oil into the deeper shadows.
Bannon stepped up to where the figure had been and saw shards of a broken mirror, small reflective bits shoved into the cracks between bricks. He remembered what High Captain Avery had said about the rebels, about someone called Mirrormask, and he felt queasy again.
He hurried back out into the well-lit streets, anxious to get home, though he wasn’t sure anywhere would be safe in Ildakar.
CHAPTER 14
Nicci came instantly awake the next morning when she sensed someone in her room. She opened her eyes to see Wizard Commander Maxim looming over her bed, his lips quirked in a thin smile.
