Her eyes are dull, soft and pink. I’ve known she’s unpatronized, but I never stopped to consider… Is that why she wasn’t mad at me for not sleeping with Hanna? Is she also afraid?
I swallow and finish, “I’ll get my access to the Ring on the ghoul hunting trip. You can teach me how to animate servants.”
“It’s not so easy. It’stechnicallysimple to animate a corpse, but the requisite bonding is intense, even for Ringborn with scores of consorts. You would need to becloseto her, emotionally and physically. Expose your heart.”
“I can expose my heart! I will! I owe it to you, Mistress.”
“You are in no debt to me.” She glances at the gauges, slowly raising the throttle. “I’ll have time during your trip to organize something.”
“Thank you.” It doesn’t feel like it’s enough. But my chest is burning with something difficult to smother, and my words constrict.
Chapter 14
Parlour Tricks
Getting downstairs, Mistress Vincenza already waits for me with brushes and hair ties.
I hold my tongue still to not make a mistake worthy of giving her a second guess, just sitting down and staying still.
She clicks a comb against the table before running it through my hair, still slightly wet. Every time the tips of her fingers just… “Are you riding the train south with your friends?”
I bite my tongue. “For the trip? Yeah. Around four thirty.”
“That’s early.”
“I’ll sleep after the math lesson.”
She puts down the comb and starts tying back my hair.
“Was this faster?” I ask.
“It’s easier to work with hair that’s been brushed within the last week,” she hisses.
I slowly click my tongue against the top of my mouth.
A brush was one of the things I meant to bring back from home. Oh, fuck me.
I should’ve chosen a quieter wake-up call service. I should’ve not tried to quickly read a chapter before bed. I should’ve not spent an extra hourruminating on what it feels like to be mauled by a ghoul. I should’ve closed the window fully. I should’ve had a diet with more variety than waffles.
But now I’m cold, probably hungry, and incredibly tired, waiting for my dress to heat up on the radiator.
I’m just about tossed off the bed by the sound of the phone ringing again.
“Lucia?” I groan into the receiver.
“Heeeeeeeey, Catieeeeee. I’m leaving and will be there…“ Lucia trails off as a distant boyfriend answers her. “He said the scheduled stop is in ten minutes? So, like, fifteen and we’ll be outside your parlour.”
“I know. I’ll be down there.”
“Just making sure you’re awake,“ she teases.
“I already had a wake-up call from the operator.”
“Whatever you say, whore.“ The line cuts.
I’m not a particularly successful whore. Don’t feel like one, at least.
Exhale. Walk down the stairs. I have two Ringborn women, both open for one consort, both not picky, and both ready to have me whore for them. I’m sure I’ll fail to miss at least one of their advances.
