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But considering the fact that Auberon was hunting a murderer and searching for the eudorite mines, it would probably come in handy to have an ally who could heal almost any wound.
Auberon nodded, and a look of relief came over the duke’s face. “I’m not in the habit of breaking my word.”
ChapterForty-One
The Lady
“I’ll sit in the main room and keep an eye out for any suspicious characters,” Aeron said as Riona stepped inside. “Shout if you need me.”
“Thank you, Aeron.”
He dipped his head and left, a hand curled around the grip of his sword.
Faylen shut the door as Riona surveyed the room. It was simply furnished, with a bed, a chest of drawers, a table and chairs, and a tall wardrobe. The lone window was shuttered tightly. Even though it was the middle of the night, the room was pristine, the bed untouched. The only sign that someone had been staying there was the canvas bag sitting on the floor by the door, within easy reach should Faylen need to flee. A lantern sat atop the chest of drawers. Its low flame danced, making the shadows throughout the room pulse with life.
“I haven’t been able to sleep much since Cathal… Since I left Innislee,” Faylen said, following Riona’s gaze to the untouched bed. She sat at the table, her arms curling around her belly. “You’ll really help me get to the Selannic Isles?”
Riona pulled out her coin purse she had brought and set it on the table. Faylen’s eyes widened at the sound of the coins clinking against one another. “I will. This should be enough to pay for your passage and set you up with a nice life there.”
“Oh, thank you! If your man hadn’t found me, I don’t know what I would have done. I told every captain bound for the Isles that I would work to earn my place on the ship, but none would take me in my condition. Never mind that I have a couple of months before the baby arrives.”
“They’ll do it for the right pay,” Riona said, nodding to the money. “You and your child will be safe.”
Faylen’s face crumpled, and she looked away. “Cathal… I don’t know what to do now that he’s dead. He promised that he would take care of me—take care ofus.”
Riona leaned forward, her voice soft. “Will you tell me about him?”
“Where do I begin?”
“Wherever you’d like. Perhaps with how you met.”
“I was in the market purchasing ingredients for the contraceptive tonic the brothel owner made for us. The merchant’s stock was running low, and he wanted to charge me an exorbitant price—more money than Mistress Lilah had given me, but she would have punished me if I hadn’t returned with her order. And the punishments…” Faylen faltered. “She would give us to the customers who hurt women for pleasure. I think that’s why no one came to our aid when Cathal and I were attacked. They all thought it was just another monster who’d paid the mistress for theentertainment.
“I was arguing with the merchant when Cathal interrupted and paid for everything. Just like that. And once he’d finished, he walked me to the brothel and promised he would come back to see me. That was how it started. For a while, he did nothing more than sit and talk to me, but he paid every aurum the mistress demanded without complaint.”
“I know he continued to visit you after that. He even paid so you wouldn’t have to entertain any other customers,” Riona said. She paused, then asked, “Did you love him?”
The small, grief-filled smile that spread across Faylen’s lips was confirmation enough. “I did. I loved him desperately. He was only able to visit me once or twice a week if I was lucky, but during those visits, I could almost pretend I hadn’t escaped slavery only to end up in another hell.” Her smile turned sorrowful. “For the few hours he was there, that was enough.”
“What changed? The owner said he stopped coming to see you.”
Shame flashed across her face. “I didn’t want him to know about the baby. When it started to show, I refused to see him, but Mistress Lilah wouldn’t turn away good coin. She locked me in a room with him, and I shouted the most foul, most despicable things I could imagine. I wanted to hurt him so badly that he would stop visiting. When I was finished, he left without a word, but he continued to pay so that I wouldn’t have to take any more clients. He saved me, even when I did everything in my power to make him hate me.”
“…Because the child isn’t his, is it?” Riona whispered, putting the pieces together. Faylen had only joined the brothel a few months ago. Her pregnancy was too far along for Cathal to have fathered the child.
“It would have been his child in every way that mattered, except for one.Thathonor goes to the man I paid to help me escape my chains back in Sandori,” she spat. “I thought he would take me to Rivosa and help me find work, but he had other plans. He kept me with him for a few months, until he discovered that I was with child. Then he dumped me in the brothel with no money and nowhere to go.”
Faylen shook her head. Despite the rage and pain and grief in her voice, she did not cry. Riona suspected her tears had run dry long ago. “I was terrified of what Cathal would say when he discovered the truth. And I was ashamed.”
Riona reached across the table and squeezed the elf’s hand, her heart breaking for the things she had endured.
“I didn’t see him again until the morning he died.”
“What happened?”
She sucked in a deep breath and looked down at her belly. “I woke to Cathal bursting into my room, spouting nonsense about fleeing the city. I got out of bed to try and calm him, and it was then that he saw my condition. He went completely still, completely silent, but I could see him putting everything together. Cathal vowed then and there that he would take me to the Isles and marry me. He gave me some documents he had smuggled out of the treasury and told me to run. We would meet in Crafford, he said, so we could sail over together.”
Faylen squeezed her eyes shut. “The next thing I knew, someone ran into the room and shoved me into the wardrobe. When I turned, they were on the bed, fighting. I saw the dagger plunge into— I saw it plunge into Cathal’s chest.” She paused and sucked in a ragged breath. Her gaze was distant, lost in the memories of that terrible day. “I launched myself at the bastard on top of him. He elbowed me in the face, and when I fell to the floor, he turned on me. He would have killed me, but Cathal grabbed him and told me to run. Every night, when I close my eyes, I see the hopeless look on his face as he said it. He knew that was the end. He knew that I had to leave him to protect my baby. So I did. I grabbed the documents, fled out the brothel’s back door as quietly as I could, then stole a horse.”
