“Right, well I’m pleased to—um, what are you doing?”
Fryn’s hands were on Amma’s vest, pulling its tie free. “Well, you’re kinda gross, no offense, and clothes don’t go in the bathing pools, just bodies.” Amma’s vest was tossed over Fryn’s shoulder, and then her tunic was pulled upward, blinding her. “I mean, yes, we’re doing the ‘have her bathed and brought to me’shtick which is a little cliche, but I think you’re going to feel better cleaned up, and you’ll definitelydoa lot better if you smell nice.” Fryn appeared again as the tunic was shucked off into the far corner of the room.
Amma’s instinct was to push her away, not wanting to be touched, let alone stripped, after what had happened in Brineberth. But the sound of falling water meant that she had the opportunity to wash Cedric's hands off of her, and she suddenly desired nothing more than ducking below the surface and staying there until her lungs threatened to burst.
Fryn dropped to her knees and started working on Amma’s boots. “Don’t worry, though, I can fix you right up. You should have seen me my first time here.”
Amma did look at her then, her strikingly pretty face despite being haloed by serpents, and her toned limbs and stomach, all of which were on display in what very little she wore. She was clad in what should have been undergarments but were adorned as if meant to be put on display in deep reds and violets with ornate chains and jewels that tinkled pleasantly when she moved. The woman’s poise and confidence likely blinded Amma to how much of Fryn’s skin was uncovered until then.
“Can you tell me where exactly here is?”
“Oh, I don’t really know, the summons never says. It’s just a temporary dimension or whatever, only lasts as long as Yvlcon, so it doesn’t have a name.” Fryn held one of Amma’s boots up and poked at the scuffs, clicking her tongue. “Unless you meanhere, here? At Yvlcon? You must have really been a last-minute decision. Happens sometimes.” Too quick to be stopped, she reached up and pulled down Amma’s breeches with a wink. “You must have some talent.”
Amma tripped backward out of her pants, and they were tossed onto the pile in the room’s corner. Left in just her chemise, Amma padded barefoot across the tiles, following Fryn to the first pool at the bottom of the tiered steps. A layer of steam blanketed the water, bubbles popping in its center like a stew, and Amma suddenly felt as though she’d enjoy being boiled.
“So, you, my friend, are at the Yearly Villainous Ledgeration and Convergence of Nefariosity, which is basically like a party. I mean, as much as these guys can ever have a party. Big, bad, evil guys from all over come together here, and they discuss new inventions and discoveries, make plans with one another, and basically just catch up. It’s actually kind of boring during the day, serving drinks and waiting around while they talk, but at night it can getveryfun.” Fryn moved fast again, grabbing the hem of Amma’s chemise and pulling it over her head. “Okay, hop in.”
Naked, Amma was more than happy to cover herself by sinking into the pool. Muscles loosening in the heat, she groaned, eyes closing, nostrils filling with the jasmine-scented steam. “What kind of fun?”
“The kind you get paid to do.” Amma’s eyes popped back open to see the careful look Fryn was giving the lace on the neckline of Amma’s underthings. “Wow, this is nice. What’d you have to do for it? Postern-gate stuff?”
Amma didn’t know how to answer that. She didn’t have todoanything for it, and she had no idea what the rear entrance to a fortification had to do with anything either. But Damien had said outright that Amma’s presence wascarnal, and Fryn’s clothing, or lack thereof, suddenly made much more sense. She dipped a little lower into the water. “Um, I don’t mean to be rude, but are you a…a prostitute?”
“Am I?” Fryn tapped fingers to her chin as she thought, then tossed Amma’s chemise over her shoulder with a shrug. “Well, I do havea lotof sex, and I get paid very well for it, don’t I?” She slipped a hand under one of her snake’s heads and tickled its chin. Its tongue darted out with a laugh-like hiss, and Fryn snickered back.
“But you, um…you choose who you…uh…” Amma rubbed her arms beneath the water.
“Oh, yeah! Things are way different than they were before.” Fryn knelt then at the edge of the pool and tossed a small linen to Amma. “And I get paid for lots of other stuff too. I mean, you wouldnotbelieve how much these guys like to yak. Sometimes that’s all they want! It’s like, world-domination this, and total-destruction that, and then, get this, sometimes they evencry. Which, by the way, you arenotgoing to see coming the first time it happens, but you gotta be ready, because if you laugh? That’s it, sister.” She ran a finger over her throat and stuck out her tongue. “But, if you can be convincing enough like,Oh, no,master, that sounds so hard, you must be totally overwhelmed having to manage so many nefarious plans and so many stupid minions, they’ll give you almost anything. It’s great!”
Amma scrubbed at the dirtiest parts of her, perhaps a bit too hard as a distraction. “It’s great?”
“Yup! I actually got a castle in Clarisseau off a guy who fell helmet over boots for me a couple years ago. I think he stole it from some nobles, I didn’t ask for the details, ya know, it’s better that way, but it’s real nice, got a great view from the battlements and everything. The villain who gave it to me did end up getting himself killed when he tried to march on the Vouvusti temple in the territory next door though. I told him, I said,Lucius, you can’t just walk into a holy place to the goddess of a whole season and expect to turn it, but did he listen? Of course not! I should have known, it’s impossible to tell a necromancer anything—the whole bringing-stuff-back-from-the-dead thingreallygoes to their heads. He died choking on a bunch of dried leaves that the priestesses shoved down his throat and then set fire to. Can’t cast yourself back to life when your lungs are burnt out, can you, Lucius?”
“Oh, um, I’m sorry?” Amma scrubbed at her face, peeking over the linen.
“Eh, it’s fine it’s not like I was inloveor anything.” She squealed out laughter at that. “Most of ‘em get themselves killed, so just don’t get too attached. I think you got the worst grime off you—time for the next pool.” Fryn stood, gesturing to the stairs set into the waterfall, and climbed up to the next tier on the tiled floor.
As the woman busied herself with a table covered in bottles, Amma ascended to the next pool. This one was just as warm, but smelled of citrus and made her skin tingle. Choking on burning leaves sounded like a terrible way to go, but the woman had been so flippant about it, like there were plenty to fill this Lucius’sspot. Amma frowned—she wasn’t here to find a replacement for Damien, but then she wasn’t here to do any of the things it sounded like Fryn did—at least, she didn’t think so.
“Also, games!” Fryn spun back around and jogged over, jars tucked into her arms. “We play a lot of cards, dice, Innkeepers and Imbeciles, you name it. I’m pretty good at Manticore and Mouse, but you have to make sure you don’t beat the villains which can get rough. I mean, sometimes it’s harder to figure out how tonotwin. It is important though, because most of these guys are really sore losers. But here’s a secret for you: when you get to know one of them well enough, and you’re all alone with them, that’s when you play your best game and you totally obliterate them. Come here.”
Amma approached the pool’s edge and Fryn gave the top of her head a push so that she completely went under. Amma sputtered when she was pulled back up, hair in her eyes, and Fryn laughed.
“It’s weird, but sometimes they actuallylikelosing,” Fryn said, pouring out a thick liquid from one of the bottles and lathering it between her hands before working it into Amma’s scalp. “I mean, what else would you do if you actuallydiddominate the whole of existence, right? Just sit around like someking? That sounds so boring! Nah, they gotta lose sometimes. It gives ‘em something to work for.”
Amma let Fryn’s fingers work at the knots in her hair as she considered her words. Realm domination—that had been Damien’s goal, but he never said what he would do if he got it.
“At least you only have one dark lord to try and figure out. Unless he brought you here to trade you off?” Amma’s heart shot into her throat, but then Fryn shook her head as she rinsed her hands off in the water. “No, if he risked bringing you here unregistered, he probably wants to keep you. Plus, I’ve never seen Lord Bloodthorne take interest in any of us individuallybefore.”
“You know Damien?” Amma asked just as she was unceremoniously dunked under again.
Fryn was snort-laughing when she pulled Amma back out of the water. “You call himDamien? I don’t know him like you do, apparently! Let’s see, this is my sixth time to Yvlcon, and things have changed a lot since I was first captured—they don’t even capture people anymore—but I think I’ve only been in one orgy with him. It’s hard to remember since he’s more sort of the strong, silent type, ya know? Well, I guess youdoknow.”
Amma’s mouth fell open, soapy water coating her tongue, a vague memory of him saying something about keeping track of a pile of bodies echoing in the back of her mind, but the words were wobbly and drowning in ale.
“He never hangs around much, always seems really unsatisfied, to be honest, but then there was that long stretch he was with Mistress Delacroix. You might have your work cut out for you. Okay, last pool for the final rinse.” She gathered her bottles and returned them to the table.
Amma swam toward the highest pool, a frown creasing her face. “Who’s Mistress Delacroix?”
