“Oh, don’t look at me like that.” The madame shoved her into the room and closed the door behind them, already bustling across the space, pulling dressers and armoires open. “You aren’t really surprised the captain and I know each other after my hand in your capture, do you?”
“What?” Dizziness washed over Lory’s at the memories of that night. How she’d chosen to rob Ycken, how the general had eventually found her in the alley. How Lu’Shen seemed to have known the exact moment to open the door and let her in. “You were working with them? You delivered me to Ycken?”
Lu’Shen stopped, a piece of purple satin in her hands and a wide, practiced smile on her red-painted lips that didn’t touch her slitted eyes. “Of course. How else did you think they found you? Khay likes to activate his network whenever he searches for … criminals.”
“Criminals—” Khayrivven had been the one to set up a trap for her? She’d thought Ycken…
“Captain Falcrest is an old friend of mine, and I like to help out where I can.” Why did her words sound like she meant well?
“You could have hidden me from them.” Anger bubbled up in Lory’s chest like the flurry of ash above a fire. “You could have prevented them from finding me.”
“Not for long, child. It was better for them to find you with Khay nearby than when he was far away on a mission.” The knowing look in her eyes as she dropped the purple satin reminded Lory of that first day, when she’d woken in the brig, Anees ready to question her. Another plan Khayrivven must have put into motion.
Lu’Shen’s false smile turned into an expression of pity. “You don’t know him very well if you think he did it to harm you.” With two steps, she was at the center of the room, gesturing at a small washbasin beside one of the dark, wooden armoires. “Get out of your uniform and wash up. We’ll need you all clean before we put you into one of these dresses.”
Like in a daze, Lory walked across the polished wood floor, her mind racing as she pieced together what was happening. “You know General Ycken and his brother, and you know Falcrest. You work with Ashthorn Ward.”
Lu’Shen didn’t deny it.
“Are you a magic wielder?” Lory wanted to suck the words back in, but the madame was already smiling again, her green eyes sparkling like emeralds as she looked Lory over.
“Youarenot only beautiful but smart, too. Khay was right.”
Why the madame’s words made Lory’s stomach flip was beyond Lory’s grasp, but it sure raised questions.
“What type of magic?”
Lu’Shen shook her head. “That’s none of your business, girl. All you need to know is that this is the best place to learn what they don’t teach you in Gilded at Ashthorn.” Digging through an open drawer, Lu’Shen pulled out a set of golden lace underthings that Lory was sure the madame wasn’t picking for herself, and held them up. “Out of your clothes and on with these,” she ordered, tossing the little nothings at Lory before turning back to the biggest armoire.
“So, this is a Gilded lesson?” Of course, Khayrivven could have warned her, but apparently, he enjoyed leaving her in the dark too much, just as he’d done with his involvement in her actual capture. He hadn’t merely known Ycken had been hunting her; he’d actually set a trap for her together with the general and the brothel owner, who turned out to be a former Ashthorn student.
With a sigh, Lory started peeling her boots and clothes off, using the open armoire door as a privacy screen, before slipping into the golden lace things that barely covered her breasts, yet somehow managed to push them up and squeeze them into the shape of ripe apples.
Great. If Khayrivven saw that, he’d never let her live it down.
She washed her hands and face in the basin, avoiding looking at herself in the mirror above the little stand it was sitting on. If she considered running, now was her final chance. She could throw on her uniform and bootsover the ridiculous garments and dart for the window above the dresser next to the basin. Lu’Shen surely wouldn’t be fast enough to keep her with the tight, pink dress she’d forced her middle-aged body into. The high-heeled shoes the madame was wearing would slow her down as well, but a part of Lory was too curious to even try.
“Where did you meet Khayrivven?” she asked instead, turning her back to the window as she waited for whatever monstrosity of a gown the madame would pick for her.
Lu’Shen’s chuckle of surprise came from the other side of the armoire door, where she was rummaging through the contents. “So, you are on a first-name basis with the captain?” Her head appeared around the door, her gaze flying up and down Lory’s almost naked form—“I can’t say I’m surprised.”—and disappeared again.
Lory wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or an insult, so she said nothing, pondering the merits of simply picking up the purple satin Lu’Shen had been considering earlier so she wouldn’t get assigned anything worse.
“So, where did you meet him?” she repeated her question instead.
Closing the armoire, Lu’Shen offered Lory a bundle of deep-blue silk. “None of your business, Elory. All you need to know is that I occasionally help out with training thornlings and phantoms in Gilded.”
“Thornlings and phantoms?” Lory took the fabric. “I’m an ashling.”
The expression crossing Lu’Shen’s face told Lory the madame didn’t think so. “I train whoever they send me to train,and this is a personal favor for Khay, so if you want to know more, ask him.”
Why did everyone tell her to askhim?Aiden, Anees, now Lu’Shen… Almost like they were all loyal to him directly rather than Ashthorn.
“He trusts you?” Lory unfolded the fabric, trying not to get frustrated with how little of it there actually was.
“Enough to send you in here alone.” Lu’Shen gestured for Lory to put on the dress, and when Lory struggled to find the right straps to put over her shoulders or neck, the madame started tugging things into place until two stripes of blue silk wrapped around her biceps, then ran from the sides of her breasts to her neck, joining with a silk collar. Part of the golden lace bra peeked above a heart-shaped, low-cut neckline, while the tight bodice hugged her curves. The tight skirt revealed her leg where the fabric was slitted all the way to her hipbone on one side, and a golden brooch seemed to be holding the entire thing together above her navel. Lory could have sworn one wrong breath would tear the dress right off her, so she inhaled small, shallow breaths, holding the fabric to her stomach with her flat hand.
Lu’Shen eyed her with approval. “Not bad. Now all you need is a proper hairdo and some makeup, and you’ll fit right in.”
