“Not every client,” he corrected her, his voice softening. “Every week.”
“A wage,” she said slowly. “How much per week then?”
Khiva’s jaw tightened. Now he understood why humans did not like to speak of credits.
“One,” he said.
“One…what?” she asked, blinking. “One hundred? One thousand?”
“Veki,” he said, blowing out a harsh breath through his nostrils. “One. One credit a week.”
Khiva watched hertryto process what he’d just told her, information that would have his back stripped of its skin if Madame Allegria ever found out he’d told the truth of their situation.
Evelyn shook her head. “What?”
Khiva remained quiet, simply looked at her.
“Khiva, please tell me this is a horrifying joke.”
Khiva exhaled, shame threading through his insides. “It is not so much about the payment, but that we have shelter and food while we are here. There are many who cannot say the same.”
Evelyn stared at him, her pink cheeks going pale as she realized what he was telling her. She sat like a stone pillar in his lap, unmoving, unblinking, as she processed the truth.
She sat there for so long that Khiva began to worry. “Evelyn.”
“I…” she started, licking her dry lips. She began to extract herself from his lap, her movements urgent, and his stomach sunk, wondering what she thought of him know that she knew. “I—I think I’m going to be sick.”
She raced for the door leading to the washroom and Khiva cursed, quickly following her. He made it to the door just as she retched into the toilet, already crouched beside it on her knees.
Khiva put a hand on her back. “Leeldra?”
Evelyn continued to vomit and Khiva straightened to bring her the glass of water she’d taken with dinner. She was just wiping her mouth when he returned with it and he sank down to the floor next to her, handing her the glass.
Her eyes were wet with tears as she rinsed out her mouth and Khiva noticed that she didn’t quite meet his gaze.
Again, his gut clenched. Quietly, after a heavy silence, he asked, “Do you think less of me now,leeldra?”
He needed to know.
That made her gaze cut right to him and to his horror, more tears ushered into her eyes before spilling down her cheeks. “What?No!”
“Shouldn’t you?” he questioned. “Now you know I whore myself to sleep and eat here, as we all do.”
“Khiva,” she whispered, her tone aghast, her brows pulling together in an expression he didn’t want to see.
More tears spilled from her eyes and all at once, she buried her face into the palms of her hands, her shoulders shaking as rough sobs tore from her throat.
“Leeldra,” he said softly, his chest aching, as he reached for her. The moment his hands touched her bare arms, she climbed onto him until she was in his lap once more, with his back against the wall next to the bathing tub. Something about it reassured him and that tightening in his gut loosened. “Leeldra, why are you so upset?”
“B-because it’s wrong, Khiva!” she rasped. “Everything is so, so wrong.”
“Tell me, Evelyn,” he requested. “As much as I would like to, I cannot read what goes on in your mind.”
“I—I don’t even know where to begin,” she whispered, her shoulders still shaking. Where her face was pressed into his shirt, he felt the wetness of her tears and Khiva exhaled, stroking down her back as he waited.
Eventually, her sobs calmed, but Khiva still felt the way her heart beat steadily into his chest.
When she pulled back to look at him, he growled, not liking her reddened eyes and pale cheeks, knowing they were a result of his words.
