“To get drunk.”
Maybe he wasn’t drunk by Keriv’i standards but to Valerie…he certainly seemed like it.
His eyes went down to her lips when she said, “Come on. Let’s get you upstairs.”
“Veki,” he murmured, his voice lowering.No?“Let’s go to your room.”
Something pinched in her belly, sharp and hot.
“Cancel my client for the night,” he went on, still looking at her lips, his palm still curled around her ankle.
That was a given. He was in no state to meet with his client for the night.
She shook her head, her face heating. “What—what are you saying, Dravka?”
He blew out another sharp puff of air.
“We need to talk. We have a lot to talk about, Val. Don’t we?”
Valerie barely suppressed the shiver that raced down her spine. A pleasurable one. Dravka’s voice was husky and deep. Like how it was when he was in his Rut…
ThatparticularRut. When she’d…when they’d come close to crossing that invisible line between them.
Her nostrils flared and she rose, stepping away so his hand fell from her ankle. Rounding the desk he was leaning against, she picked up her Nu device and patched the line into the Cluster.
Tavak’s face appeared in the projection above the tablet.
“Valerie?”
“Can you come downstairs?” she asked. “Dravka is down here and I need help.”
She heard a rough groan on the opposite side of the desk. Dravka was no doubt annoyed that she called Tavak in the first place.
Tavak said, “I’ll be down.”
Once the line dropped, she called Madame Sung, a wealthy widow and Dravka’s client for the evening.
“Is he all right?” Madame Sung asked, her lips turning down into a frown, when Valerie told her about the cancellation for tonight.
Valerie’s own lips pressed together. She couldn’t find it in herself to paste on her usual fake smile.
“Nothing serious,” Valerie replied. “He just feels unwell tonight.”
Madame Sung nodded, the projection flickering for a brief moment. “Please send him my well wishes for a speedy recovery then. I’ll call this week to reschedule.”
It was on the tip of Valerie’s tongue to tell her not to bother. She had been planning on phasing out the clients in the next couple days. She knew that Madame Allegria wouldn’t pull the plug on the brothel. But Valerie sure as hell would.
“Areyouall right, dear?” Madame Sung asked next. “You look a little peaked.”
Valerie bit her tongue. Madame Sung had always been kind, even though Valerie disliked her on principle—because she was one of Dravka’s regular clients. She was a lonely, older widow…and by the looks of it, had already gotten ready for the night if her curled hair and red lips were anything to go by.
Hair she’d curled and lips she’d rouged with Dravka in mind. For Dravka?
Valerie’s fingers clutched harder to the Nu device.
“I’m fine, Madame Sung,” Valerie said, giving her a slight nod. “Enjoy the rest of your evening.”
Before the older woman could reply, Valerie ended the patch connection just as Tavak made it to the lobby floor, his feet padding softly across the grand foyer.
