“No.”
I’d been heeding his previous warning, not because I particularly trusted Zayr, but because when it came to Elaine, I couldn’t take any risks no matter how small. Even if there was the slightest possibility of any of my abilities to be impeded by her joy, I couldn’t risk it. I needed all my physical strength and all my mental powers to keep her safe, fed, and content.
“That’s the key.” Zayr nodded, chugging the rest of his water. “Stay away from her,especiallyher.”
The emphasis he’d put on the word “especially” set off an alarm in my mind.
“What do you mean? Why her? What’s so different about my Joy Vessel?”
He narrowed his eyes at me, setting his tumbler aside. “You tell me. What makes her so special that apparently all of Kalmena is now talking about her?”
Until now, word of mouth had been working for us. But as it’d spread wider, it could mean danger too.
“How do you know what’s happening in Kalmena?” I asked.
“From Suhai, the mage. He got kicked out from the capital city and came to beg me for a cave yesterday. He asked about you too.”
“Why?”
“How am I supposed to know?” Zayr shrugged. “Maybe he’s hoping to get his tendrils in your Joy Vessel?”
Something burned inside my chest at these words, and I couldn’t figure out at first what it was. Fear? Anger? Jealousy?
Elaine shared her joy generously with others. Under the right conditions, she was a joyful woman, and the more she gave, the more she had to share. The dismissive, cynical tone that Zayr used when he spoke about it made her cheerful generosity sound like a commodity to own, to force, to take.
But wasn’t that what pleasure was for?
I bought Elaine for that very purpose—to sell her joy. But after living side by side with this woman, I now knew that pleasure, just like any other emotion, was inseparable from the person creating it. I held no power over Elaine’s feelings. Never did. It had always been up to her what to feel and when to feel it. I couldtryto make her happy, but I couldn’tforceher to feel happiness. Any attempt to manipulate those pure, beautiful feelings would spoil them.
It was so clear to me now. It boggled my mind that Zayr couldn’t see it. But I sure as fuck wasn’t going to let him or anyone else to “get their tendrils” in Elaine when they spoke about her like that.
Oblivious to my seething inside, Zayr continued talking, “Suhai says the word in Kalmena is that her pleasure is far superior to that found even in the queen’ssarai. You could make a fortune on her. You know there are plenty of people here in Ashgate who have enough gold to spend on pleasure? Yet I’ve never heard of any of them being invited to your hut on the beach.”
It was bad enough that Zayr knew where I lived with Elaine. The last thing I needed was for all the thugs of Ashgate to line up at our door.
I dealt exclusively with people from Kalmena because they were easier to control. I named the time and place, I had the shadow tunnel open for them, and they left as soon as they got what they came here for. The fine folks of Kalmena had no desire to linger in this cursed place for longer than was necessary. But even that wasn’t guaranteed as the case with Lord Arnaf had proven. The bastard had been haunting me for appointments incessantly. No matter how many meetings with Elaine I’d arranged for him and his friends, he always wanted more.
“If you’re not consuming her pleasure yourself,” Zayr wondered, “why not sell it to as many as would pay? I know you’ve made a lot of money on her already, but you can make more.”
I shook my head, trying to look unaffected even as my fury grew. I wished I could just leave. But maybe this was my chance to teach Zayr something?
“The feeling of pleasure can’t be forced,” I said, my voice tight with restraint. “That’s what makes my Joy Vessel different from any other here and in Kalmena. I don’t ever force her to feel anything she isn’t feeling.”
“Is that so?” Zayr gaped at me skeptically.
“That’s it. That’s the whole secret. No spells, no magic flowers, no copious amounts of wine. Just her.”
“And me,”rushed through my head.
Because I couldn’t deny it. According to all our clients, Elaine’s emotions turned especially joyful when I was with her, holding her, touching her, sharing food with her… She enjoyed my company. By a very unexpected twist of fate, I’d become the very source of the joy I was selling.
I didn’t divulge that part to Zayr. He already looked like his head was about to explode from my previous revelation. Instead, I unclipped the pouch with gold from my belt and tossed it onto the ground next to him.
“I mean it, Zayr. I need a cave, and I’m not going to rest until you make it happen.”
He picked up the bag slowly, as if trying to show me that money would not sway him.
“I’ll see what I can do,” he grunted, pushing off the ground to get up. “But like I said?—”
