I shuffle the robes again, angle my body more to the right, concealing her.
“A regular with a husband who leaves her…unsatisfied,” I explain, leaning into Elyssara’s neck. “Isn’t that right, darling? You always come forme, don’t you?”
She pulls her bottom lip between her teeth, sucking in a breath of arousal.
I slide my hand between her legs, palm pressing against her clit over the robes and she grinds into me, legs spreading wider for more friction.
She’s not performing.
She’s lost to pleasure.
I lean forward, shoulders presenting like a wall between them.
More. She pleads down the tether.
But not like this. Not with them so close.
I cup her breast with one hand and keep my other palm pressed to her clit over the robes, blazing languid, hungry kisses into the skin of her torso. I chase my way up her body until I’m between her breasts.
“Yes,” she moans, tangling her hands through my hair and pulling me down, desperate for more.
She’s under the spell of my touch, the lingering stares and entitled men are secondary to her own intoxication.
The guard almost looks satisfied, but he hesitates. His gaze sweeps us one last time. Suspicion still lingers, sharp and ugly, before he says, “Remove her blindfold.”
Elyssara doesn’t stop working her hips, hungry from me, but her breath hitches in an unnatural pattern, and I notice.
Keep going, Duskae. We’re almost there.I encourage, but my stomach turns to lead.
“No,” I reply simply. “Anonymity is part of our deal. I take it off, I don’t get paid. And nothing stands in the way of my coin. Respectfully, not even the king’s men,” I snap, and I feel sick at offering respect to these throne-lickers.
My palm craves the hilt of my blade, hovering over the dagger at my thigh, keeping my other hand on Elyssara, never abandoning the act.
“We could always make you,” he spits, and the broadsword sings free from its sheath—metal rasping the air.
These men couldn’tmakeme do anything, steel or not, magic or not. But I play the game, leaning into the cunning of a long-standing courtesan. “I thought men of the king would have a healthy respect for other men earning coin, especially if it comes from pussy,” I counter, with a smirk, hating the words as they leave my mouth.
The guard’s laugh barks from his throat, condescending, hateful. “Better than the rats who infest the other side of the Stream, I’ll admit,” he rasps, but he lingers one heartbeat too long. My hand twitches toward the dagger hidden beneath the silk robe, but then another voice cuts through the haze—Amarisse, from across the parlor, dripping honeyed charm.
“Gentlemen, this way. I’ve prepared your usual table,” she offers. “A few newtreasuresarrived just this week—untouched, unspoiled.”
My stomach roils at the offer she’s just made.She’s offering untouched girls to these pigs?
The guard hesitates. His gaze sweeps us one last time. Suspicion still present, but finally he jerks the curtain shut and stomps away, seduced by the offer of virgins.
I exhale slowly, unclenching my fists from where they’d curled into her skin. She exhales, pulling the blindfold up to reveal the emerald-green eyes that possess my dreams.
“Will you take me now?” she asks, eyes hooded and sinful.
“Are you okay?” I ask, needing to make sure she’s not taking herself away from here.From me.
Without hesitation, “Yes.”
Gods save me.But if they touched her, I would’ve torn the world open just to make a grave big enough for all of them.
I press a gentle hand to her cheek, cupping it like she’s sacred. She leans into me. I tip her chin up and claim her mouthin a kiss that eclipses performance. No, this is no act—it burns like truth.
Amarisse’s voice cuts through the incense like a blade as she peeks through the curtains, “Rubi’s made an elixir to put them to sleep—we’ll send them across The Barrier, and they’ll wake up in their homes.”
