Chapter Thirty-Four
Yihui knew she was in a whorehouse even before they carried her upstairs and chained her to a bed. Whether in England or China, the sounds and smells of a place like this remained the same. At least her room was cleaner than some places, and she heard no sounds of violence. That was a comfort.
A very small one.
“I don’t need chains,” she said. “I can’t walk.”
It was a lie. The wood and plaster around her feet had kept her from the worst of the damage the bastard had tried to inflict. She could hobble on her heels if she had to. She wouldn’t be fast or fierce, but it would be better than being chained like a dog.
Neither of her captors responded. It took two of them to chain her down. She didn’t fight them. It would be too easy for them to rebreak her feet, but she didn’t make it easy on them either. And she memorized their faces so she could get revenge on them soon. A good curse if nothing else.
Then she was left alone.
After nearly two weeks living in luxury, this was a shock.
She kept trying to tell herself it wasn’t.
She had slept on bare floors before, and this room had a cot.
She had fought with rats for her food, and so far, she had not seen any vermin.
All in all, this was not so bad. She had survived worse.
Certainly, it was better than the ship that had brought her to England.
It was horrible.
She was alone again, completely lost again.
She knew what happened to girls chained in brothels.
She wanted to believe that Max would come for her.
Emmaline had said as much, but in her heart, she knew that Emma had as little power as she did.
If Max’s father declared that she be tossed in a whorehouse, then that was where she would stay.
It was the nature of powerful men to destroy women.
What an idiot she was for thinking Max would keep her safe. He was not the family patriarch. His father was the one with real power. The son might be kind, and the son could make promises, but it was the father who made the decision.
She curled in on herself, as miserable as she had ever been.
Why had Heaven given her two weeks of kindness?
Two weeks of good food and a man’s gentle touch, not to mention friends and hope for a future?
Why give her those just to snatch them away?
Better to have never felt such things, never known a soft caress than to have a taste and lose it.
Those were her most coherent thoughts and even they were sharp needles scattered between sobs.
She was a survivor. She was a woman who made her own chances and created her own fortune.
Except now she felt utterly broken. How pitiful she was, she mocked herself.
Where was fierce Yihui? Could she be destroyed simply because Max was lost to her?
Yes.
Yihui had been raised under her father’s casual disregard, had accepted being sold, and had survived the ugliness on the ship.
She had cursed her abusers and even killed one.
But give her two weeks of kindness, fill her with hope for a future in a beautiful man’s arms, and suddenly, her spirit was broken when it was snatched away.
She should have expected this. She should have had a weapon ready. But she had grown soft and stupid because she loved a beautiful man who made promises he could not keep.
She was a fool.
She lay on her pallet and cried. And when there were no more tears, she stewed in her stupidity.
She deserved whatever fate came. She knew eventually she would gather herself together and figure out a solution.
She knew in time she would develop a plan for survival.
But for right now, she damned her own stupidity.
Max was lost to her, and she grieved.
It was hours before anyone disturbed her misery.
She heard the door scrape open and bolted upright.
She’d long since learned to protect her feet when moving, so they remained immobile, the heavy iron chain glinting dully in the growing candlelight.
She wondered if there was any way to protect herself, any weapon at hand.
She cursed herself for crying like a child instead of planning for this moment, but that was all the energy she had for recrimination.
She would face whatever came with a cold, hard heart.
And then was momentarily crushed when the person who entered her room wasn’t Max.
She hadn’t been expecting him, and yet she was still wrapped in her dreams as two women walked into the room. The first strode in calmly. She was the madame, dressed in elegant but functional clothes. Sturdy fabrics stitched well. Her face was calm, her expression one of calculation.
Yihui pushed the hair out of her face and squared her shoulders. She would not face what was coming as a victimized child. But before she could speak, her attention was absorbed by the second woman.
That lady swept in wearing silk, powder, and a canny expression. Her eyes were alight with interest, and she looked positively ecstatic by the sight of Yihui.
“You poor thing!” she exclaimed. “Chained and broken. How awful.”
Yihui extended her chained foot. “I cannot run. The chain is unnecessary.”
“And cruel!” the lady gasped. She waved at the madame. “Please get rid of that.”
“Are you sure?” the other asked, her expression still mostly blank.
“Absolutely!”
With a nod, the madame glided forward and released the shackle. Meanwhile, the lady shook her head and audibly tsked.
“What do you need to heal your feet? Potions? Plasters?” She again gestured at the madame. “Make sure she has anything she could want.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Yihui leaned back against the wall, pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t damp.
She wasn’t fooled by the display in front of her.
Though the lady appeared very sympathetic, she was the one who had likely ordered the shackles in the first place.
She was the one in power here with the madame pretending to be the harsh one.
Either way, Yihui would accept new bandages for her feet. She needed them to heal as quickly as possible, so she listed what she required. The madame nodded and glided out, presumably to get what was needed. Which left the lady here to discuss the future.
“I’ve already asked them to bring up tea. Are you hungry? I can ask for something more than biscuits.”
“Food is always welcome,” she said. Though she would have to be very careful of any drugs in it.
“Naturally.”
So saying, the woman settled down at the base of the cot. She arranged her skirts around her, moving with a sensual grace. She was likely a courtesan of the very expensive kind, and Yihiu couldn’t help but admire her beauty. This woman knew how to seduce in the most subtle of ways.
“Pray let me introduce myself. I am Triana Sabate, and I am very interested in you.”
Yihui dipped her chin as Emma had taught her. “Very lovely to meet you, Lady Triana.”
The woman trilled a beautiful laugh. “I am no lady, I’m afraid, but I like the way you see me. You may call me Madame Sabate.”
Yihui dipped her head in a pretense of overwhelm. As she guessed, Madame Sabate pinked beautifully at the sight. Obviously, she was a woman who enjoyed flattery.
“Please, lady,” Yihui said, “what is to happen to me?” She kept her voice tremulous and even shuddered a bit in terror. It wasn’t all pretense. She was frightened and if this woman chose to help her, then she would be grateful.
“Of course, you must be terrified,” the woman said.
She dropped her hands into her lap in a show of decisiveness.
“It’s these horrible men. We women are forever at their mercy.
Some man declares that you are to be wed to a foreign prince, then another prince declares that you must wed someone else.
No one asks your thoughts. No one cares.
They break your feet, lock you in chains, toss you away like bad rubbish.
” She touched Yihui’s hands. “That is not a good life.”
Of course, it wasn’t, but what did this woman think she could do about it?
“Tell me about your Chinese medicine. Does it work?”
Everyone asked that, even in China. Will the medicine work? Will my health come back? Why don’t I feel like I did when I was young?
“Some work very well, some only a little. You know this is true of all medicine.”
The woman nodded, her expression tightening. “Do you know where you are?”
“I can guess what is done in this building.”
“Good. Is that something you wish to do?”
Whore? “No.”
“What about a woman like me? Do you know what a courtesan is?”
She did. “Do you have one master? Or many?”
“When I was younger, I went from man to man, giving them such exquisite experiences that I was sought after by the king himself. Now, I have enough money to do as I will.” She gestured to the building around them. “I own this. Madame Florina runs it, but I am the owner.”
That made sense, and Yihui appreciated such independence. A woman who had forged her own path was always to be admired.
“I will make a very poor courtesan. I make medicines. I do not flatter men.”
The lady smiled. “Which is why you find yourself in your current situation.”
Yihui couldn’t disagree. But how could she have flattered the duke when she’d had only had the barest glimpse of him? He wouldn’t even stay in his home while she was there. Women like her had no access to the ones with true power.
“I can see that you are railing at the unfairness of it all. Men make decisions, and we women live and die by them. It’s a terrible way to live.”
This conversation was depressing her. Yihui was keeping control of herself through sheer determination. She had no hope, no idea of how to save herself, and precious little strength left with which to fight.
“What do you want from me?” she asked, her voice heavy with defeat.
It was the question the lady was waiting for. Also, the sad attitude. “I want to know if your medicines work.”