Chapter 3 #3
Rosetta gave the woman the brightest grin she could manage, leaning back in her chair with pride.
She curled her arm around the back rest while raising her legs up to place the heels of her boots on the dining table.
Lillian said nothing about the disrespectful placement of her footwear, but Rosetta was sure if it was anyone else, they’d receive an earful.
“Been sailing her for three months now.”
Lillian didn’t share in her happiness. “And that Theodore Briggs of yours?”
She gave a curt nod. “Good and dead.”
The woman finally gave a smile of celebration. She even clapped her hands together. “Wonderful! Good to see you finally got what you wanted.”
“Oh yes, definitely.” Rosetta reached forward to grab the teacup and its plate, resting both on her stretched-out stomach.
Lillian’s eyes seemed to glaze over as she reminisced. “I still remember the night we had to hide you because it had been discovered you were in this port.”
Rosetta remembered that night vividly and often with concern. How near she’d come to Theodore finding her had been too close for comfort.
Someone who knew her had come to Tortaya and seen her walking around. When Theodore heard, he’d hired a boat that wasn’t one of Queen Mary Anne’s, sailed to these waters, and started a manhunt for her.
Since he didn’t have the Laughing Siren with him at the time, Rosetta had put off killing him until he did.
For nearly a week, she and Naeem sought shelter in this mansion, hidden behind closed doors.
“I’m guessing you’ve come to Tortaya to supply that boat of yours.” Lillian took a sip of her tea, nodding at the sweetness of it. “But why did you, apparently, rush to my estate?”
“I have a favour to ask of you.”
Lillian raised a blond brow at her. “A favour? I can only imagine what you need from me.”
“Girls,” she answered. “Lots of them.”
Her brow raised further. “Well, you’ve come to the right place, but how many do you need?”
She went to take another sip of her tea with proper, lady-like charm. Rosetta slurped her own, despite knowing full well how to be an elegant noblewoman.
“About eighty-two.”
Lillian almost choked on her tea, giving a few subtle coughs. “I don’t have that many girls! Dear lord, child, that’s a big ask.”
Rosetta laughed, shaking her head. “Hire a few from the town for a night.”
“You want me to grab random whores from the street?” The disbelief in her tone was unmistakable. “I’ve never taken in cheap prostitutes, Rosetta, you know that.”
“I know.” The sigh she gave as her eyes drifted to the walls showed just how much she knew she was asking.
“But the men need to be satisfied. They also need to be housed for the night, and your establishment is the best in the city.” Then she brought her gaze back to eye Lillian up and down.
“You also have the only brothel that can house over a hundred. You have room for all of them, and I’d rather they stay close together so they’re safe. ”
Madame Lillian was the owner and mistress of the biggest brothel in the entire northern hemisphere, maybe even the world.
It was famous, expensive, but known for having the highest quality woman.
It was also new. The mansion had only been built and established eight years ago.
Prior to that, Madame Lillian had a much smaller business in the centre of town.
It had still been glorious, but nowhere near its current state.
“You want to bring all of them here?”
“Yes, tonight.”
She let out a thoughtful noise before clicking her tongue.
“Hmm. For you, I’ll see what I can do.” Then, it was her turn to eye Rosetta up and down with a note of apprehension.
“Are you sure you don’t want to work for me again instead of crew a bunch of useless, brainless men?
You could make more coin than most of the girls and save yourself all this trouble. ”
“No.” Rosetta laughed. “I’m quite happy being a sailor, thank you very much.”
“A pirate,” the woman sneered back.
Rosetta rolled her eyes, taking another sip of tea. “You’ll want to have the men bathe. We’ve been at sea for nearly seven months.”
“A room, a woman, and a bath?” Lillian gave a mocking snort of laughter. “Your boys will be paying a pretty penny for all that.”
Once more, Rosetta’s eyes fell to the side. A deep and solemn sigh fell from her. “That’s where the favour I’m asking really becomes hefty. I need you to be kind to my coin purse, Lillian. I’m paying for it.”
When her admission was met with uncomfortable silence, Rosetta looked back to see the woman had a wide-eyed, open-mouthed expression.
“What in god’s name do you mean you’re paying for it? Get the men to pay for their own whores!” She pointed a delicate finger at her to wag it in anger. “Did they somehow convince you, a woman, to pay for their pleasure? Bloody men, rotten to the core, the lot of them!”
Rosetta reached forward and grabbed Lillian’s free hand, clenched into a tight fist on the table. She patted it.
“I worry the men will grow jealous. I need to alleviate some of their stress and show my gratitude for their patience and understanding before I lose some of them.”
“Jealous?” Lillian squinted her eyes. The way she stared told Rosetta she was having her soul examined. “You’ve met a man, haven’t you?”
She tucked a strand of her hair over her ear self-consciously, turning her gaze to the green-carpeted floor.
“A no-good pirate, I’m guessing.” Lillian threw her hands forward to show her irritation before she folded her arms over her large bosom.
“We’ve been sailing together for three months. He helped me get the Laughing Siren.”
“I told you to stay away from pirates and sailors, Rosie! Nothing ever good comes from getting entangled with them.”
It once irked Rosetta that Lillian would call her Rosie, but she had long ago accepted it. Honestly, she found it sweet and heart-warming from this woman she secretly cared for.
She didn’t have the heart to tell her to stop calling her the endearment after having done so many times already. It pained her less now that Theodore was dead.
“I know, but–”
“All sailors do is leave you in port with the promise you’re the only one, like you’re too stupid to know the truth.
” She folded her arms tighter. “They put a babe in you and then piss off to sea. Then they come back to claim their son when they’re nothing but a sweet boy but refuse to claim their daughter. ”
With another sigh, Rosetta sat back in her chair to let the woman rant. Lillian hated any man who sailed the seas. She held resentment because of things that happened in her life, and she feared for any woman being forced to follow the same path.
“I’m not a port girl, Lillian. I sail the sea as much as he does.” Even more now that she had her beloved ship. “He’s also careful. He never comes inside.”
It was the thing she appreciated about Alister the most. Not once had he failed to pull out when they were intimate.
She didn’t know if it was out of respect for her or fear of getting her pregnant, but he did it without hesitation. If he didn’t, Rosetta wouldn’t take the constant risk with someone so careless. Maybe...
“You know that isn’t foolproof!” She squinted her eyes once more to give a disappointed glare because Rosetta was sleeping with a man she would never approve of. “And they’re always careful until they suddenly aren’t.”
Rosetta tried to give her a reassuring smile, knowing full well it wouldn’t matter. “I’ve had plenty of men come inside me. You know I likely can’t get pregnant because of what Theodore did.”
The way she had lost her child had been horrible.
She’d been nearly five months pregnant and had woken up after being unconscious for a few seconds, lying on the stairs with blood running between her legs while servants and maids tried to help her to her feet.
It had been a part of her nightmares since the day it happened.
Rosetta would much rather the beating she’d received a few days later than to relive the memory as often as she did.
As much as she’d wanted that child, she hoped she was a broken woman now. She doubted her injured womb could grow a baby, and she’d rather not deal with the possibility of losing one again. She doubted she could survive the heartbreak.
She was also very irregular now, whereas before, she’d had her period every month without fail, like a nice, healthy, fertile woman. I wish it would just fuck off completely.
Lillian knew about Rosetta’s history; she was one of the only people alive who did. The only other people she’d ever revealed the extent of her suffering to had been Mr Smith and Naeem. Now, there was only Lillian and Naeem who knew the full truth.
She hadn’t told Alister anything else about those events, other than what he’d discovered the day they’d killed Theodore, and she refused to. She didn’t want him to know what she had felt, her heartache and pain, all the things she suffered then, and what she did afterwards.
She doubted he’d care anyway.
“But what if you’re wrong?” Lillian looked at her beseechingly.
Facing the regard of the woman in front of her, who held nothing but tenderness for Rosetta, it was hard not to feel embarrassed about the man she’d been sleeping with. It was the first time she’d ever felt shame about being underneath Alister.
It was like being scorned by a loving mother.
“How’s your daughter?”
“Agnes is wonderful,” she answered while turning her head away dismissively, allowing the direction of the conversation to change. “She married the most distinguished blacksmith in town. He’s a good man, faithful and kind.”
“Your son?”
Lillian was adamant that the same man had impregnated her, despite her being a prostitute herself at the time and her children being born seven years apart.
“Don’t know, haven’t seen him in two years.
He doesn’t want to see his mother.” Her sullen expression almost seemed resentful.
“I miss that child like an ache, but his father turned him from the sweet boy he was into a monster. He refuses to see me, like he doesn’t care about the woman who gave him life. ”
Then her eyes turned teary, her bottom lip quivering ever so slightly.
Rosetta often kept her eyes peeled when she was in Tortaya for a man who looked like Lillian. She’d love to threaten him for hurting the poor woman in front of her who deserved every ounce of love. She was like a mother to her, after all.
“Every day, I fear he’ll be arrested or wind up dead. A mother shouldn’t have to worry her son will die before her. It’s not fair.” She stemmed the flow of her tears quickly, her green eyes glistening with them. “Anyway, back to business.”
Lillian cleared her throat to rid herself of the lump of emotion obviously present, attempting to push pieces of her hair back into her bun. It was as if she was trying to tidy her outside appearance to fix her inside emotional state.
“A room, a bed, and a bath.” She tapped her knuckles on the table in thought. “Ten pounds.”
“Each? I don’t even think I have that much!” Rosetta pointed her finger at Lillian. “You would never make that much profit for the rooms in a week, let alone a single night.”
She pursed her slightly wrinkled lips. “Seven pounds. I must pay the girls their wages – maybe their cheapest, but they should understand for a night.”
Rosetta knew that price was three pounds, six if the man seemed as though he had fat pockets. The water came from elsewhere and would be costly to get it up the hill, heated, and into that many baths.
“Six. You don’t have to pay the street whores that much,” Rosetta demanded, folding her arms. “Do remember who it was who stopped those men from ransacking this place three years ago. You did tell me you owe me.” She pointed to the large scar that ran from her hip, across her stomach, over her breast, and then all the way to her nipple.
Alister always reminded her of it because he seemed strangely fond of licking it over the mound of her breast. “I didn’t get this scar by doing nothing here. ”
“I knew when I told you I owed you, it would come back to haunt me. Fine! Six pounds.”
Rosetta hoped she had that much in her share of the loot she’d gotten with Alister, as well as everything else they’d collected over the months raiding ships.
If not, I may have to pick some pockets.
“I’ll bring the men and the money tonight. Make sure the girls are clean so my crew can enjoy fresh women.” She looked down at her nails in triumph, stemming the urge to grin. It would only irritate Lillian if she did. “If they want booze, food, or anything extra, make them pay for it.”
She’d already told them of her plan to give them a night of pleasure and relaxation. She had also told them to keep their mouths shut about letting Alister’s men know.
The last thing she needed was for him to tell her she was making a stupid decision, one she would never tell him the reason behind. Nor did she somehow want to be roped into paying for his men to have the same thing! If they wanted something like this, they needed to pay for it themselves.
This is the bloody price I have to pay for continued loyalty.