10. 9 #2
He rolled his. “We give people relief from their emotional pains, by distracting them and teasing them with physical pain. The pain is fleeting, for most. Some only need the threat of the pain, more than its deliverance.”
The threat of pain was a salve? How? I stared at him. “I can’t imagine.”
He flicked his head towards the door at the end of the corridor. “You don’t have to imagine. You’re here now. You can see it.”
I swallowed. “Through there?”
A choking laugh came from him again. “Your trepidation is adorable, Annie.”
I scowled.
He only shrugged good-naturedly. “If you’re going to be staying here, it’s probably best you can walk through our salons without going as red as a beet, or fainting. Don’t worry, all of the juicy stuff happens behind closed doors.”
Right. Juicy stuff. What did that even mean?
I wasn’t a complete prude. How could I be, when I was trained to pleasure men and women alike? I knew all the smells and sounds and tastes. And yet standing here, in front of the door he had just nodded to, it was like that first time with a patron.
I never thought I’d be in the House of Pain. I’d never given the sordid gossip any real thought. I didn’t have to, then. I had my structure, my friends and my Ekris. Everything else, every House, every facet of Dytho, could have eroded into dust and my life would not have changed.
And now I was realising how strange that was. How secluded I had been; how their protections made us incredibly isolated. But then again, I wasn’t supposed to leave. I was supposed to die in those walls, and live in the Ten for eternity.
“My lady?” Davian prompted, and I realised I had gone quiet. He offered me his arm. “Do I have your permission to escort you through this room? You can say no. We can find you somewhere else to stay.”
I wanted Ekris to take me back in. I wanted those protections back, I wanted my blindness to the rest of the world back, like a stupor that nagged to be indulged, an opiate to the ugliness of Dytho. A gift at the bottom of a jug. I needed him.
But he needed information that I would struggle to get alone. I didn’t even know where to start. So before I could be returned, I figured there was no harm in seeing the world. No harm in learning that which had been kept from me. This violated no tenet of Ekris that I knew of.
So I placed my hand on Davian’s waiting arm. “I would like to see.”
His eyes twinkled as he walked us towards the door, shoving it open without ceremony. Inside, it was not too dissimilar to the Eclipse.
There were high thin windows up near the ceiling, but nothing at eye level, both to maintain the darkness and for the privacy of any would-be onlookers to Samiscus’ will.
The darkness was complimented by pipe smoke, deep wood panelling and huge plants.
The low cushioned seating formed as day beds with wide padded spaces on the floor and others spread around tables for conversations and drinking.
The wall sconces had the same amber-glass as The Curved Eclipse, to add even more warmth to the colour of the flames.
Off this dark room were a number of closed doors. I counted five. Along one wall was a huge tilted cross, shaped like an X. At each end of the cross, ropes waited. I had an inkling of its intent, and swallowed hard.
There were only three people in the room.
One man kneeled in a corner facing the wall, entirely naked, his hair sparse but his back quite muscular for his age.
Two women sat on cushions, looking at one another.
It took me a moment to realise one of them was holding a jewelled knife.
I could only see the back of the other’s head, and no indication of injury.
“White as a sheet,” Davian murmured into my ear. “Interesting. Less obvious than the beet, at least.”
I felt the heat rise in my face, and knew I had just become the beet. “Shut up.”
He smirked as a woman exited one of the doors.
She closed it carefully beside her, then strode into the room.
She was tall, nearly as tall as Davian. I placed her at around forty, though more in manner and confidence than in any signs of age.
She was all legs, golden and perfectly toned.
I could tell this because she wore nothing but a man’s shirt hanging down to her thighs.
Davian called out. “Fell!”
The tall woman pivoted on the balls of her bare feet, her sheet of brown hair falling over her shoulder. She had a strong jaw and dark almond-shaped eyes that crinkled at the edges as she grinned at Davian.
She approached, glancing down at me with a playful look.
“Thanks for taking over,” he said.
“No problem. It was good exercise,” she replied loudly. Up close, I could see the sheen of sweat on her tanned face and the way it curled the baby hairs at her forehead.
Davian gestured to me, and I forced my smile wider. “Fella, this is Annie. Annie, Fella.”
“Hello, Annie,” she said eagerly, waving at me.
“Hello,” I replied, offering her a small wave myself.
She smirked and looked at Davian. “Where did you find her, Davi?”
“The House of Love,” he replied.
Fella laughed hard. “Ah, that explains the—uh—”
Fella gestured to her own face, wiggling her finger in a circle.
Davian nodded. “Yes, quite.”
I blanched even further at their mockery. Was I being rude? I swallowed. “This is all new to me, Fella. Sorry, I don’t mean to offend.”
She winked and put a familial hand on my shoulder. “Don’t worry, girl, it’s a lot for most newcomers. And you don’t have to avert your gaze. This is our public lounge. Anyone in here wants to be looked at.”
I gave her a smile that I didn’t have to force, even as I ignored her instruction.
Fella turned back towards the centre of the room, where a number of thick stemmed glasses filled with a bubbling liquid cascaded in a pyramid.
She plucked one from the top and drained the whole thing.
Then she sipped at another, wiping her forehead with the back of her sleeve as she faced away from us.
The shirt rode up and I got an excellent view of her rear.
Davian blocked my view, standing in front of me as he rolled his eyes. “Sorry. This is too much, isn’t it?” He looked into my eyes. “Are you alright?”
“It’s fine,” I said quickly. He kept waiting, and I fidgeted with the hem of my corset. “I know people enjoy different things. I just don’t know how to react properly.”
“I understand entirely. Let me show you to your room, and let you settle in,” he said. He swept his arm towards a door partly hidden behind a red curtain. “There’s another exit from your corridor, it’ll take you out the back. You can avoid these rooms until you feel more at ease.”
I nodded, feeling more grateful than I expected.
Why was he being so nice to me? Everything I had heard of the Samiscans painted them as debauched and hedonistic.
They took life at a simple request. They administered pain like sport.
But Davian had asked me before taking me in here, and had led me out as soon as he felt I was uncomfortable.
I nodded. “Thank you.”
As I placed my hand back on Davian’s, a man exited a room.
He was dressed in all black, like Davian had been the first time we met, only his tunic had no shirt beneath it, and his lean muscular frame was clearly visible under the black tunic, his veins popping out from his forearms. He was older, his hair greying and his face bearing the evidence of his years, but he looked like he could plough a field entirely by himself.
He stepped out and nodded to Fella, closing the door behind him carefully. Before he could get a word in, Fella strode over and lifted her palm.
I winced as the crack of her blow echoed in the room. No one said anything, and Davian paused. Then Fella glared at him, and left the room, tipping her head back to drain the rest of her second glass.
The man stared after her, and I could see the side of his face quickly reddening in the exact shape of her hand.
“Who’s that?” I whispered, as Davian led us out of the room with a heavy exhale.
“Camriel,” he replied. “The Leader of our House.”
I almost looked back over my shoulder to see him with new eyes. That was Camriel? The Leader of Death and Pain in Dytho. He was one of the more powerful people in the city.
“Fella just slapped him,” I said dumbly.
Davian nodded, not surprised by this, as he pushed open the door and led us into another corridor.
This one had nothing but a narrow staircase, and he waited until the door closed before he responded.
“They’re fighting about something, not sure what.
There’s always something new every month or so. This one seems to be worse than usual.”
The way he said it, the familiarity of it all. My eyes widened. “They’re together?”
Davian grinned. “Very much so. When this fight ends, they probably won’t be out of their rooms for days.”
We ascended the steps, and I realised how deep in all of this I already was. Stay away from Davian, huh? Not only had I visited him, he had prepared a room for me.
Once all this business was done, and we had found the answer to Ekris’ question, I would be happy to return to the safe bosom of his love.
But I couldn’t deny the excitement in my chest. The thrill I got from exploration; the way Davian’s smiles made me feel my heartbeat on my tongue.
I wanted to know more about the Samiscans.
About all the Houses. Everything was entirely new, and that was both captivating and confusing in the same measure.