Chapter 24
“I’m Oona.” A slight blonde woman grabbed Tal’s hand and shooed the guard out of the room. She stood a few inches taller, perhaps five years older than Tal. Egan trusted this woman most within the brothels, the one who arranged for Tal to be captured by the Netters early that morning.
She pulled Tal through the room past women of all ages in various stages of undress.
They wore silk robes with sheer chemises underneath and sat on chaise lounges with plush cushions while they applied makeup, ate fruit, and sipped wine.
Her gaze caught on a frightened figure huddled in the corner and her blood boiled.
The girl couldn’t have been more than fifteen.
It took every effort not to burn the place down right then and there.
Oona pulled Tal around a curtain at the back to reveal a washroom with a filled bath.
When the curtain fell behind them, the woman sprang into action.
“Your robes are over there.” She gestured to an upholstered lounge chair in the left corner.
“Make yourself presentable, or you’ll never be allowed out of this room. ”
Tal removed her clothes. “When does he usually come?” She had spent the better part of the morning preparing for this.
She forced herself to forget her anger at Faron and focus on why this man needed to die.
He had attacked her. He joined forces with the mages.
He knew about her fury and planned to sell the information. He could not make it through the night.
“Before dinner. He likes to work up an appetite. Egan and I will be in the room beside you.” She squeezed Tal’s hand briefly before gently running a brush through her hair.
The thought of the many evenings the man had spent in the brothel paying for one of the women in the room beyond, building up an appetite, as Oona had said, made Tal’s fury rage inside her.
Her thoughts landed in places she didn’t want to visit and brought questions she didn’t want the answers to.
She washed away the thoughts as she sunk into the bath and cleansed her skin.
She wouldn’t gain answers to those questions tonight or any night. Tonight, she’d get revenge.
They wasted time in the big room as the other women were summoned one-by-one, all except the young girl who hadn’t moved from the corner. Tal’s attention flicked to the girl frequently, silently urging the gods to keep her hidden.
When the women returned, they would disappear into one of the curtained washrooms before returning to the main room and reapplying their makeup.
The atmosphere felt relaxed, carefree even, despite most of the women having been forced into this life.
Here, they had food, water, and a roof over their heads.
They were safe to a degree. The headmistress didn’t entertain violence against her girls.
Tal wondered if the loss of freedom was worth it to them, knowing she would never interfere unless asked.
The teenager tentatively nibbled on a plate of cheese, still in her corner, and Tal clenched her jaw.
That one, however, would be freed. Tonight.
The guard summoned Oona once around lunchtime. She returned twenty minutes later with a smirk. After cleaning up, the blonde sat beside her on the lounge chair, sharing fruit and making small talk.
Tal’s knee bounced as the sun set. Women left the room more frequently, only to return and wash up to resume the process.
She watched the door expectantly and sat up straighter each time it opened.
She jumped out of the chair when the guard gestured to her.
Oona adjusted Tal’s chemise, then slipped one side of her white silk robe off her shoulder.
She pulled the hair off her bare shoulder, exposing her pale skin. With a wink, Oona sat back down.
Tal afforded one last glance to the corner of the room, then walked past the burly man at the door and waited in the dark corridor for direction.
He led her further into the building, away from the back entrance she entered through.
She counted the doors as they passed, three, four, five.
On the sixth, the guard opened it and waited for Tal to step inside.
Darkness enveloped the room. Curtains covered the windows.
A single lamp with a low flame sat on a wooden table beside two chairs, a bottle of wine and a plate of food on top.
An upholstered seat, similar to the ones in the ladies’ room, sat along the wall.
And in the center of the wall opposite her stood a medium sized bed with white blankets.
A shadowed figured sat at the foot of the bed.
Even in the dim lighting, she could identify his tall, muscular frame.
Tal froze. This was not the man she came to kill.
Badger was short and stocky. A hand pushed her shoulder from behind.
“Get on with it,” the guard said.
“Aren’t you going to close the door?” Tal tried to form a plan.
“The mistress wants to ensure you do your job.” He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned against the door frame, unmoving.
Tal’s mind reeled. She hadn’t planned for this. The man should have been secured before he could even lift a finger. Bile rose in her throat at the thought of having to perform for this guard, of letting this unknown man on the bed touch her.
She searched the room for a way out and couldn’t find one. Forcing the guard to leave would raise alarms. She needed to get her revenge and get out as quietly as possible. She clenched her fists, wishing she had thought to bring a weapon.
The guard cleared his throat, and Tal gritted her teeth. Pursing her lips, she crossed the room. She would form a new plan. If the guard wanted a show, she would give him a show.
Shadows hid the man’s face. He didn’t move when she threw a leg over his lap.
Her chemise hiked up over her thighs, and she thanked the dark lighting that the man wouldn’t be able to glimpse her naked body underneath.
She ran her hands under the lapels of his jacket over his muscular chest and slid it off his shoulders.
Carefully, she searched for inside pockets or hiding weapons—anything she could use if it came down to a fight—but came up empty-handed.
Turning in his lap, she swallowed down the bile that rose in her throat when she brushed up against evidence of his arousal. She sat with her back against his chest and leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder. Lavender and rosemary saturated the air around him.
Tal stopped. Fury clawed at her chest. Faron. Why was he here? She wouldn’t listen to him, so now he’d inserted himself into their plan? Where was Badger? It took all her will not to elbow him in the ribs.
The guard at the door cleared his throat meaningfully.
Her robe slipped off her shoulder and clung to her forearms, exposing the skin of her back, shoulders and chest. Faron inhaled deeply, but didn’t reach for her.
Damn the gods that mocked her. Her chance at revenge skirted out of reach once again. They threw the royal at her at every turn as if his lies meant nothing to them.
The dark figure shifted by the door. “Get on with it,” he urged.
She pursed her lips against the words she wanted to say to both the guard and the bastard beneath her. Tal exhaled forcefully. She ran her hands down the outside of his thighs. Her fingertips brushed against the handle of the dagger along his calf, and she considered taking it.
She could turn it on him, demand answers. It would serve him right. He knew the seriousness of tonight’s plan. Hells, he knew she didn’t want to see him. And still, he interfered, refusing to give her the space she needed.
Fine. If he insists on joining me, I’ll show him how unhinged I can be.
She brought her hands back up over his inner thighs, and the king stiffened on the bed.
He turned his face into her neck, and Tal could feel his labored breath in her hair.
She decided head-butting him would be an adequate response if he tried anything with his hands.
She could have the dagger in the guard before anyone could blink—collateral damage that no decent person would miss.
One hand reached down Faron’s thigh toward the concealed dagger.
But before she could strike, his hands came up to her forearms and pinned them in place.
She wanted to hit him, to scream at him.
She wished she had never learned his identity.
She wished he was only a noble. Maybe then they could have enjoyed a moment in the dark, her bed beneath them.
Anger rose in her, betrayal at her own mind for wishing she’d never learned about his lies, for wishing she had been left in the dark a little longer.
The click of the door latch invaded her thoughts, and the guard disappeared. She pulled against Faron’s grip on her arms, struggling to get out of his grasp. In an instant, he had her on her back, his body pinning her to the bed.
“Tal.”
She ripped her hand free, pulling it back to punch him in the temple, but he caught it easily.
“Quit fighting me, dammit.”
“Fuck you!”
She tried to bring her leg up around his neck in a maneuver that would flip her over and hopefully break his hold on her wrists, but he locked her legs with his own.
“Will you stop? Listen, it’s a trap!”
“Get off me!” She thrashed against him, her fury practically begging to be set free, but she held onto her control.
He released her and stood back. “It’s a trap, Tal. They knew you’d be here.”
“Of course they did.” She stood, fixing her chemise and brushing past him. She would find Badger on her own. She threw open the door and stormed out of the room, not really thinking about the guard who had left only moments ago.
A dark figure appeared at the end of the hall and stalked toward her. Before she could react, she was thrown up against the wall, a hand splayed by her face and a body pressed into her back, pinning her.