Chapter 37 #2
Truthfully, I’d been focused on her, but I looked around now.
An older man had two women on his lap, one perched on each knee.
Two other men sat in armchairs watching as three women touched and kissed each other.
Both men had erections bulging between their legs, and one stroked his through his pants.
Nearby, a middle-aged woman stood between two younger men.
She ran her hand over the chest of one while her other hand dipped down the pants of the second to stroke his cock.
I looked past them into another corner of the room and found what I was looking for. I sent the image into Cyra’s mind, and she looked where I indicated.
A man sat on a settee in a dark corner while a woman straddled his lap. His hand grazed up and down her bare back, and he suckled her nipple as she rocked on him. Both were still mostly clothed, but there was nevertheless an intimacy between them that made my cock throb.
“Why them?” Cyra asked. “Do you want me to do that to you?”
I brushed my lips along her temple, and she trembled.
“I do want you to do that,” I said huskily, “but I’m not drawn to them because of what they’re doing. I want to watch them.”
“Why?” The question was interested, not judgmental.
I thought a moment before answering. “There’s something different about them compared to the other couples.
I won’t read their minds, but if I did, I’d be willing to bet that man comes here regularly to see that woman in particular.
She’s more to him than just a courtesan, or at least he wishes she was more.
See the way they sit in the shadows where it’s more private?
He can get more time with her if he stays out here, but he’ll bring her into the back soon.
” I paused. “I feel as though when I watch them, I’m seeing something secret. Something…forbidden.”
“You like to watch,” she said. “I didn’t really believe you that time you watched me with Samhail, but you do like it, don’t you.”
I nodded. “Yes, but not just any sex. I like to watch sex where there’s a kind of…intensity.”
She considered this. “When you watched Samhail and I together…”
“It was both the best and the worst thing I’d ever watched.”
She shifted so she was facing me, and there was concern on her face.
“It was hard for you to watch us,” she said. It wasn’t a question.
I nodded.
“Then why did you do it? Why did you let us be together?” she asked.
“Because you needed to be together once more. Both of you did,” I said. “Watching you with Samhail that time was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but watching him fuck you also aroused the three hells out of me. I was so hard I could barely stand it.”
“And…do you want to see another man have me again tonight?”
I exhaled deeply. “No. If you want someone else to take you, I…you can do that. I’m just not sure I can watch it.” I paused, dreading the answer to my next question. “Do you want another man to fuck you, Cyra?”
She shook her head and nestled into me more. “No. I only want you.”
I looked down at her and wished I had her truth seeing power since I desperately wanted that to be true. Her mind was open to me, and I sensed it was the truth, but I didn’t dare believe it.
“Do you want to watch me with another woman instead?” she asked. “Is that why we came here tonight?”
My mind emptied of every other thought as an image of Cyra with another woman filled my head.
“No…I mean, yes. That is, I wouldn’t mind watching you with another woman,” I said quickly, “but I didn’t have any particular plan in mind for coming here. I just wanted to get out of the Citadel for a while and spend some time with you, learn more about what you like.”
“So we can do whatever I want to do?” she asked tentatively.
I hesitated. “Yes,” I said, although something in her tone made me wonder if I’d regret agreeing to that.
She relaxed against me, and I reached my free hand up to trail it over her collarbone, the scars made by bear claws still faintly visible there. I slipped my hand inside the bodice of her dress and flicked her nipple with my thumb. She moaned softly and arched into my touch.
“Tell me if you see anyone you’d like to bring into a private room,” I whispered against her ear. I slipped my hand out of her bodice. “I’m going to take the obfuscation glamour off us now as well as the compulsion that’s kept anyone from coming over here.”
She nodded. “Alright.”
The fog of the glamour lifted, and I took the mind control off the people in the room, but it was still almost a minute before the owner, a man named Federlin, spotted us and hurried over, looking mortified.
“Lord Bressen! I didn’t see you come in. I’m so sorry. No one notified me you were-”
“It’s fine, Federlin,” I interrupted him. “We snuck in so we’d have some time to take in your new furnishings.”
The man smiled proudly. “Do you like them? Competition has become fierce among the brothels and pleasure houses, so one must keep up. We preferred to add more class, unlike certain other houses that went for more tawdry changes.”
I cocked my head in question. “Such as?”
Federlin rolled his eyes. “The Bucking Harlot is now offering reins and riding crops to their patrons.”
I blinked. Well, that was different. I shook the image away before it gave me too many ideas.
“But never mind all that,” Federlin said, waving his hand. “What can I do for you and…”
He trailed off as he took in Cyra, and something twinged inside me at the way his eyes lingered on her.
“Is…is this Lady Cyra?” he asked.
“It is,” I said. “Cyra, meet Federlin, the owner of The Sword and Sheath. Federlin, this is my wife, Lady Cyra of Hiraeth.”
Federlin immediately went to one knee before Cyra and bowed his head. I felt her surprise at the gesture, but the man rose a moment later.
“If you’re looking for a girl to take into a private room,” Federlin said, “I think I have just the one.”
He signaled to one of his guards. “Find Helaina and bring her here,” he told the man, who hurried off.
“There’s no rush,” I said. “When Cyra finds someone she likes, we’ll be sure to let you know.”
Federlin held up a hand. “Understood, my lord. But let me introduce you to Helaina anyway. She’s an empath, so she’d be a good complement to you and your lovely lady.”
I nodded my agreement. Empaths could sense a person’s emotions.
They couldn’t read thoughts like mind wraiths did, but the result was often the same.
A person’s emotions could tell a good empath quite a bit about what that person was thinking.
Empaths also had one advantage over mind wraiths in that a mind shield generally couldn’t block an empath’s read of a person’s emotions.
My own powers included empathic abilities, so I could usually sense emotions, and Cyra could as well.
I explained empaths to Cyra in her mind, and she gave a small nod.
The guard Federlin had sent off returned with a woman in tow, and I jolted to see how much she looked like Cyra. She had long dark brown hair, and there was a similarity in their facial structure that would’ve convinced me they were related if someone told me as much.
The woman had several distinct differences, though. Her eyes were dark brown as opposed to Cyra’s silver ones, and her skin was more golden compared to Cyra’s pale complexion. The woman’s body was also a little fuller, her hips wider, and her breasts plumper.
“My lord, my lady, this is Helaina,” Federlin said. “She’s yours for the night if you so wish.”
“Thank you, we’ll let-,” I started to say, but Cyra laid a hand on mine.
“Hello, Helaina,” she said. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“You as well, my lady,” the woman said, bobbing a curtsy.
“Would you like to join Lord Bressen and I tonight?” Cyra asked.
The courtesan paused a moment before answering. “It would be an honor to serve you,” she said with another curtsy.
Cyra sighed at the slightly evasive answer. “I see you speak the truth,” she said. “Can you feel my sincerity when I say you don’t need to fear us?”
Helaina hesitated before nodding. “I can, my lady, and I’d like to try to please you if you’ll allow me.”
Cyra rose from the couch and turned to Federlin as I stood as well. “Helaina will join us,” she told him.
“Wonderful,” Federlin said. He put a hand on the small of Helaina’s back and urged her forward. “Our best room is ready for you.”
“Will you follow me?” Helaina said.
Are you sure? I asked into Cyra’s mind.
Do you object to her? she returned.
No, but we don’t have to accept her if you don’t want to.
If you don’t object, I want her, she said.
I nodded at Helaina to lead the way, then took Cyra’s hand to follow the courtesan toward the back rooms.
I knew the room we entered well. It was the one Federlin usually gave me and Samhail, or just me if I was alone, but like the rest of the place, it too had been redone in a more lavish style.
The new four-poster bed was larger than the previous one, and it was hung with both sheer and velvet curtains.
I also noticed soft ropes attached to the feet, which were tucked under the bed until such time as someone needed to be tied to it.
An ornate couch of dark blue brocade sat against the left wall, and two large armchairs of the same upholstery stood on either side of it. The wallpaper was textured with an intricate design, and Federlin had invested in some fine new risqué art that hung around the room.
Helaina closed the door and turned to face us. “How may I please you both tonight?”
I looked at Cyra. “I think my wife wants to do some experimenting?”
Cyra blushed as Helaina looked at her. The courtesan cocked her head in interest, then furrowed her brows.
“If you’ll forgive me, my lord,” Helaina said carefully, “I don’t believe that’s what she wants. She’s…afraid to tell you what she wants.”
My gaze snapped to Cyra, and I saw the truth in her face. I read her mind, and my eyes widened. Cyra lowered her head, but I hooked a finger under her chin and lifted it. There was apology in her eyes.