Chapter 13 #4
Oblivious to my seething inside, Zayr continued talking, “Suhai says the word in Kalmena is that her pleasure is far superior to that found even in the queen’s sarai.
You could make a fortune on her. You know there are plenty of people here in Ashgate who have enough gold to spend on pleasure?
Yet I’ve never heard of any of them being invited to your hut on the beach. ”
It was bad enough that Zayr knew where I lived with Elaine. The last thing I needed was for all the thugs of Ashgate to line up at our door.
I dealt exclusively with people from Kalmena because they were easier to control.
I named the time and place, I had the shadow tunnel open for them, and they left as soon as they got what they came here for.
The fine folks of Kalmena had no desire to linger in this cursed place for longer than was necessary.
But even that wasn’t guaranteed as the case with Lord Arnaf had proven.
The bastard had been haunting me for appointments incessantly.
No matter how many meetings with Elaine I’d arranged for him and his friends, he always wanted more.
“If you’re not consuming her pleasure yourself,” Zayr wondered, “why not sell it to as many as would pay? I know you’ve made a lot of money on her already, but you can make more.”
I shook my head, trying to look unaffected even as my fury grew. I wished I could just leave. But maybe this was my chance to teach Zayr something?
“The feeling of pleasure can’t be forced,” I said, my voice tight with restraint. “That’s what makes my Joy Vessel different from any other here and in Kalmena. I don’t ever force her to feel anything she isn’t feeling.”
“Is that so?” Zayr gaped at me skeptically.
“That’s it. That’s the whole secret. No spells, no magic flowers, no copious amounts of wine. Just her.”
“And me,” rushed through my head.
Because I couldn’t deny it. According to all our clients, Elaine’s emotions turned especially joyful when I was with her, holding her, touching her, sharing food with her… She enjoyed my company. By a very unexpected twist of fate, I’d become the very source of the joy I was selling.
I didn’t divulge that part to Zayr. He already looked like his head was about to explode from my previous revelation. Instead, I unclipped the pouch with gold from my belt and tossed it onto the ground next to him.
“I mean it, Zayr. I need a cave, and I’m not going to rest until you make it happen.”
He picked up the bag slowly, as if trying to show me that money would not sway him.
“I’ll see what I can do,” he grunted, pushing off the ground to get up. “But like I said—”
My patience snapped.
Twisting my torso his way, I grabbed his chest armor with my hand, my right hand. My claws pierced through the chain links, scraping his skin underneath.
He choked on a sound of protest. His eyes widened as he stared at my forearm.
My white bones glimmered in the semi-darkness of this place, and his face distorted with horror.
I’d never seen Zayr like this. He wasn’t just scared.
He was shocked, as if the world he thought he knew had just flipped upside down.
And maybe it had? If Zayr had seen me as a sickly wretched man, my grip on his armor most definitely proved him wrong already.
“No, Zayr. Like I said,” I threw his words back at him. “I’m not taking no for an answer again. You have twenty-four hours to find me a cave. Otherwise, I’ll find one myself, and then you can try to evict me.”
He drew in a long, shaky breath, regaining some composure with it.
“Is that…all?” he asked tentatively, finding his footing on the path.
I unclenched the bones of my fingers, releasing him. He promptly took a step back, eyeing me from a distance. Regret pinched a nerve in my chest. Zayr had shown me more consideration than most, even when he didn’t have to, even when he had thought me powerless and weak.
“Just one more thing,” I said, softening my voice. “I promised you a business deal.”
“I thought the cave was that?”
“The cave isn’t a deal between you and me, is it? When I get the cave, Ray gets the rent. You get nothing but the headache of managing yet another tenant.”
He weighed my money bag in his hand that I fully intended for him to keep if he helped me, but he said nothing in response.
“No, I have a proposition just for you,” I continued, inspired by Elaine’s endeavors to flavor her food at the beginning of our joint venture, when we didn’t have enough clients fighting each other to pay for her meals three or four times a night, and I had to buy her packs of plain rice.
He shifted his weight to the other foot, glaring at me suspiciously. “What kind of a proposition?”
“Do you know how to get salt from the ocean?”
His jaw dropped. “What?”
“You filter the ocean water, then evaporate it until only the salt remains.”
“Why?” He looked like he was questioning my mental ability now.
“Because Joy Vessels enjoy food far more when it has salt in it,” I explained. “There are about two dozen Joy Vessels in the queen’s sarai. Twenty-five, according to the latest reports I’ve heard. They eat at least three meals a day, and they add salt to every one of them, even to the desserts.”
“They do?” He grimaced.
“Trust me, they do. They need a lot of salt to keep them happy.”
“Isn’t the queen providing them with everything to make them happy, including salt?”
“She is. Or her palace servants are. They’ve been buying salt for months now, every bag and canister they can get their hands on.
But there isn’t usually that much salt in Alveari, is there?
Shadow fae have no use for it. Only hags need it for some of their spells.
The kingdom can’t keep up with the increased demand for long.
They’re running low on salt already, the price on it has gone up, and it will get worse very soon. ”
“Really?” He scratched the back of his head, looking intrigued.
“Really. And here we are, living right next to the treasury of salt which is the ocean.”
A calculating expression flickered in Zayr’s eyes. I knew he’d grasp the opportunity in this situation sooner or later.
“Evaporate it then?” he asked. “By boiling?”
“Boil it or set it out in the sun in trays, whatever works. Collect it into sacks afterwards and take it to Kalmena. Sell it. We’ll split the proceeds half and half.”
“You want fifty percent? While I do all the work?” He caught on quickly.
I didn’t care much about money in this case, though it would give me and Elaine a nice side income that would help us get to our goal faster. But I promised Zayr a deal, and the most satisfying deals were born through negotiations.
“I’ll give you ten,” Zayr said, schooling his features into a blank expression.
“Forty,” I countered. “The idea is mine. You would’ve never thought of it on your own.”
“True, but I’ll have to find help to actually make it happen because I have no time to do it myself. I’ll have to pay them then. Frankly, I’m better off not getting into this at all.”
“But maybe this is your chance to break free from Ray?” I pointed out. “A way to buy your freedom from him eventually?”
The muscle below his eye ticked—his only reaction to my words. But I knew I struck a nerve.
“Fine,” he said. “Twenty, and I’ll do it. That’s my final offer.”
“I’ll take twenty-five percent,” I counter-offered. “I’ll also get you in touch with someone who knows a cook for the royal sarai. You won’t have to sit on the market all night. You’ll sell your entire stock in bulk once you have it. Deal?”
He worked his jaw, mulling over my words.
“Deal.” He thrust his right hand toward me with force, as if trying to jam it through a brick wall.
I didn’t take his hand. Instead, I stretched out my right arm and paused my skeletal claw-hand next to his, without touching him.
“Deal,” I said, waiting for him to accept the handshake.
My reasoning was simple. Now that we were speaking amicably, I didn’t want to force the touch of my mangled appendage on him. It was customary to shake hands on a deal, but we could’ve shaken left hands instead. Yet Zayr had given his right hand to me, leaving me no choice.
Now I was giving a choice to him.
He shifted closer, staring at my hand before giving it a quick, firm squeeze that made my bones crack.
I’d feel no pain even if he decided to break them, but he didn’t seem to do it to hurt me or even to assert dominance in the situation.
He did it as if on a dare with himself, to prove that he wasn’t afraid.
“I’m honored to do business with you,” I said formally, as if we weren’t in this illegal cavern of priceless water but in one of the finest homes in Kalmena.
The faint pulsing sensation on the back of my head had been intensifying since the moment I’d left Elaine. I hated being away from her, hated leaving her in that ramshackle hut on the beach, and I couldn’t wait to get back to her now that my business with Zayr was done.
He stared at me, his orange eyes following my right hand as I withdrew it under my cloak.
“What are you?” he exhaled, deep confusion and a hefty share of astonishment seeping through his schooled neutral expression.
I wished I knew the true answer to that question.
“I’m a pleasure trader,” I gave him the only answer I had. “And now, I need to get back to my Joy Vessel.”
The sun burned high in the sky as I left the caves, but its heat was already obscured by the gathering clouds of the approaching day storm.
The anxious, pulsing sensation intensified the longer I stayed away from Elaine.
It pushed me forward, making me move faster.
I passed the bottom of the stone path that ran along the cliff face of the Wall, steering my chair into the less populated part of the beach, toward the hut that Elaine and I had been calling home.
A crashing noise came from that direction, and the pulsing in the back of my mind exploded into an inferno of panic and rage.
Elaine!
I sped up, pushing my chair to the limits of its magic.
I heard her before I saw her.
A desperate, panicked shriek pierced the air. Shadows scurried around our hut. A wall of the building had a gaping hole, the wood and clay crumbling around the breach.
“Elaine!” I bellowed.
A fae woman carried Elaine under her arm. Several others were with her. The woman looked familiar, but I had no time to ponder where I’d seen her before.
“Timur!” Elaine thrashed in the woman’s grip with all her human strength, which wasn’t nearly enough against the fae.
At the sight of me, the thugs raised their weapons.
They moved slowly, unwilling to leave the shelters of their garments and expose their skin to the sun for my sake.
Their postures remained relaxed. They clearly didn’t expect much resistance from me, probably hoping that the mere sight of their spears and swords would be enough to keep me at bay.
“Let her go!” I ordered.
Rage boiled in my throat, pushing my voice into a roar. Desperation propelled me forward, but I wasn’t fast enough. This fucking chair wasn’t fast enough. They would take my Elaine away from me before I could even reach them. Before I could stop them.
Anguish ripped through my chest. Rage exploded, tearing through my cloak, my skin, and my muscles underneath.
Never in my life had I wished so fervently for my legs to work.
I had to run to her.
But instead…I flew.