§
Nandi lived in junior officer’s quarters and needed to find a place fit for young Lord Miron. Aenëe went with her to use her fairy knight prestige to grease the wheels of army bureaucracy, while I was left to my own devices until the morning. I declined Nandi’s offer to find a place for me to stay and went to His Majesty’s Government Offices in Thuriben instead.
One of my job perks is a cot at the Royal Knights’ barracks any time I needed a place to sleep, but I went for a different reason. Although I still had a few antique coins of unknown origin and value from the money Grandmother had given me, my remaining funds in normal coins were just about gone.
In the Royal Paymaster’s office, the clerk used a magic tool to look up how much back pay I had coming to me. He noted a few dates in his notebook and operated his abacus for a bit, then declared, “One hundred fifty seven crowns, eight sovereigns.”
I managed to not let my jaw drop open. Using my imaginary exchange rate of two thousand dollars per crown, that was over a quarter-million dollars.
He noted, “I do not have sufficient funds here in the office. If you wish to draw the full amount, I must go to the Treasury office to withdraw funds. Do you wish to wait, My Lady?”
“Ah… no,” I shook my head. “I don’t need the entire amount. First, would you recheck your calculations? I expected a lower amount.”
Specifically, I had expected roughly seven crowns in inactive duty pay.
He raised his eyebrow, then reviewed his notes.
“My Lady, your last withdrawal was for your full balance, on the Fifteenth of the Month of Greening. I show inactive duty from then until the nineteenth, then active duty until the fifth of the Month of Early Flowers. Inactive duty after that until resuming active duty on the thirteenth of the Month of Early Flowers, continuing through today. That totals twelve days of inactive duty stipend and fifty two days of active duty salary.”
So someone had classified both my trip to Cara Ita and my time from the day I escaped Parna until now to be active duty? Well the list of possible ‘someones’ was pretty short. The prime suspect was Uncle Owen, with Ged as the only alternative. Nobody else had the authority.
I nodded and explained, “Some of that time was spent on things that I considered personal business. It seems His Majesty felt otherwise. I will take the seven and a half crowns and leave the hundred fifty in my pay account, if it is okay.”
It’s actually pretty normal for government employees to treat their Royal Paymaster account like a bank. Very few other institutions are available everywhere in this vast kingdom.
“Certainly, My Lady. Do you wish it in the simplest coinage, or…”
“Break the half-crown into sovereigns and one sovereign into shillings, please,” I told him with a smile. A short time later, he handed over seven gold, seven silver and sixteen copper coins.
“May I help you with anything else, My Lady?”
“Perhaps you can,” I answered with a warm smile. “I’m looking for a certain kind of establishment, although I’m particular about quality.”
§
It wasn’t any surprise at all to me that the ‘reputable brothel serving the better classes’ that I requested was not that far from the Royal Government Office building. After all, they had to be accessible to their regular clientele. It was an upper-class street, one-way, but wide enough for a horse-drawn carriage.
Nothing about the place particularly screamed ‘whorehouse’. It had the ambiance of a small upscale inn, an elegant building on a street where the other businesses were restaurants and shops, with upper floors that housed their owners and staff.
Its sole accommodation for its clientele’s privacy was a windowless entrance and a doorman who would open the double doors for a stopped carriage to allow the passenger to pass from the cab into the building more-or-less out of view.
Not wanting to alarm the business’s other clients, I wrapped myself in my traveling cloak, hiding my armor as I strolled up and stopped before the doorman, a well-groomed older gentleman.
“Good afternoon, sir. May I enter?”
His mouth pursed momentarily before he told me, “Business is slow here, Miss. Just occasional military officers. All the rich folk have left town, so we aren’t hiring. You should check at the places that soldiers can afford.”
Having long since grown accustomed to being mistaken for a succubus, I simply chuckled. “I’m a customer, good sir. May I enter?”
His eyebrow rose ever so slightly, but he was a professional. Without batting an eyelash, he simply nodded as he pulled the door open for me. Piano music was coming from within.
“My mistake, My Lady,” he apologized smoothly. “Please come right in.”
Very professional, upgrading the woman who had identified herself as a client to My Lady without question. Of course, he had politely addressed a girl he assumed to be a prostitute as ‘Miss’, so that wasn’t a surprise.
This place had a parlor similar to the one at the ‘Velvet Retreat’ in Atius, including the high quality, marginally pornographic artwork, but only two girls were minding the shop. Their attire didn’t have quite the sheer upper class extravagance of Dana and her coworkers, but they were well-dressed, and beauties of the same quality. The blonde arrived from the back at the same moment that I entered from the foyer, while the redhead was seated on the piano stool, having just turned away from the keyboard.
“A very good evening to you, My Lady,” the redhead stated as she rose to meet me. “Are you intending to take dinner with us?”
“Dinner and breakfast,” I answered with a smile. “Otherwise, I would have to find a hotel.”
She nodded pleasantly, then asked, “Just to be sure, you wish to hire a companion for the night?”
I chuckled and reached out to stroke her cheek. “You’re asking if I am aware of what sort of establishment this is?”
The corners of her lips lifting just slightly, she nodded. “That is the case, My Lady.”
While sliding my hand along her arm, I noted, “I asked an acquaintance to recommend the best brothel in town. Was he mistaken?”
She shook her head and stated with pride, “No, My Lady. He was absolutely correct, although today the selection is limited to my younger sister and I, or our manager if you prefer the most experienced girl. She is still quite young herself, but she’s been in the business the longest.”
They didn’t actually look related, but I didn’t question it. I nodded. “You and your sister will do nicely.”
She blinked, her mind drawing a blank for a moment, then she managed to reply, “You are requesting both of us?”
“Unless it would force some gentleman to do without,” I said lightly. “I wouldn’t be so rude. But I do need to ask first, do either of you have an objection to feeding a vampire?”
Understanding lit the redhead’s eyes as the blonde responded, “Oh…”
The redhead glanced over at her ‘sister’ and wondered, “Are you ready for a vampire, Nora? I’ve done it before. It’s different from feeding a succubus.”
The blond gave a weak smile, then answered, “I need to get used to it, right?”
“I wouldn’t want to feed on an unwilling girl, Miss Nora,” I told her. “Please don’t force yourself.”
She looked away, still hesitant, but she shook her head and pulled in a bracing breath. “No. I’ll do it. I must satisfy the customer’s wishes, right?”
The girl was so unsteady about it, I gave the redhead a bewildered glance. With an apologetic smile, she told me, “My sister only recently began work in the business. She’s a war refugee, I’m afraid.”
I gave Nora a reassuring smile. “I see. I will be very gentle with you, I promise.”
As the girl looked away, blushing, the redhead told me, “The Madam is currently cooking dinner. I need to let her know that we have a guest. Nora, keep My Lady company.”
I had Nora show me to the room where I would stay so I could change out of my armor into the simple dress in my pack. When she saw it though, she insisted on loaning something from their wardrobe instead. I ended up in a lovely blue dress.
Dinner was pleasant, and the redhead, Mariela, gave a little impromptu piano concert afterwards, followed by a couple games of chess against the madam, Daniela, whom I doubted was more than a year or two over thirty, unusually young to be managing a brothel. She was pretty skilled; we split at one game apiece.
In the course of the evening, I learned that these three and the doorman (Mariela’s father!) were the only staff left at the place. Business had been very bad. The previous madam quit, leaving the place in the hands of the oldest worker, and the rest of the girls had moved east, following their fleeing client base. Mariela’s father had come to their rescue, taking over the doorman job when his predecessor fled, and she and the madam had been the only two girls until Nora showed up.
The ‘younger sister’ thing was explained as well. It was just the custom in this region for fellow workers in a brothel to refer to each other in family terms. It did fit, because this felt very much like an evening in the home of some upper-class family. Nora, the recently impoverished widow of a wealthy Hamagaaran, was actually older than Mariela, but ‘younger’ in the trade. Daniela was ‘elder sister’ to both girls. Apparently, they would normally call the madam ‘aunt’, but Daniela wouldn’t tolerate it.
Finally, Nora hooked my arm with her hand and led me upstairs, with Mariela’s promise to follow in an hour if no other customers appeared. It apparently wasn’t odd that none had appeared yet. Lately, they rarely saw more than two per day, and often didn’t see any.
When Nora closed the door behind us and faced me, she licked her lips nervously and brushed her hair back and looked away while admitting, “I also have no experience with women, My Lady.”
I smiled and hooked my finger, beckoning her to come closer. She was having trouble meeting my eyes, so I went ahead and put a light dose of Command into my voice as I told her, “Relax and put your arms around me.”
In the process, I discovered that I could sense the Dark magic portion and the spiritual portion of Vampire Command functioning together. I felt very sure that I could control it very precisely now.
Her lips parted slightly as she blushed and stepped up to me, putting her arms around my waist as directed. I brushed her cheek with my fingertips, then brushed my thumb across her lips.
“Are these lips also inexperienced?” I asked.
She giggled slightly, her tension melting away as my command over mortal sexuality took hold of her. For the first time, I felt my fairy side instinctively imprinting her libido, gently but firmly molding her desires, making her want a fellow woman, making the mere touch of my fingertips on her skin fill her with intense lust for my feminine charms…
Alarmed, I realized just how much punch my fairy charm now packed, due to the increase in my spiritual energy. I hastily slowed the magic before it became harmful to her. She was still safe, but if I hadn’t hit the brakes, she would have become fairy-touched in a matter of minutes.
I would have to keep conscious control over my fairy charm from now on. At my current spiritual strength, I could no longer let it operate freely. A mere mortal mind could be crushed underfoot.
Fortunately, this experience had also unearthed my memory of Senhion’s feeding skills, the source of this knowledge. They included the skill to control this power.
Nora blinked a couple times, puzzled why I had stopped. I smiled and leaned in, tipping my head to the side slightly to claim her lips. My anxiety had left almost as fast as it came, and now, I was just eager to apply those skills.
