Release (14 page)

She winked at him. “Charming little liar, aren’t you?” She peered around Keirth at Ariana. “Well, I’ll be. You do have the Duke of Wendo’s daughter, don’t you?”

Ariana stepped forward, offering her hand. “Miss Ariana Gilit.”

The woman shook Ariana’s hand. “Call me Lilla.” She peered at Ariana. “Well, you don’t look viciously raped and practically dead. Of course, we know better than to trust the Duke of Risciter’s word about anything.”

“Lilla,” said Keirth, “you can’t tell me you believed a word of that story on the nets.”

She looked up at him, her face serious. “Sure didn’t want to. You were always a good boy, Keirth, but seeing the things you saw...well, I’ve seen some good boys turn into not-so-great men.”

“I would never—”

“Of course, you wouldn’t,” said Lilla. “Sometimes this business hardens you against men. Can’t be helped. I’m sorry for thinking it.” She smiled again. “Well, let’s not stand her jibber-jabbering any longer. Come back to the house with me.” She turned and started walking back the way she’d come.

“Keirth?” said Ariana. “Where are we? Who’s that woman?”

“Lilla,” said Keirth, starting after her. “She was a friend of my mother’s. And we’re on the planet Scranth.”

“Another colony planet?” she asked.

Keirth nodded. “Come on.”

Still confused, she followed him.

There was one of the houses that was bigger than the others, and it was this one that Lilla led them into. As they entered, the strong smell of perfume and incense invaded Ariana’s senses. They walked into a large room. Couches and lounges flanked the walls, and women in less clothing that even Lilla was wearing sprawled on them. Most looked bored, but a few were snuggled close to men, who were openly gaping at the women close to them.

Lilla strode over to one of these men. He was reaching out to one of the women. Lilla smacked his hand. “You know better. You want to touch, you pay extra.”

And suddenly, it all clicked for Ariana. Lilla had said something about reservations. She’d said her business hardened her against men. And Keirth had said that Lilla was a friend of his mother’s. Keirth had also told her that his mother was a prostitute. Which meant...

She gulped. Keirth had taken her to a whore house. If he’d told her this on the ship, she would have murdered him. She couldn’t believe this. She couldn’t be here. It was beyond the bounds of propriety, it was absolutely unacceptable.

Keirth turned his head and whispered in her ear. “Now, remember, sweetheart, your big talent is being polite to people, right?”

She glared at him. She really, really wished he’d stop calling her that.

Lilla beckoned, and Keirth took off in the same direction she had. Ariana trailed behind them, looking at her surroundings. The room was opulent, covered in silks, with ornate chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. But it was also overdone. There was too much on display, giving it the appearance of trying too hard to look...classy, she guessed. The overall effect was of something chintzy and empty. Cheap. She shuddered.

They emerged out of the large room into a small kitchen, complete with a wooden table and chairs in the middle. Keirth settled into a chair immediately, and Ariana, unsure of what she should do, followed suit.

Lilla, on the other hand, took a few containers out of the cooling unit. “You two hungry?”

Ariana was starved, but she didn’t say anything. She glanced sidelong at Keirth.

“Don’t fuss over us,” said Keirth.

“Heating up leftovers is not fuss,” said Lilla. “Besides, it’s not often I get actual visitors these days.”

“Fine,” said Keirth.

Good. Ariana really could use some food.

Lilla popped the leftovers in the heating unit and sat down at the table with them. “So, I guess there’s a story about why you’re travelling with the daughter of a duke.”

Keirth shrugged. “I was stealing her ship to go after Risciter, and she got stuck on board. I haven’t been able to get rid of her since.”

Ariana folded her arms over her chest. He wanted to “get rid” of her. Yeah, she was deeply regretting thinking anything complimentary about this man.

“Risciter’s looking for her,” said Keirth, “and I don’t think he’s got her best interests at heart. She can’t go back to the sector. Not yet. I was hoping she could stay here.”

Lilla raised her eyebrows.

Ariana glared at him in shock. “What?”

Keirth glanced back and forth between the two women. “Well, not forever. Just long enough for me to find Risciter and kill him.”

The heating unit beeped. Lilla got up.  She began to portion out food from the containers onto ceramic plates, which she set down in front of Keirth and Ariana. “Revenge,” she muttered. She got some silverware to hand to them as well. She sat back down at the table. “Listen, Keirth, I know this isn’t what you want to hear, but maybe it’s time you let this go.”

Ariana took a bite of the food. It was rice and vegetables with some kind of sauce. It was very good. She took another bite.

Keirth hadn’t touched his food. “Let it go?”

“You must know,” said Lilla, “that killing Risciter will not bring your mother back. And since there are people in the sector already looking for you—they may not have your face plastered everywhere, but they had your name in the last update—you’d be better off finding some place out of the way and laying low. Your mother wouldn’t want you to get yourself hung.”

This seemed like the first sensible thing anyone had said in a long time. Ariana found herself warming to Lilla, prostitute or not.

Keirth shoveled some rice into his mouth. “You don’t understand. I have to do this. It’s the only way...” He set down his fork. “It’s the only way anything will ever seem finished.”

“But now you’ve dragged the daughter of a duke into it.” Lilla gestured to Ariana.

“She dragged herself into it,” said Keirth.

Ariana glared at him. “Well, you helped. You did have a blaster pointed at my head, after all.”

“Really?” said Lilla.

“I wasn’t going to shoot her,” said Keirth. He looked at Ariana. “I wasn’t.”

“Well, I know that now,” said Ariana. “But I didn’t then.” She ate another bite of rice. “This is very good, Lilla.”

“Thanks,” said Lilla.

“I was practically engaged to Risciter,” said Ariana. “I got involved in this because I had a misguided idea that I need to save Risciter from Keirth. But then we found Risciter, and he tried to...hurt me. But Keirth got me away from him. And now, I can’t go back to the sector, because my reputation is ruined, and—”

“She’s not safe,” interrupted Keirth. “Your reputation is less important than your life.”

Ariana rolled her eyes. She wasn’t sure if that was exactly true.

Lilla’s eyebrows were raised again. “I think I understand the situation a bit better.” She smiled. “So, Keirth, you aren’t taking her home because you want to keep her safe.”

“Exactly,” said Keirth.

Lilla nodded. “I see.” She turned to Ariana. “But you don’t want to Keirth to leave you?”

“I...” Ariana floundered. She looked at Keirth, then back at her rice. “I can’t go back. And no disrespect to you, Lilla, but I don’t know if I feel comfortable in a place like this.”

“It’s fine with me for her to stay,” said Lilla. “But Keirth, I won’t have you rushing back off after Risciter either. You’ve both had a harrowing experience. You need to rest and get your strength up. And Ariana, since your reputation is already ruined, I don’t see why it should be so horrible to spend a bit of time here.”

Maybe Lilla had a point there. Ariana had slept in the same bed with Keirth and pretended to be his wife for goodness sake. Maybe she was overreacting. She had to admit, she felt a little better knowing that Keirth wasn’t going to be allowed to simply dump her here and run. “I’m sorry if I offended you. I really didn’t mean to.”

Lilla waved it off. “I’m used to much worse. Don’t trouble yourself with that.” She made a tent with her fingers. “Actually, you’re in luck, because one of our girls decided to leave us last week for the city, and that means her house is empty. I had it cleaned out yesterday. You two can stay there, and I’m sure you’ll be comfortable.”

“No,” said Keirth, his face going a little red. “That’s not.... She and I aren’t... We need separate lodgings.”

Lilla threw her head back and laughed. “Oh, no wonder this is complicated.” She winked at Ariana. “So, you can’t convince him to actually ‘ruin your reputation,’ huh?”

Ariana became immediately interested in her rice. So, there had been a very brief period of time when she’d lost her head and thought she might have feelings for Keirth. This woman couldn’t know that. And she didn’t want Keirth to...lie with her. Although, if she thought about it, it might be nice to do that with someone who was as inexperienced as she was in the whole business. Maybe that would make it easier. And he was very nice to look at.

“Don’t tease her,” Keirth was saying to Lilla. “She’s not like that. She’s a member of the nobility, for goodness sake.” He looked at Ariana. “I’m sorry.”

Lilla laughed harder. She leaned back in her chair, clutching her stomach. When she finally stopped, tears were coming out of her eyes. Ariana was pretty sure she was blushing. Very hard. Which wasn’t so bad, because Keirth was too. Lilla put a hand on her chest, catching her breath. “Oh, the two of you are really very cute.” She stood up, patting Keirth on the shoulder. “You run off this planet, you make sure you kiss her first.” She started for the doorway. “You can just dump those plates in the cleaner when you’re done.” She left the kitchen, still chuckling.

Keirth had buried his face in his hands. He pulled them away slowly. “I forgot what she’s like. That was completely out of line. I really am sorry.”

“It’s really okay.” Ariana ate some more rice. Oddly, now that Keirth was embarrassed, she was finding herself feeling attracted to him again.

Keirth was studying the table. “I would never do something like that to you, you know that right?”

“Something like what?” Ariana had to admit she was a little confused. She’d been fairly sure that Lilla was implying the two of them were attracted to each other. She knew Keirth actually wasn’t, but Lilla had pegged Ariana’s feelings pretty well.

“‘Ruin your reputation.’”

“Well, it is sort of already ruined,” said Ariana.

“No,” he said. “I mean I would never take advantage of you.”

“I’ve never thought that,” she said.

Keirth took a bite of his rice.

“But I don’t think that’s what she meant,” Ariana said. “I don’t think she thinks you’d hurt me or do anything against my will.”

Keirth chewed, making a face. When he finally swallowed, he said, “But that’s completely crazy. You’d never want me to...” He glared at his rice. “I’m not going to kiss you. Don’t worry about anything like that.”

Right. Of course not. She didn’t want him to kiss her anyway. But she couldn’t help stealing glances at his lips as they ate. They were nice lips. Full. She wondered what it would be like to kiss them.

* * *

Ariana stood in the doorway to the small house, looking inside at the contents. There was only one room, except for a small bathroom in the corner. It contained a bed, which took up most of the room. It was large and topped with a shimmering red comforter. There was a wardrobe along one wall, empty, and an empty vanity, complete with a mirror and bench. The room was vacant, but Ariana felt as if it had the essence of all the activities that had gone on in it oozing out of the walls. She felt uncomfortable. She turned to Keirth. “I don’t know if I can sleep here.”

“You’ll be fine here,” he said, striding into the room. “You have privacy. You’ll be comfortable.” He sat down on the bench in front of the vanity table.

Ariana went to the bed and gingerly poked it. “Do you think there have been a lot of people who’ve, you know... on this bed?”

Keirth shrugged. “Lilla said she put clean sheets on it.”

“It’s just the thought of it,” said Ariana. She looked around the room. “So all the women here have their own little houses to...entertain in?”

“Not all,” said Keirth. “It’s a privilege. Some of the women use rooms in the main house. The more successful you are, the more likely you get to have your own little house. My mother had one, when she and I lived here, but I almost never spent any time in it.”

Ariana sat down on the bed. Gingerly. “You spent time here with your mother?”

He nodded. “Yeah, we came back here off and on. Once we stayed here for nearly five years.” He got up walked to the window of the cottage, staring outside. “The money was always spotty out here. It’s a colony world, and most of the customers are men who spend all their time on a ship. Sometimes, there’d be too many, sometimes we practically starved.” He turned to look at her. “Not just my mom and me. All of the women here. My mom wanted to stay, because it was stable. She thought it was better for me. But we never could stay for too long. Still, I always liked it here. Some of the other women had kids. I had people to play with.”

Ariana considered Keirth’s childhood in a brothel. It sounded extremely inappropriate for a child. But she wasn’t going to say that. To say that would insult Keirth’s mother, and she knew Keirth loved her very much.

“Lilla’s a good person,” said Keirth. “I know this place makes you feel uncomfortable.”

“Not because of Lilla,” said Ariana. She sighed. “I guess the whole profession leaves a bad taste in my mouth.”

“I’m not saying I’m particularly fond of it either.”

“I think there are certain things that shouldn’t be sold.” For the first time in her life, she tried to put herself in the position of the women here. Letting men do what they wanted to her body for money? She shivered. Ugh. No, it would be like Risciter’s hand on her breast in the forests of Kush. Every night. But she’d have to pretend she liked it.

Keirth returned to the bench. “Growing up around prostitutes, you start noticing things. It’s all this kind of twisted power play. Women who are prostitutes enjoy the fact that they can use men’s weaknesses against them for money. They tell themselves they’ve got the power, since they’re the ones who are profiting. And men who come here enjoy the fact that they don’t have to think of these women as anything other than servants. They think because they can tell the women to do whatever they want that they’ve got the power. It’s all about power.” He studied his hands. “It sickens me.”