Page 55

“Buying or selling?” a sultry voice purred and I turned to find a woman’s brown eyes roaming over me from behind a veil of sheer fabric which fell from her head to her toes.

I could see through it in places, a glimpse of skin where her body pressed to the thin material, the curve of her hips, the tip of her nose, though her hands were positioned before her to stop it from offering too much detail to her breasts or cunt.

“Depends,” I said slowly, inclining my chin towards Bastian. “My product never performs his best when he’s hungry and he could do with a bath too – unless you have a vendor in mind who has a taste for dirt from the road and doesn’t mind him rushing through the main event.”

The woman’s eyes slowly roamed over Bastian and he made no effort at all to try and impress her, instead fixing me with an irritated look which told me he hadn’t thought I’d actually meant it when I’d come up with this cover story for us.

“Quick and dirty has its place,” she agreed, a hand slipping out from the folds of fabric so that she could claim a glass of blue liquid from the bar. “What’s his recovery time?”

I opened my mouth to reply but Bastian beat me to it.

“I’m a professional, love. I don’t do recovery periods.” He grinned widely and I choked back a gasp as he punctuated that suggestion with a powerful stab of desire which he aimed at me so unexpectedly that it crashed through my mental shields with ease.

It was all I could do to stand still as a very vivid mental image flashed through my mind of him bending me over the bar beside us and fucking me so hard and for so long that my screams turned hoarse and my body grew limp with exhaustion.

But he never tired, never slowed and I never stopped begging him for more and more and-

“Cut that out!” I snapped, my fist catching the edge of his jaw as I was forced to swing at him blindly while unable to shatter the fantasy fast enough on my own.

Bastian turned his head to avoid the worst of the blow and caught my wrist, tugging me closer to him with a low growl.

The movement jostled my hood from my head and a dozen more pangs of desire struck me from all around as several Fae caught sight of me and my gifts drew them in like a fly to a spider’s web despite the concealment I’d placed over my features.

The woman’s attention moved from Bastian to me and then to the grip he still maintained on my wrist while we snarled at each other over the joined limbs.

“Apologies,” I said, snatching my wrist back and tugging my hood high once more. “The last battle I fought in left me a little…edgy and I find I can be unpredictably violent here and there. Luckily, Sallywhacker here knows the signs and is getting better at ducking.”

“Sallywhacker?” the woman asked, her eyes back on Bastian’s towering form.

“Sally is his family name - the whacker part has to do with the equipment he has downstairs. Which of course he would be happy to display to you…for a price…”

“Sally?” she echoed, the fabric which partially hid her from view shifting as she observed him.

Bastian hesitated, his glare darkening on me before he nodded. “Goes back six generations on my mother’s side. It had luck tied to the name and when she only ever had sons she decided to give it to me anyway – lucky number six.”

“Okay, we have room for a taste of something new for a few nights I suppose,” the woman said. “I’ll give you two choices – you can work the room and sell your Sallywhacker to as many patrons that want a bite for twenty karmas a ride – half to you and half to the house.”

“Or?” I drawled because that offer was bullshit and we both knew it.

Even if I got Bastian sucking every cock and filling every hole in this place twice over – and I doubted he’d really go for playing the part that well anyway – we’d barely make enough to buy our way through the city, let alone on to the western coast where I planned to steal a boat and track down Wandershire so that we might barter our way across the borders during its travels through The Waning Lands.

“Or,” she purred, her focus on me. “You can drop that illusion and entertain our house master, Zayad tonight. But that would require both of you to get to work on the job, Miss…”

“Destiny,” I said, repeating the name I’d given at the gate.

A good lie was always well bedded in after all.

I held my tongue on commenting about her observation, not liking how easily she had noted the illusion disguising my features.

“And I sell him, not myself – the violent tendencies I mentioned-”

“Violent tendencies will be encouraged I assure you. Plus I’ll throw in a room, a bath and a hot meal before you get to work.

You’ll even have a bed to sleep in - assuming your work doesn’t take up the night.

” She stepped a little closer, lowering her voice.

“I can assure you that Master Zayad would be very accommodating to the needs of a Succubus – he’s had one of you on his list for a very long time. ”

“List?” Bastian asked curiously.

“How do you know what I am?” I spoke over him because that was the far more important question.

The woman breathed a laugh. “I’m a Centaur – many of my kind forget it and place their efforts into warring, focussing on prowess in battle but we are gifted with the art of observation and deduction.

It’s my job to assess the patrons here and I’m damn good at it.

Surely you didn’t think Master Zayad would make this offer to just any Fae?

And a Succubus paired with a Bear shifter would make for a thrilling night indeed. ”

I glanced at Bastian, her answer relieving me of a little of my concern though I wasn’t thrilled to have been outed so easily.

He seemed to have gone unnoticed for what he was but that wasn’t surprising as there had been no known Dragons for far longer than this woman or anyone else here had been alive.

“I’m still not for sa-”

“How much?” Bastian interrupted me and I had to fight the urge to punch him again.

“Two thousand karmas. And a gift.” Her other hand emerged from within the folds of fabric and she offered me a shimmering silver stone to inspect.

“Is that…” I trailed off, reaching for the jagged piece of stone but her fingers snapped shut around it, and she withdrew it into the folds of material once more.

I didn’t want to know where she had been storing that thing because it sure as shit looked like she was naked in there, but my mind was still buzzing with the possibility of what she’d just shown me.

“Comet Evako created the crater in which the city of Leergaith now thrives when it fell from the sky over a thousand years ago. Our patron and the man who would like to take his pleasure with you this very evening owns many things in our fair city including miles and miles of the mines which spread beneath our feet. You know the legend of Evako’s fall of course? ”

“Who doesn’t?” I drawled but I wished I didn’t have to because no, I did not know this Flamebringer legend and we were now treading a fine line towards discovery if she realised it.

“Well the legends are true. I have experienced it myself.”

She seemed inclined to stop there but I could feel her desire to brag about whatever the fuck she was talking about and I tugged on it just enough to loosen her lips.

“All who claim a piece of the comet are blessed with the gift of being able to ask a single question of the stars themselves. And that is what I did with this piece. I asked the stars about my destiny and they told me secrets of my future.” She dropped her voice, glancing around and I couldn’t help but look around us too.

What she was claiming was in clear defiance of the teachings of the Reapers.

Only they were permitted to speak with the stars and steal glimpses of the future.

If what she was saying was true, then the Flamebringers who took part in this practice were rebelling against the Reapers themselves and in defiance of the cardinal laws laid down by their leader.

This was big. A real secret that no Flamebringer would ever wish for their enemies to discover and though I knew I should be keeping this knowledge and planning to bring it back to Dragor along with my captive, I couldn’t help but be tempted by her offer.

A moment in the presence of the stars was priceless indeed.

“All this just for fucking some Fae?” I asked sceptically.

“Well…the price is yours. The karmas are for serving him for the night. But the stone will only be yours if you bring him true satisfaction,” she admitted and I snorted.

“And let me guess? Very few have managed that?” I said.

She shrugged. “I managed it…eventually.”

“And how many nights spent at his service did that require?” I pushed, but her desire to withhold the truth from me was far greater than her desire to be honest so I couldn’t force the answer from her lips, and she only covered up the refusal with a tinkling laugh.

“I suppose if you want one enough then you will find that out for yourselves.”

I pursed my lips as I considered her offer.

The stone sounded nigh on impossible to claim, no doubt requiring years of service to this Master Zayad before he deigned to offer one out but the two thousand karmas certainly was tempting.

And conning one Flamebringer for a sum that large was surely less work than spending the night conning every Fae within sight.

But which held less risk? If we were caught playing some lowlife for a fool then the worst we could expect was a bar fight and a quick exit from this place.

If we went after the bigger prize then we were dealing with a Fae with a reputation and the resources to follow up on their retribution, especially considering the reaction from the guard at the gate when he mentioned his name.

“Deal,” Bastian said before I could come to the best conclusion and I jerked around to glare at him.