Page 18 of The Curse of Gods (The Curse of Saints #3)

He had left them with a mess. He wondered how they were faring—if they suspected where he’d gone, or if they found him just as much a coward as he found himself.

“Good afternoon,” a raspy voice sounded from his left, pulling him from his tangled thoughts. An older woman swept to his side, her purple silk dress billowing with the movement. She was short, but she carried herself with an air of authority that made her look taller than she was.

The madam, then.

Her hair was gray, and it curled in large ringlets that cascaded down her back. Her pale skin was weathered, her veins sharp in the hand that she laid on Aidon’s arm. “Can I help you find something to suit your tastes?”

It went against every instinct Aidon had to not duck his head, to not try to hide his face lest the madam recognize him.

But it would only draw more attention. So instead he held her gaze as he tilted his head toward Liam and Will, beckoning them with a wave of his hand.

“My companions and I are looking for a more…collaborative…experience.”

He watched carefully for any sign of recognition in the madam’s face. There was nothing there but a gleeful smile, her eyes roving across the three of them as if she were calculating just how much coin they would garner her establishment.

“Unfortunately,” Aidon added, “we are a bit tight on finances.” He shot the madam a wry grin. “War doesn’t do the pockets any favors, does it?”

Her nose wrinkled as she sniffed in distaste. “There are cheaper options further outside the market—”

“Yet we hear your establishment is the best,” Liam interrupted smoothly. “We understand, of course, that a place of such caliber demands a certain price. But surely you have newer courtesans who could fit our desires and our budget.”

Her gaze flicked between the three of them, assessing. Aidon shifted his stance, just enough that the change purse in his pocket jingled. “Of course, we recognize we’ll each need to meet the price,” he added.

“Of course,” she finally acquiesced, her expression smoothing with a blink of her coal-lined eyes.

She pivoted slightly, her gaze settling on a tall blond gentleman.

She jerked her chin, and suddenly he was before them, his face round, eyes blue, cheeks tinged with a blush that Aidon was certain he had perfected.

“Charles will more than suit your needs.” The man’s full lips stretched in a coy smile. The madam nodded her dismissal, and Charles cocked a finger to beckon them toward a pile of cushions. Aidon stopped him with a hand in the crook of his elbow.

“We’re rather eager to get started,” he murmured, pitching his voice low. He cut a look to his companions, pausing when his gaze fell on Will. “And that one is rather shy,” he added with a wink to the courtesan. “Not one for public displays, I’m afraid.”

“Understood,” Charles assured him as he turned to lead them instead to the staircase tucked away at the back of the room. He walked backwards, navigating the space with ease, his eyes trailing down Will’s figure as he did so. “You certainly don’t look the type to be timid.”

Will kept his face passive, but Aidon could see the way the vein in his neck throbbed as he tried to swallow his annoyance.

“Looks are deceiving,” Aidon retorted, biting back his own grin as Liam choked on a laugh.

It was his own form of retribution for their training that morning.

Will had been particularly on edge, and while Aidon knew it did him no favors for Will to go easy on him, it he didn’t particularly enjoy being the Enforcer’s metaphorical punching bag.

Aidon could still recall the suffocating weight of Will’s power as it ripped through his shield as if it were no more than paper.

He’d grunted an apology, couched, naturally, in some lesson about shielding and some other nonsense, and perhaps it made Aidon immature to rib him now, but he couldn’t resist.

One had to find joy where they could these days. Or, at the very least, maintain their fragile grip on their control.

Aidon felt his slipping every second. One wrong breath, and he might crumble under the weight of what they were facing.

One day, your jokes will not be the shield you think they are , his mother’s voice echoed in his head.

Maybe not. But they hadn’t failed him yet, and everything else had.

Charles turned around to take the stairs, and Will used the opportunity to shoot Aidon a glare that he could feel lingering on his back as he followed the courtesan. They reached the second floor, turned right down a long stretch of hallway, and followed Charles into a room at the end of the hall.

It was large, with a four-poster bed draped in crimson silk sheets.

There were more throw pillows on it than Aidon could count, enough to put his own palace’s decor to shame.

The window on the left wall was open, letting in the noise of the market.

Curtains obscured the view, the white fabric billowing in the sparse breeze.

Charles sat on the foot of the bed, his posture loose and easy as he followed Aidon’s gaze to the window.

“We can close it if you’d like,” he offered, his hands toying with the sash at his waist. His blue eyes went dark as they dragged to Will. “More… privacy .”

Will took up a post at the faux fireplace beside the window, his arms folding across his chest. “That won’t be necessary,” he said. Charles shrugged and went to untie the sash. “Nor will that,” Will added.

Charles’s brows rose. “No?”

“We have another favor in mind,” Will murmured.

Charles’s attention stayed fixed on the Enforcer, enough that Aidon doubted he noticed how Liam had positioned himself near the door.

Will leaned back against the mantel, one ankle crossing over the other as he asked, “How often do you visit with Dauphine Adair?”

Charles’s hand stilled where it toyed with his sash. “Pardon?”

It should be simple enough, Will had explained the night before. Dauphine was obsessed with finery, but she was tightfisted, as were most who worshipped money. She would frequent the finest of brothels, but she’d be willing to take a cut where she could.

“The name is familiar to you, is it not?” Will pressed.

For a long moment, Charles simply stared at him. But then he grinned, his elbows bracing back on the bed in a move Aidon was sure was intended to show off his lithe figure. “Never heard of her. I’m more interested in learning your name,” he drawled.

Will’s laugh was low, and Aidon knew him well enough to mark the danger dancing within it. He shook his head once, his raven strands brushing his brow as he dipped his chin and began to unbutton his vest.

Liam shot Aidon a look from across the room, but Charles…Charles merely sat up, his teeth digging into his bottom lip as he tracked the movement.

He’d been trained well, Aidon noted. One newer to brothels might even think his desire wasn’t feigned.

Will finished unbuttoning his vest, but instead of shedding it, he grasped one side and tugged it wide, showing off the knife tucked away inside.

“I’ll ask you again,” Will said softly. “Do you visit with Dauphine Adair?”

Aidon marked the way Liam focused intently on Charles, who had gone still at the flash of the blade.

He wondered if Charles could feel the press of Liam’s persuasion against him.

It was unlikely. Those thoroughly trained in the art of the affinities—soldiers and the like—might be able to detect the subtleties of a power like persuasion brushing against them.

Humans, and ordinary Visya, could not.

Aidon fell in with the latter, he’d learned, when he’d asked Liam to try his power on him just the other night.

“Yes,” Charles confessed, any trace of seduction gone from his voice. “I meet with Dauphine.”

“When is the next time you’ll see her?” Will demanded.

Charles’s throat bobbed, his fingers curling into the sheets as he kept a wary eye on Will’s knife. “In an hour. She’s my next appointment.”

A lucky thing. They wouldn’t need to wait. But Aidon couldn’t help the bemused snort that escaped him as he shook his head. “So much for getting our money’s worth.”

Charles blushed. “I would have ensured you were still satisfied.”

“Efficient, are you?” Liam shot back.

“Quiet,” Will interrupted. His brow furrowed, his stare hard as he fixed it on Charles. “Where will you meet her?”

“The room next door. It’s the largest. She doesn’t like to be greeted in the reception hall. She prefers that I…wait for her.”

A way to feel more desired, Aidon assumed. It was amazing the things people could trick themselves into believing. He could certainly speak to it, given the amount of lies he told himself.

“Can you get us in there without detection?” Aidon asked.

Charles nodded. “It’s empty now. It’s reserved for special clientele.”

Aidon cut a glance to Will, who nodded his confirmation. Whatever his Sensainos affinity detected, he believed Charles spoke true.

Liam moved off the door, his motions smooth despite the power Aidon knew was flowing from him as he ordered Charles to lead them to the next room. It was an easy thing, the hallway empty save for the sounds of pleasure that permeated the doors.

This time, Charles attempted to stay near the door, but Aidon curled a hand in the crook of his arm again and led him further into the room.

“What is that you want?” the courtesan bit out, wrenching his arm from Aidon’s grasp.

“You’re going to disappear for the rest of your shift today,” Aidon told him.

Confusion swept across Charles’s face, his lips parting as he struggled to voice his complaints. “But…I can’t afford…”

“You’ll be well compensated,” Aidon assured him. “As long as Dauphine doesn’t receive word that we’re waiting for her.”

“And if she doesn’t arrive?” Charles stammered. “Sometimes she…she changes her schedule and—”

“Let’s all hope that’s not the case today,” Will interrupted. “For your sake.”

Never one to be subtle with a threat , Aidon thought wryly. He couldn’t deny it was effective though. Charles blanched, but he gave no further arguments as Liam asked where they could deliver his funds after the meeting.

“How am I supposed to leave without raising suspicion?” Charles asked once the business was concluded.

Aidon clucked his tongue. “Charles,” he chided. “Surely your newness as a courtesan doesn’t preclude you from garnering the secrets of the establishment. You don’t honestly mean to tell me you don’t know of the ways to move through here undetected.”

Charles’s shoulders curved inward. “There’s a back staircase,” he confessed quietly.

“I suggest you find it quickly,” Will remarked, his voice light. It was all the motivation Charles needed. The man darted from the room without a backwards glance.

“He could easily be running for a guard,” Liam pointed out as the door clicked shut behind him.

“He could,” Will sighed as he dropped down onto the brown chaise that sat beneath the window. “But I doubt it. His panic felt more flight than fight, and he’s smart enough to know that should we survive the guards, we’d kill him.”

It was strange to see Will like this after weeks of seeing him wear his stress like a second skin.

One might mistake him for a picture of ease and pomposity.

There was once a time where Aidon certainly wouldn’t have been able to differentiate what he was seeing from the true person beneath.

But now, he knew it for what it was: a mask, fitted perfectly for the occasion.

“A lucky thing she has an appointment today,” Aidon mused. He went to sit on the bed, but paused, his nose scrunching as he thought better of it.

Better to not give Dauphine any ideas.

“Very lucky,” Liam agreed, amusement dancing in his eyes as he watched Aidon’s struggle. But the levity didn’t last long, not when they could all agree—they had been lucky. Aidon couldn’t help but wonder when, exactly, that luck was due to run out.