“The better to cut it off,” said Marcos.
Jasmin couldn’t tell if he was joking or not.
A gorgeous woman walked out of the back and stood beside them. Marcos instantly stood, and Jasmin followed suit.
“Jasmin Grant, you I recognize, but who is this fine-looking gentleman accompanying you?”
“Sherry Sweet, meet Marcos Lambert.”
“A pleasure, Mr. Lambert,” Sherry said.
“The pleasure is mine,” Marcos said. “Please join us.”
Sherry sat down and looked at Jasmin. “What brings you into the Wretched Wench?”
“I understand you know Rogue better than most,” Jasmin said. “I’d like to know more about him.”
Sherry smiled. “I’m sure there are all sorts of rumors as to the nature of my acquaintance with Rogue, but I’m not one to gossip. If you have a question for Rogue, why not ask him?”
Jasmin nodded. “I understand your reluctance to speak to me, but please understand my position. Rogue has already saved my life once and has intervened on my behalf with one of the king’s men. My life seems to be in danger from an unknown threat and the only one who seems to be able to protect me is Rogue, a man with a reputation that is somewhat dubious. It’s important that I learn a little about him if I am going to fully trust him with my safety.”
Sherry’s smile disappeared and her face went white. “Did you say he intervened with one of the king’s men?”
Jasmin nodded.
Sherry sat back in her chair and sighed. “Well, that certainly changes things. Marcos, my dear, Rosalie is in the kitchen right now, and she just pulled out a lovely roast for tonight’s dinner guests. I’ll bet if you sweet-talked her she’d make you a sandwich that is fit for a king.”
Marcos looked at Sherry and then at Jasmin. When she nodded that it was OK, he stood and gave Sherry a grin. “If Rosalie is half as beautiful as you, just being able to steal a few moments of her time would be reason enough to visit the kitchen, but a hot-out-of-the-oven roast-beef sandwich? That I simply cannot refuse.”
Sherry waited until Marcos was out of hearing range before speaking. “Forgive me for being cautious. I know who you are and trust you, but your companion is new and what I have to say isn’t for his ears, so please use discretion when discussing what I’m about to tell you.” Sherry waited for Jasmin to nod, and then continued. “I’m not surprised that your mother hasn’t told you about Rogue. It was for the best that as few people knew about him as possible. Rogue came here after the end of the last war with Vaton, shortly before your mother and you moved here. He was a wreck; the war had been particularly nasty for him, and he’d been betrayed. His intentions were to go into Vaton and murder all three of the newly crowned kings for their family’s role in his betrayal. For some reason, he decided to wait and ended up working as a mercenary out of Golrog. When your mother and you first arrived in Riverside, Baron Levy had men waiting for you to give you a very unpleasant greeting to life in Western Deytar. Your mother ended up hiring him to deal with the baron, and Rogue dealt with him. After that, your mother thanked him and followed through on her end of the agreement: she deeded him a parcel of land. Rogue built himself a cabin and a new life.
“After that, Rogue was different. He’d been a hard-drinking and angry man. He’d fight at the drop of a hat and kept to himself. He still fought at every opportunity, but the drinking stopped and he started paying attention to what was happening in Riverside. At that time, I was new at the Wretched Wench. I was new to being a whore, and it wasn’t a great life, but it was better than the hell I’d grown up in. Rogue had already been a regular customer, but before your mother came to Riverside he was always so drunk he barely recognized me as anything other than a warm body. After the drinking slowed down, he started talking to me. And when he came in one night and saw my boss beating me because I’d refused a customer who liked to be rough, Rogue took my boss into the streets and beat him savagely in front of the whole town. He put him in a wagon and told the driver to take him anywhere he wanted to go, but that if he ever returned to Riverside he’d be skinned alive.
“After that, Rogue brought myself and the other working girls into the bar and told us that we now owned the Wretched Wench. That it was our responsibility to make sure everyone who worked for us was treated with respect and got fair wages and proper care, including meals and medicine. It was the strangest sight, five whores suddenly thrust into the roles of madam, innkeeper, and business owners. But whores or not, we weren’t stupid, and we realized that we’d never get a better opportunity to have control over our own lives. Within three years two of the girls made enough money that they quit working, and the rest of us bought out their shares in the bar. Since then, all the others have moved on, and I’m now the only remaining one. I don’t actually take clients anymore, but I still dress the part and make the men think I’m available for the right price or for the right man, but the truth is that the only man I bed is Rogue. It isn’t that I love him, or that he loves me, but he treats me with respect at all times. And every time he does sleep with me, he pays, but not because I charge him. He calls it the memory tax. He says every time we are together it reminds of him of what he once had. I bring him comfort, but I can never be more than that to him because his heart is still broken.”
“Someone broke his heart?” Jasmin asked.
“He doesn’t talk much of her, but he was in love with a girl. She fought with him in the war, and when King Leach betrayed them, she died. I don’t know if he’ll ever find that kind of love again.”
“What about you?”
“He loves me in his way, but not like her. She was his sun, his moon, his everything. I’m just a kindred soul who he can share a small part of himself with.”
It was strange hearing Sherry’s story. Jasmin had never thought of the situations of the girls that came to Riverside to become pleasure girls. She knew for many girls it was the only way to survive, but she’d never contemplated the hardships that girls who chose that lifestyle went through, and the fact that Rogue had stood up for the girls of Riverside and changed their lives with one act definitely spoke to his character. “Didn’t any men ever try to take over the business from you? I’ve never heard of women owning a brothel.”
“We aren’t actually a brothel—we are fairly discreet about that part of the business. But yes, there have been men who thought that we’d be easy pickings, or that women wouldn’t be capable of running a business.”
Jasmin snorted. She’d heard similar things her whole life as men tried to tell her mother how to run the family estate. The would-be suitors and so-called friends would always find their welcome cut short. The Grant women were very capable of running their own affairs. “I do know what that is like.”
Sherry smiled. “Yes, I suppose you would.”
“I’m assuming Rogue dealt with all the men who thought they could take the Wretched Wench from you?”
“Oh yes. In the first years, Rogue’s reputation wasn’t as widespread as it is now, and gangs of men would come in looking to push their weight around and intimidate us.”
“And yet you are still here.”
“Yes. See that large jar behind the bar?”
Jasmin looked behind the bar, and on an eye-level shelf was a large glass jar, filled with something she couldn’t quite make out.
“Rogue started collecting body parts from the men who tried to take the Wench. He also took parts from men who abused the girls. It didn’t take long for word to spread about this. I think it was far more effective than killing them.”
Jasmin wrinkled her nose in disgust. “Gross.”
Sherry nodded. “Try seeing it every day. But that jar reminds every man who comes in here that we aren’t to be trifled with. I don’t know what we are going to do now.”
“What do you mean?”
“Rogue isn’t on the best of terms with the king. His man seeing Rogue changes things. I don’t know what is going to happ
en next, but he may choose to move on. It is one thing to wage a private vendetta in Vaton when you can hide in the woods of Deytar, but if both kings are hunting him, it might be time for him to leave.”
Jasmin frowned. “Rogue helping me has put you in danger now? He wouldn’t have been seen by the king’s man if it wasn’t for me.”
Sherry shook her head. “No, Rogue chose to let the king’s man see him. If Rogue wanted to stay hidden, he would’ve. He made that choice for a reason. And maybe it is best for Rogue to move on. I’m just very selfish sometimes. Rogue has been my savior, my protector, and my lover, but he’ll never be truly happy here, and perhaps it is time for me to sell and move on. Some of the younger girls are ready to take over. I’ve just been holding on for sentimental reasons. I’ve made enough money over the years that I can live anywhere in the world as a rich woman. Perhaps it is time I explored the world beyond Mara. Find me a handsome young man to make me an honest woman,” Sherry said with a wink.
“Really? But you’ve made this your home. You speak of the Wench with pride.”
“Oh, I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished, but Riverside has always been and always will be a risky place to own a business. It is so close to the borders of Vaton and Chambia that without someone like Rogue around to scare bad men, who knows what will happen. Besides, change can be good. Riverside has been a good part of my life, but being a whore or a bar owner doesn’t define me. I could use a new adventure and a new challenge.”
Jasmin was in awe. “You remind me so much of my mother. I feel ashamed that I’ve never spoken to you before.”
Sherry chuckled. “Don’t be silly, girl. You are a reputable young woman. You shouldn’t be consorting with the likes of me. But thank you for saying I remind you of your mother. That is a compliment of the highest magnitude, and one I shall never forget. I hold your mother in very high regard. She is a wonderful person and what she’s accomplished since coming to Riverside has been an inspiration to me.”
16
Rogue
The journey to Golrog went relatively smoothly for Rogue. The hammerhead roan started off the trip being particularly high-spirited, bucking during flat sections of road and occasionally turning his head to try and nip at him, but Rogue knew that this was the roan’s way of saying it had been cooped up too long. He’d been riding the assassins’ horses as of late and the roan was making him pay for it.
However, once that was done, the ride was smooth and they saw none of the border guards from Vaton that traveled the territory. It helped that they stayed in the mountains as long as possible, as most soldiers preferred to stick to the valley where the riding and walking were easier.
Golrog, a city filled with mercenaries, had a small number of king’s men and they tended to stick to their barracks and the nearby businesses. Golrog was a city that policed itself, and when the king’s men tried to interfere they often found themselves in danger. It made visiting Golrog a measured risk for Mendris. There was always the risk of the king’s men attacking him or a mercenary group taking a shot at the bounty on his head, but in this case, he felt it worth the risk.
Walking into Isaac’s coffeehouse, Mendris took a seat across from Isaac, who was busy reading a parchment and didn’t bother looking up.
Isaac, his eyes still on the parchment, greeted him. “Hello, Rogue, it has been a while.”
“You may call me by my name. There no longer is a need for secrecy, I’m afraid.”
Isaac looked up and smiled. “But I rather liked the name. It was colorful and rather apt, don’t you think?”
Rogue shrugged. “I’ve been called worse.”
“Your visit, and the fact that you no longer need a false name...this is tied to the Grant family, I presume?”
“Yes,” said Rogue as he leaned across the table and stole a scone from Isaac’s plate.
“An unfortunate bit of business. How are the men working out?”
“The pretty one needs some seasoning, but the rest are solid. I don’t know if it is enough, though.”
Isaac’s brow furrowed. It was known he prided himself in sending the right men for the job, so to be questioned was rare when he suggested something. “You want more men?”
“No, what I need is information.” More men would only accomplish so much, and by the time Isaac could gather them and get them to Riverside, it would be time to go to the capital. “Whoever is trying to kill Jasmin has eyes on the throne.”
Isaac sat back and closed his eyes. “Of course. I never put two and two together, but there was a death in Jorra, another of the royal family. Alone, one or two of these things mean little, but with the prince dead as well it leaves the question of an heir in jeopardy. But then the question is who would want them all dead? Another heir?”
“No, that isn’t the question I need answered. If it were that simple the king’s men would’ve figured it out by now. The question is who would you go to if you wanted to kill multiple members of the royal family, including the prince?”
Isaac nodded. “Yes, that is probably a much smaller list than people who would want to see chaos in Deytar. The death of the prince and the cousin in Jorra are too close in time to have been the same assassins as attacked Jasmin in Riverside. And the styles are too vastly different, so someone with access to multiple assassins.”
“Aside from yourself, who would have that capability?”
Isaac frowned. “The attacks in Jorra and in Riverside were nothing out of the ordinary. A few coins can get you that type of assassin here, or in any major city, for that matter. However, the attack on the prince was subtle and done without anyone witnessing anything out of the ordinary. That takes a much higher degree of skill. Here in Golrog there are maybe three men I could think of capable of that type of work, but I know where all three were at the time of the prince’s death. If it wasn’t for the prince’s death, I would say the logical answer was assassins from Jorra or Vaton. But the prince’s death—that was an inside job. Someone familiar with the prince and his routines was involved.”
Everything Isaac was saying was in agreement with what Rogue had already worked out. “And no one from the castle was murdered after or before the prince.”
“So there were no loose ends. Meaning it wasn’t a foreign assassin with a local contact. Unless it was one he trusts implicitly. Leaving that possibility out of the equation, I would say there are two men who need to be looked at. Weaver Marrow in Evermeir and Vernon Glaire in Port Allon. Weaver is like me, a coordinator of men. If anyone local to Evermeir was involved, Weaver would know or be the one who organized it. Vernon Glaire is the leader of the Viper Gang. He is skilled enough to have been the one to kill the prince, and only a few people like myself know his true identity. He fronts himself as a successful merchant and he owns a shipping company, so it wouldn’t be surprising to find out he was able to be in the same place as the prince without anyone knowing. The third option is that it is a collection of assassins hired by someone outside of Deytar.”
Mendris shook his head. “I thought about the last possibility, and it is the least likely. Either Weaver Marrow or Vernon Glaire is the one I need to find.”
“And if you can get them alive, you can find out who is behind the attacks?”
“I hope so, but first I have to get her safely into Evermeir.”
“Which brings you to the second reason you are visiting me here in Golrog,” Isaac said.
Mendris nodded. Isaac was a very intelligent and perceptive man; it was no surprise that he’d realized the second reason for a face-to-face meeting. “It is likely that I shall not return to Riverside. If Jasmin Grant is to become queen, neither her nor her mother will stay there, and it will be time for me to move on.”
“However, you leave behind many friends in Riverside, and I would assume Zeke is still with you?”
“Exactly. I will be leaving the cabin to Zeke. He loves it there, and he cares more for the horses than he does humans, so my leaving will not be dev
astating to him.”
“What is it that you need, then?”
“I want Riverside under your protection. In exchange, you may make use of Zeke from time to time. He’s as good a healer as any in Golrog, and he’s on the proper side of the border for any who have troubles with the kings of Vaton.”
Isaac smiled. “Even after you leave you are going to stick it to the kings of Vaton.”
“They deserve far worse. I should’ve killed them all years ago, but that would only have caused more grief for my friends.”
“I will do what I can for Riverside, but I have to tell you there are things going on beyond the shores of Mara that will change everything.”
Mendris frowned. Isaac wasn’t one for hyperbole. “And those things are?”
“Dragons have returned.”
Mendris sighed. Being from Oshva and having firsthand knowledge of elves, he knew the story of dragons disappearing. He hadn’t known if it was true that they would return or when. It was an unsettling thought, but that was not his concern. “That is not welcome news. However, I prefer not to think about such things until they become my problem. Keep Riverside safe as you can, and check in on Zeke once in a while. Buy whatever animals he has to sell you. They will be worth twice what he asks. And make sure that the Wretched Wench remains the same. If Sherry sells it to any of her girls, they are to be given the same respect as Sherry.”
Isaac nodded. “I can make sure of that.”
Mendris reached into his travel bag and pulled out a small but heavy sack of coins. He placed them on the table. “This will cover whatever expenses you have watching over Riverside and Zeke.”
Isaac eyed the sack. “And then some. Perhaps leave a smaller amount?”
Mendris shook his head. “Take what you need, keep some for emergencies, and visit Riverside. Speak with Sherry. She’ll know where to sprinkle coins to help the town.”
Leaving Isaac, Rogue headed to the one place in Golrog that was a danger to him, the king’s barracks.
Rogue Page 10