by Alexa Black
“My lady Nivrai.” She licked her lips. “I can’t say I expected to hear from you again.”
Teran smiled. “Your surprise isn’t unwarranted. They say that I never see someone twice.”
“Yes, my lady. They say.”
She’d thought about it, though, more often than she cared to admit. Wondered about that name, Mariel. About the woman who’d made her hands into weapons for him. About the ache she’d tried to soothe, and how much of it her hands and mouth and body had assuaged.
She’d done nothing more about her curiosity, though. Her little tryst with Lady Nivrai hadn’t made her any more interested in the dark channels than before.
But she’d wondered. Listened to more rumors than she should have.
Four times a year, Teran Nivrai would hire someone, so the stories went. That was ridiculous even for a minor noble. If the rumors about what she did four times a year hadn’t fascinated the gossips, they would’ve called her close to dead.
Then again, most nobles didn’t have retractable steel claws. Much less use them on the courtesans.
Even on the dark channels, the courtesans might turn down her offers. Even if she did pay well.
Cailyn slipped a hand between her breasts, touched the place where Lady Nivrai had cut her. The mark had faded long ago, but she felt a pang anyway.
How long had it been? Six months?
“They are not wrong,” Teran said. “If I played favorites, some interesting rumors would start.”
“Then they’ll start about me if I accept your offer,” Cailyn said. She tried to ignore the heat she felt.
“They may. But I will pay well. More than double what you would get otherwise. Besides, I don’t think you mind so much.”
Cailyn smiled. “There are some things I wouldn’t mind so much.”
“And the other things?” Teran’s voice was rich with amusement.
Yes, that. Pain. Blood. She’d never had any penchant for either.
“I would”—she stopped, looked up at the ceiling, then back at the videoscreen on the wall—“endure the others, for the sake of the rest.”
Teran raised an eyebrow. “So you do want to hear my offer?”
“Yes.”
*
A night and a day, as it turned out. That was a long time to be alone with Lady Nivrai.
She remembered the scrape Teran’s newsteel had torn between her breasts. It had itched while it was healing. She hadn’t minded. But to wake up after a long night of use like that, with scrapes and bruises that still throbbed or burned, only to find Teran rested and eager for more?
That didn’t sound so easy.
But Teran had cared about Cailyn’s pleasure too. She didn’t have to, but she had. And that might be worth a few bruises and some blood.
Cailyn enjoyed giving pleasure. She’d known she would since the first time she’d seen a noble’s avid gaze and felt her knees turn to water. But not everyone she served cared much for her, and even her patience had limits.
She thought of her father. How many times had she seen him study himself in a mirror, comb his long blond hair, watching Cailyn’s reflection watching him? He’d told her years ago how relieved he had been to retire.
Cailyn hadn’t believed it. She’d seen people watch her father, their eyes fixed on his body as he passed. She’d understood even then why they stared, even if she hadn’t known exactly what he did with them.
She’d wanted what he had from the beginning. He’d laughed and told her it wasn’t all it seemed.
The warning had gone right through her.
She hadn’t known just how much effort her father’s beauty took. How his hair required hours of styling and care to keep supple. The creams and salves he used to keep his skin looking young. How even the lilt of his soft voice had come from careful enunciation. She had never realized that he never cursed or yelled because he’d learned not to.
She hadn’t understood any of it. Not until she’d spent nights under people she hated.
Teran’s desires—Cailyn winced at the memories of what Lady Nivrai had done to her.
But Teran had also kissed her like a lover. Whether she was toying with Cailyn or not.
Let her do what she wanted, then. Flog her, make her bleed, whatever else. She’d endured it all already; it was a part of who Teran was, as much as the other.
It wouldn’t be easy. But Cailyn had known that the first time.
*
Cailyn tugged at the fabric of her dress. She’d never fidget in front of a client, but here in the hall, she could let herself be nervous. And she did need to make sure the dress fit right, cupping her breasts and wide hips without bunching up. She’d chosen a deep blue dress made of transparent fabric and rouged her nipples underneath it, wanting to make sure she caught Teran’s eye.
She found Teran at a table in a small room. A tubelike seat wrapped around one side of the circular table, arranged so that Cailyn would have to sit beside her.
On the table lay fruit and small portions of a meat Cailyn didn’t recognize. Cailyn’s fruit had already been peeled, the sections arranged on her plate. Teran’s had not.
Teran wore a plain uniform in the standard Nivrai gray. It clung tight enough to reveal the lines of Teran’s body but hid her flesh away.
Cailyn looked down at her rouged nipples under the blue cloth. Their hardness embarrassed her. She felt more exposed than she had even then.
She forced herself not to fidget, looked at Teran, studying her reaction to make sure she hadn’t noticed too much.
Teran smiled. It looked welcoming. “Hello, little one.” She patted the seat for Cailyn to join her.
“My lady.” Cailyn slid into the seat beside Teran.
“It’s a pleasure to see you again.”
“I’m glad to please you, my lady,” Cailyn said, letting her smile grow as big as she deemed wise.
“Good.” Teran picked up a melon, pierced it with her claws, and drew them down to make slits in the skin. She peeled it slowly, holding it between glistening metal. She pulled out a section of melon and bit into it.
Cailyn took a few bites of her food. The tender meat melted in her mouth. The melon, in contrast, was tangy, a sharp counterpoint to the mild-spiced meat.
Teran watched Cailyn eat, intent as a hawk. Cailyn wondered what she wanted. Did something hinge on her opinion of the food? Confused and exposed, she sipped the wine.
She coughed, the bitter liquid catching in her throat. Whatever the drink was, it wasn’t wine. Not wanting to stare, she glanced at Teran, keeping her head down.
Teran smirked. “It’s vakren. Traditional, for the worship of one of the older gods. Not much in favor beyond that.”
Ancient religious rites to dead gods. How did Teran know about that? Much less enough to buy and drink their traditional beverages? Cailyn wasn’t sure she wanted to know. She ate a bite of meat and took a ginger sip of the drink, not wanting to offend.
Teran peeled another piece of melon. Cailyn watched the steel-tipped hands. Her own dress veiled none of her body. She shivered. The claws had moved with that same precision along her skin.
The spot between her breasts ached, a little thrill of phantom pain. She squeezed her legs together and stared at the gray top that hid Teran’s breasts.
“How can you wait six months, my lady?” she blurted. “It’s unnatural. Especially with desires like yours.”
Teran chuckled. “My desire moves slowly through my blood. It’s slow to stir and slow to vanish.”
Cailyn chewed a piece of melon. Her mouth filled with its juice. Slow to vanish. Did that mean Teran sometimes thought of her?
Teran drummed her fingers on the table with a metallic sound. “And you? What about your desire?”
Cailyn coughed on a piece of meat. “Mine?”
Surely this wasn’t just about her. Lady Nivrai wanted something.
Cailyn bit into a slice of melon and hedged her bets. “I’m here to serve you, my lady. M
y—what I want is to do it well.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“No, but why should you want to know about me?”
“Your father was a famous courtesan. You follow in his footsteps. Before we met, I thought you did it because of his fame and your beauty.” A smile curved her lips. “And that you took my offer only out of curiosity. But you looked at me with desire from the first.”
Cailyn fought not to frown. Showing interest was one thing, being obvious another.
Teran picked up another slice of melon. Her claws gleamed. “I don’t think my reputation had much to do with that.”
Cailyn laughed. “No.”
“You asked for my secrets the last time you were here. I gave you one of them. Now I ask for one in return.”
She raised the slice of melon to her mouth. Cailyn watched, mesmerized, as she bit it in half.
A secret for a secret.
Very well.
“I remember once when I was a girl. My father—”
“You saw him with a client, then?”
“No. Yes. Yes and no.”
Teran said nothing.
“He retired after he had me. But there were still a few people he was…fond of.”
Teran’s smile widened.
“My mother left for business. My father had made plans. Lord Lerak arrived early, so I hadn’t gone to bed when he came in. He spoke to me. I remember he greeted me, smiling.”
“You liked him, then?”
“Then I saw him looking at my father. I had never seen such looks. I was fascinated. My father told me to go to bed. I was curious and snuck back out.”
“What happened then?”
“I heard them talking but was afraid they’d see if I peeked, so I hid and listened. I heard my father call him ‘my lord,’ but they laughed like friends. I wanted to know what they were doing. I knew my father’s trade, of course, but I didn’t know how they would interact.
“They stayed for a long time. They did nothing but talk. Lerak mentioned me.”
“Did he?”
“Yes. He said I had my father’s beauty.” Cailyn blushed. As a grown woman serving the nobles, she worked hard to keep herself beautiful. But all those years ago, the words had flattered her.
Cailyn willed away her embarrassment. “He asked if I would be trained in the same art.”
“And what did your father say to that?” Teran purred, then lifted another slice of melon to her mouth.
“He said he hoped not. Lerak laughed. I remember he asked if the nobles were really so bad. My father laughed too and said, ‘Not you, my lord!’”
Teran chuckled.
“I hadn’t expected to hear them laugh. Not with each other. Not that way. I had to know what was happening between them. As quiet as I could manage to be, I crept to the stairs to look down. By the time I got there, they weren’t laughing any more. Lord Lerak looked my father over. His face changed. He walked over with a look in his eyes. Fixed. Hungry. I saw him smile. It frightened me, a little.”
Another soft laugh from Teran.
“Then I saw Lerak wrap his arms around my father and pull him close. I remember the way his arms locked around my father’s body. Then he kissed my father—sudden, hard. I felt like I’d intruded. Like I saw something I shouldn’t. I rushed back to my room and hoped they hadn’t heard me.”
The last slices of melon lay untouched on Teran’s plate. “And after that, you knew you wanted to be like your father?”
“Yes. I crept back inside. Huddled under the covers of my bed. I wondered what it would be like to be looked at that way. Kissed that way. I imagined eyes like that in the ceiling above me, looking down at me. I felt something stir in my body.”
Cailyn fought not to blush. What she had done next, twisted under her covers, for herself and for the pleasure of those imagined eyes, Teran could guess herself.
“From that moment on, I knew what I wanted. I told my father I wanted to be trained. I never told him why. When he asked, I only said I admired him. That I wanted to be like him.”
Teran sipped her vakren. Cailyn looked at Teran, her body hidden under the gray uniform. She wanted to draw the fastener down, slowly and with reverence, and expose Teran’s skin to her fingers and lips.
Teran’s eyes caught and held her. A hand on her chest pushed her down.
Cold light filled her vision as she stared at the ceiling. The dark shape of Teran’s face hovered over her. She quivered, pressed against the side of the small sofa.
Bright metal lowered itself to her dress and tore a line. She fought an urge to squirm or flee.
A faint touch of the newsteel rent the fabric, but left her skin untouched. She shook again when Teran moved, unsure if she felt cheated. She blinked at Teran’s dark head, wreathed in the light.
The claw came down again. It tore circles in the fabric around her nipples. They came free one by one, bright with the rouge Cailyn had daubed on them. Teran laughed and pinched one. She pulled it up and out. Two points of steel encircled it.
The clawed embrace stung. Cailyn closed her eyes and took deep breaths as Teran pulled.
Cailyn’s head turned. She hissed into the fabric under her. Her flesh began to ache, dull and insistent.
“Little one,” Teran said. “Open your eyes. Look at me.”
Cailyn blinked at the bright light, and she winced again as Teran’s other hand caught her other nipple. As before, she pulled.
At least Teran had distracted her first.
“Perhaps I should pierce you,” Teran said. Cailyn imagined blood beading up where the metal touched her.
She forced herself to hold Teran’s gaze and reached to unzip Teran’s bodice. She sought Teran’s nipples with blind fingers and ran her fingers over them.
Teran moaned softly, an exhalation Cailyn felt. The claws poked deeper into her skin.
Cailyn slipped her hand down farther and moved her fingers over the skin of Teran’s stomach.
Teran twisted the flesh caught between her claws. “Are you sure you want to do that, little one?”
Cailyn swallowed. “You could move your hand, my lady.”
Teran’s fingers moved to hover just beyond the skin of Cailyn’s nipple.
Cailyn slid her fingers down until she found the slick skin of Teran’s labia. She moved over them for a moment and sought out Teran’s clitoris. How much of the wetness Cailyn felt came from her touch and how much from holding steel so close to her nipples?
Teran’s body moved, slight motions Cailyn could barely feel. She took shallow, ragged breaths. Cailyn quickened the dance of her fingers and tried not to think too hard about what might happen if Teran moved too much when she came.
Teran’s claws retracted with a metallic clink. She hissed once. Her mouth opened and her body pressed into Cailyn’s hand.
Cailyn smiled and brought her fingers to her lips, tasting Teran on them.
Teran’s fingertips glittered as they tore open the fabric of Cailyn’s dress and pulled it open. Teran kissed her, and Cailyn wrapped her arms around her body.
Claws kneaded her sides, pricking the flesh. Teran’s tongue sank into Cailyn’s mouth. Pain blossomed in Cailyn’s side and faded just as quickly, embers dying on her skin.
Was she bleeding? She wasn’t sure.
“Come with me,” Teran said.
Chapter Four
Cailyn stepped out of the remnants of the dress and followed. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a man and woman dressed in Nivrai gray. They moved to clear away the wine and plates.
But she wasn’t here to watch them. She slid her fingers over her sides and felt the roughness of a few pinpricks. Not Lady Nivrai’s worst.
She stepped into the bedroom. Teran followed. She heard the footfalls behind her, soft and slow. She caught a glimpse of arms moving—
Without warning, they shoved Cailyn to the ground.
Cailyn scrambled to kneel properly. What was Teran playing at?
A clawed finger traced her chin and slid down her chest. She closed her eyes. Teran retracted her claws and held her clawless hand above Cailyn’s heart.
Cailyn closed her eyes and tried to will away her anger and surprise. I offer myself to you. I came here to do it.
Cailyn listened to Teran’s breath as steel points grew and shrank against her skin. With a last sharp sound, they retracted again.
Cailyn expected to be thrown onto the bed, given the passion in Teran’s voice moments before. It must have taken Teran an immense amount of will to do so little. Cailyn wondered why. She’d come here knowing perfectly well what Teran could do.
“You pricked me,” she said, opening her eyes and looking down at Teran’s hand. “But you haven’t cut me.”
The claws extended, gleaming on the ends of Teran’s fingertips. One rested against Cailyn’s chest. She could feel it there when she breathed. If she breathed deeply enough, would it cut into her skin?
Teran’s lip curled into a smile. “No, little one, I haven’t.”
“You want to,” Cailyn said.
“Yes.” The claw twitched but did not cut.
“Then why haven’t you?” From the moment Cailyn had walked in, the memory of Teran’s claws and what they’d done to her before had filled her mind. She trembled every time the claws emerged from Teran’s fingertips.
She liked the light touches, the steel skating careful over her skin. That didn’t hurt, and no one but Teran could do it.
That was reason enough to come back. But it had come with a price before. She would have to pay that price again sooner or later.
Every time Teran touched her, a part of her flinched. With every kiss, she waited for the pinpricks. They weren’t so bad in the heat of passion.
She hadn’t expected this waiting. Couldn’t Teran get on with it?
Right now, Teran stared down at her own claw pressed against Cailyn’s skin. Her breath came shallow and ragged.
Of course she wanted to do it.
Her other hand, also clawless, slid lower. It glided down Cailyn’s belly to her pubis and paused there. Was Teran really ready to have sex before hurting her, when she so clearly wanted to?