“Sure, I’ve saw him here before. He’s some kind of rich guy, ain’t he?” said a man in the booth.
“Have you seen him today?” Keirth asked.
The man shook his head. “Not today, no. But he usually stays in the inn next door when he’s in town. I played him at cards once a while back. He won, but I swear he cheated. ‘Course, you can’t argue against rich folk like that.”
“Ain’t that the truth,” said Keirth. “The inn, you say?”
“Yeah. I reckon if he’s in town, that’s where he’s staying.”
Keirth thanked the man. He surveyed the bar, his gaze dragging over Ariana once, but he didn’t seem to see her. He didn’t seem to see anything of interest, because he turned and left the tavern.
He was going to the inn, then.
Ariana waited a few seconds, and then she followed Keirth out of the tavern. She was cautious at the door, afraid that Keirth would see her leaving. But once she got back out on the street, Keirth was already opening the door to the inn.
He went inside, but Ariana didn’t dare follow him through the door. He’d see her for sure. Instead, she scurried over to the building and put her ear against the door. She could hear the conversation, but it was muffled.
“Oh, yeah, he checked in an hour or two ago,” said a voice, probably the innkeeper. “You want me to ring up to him, tell him you’re here?”
“That’s okay.” Keirth’s voice. “Just give me the room number. I’d like to surprise him. We’re old friends, and he’ll be so excited to see me here. Both of us on a colony planet. What a coincidence.”
Could the innkeeper be so stupid as to give out the information? Certainly, he had to protect Risciter’s privacy. Why, in the sector if someone tried something like that—
“Only five rooms in the whole place,” said the innkeeper. “He’s in the first one. Top of the steps. Can’t miss it.”
“Thanks,” said Keirth.
He was going to go to Risciter now! She’d planned to knock him out with a huge stick, but that plan hadn’t worked. She had to stop him. How...?
She didn’t have much time.
She opened the door to the inn. There was a desk there. The innkeeper was behind it. He looked startled to see her enter. Keirth had already started up the steps. His back was to her. Next to the steps was a decorative statue, about three feet high, of a strange animal of some kind. Maybe it was native to this planet.
It would have to work.
She ran for the statue, heaving it above her head.
Keirth turned at the sound of her footsteps.
And she brought the statue crashing down on his forehead.
Keirth made a strangled noise and fell down on the steps, his limbs tangled.
“What the hell is going on?” said the innkeeper, coming out from behind his desk.
Ariana didn’t wait to talk to him. She hurried up the steps, taking two at a time, yelling, “Risciter!” At the top of the stairwell, just as the innkeeper had said, was a room marked with a number one. She pressed the open switch on the wall outside. It opened. “Risciter!” she yelled.
The room was small, containing only a bed. But the bed was crowded. Risciter sat straight up to face the open door, and the three naked women who were in bed with him sat up too.
Ariana’s jaw dropped. Three...?
She stood agape in the doorway, staring at the man who was nearly her fiancé, who was clearly engaging in inappropriate activity with three women at once. She could see his bare chest, and that was scandalous in and of itself.
“Miss Gilit?” said Risciter, astonished. “What are you doing here?”
“I was saving your life,” said Ariana. And then she slammed the door, too horrified to look at him anymore.
Chapter Five
While it was true that noblemen were held to less strict standards of morality than noblewomen, something like this was beyond the bounds of decency. The women with Risciter were clearly whores—and colony whores at that. And three of them. What did a man even do with three women? No, it was clear that Ariana would never be able to face a marriage bed with a man who engaged in this kind of behavior.
The women were gone now, Risciter was dressed, and Keirth was gagged and tied to a chair in Risciter’s room. He hadn’t awoken yet. There was a fire going in the fireplace in the room. Risciter paced in front of it, his hands clasped behind his back. It had gotten remarkably chilly when the sun went down, and apparently this colony world didn’t have any kind of normal heating units, so Ariana was glad for the warmth. She sat in a ratty upholstered chair, letting the heat from the fire radiate over her.