Keirth had buried his face in his hands. He pulled them away slowly. “I forgot what she’s like. That was completely out of line. I really am sorry.”
“It’s really okay.” Ariana ate some more rice. Oddly, now that Keirth was embarrassed, she was finding herself feeling attracted to him again.
Keirth was studying the table. “I would never do something like that to you, you know that right?”
“Something like what?” Ariana had to admit she was a little confused. She’d been fairly sure that Lilla was implying the two of them were attracted to each other. She knew Keirth actually wasn’t, but Lilla had pegged Ariana’s feelings pretty well.
“‘Ruin your reputation.’”
“Well, it is sort of already ruined,” said Ariana.
“No,” he said. “I mean I would never take advantage of you.”
“I’ve never thought that,” she said.
Keirth took a bite of his rice.
“But I don’t think that’s what she meant,” Ariana said. “I don’t think she thinks you’d hurt me or do anything against my will.”
Keirth chewed, making a face. When he finally swallowed, he said, “But that’s completely crazy. You’d never want me to...” He glared at his rice. “I’m not going to kiss you. Don’t worry about anything like that.”
Right. Of course not. She didn’t want him to kiss her anyway. But she couldn’t help stealing glances at his lips as they ate. They were nice lips. Full. She wondered what it would be like to kiss them.
* * *
Ariana stood in the doorway to the small house, looking inside at the contents. There was only one room, except for a small bathroom in the corner. It contained a bed, which took up most of the room. It was large and topped with a shimmering red comforter. There was a wardrobe along one wall, empty, and an empty vanity, complete with a mirror and bench. The room was vacant, but Ariana felt as if it had the essence of all the activities that had gone on in it oozing out of the walls. She felt uncomfortable. She turned to Keirth. “I don’t know if I can sleep here.”
“You’ll be fine here,” he said, striding into the room. “You have privacy. You’ll be comfortable.” He sat down on the bench in front of the vanity table.
Ariana went to the bed and gingerly poked it. “Do you think there have been a lot of people who’ve, you know... on this bed?”
Keirth shrugged. “Lilla said she put clean sheets on it.”
“It’s just the thought of it,” said Ariana. She looked around the room. “So all the women here have their own little houses to...entertain in?”
“Not all,” said Keirth. “It’s a privilege. Some of the women use rooms in the main house. The more successful you are, the more likely you get to have your own little house. My mother had one, when she and I lived here, but I almost never spent any time in it.”
Ariana sat down on the bed. Gingerly. “You spent time here with your mother?”
He nodded. “Yeah, we came back here off and on. Once we stayed here for nearly five years.” He got up walked to the window of the cottage, staring outside. “The money was always spotty out here. It’s a colony world, and most of the customers are men who spend all their time on a ship. Sometimes, there’d be too many, sometimes we practically starved.” He turned to look at her. “Not just my mom and me. All of the women here. My mom wanted to stay, because it was stable. She thought it was better for me. But we never could stay for too long. Still, I always liked it here. Some of the other women had kids. I had people to play with.”
Ariana considered Keirth’s childhood in a brothel. It sounded extremely inappropriate for a child. But she wasn’t going to say that. To say that would insult Keirth’s mother, and she knew Keirth loved her very much.
“Lilla’s a good person,” said Keirth. “I know this place makes you feel uncomfortable.”
“Not because of Lilla,” said Ariana. She sighed. “I guess the whole profession leaves a bad taste in my mouth.”
“I’m not saying I’m particularly fond of it either.”
“I think there are certain things that shouldn’t be sold.” For the first time in her life, she tried to put herself in the position of the women here. Letting men do what they wanted to her body for money? She shivered. Ugh. No, it would be like Risciter’s hand on her breast in the forests of Kush. Every night. But she’d have to pretend she liked it.
Keirth returned to the bench. “Growing up around prostitutes, you start noticing things. It’s all this kind of twisted power play. Women who are prostitutes enjoy the fact that they can use men’s weaknesses against them for money. They tell themselves they’ve got the power, since they’re the ones who are profiting. And men who come here enjoy the fact that they don’t have to think of these women as anything other than servants. They think because they can tell the women to do whatever they want that they’ve got the power. It’s all about power.” He studied his hands. “It sickens me.”