Keirth sighed. He took long strides as he walked.
Ariana struggled to keep up, glancing around in the darkness, wondering if a ship that had followed them was close by. “Do you think whoever followed us was in my bedroom?”
“Doesn’t make sense. We’d most likely be followed by bounty hunters. If someone was in your room, he would have taken you immediately. You got spooked is all.”
Ariana wasn’t convinced, but she didn’t argue with him. She could see the logic in what he’d said.
“To be safe, though, you shouldn’t stay in the cottage. It’s too remote. No one would hear you if something happened.”
At least that relieved her a little bit. She half-jogged to keep up with Keirth, who was walking really fast.
“I’m sorry I kissed you.”
“I’m not,” she found herself saying. She wasn’t either. It had been amazing. She’d never felt anything like it. And she liked touching Keirth too.
Keirth stopped abruptly. He turned round, and she nearly collided with him as she tried to stop walking too. “That’s exactly the problem. You think it meant something. It didn’t.”
She surveyed him for a second. His face was stone, and he’d clenched his hands into fists. What had he really thought about the kiss? Before he’d done it, he said all he felt for her was lust.
“I don’t want to take advantage of you, Ariana, but you’re not making it easy,” he said.
Take advantage? Oh. She shrugged. “I thought you said that men weren’t animals. I thought you said you could control yourself.” She stepped around him and started back down the path.
He caught up to her easily, matching her stride. “Usually, I can. But you’re...” There was no sound for several seconds except the crunch of their feet on the path. “I need to see if there are any ships that followed us. I can’t think about this right now.”
They were quiet for the rest of the walk back to the brothel.
Ariana wasn’t sure if she felt flattered or frightened that she seemed to be the thing that broke Keirth’s resolve not to touch women. Either way, it was something she couldn’t deny that she wanted to pursue further. She liked the way Keirth had touched her. She loved the way his lips had felt on hers. She wasn’t sure if it mattered if Keirth was taking advantage of her or not. She craved the feel of him.
Once back inside the main house, Keirth led her through the kitchen and into the pantry. “You can sleep back here,” he told her.
“In the pantry?”
He pushed aside a part of the wall, which turned out to be a sliding door. “No, there’s a room back here.” And they emerged into a small room, lined with bunks. “This is where I stayed when I was a kid. It’s hidden so that we’d stay both out of the way and safe. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
* * *
Risciter looked up from the girl in the main room whose throat he’d just slashed. Voices. His gaze darted around the rest of the room. Had he gotten all of them? He’d drugged them all quietly first, and then made his rounds, cutting all of their pretty white necks in turn. He could see scarlet blood glinting in the scant light on each of their throats. He moved soundlessly through the room, in the direction of the voices.
“...there’s a room back here,” said a male voice. Ah, the meddling boy. He was here. Good. Risciter had big plans for him. One might, in fact, say that this was all being done for his benefit. The brothel of dead whores was Risciter’s finest work of art, and his lips curled into a smile as he thought of how the boy would react when he saw all of it. It would weaken him. He’d be too horrified to fight. This would destroy him.
The voices were still talking. “Once I see if there’s a ship here, see if someone followed the tracking devices, I’ll come back. If we’re safe, you can move back to the cottage.”
“I don’t like being alone,” said a female voice. Miss Gilit. So, she wasn’t in her little cottage anymore, was she? That was okay with Risciter. He knew where she was now. But the boy was going to look for a ship. Apparently, Risciter hadn’t quite been as stealthy as he thought, and they’d realized they’d been followed. Risciter considered. Should he stop the boy?
“You’ll be fine. You’re hidden back here.”
“Keirth, what if someone’s here?”
“They’d have shown themselves by now.” Keirth? Where had he heard that name before?
Ah, yes. He remembered now. The Duke of Tramet was looking for this boy. Strange. But it didn’t matter. Risciter would as soon never have known his name or wondered what Tramet could want with him. All that mattered was that Keirth had put a serious wrench in Risciter’s plans. He would pay for the inconvenience he’d caused. And he would definitely pay for taking Ariana away from Risciter before Risciter’d had a chance to make her special.