Page 10 of Golden Queen
"Oh," I said, feeling rather bad for teasing him. "I'm sorry Rhych. Who is it?"
I belatedly realized he was coming around the table, lowering himself beside my chair. I leaned away as he closed his eyes, pursed his lips, and began moving toward me. "You," he said, lips puckered.
Arkadian roared with laughter behind me as I placed a boot against Rhychulson's midsection and shoved. He fell back and rolled, holding his side as he laughed.
"Twat!" I said, laughing despite myself.
We filed out of the Mouse's Ear, spilling out into the darkness of the almost chill autumn night.
Petta turned to look back at us. "Whose turn is it to take it?" she asked.
"Sera's," Arkadian and Rhychulson said in unison.
I held out my hand and Rhychulson dropped the purse of his winnings into my palm.
"Want me to tag along?" Arkadian asked.
"No. Madia's father will be asleep. I'll have to be quiet."
He nodded, putting his hands in his pockets and regarding me.
Petta and Rhychulson's carriage rolled up, wheels clattering over the gravel drive. After a raucous goodbye, they left.
Arkadian took his hands from his pockets. "I'll be in the taproom. Come find me so I can see you home."
I nodded, turning to leave.
"Do you have your sword, Sera?"
I nodded again, patting my side where the special scabbard had been sewn into the lining of my long coat so that my shorter than usual short sword could hang unseen inside.
Even if it hadn’t been priceless Obeskan steel, ripe for the plucking for any thief in the city, the picture of a woman carrying a sword on the streets of Albiyn would draw more eyes than I wanted on me.
Arkadian nodded. "Be careful," he said and turned back to the brothel.
"Of course," I called, rolling my eyes. I turned to trot away across the courtyard, following an alleyway to the slums that lay sleeping just behind the opulent buildings that lined this end of Antevemer street.
The slums were a reeking, muddy collection of hovels that looked like haphazard children's blocks stacked on top of each other. Along the narrow street before me, lines had been strung between the buildings where clothes would hang out to dry in the sunshine. Most of the spider web of lines were empty now, aside from a few that looked forgotten in the shadowy darkness.
That section of the Windemerian slums was where the washerwomen who collected the soiled linens from the brothels would spend the days washing, drying, and folding. They would deliver the laundry to the pleasure houses in the morning and return with new cart loads of soiled bedding to begin the process again.
The length of the washerwomen's street was a testament to how many brothels lined Antevemer. Most were not advertised with a welcoming sign, like the Mouse's Ear. Most were not marked at all. They were simply small, dilapidated houses on either side of the street where untold horrors happened behind closed doors. It was another thing I would change as soon as I had the power to do so.
I found Madia's hovel, which was always a little more neat-looking than the others. It had long white curtains hanging behind the filmy glass windows, and the inside glowed with a soft, golden light.
I stepped to the window and peered inside. I dared not knock, since Madia's father lay in the little cot on the eastern wall. His eyes were closed, and his features set in a grimace of pain. He had been bedridden for a decade, sick with something the healers could not identify.
Madia saw me within a few heartbeats, and her face spread in a soft smile.
She stepped outside, and I placed the coins in her hand. She swept them into her apron and held them still so that they did not make a sound. "Thank you, Aelia," she said.
Madia had always known who I was. She served as a nursemaid in the castle when I was young until her father's illness forced her to retreat to the slums so that she could work while she cared for him.
She had been a surrogate mother to me, and I was heartbroken when she left her post.
"You know you don't have to keep doing this," Madia said, indicating the empty purse in my hand.
"I know."
