The Queen's Blade Prequel II - God Touched (26 page)

The assassin's
glance brushed past Lilu, who sat with Oxan, still one of her few
regular clients, giggling and tickling him as she tried to temp him
to her room. Her waist thickened with her fifth child. Blade
suspected that it had the same sire as her fourth, whose big bones
and course features came from her sire. Hopefully this one would be
a boy, who at least would not suffer for his ugliness. Blade
suspected that Lilu's daughters would be forced to follow their
mother's trade, since the plain girl had lank mouse-brown hair and
timid brown eyes set in an insipid face. Endel was now a big,
handsome boy of four, of whom Lilu was inordinately proud.

Blade glanced
at a clutch of five young, giggling noblewomen whose glossy hair
framed pretty, doe-eyed faces with dimples and pouty mouths, their
necks and ears adorned with jewels. They shot him flirtatious looks
as they sipped their wine, licking their lips in blatant
invitation. Only for the Master of the Dance, though. Four hopeful
men had already been spurned with sharp words and hard looks. He
suspected that if he chose to wander over to their table, they
would welcome him with warm smiles and soft eyes. They had been
eyeing him for a time-glass already, but he had no intention of
taking their bait.

Blade yawned
and toyed with his wine cup, glancing at the late afternoon
sunlight that slanted in through the windows to pattern the dirty
rushes. Business was slow, and he contemplated going to Lilu's room
to rest, but that would make it impossible for her to lure Oxan
there, and she would not be pleased. His attention was drawn to the
tableful of noblewomen when they pushed back their chairs and rose.
They approached his table in its gloomy corner, their expressions a
little hesitant, but determined. Blade leant back, a stray shaft of
light making his silver-studded Dance Master's belt glitter. The
girls gazed at it, then at him, and giggled.

The boldest, a
girl with mahogany hair and dark blue eyes, gestured to the bench
opposite him.

“
May we join you, Dance Master?”

He shrugged.
“It's a free kingdom.”

They all
squeezed onto the bench, pushing, pinching and giggling, and leant
over the table to display their cleavages. The boldest smiled at
him, and he returned it, making her blush.

She licked her
lips. “What is your fee?”

“
Depends on the kill.”

“
For a hard... one?”

“
Fifty to a hundred goldens.”

“
That is expensive.”

He sipped his
wine. “I'm the Master of the Dance.”

“
You have been the Dance Master for some time now, have you
not?”

“
Seven years.”

“
How do you... kill people?”

He gazed
across the room. “With a dagger.”

She leant
closer still, almost slopping her wine. “Could we watch?”

“
Who do you want dead?”

“
Well...” She glanced at her cohorts, who nudged her. “I will
tell you when you collect your down payment. Will you come to the
Peacock's Nest at midnight tonight?”

“
I could.”

“
Good. Room 15.”

Blade inclined
his head, then glanced at Lilu, who bore down on him with a grim
expression. The girls looked up at her when she stopped beside him,
her arms akimbo. Blade rocked his bench back, wondering what she
was going to do this time. He groaned when she plonked herself down
in his lap, grimacing at her weight. She clasped her belly and, he
assumed, frowned at the girls, who looked startled, rather like
rabbits catching sight of a prowling fox.

“
He's not interested,” she said. “How dare you flirt with
him?”

Blade grasped
her waist and tried to push her off, but she gripped the table.
“Lilu, bugger off. They're customers.”

The whore
snorted. “Rubbish. They want you in their bed, like the nasty
little strumpets they are.”

The girls
blushed and almost fell over each other in their haste to quit
Blade's table, fleeing the brothel. Lilu turned to him.

“
You're so gullible, Blade. They don't want anyone
dead.”

“
They said they did.”

“
Shows how much you know.”

“
You could be wrong.”

She shook her
head. “I'm not.”

“
Well I'm still going to go and find out.”

“
They'll try to seduce you.”

“
Then I'll leave.”

She cocked her
head. “Why not take advantage of what they offer? They're
pretty.”

“
Maybe I will.”

“
Maybe you should.”

“
Then why did you chase them away?” He smiled. “Are you
jealous?”

“
Maybe I am.”

“
You don't own me.”

“
Oh, but I do. You're my assassin.”

He snorted.
“No I'm not. Get off me.”

The whore rose
just as Oxan marched up, scowling at Blade. The blacksmith gripped
Lilu's arm and towed her through the curtain at the back of the
taproom. Blade sipped his wine and sighed. Lilu had her two
coppers, thanks to a bit of jealousy on Oxan's part, it seemed.
Little did the blacksmith know that he was the father of two of
Lilu's brats, nor would he have cared, since his wife had borne him
fourteen ugly children now, and also had another on the way. Soon
he would spurn Lilu when she grew too swollen, for he had an
aversion to pregnant women, ironic in a man who impregnated so
many. The red-haired whore, Jezzel, had also borne him a child last
summer. Blade finished his wine and left the brothel, heading back
to his rooms to rest, since he had to be sober to meet his possible
clients at midnight.

Blade woke
after dusk and dressed, tucking all six of his daggers into their
various sheaths. At the brothel, he found Lilu in her room, nursing
a bruised cheek and an aching head. Oxan, it seemed, had not taken
kindly to her flirting with the assassin that afternoon, and she
was a little the worse for wear. She welcomed him with a happy
smile, however, and he ate a meal in her room while she plied him
with chatter.

Afterwards, he
returned to the common room to nurse a cup of wine until midnight,
then set off for the Peacock's Nest. Almost all of his noble
clientele asked him to meet them there, and he knew it well. His
route to the balcony was well worn, and he found the door to room
15 unlocked. He pushed it open and slipped inside, surprised to
find only one girl waiting for him in the sitting room. Soft
giggles from the curtained doorway to the bedchamber, however, told
him that the others were there, and Lilu was probably right. The
mahogany-haired girl greeted him with a shy smile, her cheeks
reddening as she rose from the sofa before the fire.

Blade stopped
beside the hearth. “So, who do you want dead?”

She looked
flustered. “Will you have some wine, while we discuss it?”

“
There's nothing to discuss. You tell me his name, address and
familiar, describe him and give me the down payment. I'm not
interested in anything else.”

She shot him a
coy smile. “Are you sure about that?”

“
Positive.”

“
You have not yet heard my proposition.” She strolled
closer.

Blade raked
her with hard eyes, noticing that, while she appeared to be
modestly attired, the blue velvet gown owned only one fastening at
her waist, and a sheer white garment peeped through the gaps. He
surmised that she could shed it at the drop of a hat. Her blatant
coquetry angered him, as had so many before her, and he made a
point of humiliating such women, who wasted his time. Yet he always
came away from the situations humiliated himself, which angered him
further.

The assassin
tilted his head and forced a slight smile. She stared at him, then
tried to take his hand, but he stepped back, foiling her.

“
Will you come with me, so I can show you?” She gestured
towards the bedroom.

Blade followed
when she headed for it, and she paused before sweeping aside the
velvet curtain to reveal a lushly furnished chamber with a vast bed
at its centre and no less than seven naked girls reclining on it.
The girl smiled when he cast a startled glance at her, and raised
her brows.

“
What do you think?” she purred, becoming more confident in the
presence of her peers.

“
If you want all of them dead, that will be three hundred and
fifty goldens.”

She looked
puzzled and a little shocked. “How can you say such a thing? I do
not want them dead.”

“
Then what do you want with an assassin?”

“
You are the Master of the Dance, no common
assassin.”

“
I assure you, I am a common assassin, just the best in my
Guild.”

She stepped
closer, her hand seeking the clasp at her waist. “We are all
virgins, Master Blade, and we want you to deflower us.”

“
Do you now?” He took refuge in flippancy while he recovered
his aplomb, schooling his features to a bland
expression.

“
Yes. Are we not beautiful?” She shrugged off the gown and let
it fall, revealing a sheer white garment that did nothing to hide
her nakedness. “We will pay you, naturally. Fifty goldens, I
believe it was.”

“
To kill a man.” He paused, eyeing her. “Deflowering maidens is
not amongst my services. You require a bully boy for that.” He
named a particularly vile breed of Jondarian male who hired
themselves out to rich noblewomen and were well known as rapists to
boot.

Her nose
wrinkled in disgust. “We do not want a bully boy; we want the
Master of the Dance, and you are handsome, doubtless as skilled a
lover as you are a killer.”

“
Why, because so many noble trollops have tried to seduce me?”
He cocked his head again. “Do you know how many have
succeeded?”

“
Many, I am sure. Many have bragged about it, for
certain.”

“
Have they? Then they are liars.”

“
You jest, surely? A man such as you must have had many
conquests.”

The girl
placed a hand on his chest, tugging at the laces that bound his
jacket. He knew what she wanted so much to see, and allowed her to
pull open his collar. She touched the black dagger tattoo at the
base of his throat, her breath quickening. Two other girls rose and
approached him, and he doubted that any of them were maidens, from
their bold looks and shameless nakedness. They made him extremely
uncomfortable, however, since he was sure he was the only virgin in
the room. How ironic that so many beautiful noblewomen longed to
seduce him. A eunuch. For the first time, he admitted what he was
to himself, and his anger rose in a black tide that he had not
experienced since his late teens.

Blade smiled
and raised his hands to cup her face, and she returned it, her eyes
sparkling.

“
You will not tempt me, little slut,” he said. “I am immune to
your kind, no matter how much you flaunt yourself. I sell death,
not... what you want.”

Her eyes
widened. “How can you spurn us?”

“
Easily.”

His fingers
slid down to the edge of her jaw and then to her throat, and
tightened. She slumped senseless to the floor, banging her head on
it quite hard. The rest of the girls twittered and retreated when
he advanced upon them.

“
Who else would like to die this night?” he
enquired.

They backed
away, shaking their heads.

“
When you hire an assassin, in particular me, beware. I sell
nothing but death. I am a killer. Is that what you want?” He
snorted. “And yet I see that it is. You are disgusting little
harlots.”

“
Why do you refuse?” a raven-haired beauty with limpid dark
eyes demanded. “We are beautiful. Is it that fat whore with the
broken face who was with you in the filthy taproom where you
reside? She is uglier than a pig's rear end.”

Blade
considered her. “Insults now? She is worth ten of you, for she must
sell herself to live, while you think you can buy anything you
want.” He turned his head and spat. “Get yourselves a bully boy if
you have a yen to poke a commoner.”

She glanced
down at her friend. “If you have harmed her, you will answer to the
Watch, and our fathers will see to it that you pay.”

“
Your fathers should lock you up until they find husbands to
satisfy you. She may have a sore head, nothing more.”

Blade swung
away and quit the room with its cloying perfume and naked girls,
his anger growing. On the way back to the brothel, he thought about
the name he had given himself at last. The truth. He was a eunuch,
deprived of the pleasures of the flesh, or perhaps above them.
There was a measure of comfort and pride in that. He wished he was
not as he was, and able to take what they offered. That wish was
futile, he knew, although it had taken him a decade to admit it,
all hope was gone now. The black tide threatened to engulf him, and
he glanced sideways as he marched along the street, almost certain
that a black cat walked beside him. Was his madness returning? Yet
Lilu had seen Rivan, too.

By the time
Blade reached the brothel, he wanted to kill someone. Anyone. All
his old urges rushed back to fill the void of his self-esteem and
stolen manhood, and he found himself outside Lilu's door, not even
sure how he had got there. He pushed it open and marched in,
intending to fling himself onto the bed and rest for a while, until
he calmed down. Glimpsing moving shapes in the gloom, he swung away
with a curse, slamming the door behind him.