I didn't dare tell her the truth. "Please," I said quietly. "I can pay you whatever you wish, I just need a few questions about him answered." I pressed a dozen gold solas into her hand.
She tucked them away. "I know not where he comes from. He refuses to speak of it. But by his accent, I assume he's Atlantean in origin."
"He came to you?"
She nodded. "He showed up at my back door several months ago. Dressed in rags and barefoot, he looked like any other beggar except that he was freshly washed and his clothes looked as if he had tried to keep them laundered. He was pale, thin and so weak from hunger that he could barely stand."
I was horrified by what she described.
"He said he was looking for work and wanted to know if I had anything he could do. I told him that I wasn't hiring, but he'd heard from another brothel that I was looking for a new prostitute. It was all I could do not to laugh at him. I couldn't imagine anyone paying for such a pitiful creature. My first impulse was to throw him out."
"Why didn't you?"
"I can't explain it. Even though he was ragged in appearance, there was something undeniable about him. Something compelling that sent heat over me. It made me want to touch him even though he was skinny and frail. Then he said the most unbelievable thing of all. He told me that if I would give him five minutes, he would give me three orgasms."
I gasped at her words.
She laughed at my expression. "I was surprised, too. I've been around plenty of boastful men in my time that such a claim was hardly unheard of. But I was a bit intrigued to hear that out of the mouth of someone so young. At first I thought he was like many of the young men who come to me, most of them with little to no experience, who think prostitution is an easy way to make money. They have no idea just how hard it is physically. How taxing it is spiritually. I figured he was from a farm and had come to the city to try and make it rich."
I swallowed in dread before I spoke. "You made him prove his words?"
She laughed. "My lady, at my age, I'm lucky to get three orgasms in a year. So I told him if he was as good as he said then I would hire him. What I found out was that even half-dead from starvation he was better than he claimed. I've been with the best and his skills are completely unrivaled."
My stomach clenched at her words. I knew only too well just how much practice he'd had. "So you took him in."
She nodded. "It's a decision I haven't regretted. I had no idea just how handsome he would turn out to be once he had a few meals in him and some rest. Nor that he would be so strikingly similar to Prince Styxx. I kept him for three weeks before I let him work. From the first night he was taking clients, he was so popular that we had to start a waiting list.
"If you're interested in purchasing an hour with him, I can put you on the list, but as it stands, it'll be at least ten weeks before there's an opening."
I sat there stunned by her words. Stunned by what had become of the small boy I used to hold on my knee and bounce while he laughed.
What had they done to him? How could this be his life? It wasn't fair and it made me want to cry.
"Is there any way I might speak to him privately?"
Catera looked skeptical at the suggestion. "He prefers not to speak with his clients."
"I don't want to be a client," I told her sternly. "I happen to know him personally."
She arched a brow at that. "A friend?"
"Something like that." I said, unwilling to let her know the truth of our relationship. I pulled out more money and handed it to her. "Please. I will pay you anything if you can give me just a handful of minutes alone with him."
She debated for several heartbeats before she answered. "Very well, if you can come by my stew tonight-"
"I can't be seen by anyone in such a place."
"I understand, but I doubt he'll go out to meet you. He refuses to see anyone off the premises. Today is the first day since his arrival that I've been able to get him outside at all.
"But," she said thoughtfully, "If you can come by right at dawn, there's seldom anyone around. We're cleaning up from the night and all our clients are gone. I could let you in to see him then."
Relieved, I smiled. "Thank you. I'll see you at dawn."
May 18, 9529 BC
The morning was cold as if it were as afraid as I was. Alone, I snuck from the palace and crept silently through the city, following Catera's directions until I found her stew.
As she predicted, there was no one around.
She let me inside through her back door, then led me quietly through the house to a room in the far back. I kept my head and face well covered and did my best not to look at the poor souls we passed.
She opened a door.
I stepped inside hesitantly, expecting to see Acheron. He wasn't there. Instead, I heard water splashing in the room set off to the side and knew he must be bathing.
The musty scent of sex hung heavy in the room and I tried not to look at the freshly made bed. I closed my eyes as I thought of Styxx and the way he lived his life in comfort and peace while Acheron was forced to this.
I couldn't imagine the degradation that Acheron must suffer every day. The pain.
He entered the room completely naked, toweling his hair dry. He pulled up short as he caught sight of me standing just inside the threshold.
"Forgive me, my lady," he said in that sultry, smooth voice of his that held just a hint of an Atlantean accent. I was grateful that at least the balls were no longer lining his tongue. "I thought I was through for the night."
I lowered my cowl.
Recognizing me instantly, he narrowed his gaze. "Well, if it isn't Sister Ryssa. Tell me, are you here to save me or to fuck me? Oh wait, I forgot. When you save me, you do fuck me, don't you?"