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February 16, 1175
The girl locked the door and hurried to the bed, setting herself down on the side nearest the room's lone candle. She must have thought that her client wanted the better view of her naked body--and to be fair, most of her clients probably did.
God, this was awkward. There was a table against the wall opposite the bed and it was probably just as sexually appealing. At least Isidro had provided enough money for a private room; it wasn't the end of the world if Riona made a fool of herself in front of some random prostitute, but in front of Isidro and Bernardo?
If only Casimiro had come along. Why did he have to be such a gentleman? Surely he could have spared her this embarrassment...
"Well? Are you coming or not?"
Coming... Ironic. She would have snickered had she been in a laughing mood, but she only closed her eyes and grimaced. It was all she could bring herself to do. "Uh..."
She had to find a way to get out of this. She was old enough and curious enough to know that some boys fucked boys and some girls fucked girls, but she felt neither the need nor the desire to try it for herself. And even if she had... how did that even work? At least boys had what her brothers laughingly referred to as 'the back entry'. But shit, how the hell did those girls do it? Did they just sort of open their legs and... scissor?
"I don't have all night, you know."
Ah, maybe she'd have to be blunt about it, if only for the other girl's sake. She'd just explain the situation, give her a quick 'thank-you-but-no-thank-you', then maybe wait a couple minutes before leaving, if only to avoid suspicion. Yes... that seemed like the best way out. What reason would this girl have to let her secret out of the bag anyway?
Trying to fit the words together in her head, Riona turned around and looked at her companion--only to catch sight of something around the girl's finger glinting in the candlelight.
"You're married?"
Otherwise stiffened, the girl glanced down at her hand, her eyes quiet and subdued as if the light had been snuffed right out of them. "Widowed."
The word was spoken in an unpracticed whisper, like she hadn't said it often and felt uncomfortable doing so. Poor girl. She couldn't have been much older than Riona herself. Maybe she'd married a childhood sweetheart, lived poorly but happily for a short time and had then been left with nothing. Maybe that was why she was here in the first place. Maybe no one had given her a chance to grieve.
Still not quite sure of herself and maybe a little hesitant, Riona dragged the toe of her boot back and forth across the floorboards. "Do you want to talk about it?"
NEXT CHAPTER:
February 16, 1175
"Wait, is this...?"
Riona's forced voice wavered before letting the phrase hang. Isidro took to massaging his wrist in an effort to look occupied. It had been cruel to bring her here, but she'd left him little choice. He'd already spent long hours banging on bathhouse doors while lamenting loudly how long she took to wash herself. He'd made observations about hand gestures and the way she walked, only to watch her grow more conscious of such mannerisms. He'd even swiped the rags from her room and watched in agony as she floundered for an excuse as to why she needed them back.
It was so obvious. It was frankly a miracle that none of his idiot cousins had figured out who she was, much less his father--and the longer Riona stayed with them, the more likely it was that one of them would. That was a risk they could not take; as little as he liked Riona, he did not want to know what his father might do if he found out that the 'spirited young boy' tagging along after them wasn't a boy at all.
He didn't want to tell Riona that he knew. He'd have to if he couldn't force a confession out of her, but that would no doubt involve tears and sobs and perhaps his father storming upstairs and knocking on the door, demanding to know what was going on. No, it had to look like a misunderstanding. He had to make her uncomfortable without seeming like that was his intent. He wanted her to reach her breaking point, to pull him aside privately and tell him to stop, to confess when she couldn't give any better reason for asking. If she did that, he could just send her on her way and tell the others that 'Searle' had left on 'his' own accord; no hard feelings, no explosive reaction on the part of Domingo, nothing.
But she had failed to work with him so far and he was running out of patience. This was a desperate measure. "Seems a shame to be on the road for so long without even getting laid, doesn't it?"
"Looks like the night's just getting started too," added Bernardo as he pried his eyes off a blond fondling her client's cock under cover of his tunic. "The clothes haven't even come off yet."
Nodding, Riona grimaced--a good sign. People didn't grimace when they were enjoying themselves. "Err... I noticed."
She scuffed her boot against the floorboards. Maybe this was the part where she dashed out the door and he chased after her, demanded to know what the problem was, heard it told straight. She'd been playing with fire long enough.
But she didn't move. Some foreign emotion tugging his heart downward, Isidro looked her over. She was tall and gangly for a girl her age and flat-chested even without the binding, but he didn't see how that alone had managed to fool everyone. They must have never gotten a good look at her face. She was too pretty to be a boy.
"Are you a virgin, Searle?"
Her thick lashes reared back and the blue of her eyes swelled past their sockets. "...eh?"
"I take that as a 'yes'."
Mortified, Riona's mouth fell agape. She was slipping. She had no idea how to get out of this and they both knew it. The only way out was to run--she must have realized that.
But if so, why were her feet so firmly planted? Was she too afraid to move? Or was she just too damn stubborn for her own good? "Uh..."
"So... are you boys just planning on standing here all night or what?"
The speaker was a girl who must have approached from one of the benches. She was dark and petite, with startling eyes and soft features. She was attractive enough to make a man look like a fool for rejecting her. She'd do.
Grinning, Bernardo sized the girl up, then sent a wink Riona's way. "I bet she's good."
The girl laughed. "So I've been told."
Yes--she'd do. Isidro pulled a small sack of coins from his belt and tossed it back to Riona. She was already spending more than she could afford on private rooms; no reason she should have to fund her own humiliation.
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