Free The Queen's Blade Prequel II - God Touched by T C Southwell

tinderbox, had to do so. The
men who visited Lilu now also had no gold for her to steal, and she
had been forced to give up her room on Tarbriar Way. Now she slept
here, snatching naps whenever she had the chance. Evenings were a
busy time, however, and the brothel was full tonight, it being the
end of the tenday, and tomorrow a rest day.
    A flare of
light made her glance up as the curtain was thrust aside and a
vast, hirsute man entered. She rolled onto her back and pulled off
the sheet when he stepped towards her and tossed three coppers onto
the floor. While he was busy, she thought about how fortunate she
was to have been allowed to stay at the whorehouse, where clients
had to pay or face the bounder boys, who ensured that they did or
took it out of their hides. Had she become a street whore, she
would have been at the mercy of unscrupulous men and rapists.
Street whores seldom lived long.
    Her customer,
whom she assumed was a labourer from his callused hands and stench
of sweat and mud, finished and left. Lilu scraped the coppers into
her purse and lay back to await her next client. Back room harlots
were inevitably busy, due to the cheapness of their services. Once
she gave birth, however, life would become even harder, with a baby
to feed and clients to satisfy. The curtain was swept aside again,
and a fat man entered.
     
     
    Blade leant
against the bar counter and watched the whores with a frown,
disliking the place's air of debauchery and desperation. He had
discovered Lilu's absence from her room when he had watched her
door for a time-glass and a fat woman had entered with two
children, soon followed by a man. Clearly they now dwelt there, and
he had come to the whorehouse to see if Lilu still worked here. So
far, he had not seen her, and wondered if something had befallen
her.
    The urchin had
not brought him any news, but then, the boy might not be as
reliable as Blade had hoped. A harlot approached him, the fifth to
do so since he had arrived half a time-glass ago, even though there
were plenty of men drinking and carousing with the girls. She was
young, perhaps thirteen, and her family had probably her sold into
the business. Auburn hair framed a thin face with large, rather
protuberant eyes and a pouty mouth stained red with berry juice.
Blade guessed that she was rat or mouse kin.
    The girl sat
on the stool beside him, looking shy yet determined, and placed an
empty wine cup on the counter.
    “ Will you buy a girl a drink, good sir?”
    Blade almost
told her to bugger off, as he had the last four, then paused,
considering. He signalled to the barkeep, who sloshed cheap white
wine into the girl's cup, and she slugged it back with a smile.
Replacing the empty cup on the counter, she drew aside the silk
blouse that hung open to her waist, revealing her wares, such as
they were, and the bruises on them.
    Blade looked
away. “I'm looking for a woman named Lilu.”
    The girl
wrinkled her snub nose. “She's a back room whore. You don't want
her, there's a queue outside her curtain every night, and she's all
swollen with child.”
    Blade raised
his brows. “Why is she so popular?”
    “ Anyone would be for three coppers a go. With her face, she's
not allowed out front anymore. She takes what she gets, and makes
do.”
    “ And you scorn her. Beware, lest you one day share her
fate.”
    “ I would rather die,” she said. “She can't, because of her
children, though. I pity her.”
    “ You should. Tell me where she is.”
    The harlot
pouted and moved closer, raising a hand towards his face, her eyes
full of invitation. “For three silvers, you can have me, and I'm
beautiful.”
    His hand
flashed up to grip her wrist. “Don't touch me, girl. Where's
Lilu?”
    She gasped
when his fingers tightened, biting her lip. “In the back. Down the
corridor, last curtain on the left.”
    Blade released
her and rose, slapping a silver on the counter before pushing his
way through the crowded room and the curtain at the