(300 words.)
"Haven't seen you before," she says, with a calculated tilt of the head that lets her hair cascade appealingly over her shoulder. "New in town?"
Daud almost laughs. Strange the places his reputation does not follow him. "No, I've been here for some time."
"Just new to the Cat, then?" she asks, moving closer. Her hands go to his chest, lips curling into a smile. "I'll try to make a good first impression."
She really is quite beautiful, with a confident, aggressive charm that he is sure appeals to many. He can see why the Madame would have been willing to take on the risks of her past when desperation finally drove her here. She must turn quite a profit, despite the many scars hidden beneath her makeup. Most men wouldn't know to look for that.
Daud had seen her drive a knife through a nobleman's thigh in the alley behind the Golden Cat, after she'd pulled him off one of the younger girls and shoved him out the door before any of the guards even had a chance to react. She'd wiped the blood from her hands like it was nothing.
"I have a proposition for you," he says.
She laughs low in her throat and lets her hands slip downward. "I should hope so."
Unexpectedly, his breath catches for a moment, and he swallows hard before speaking again. "Another proposition," he corrects.
She tilts her head, less calculated this time. "Interesting," she says. "Is this a paying proposition?"
"If I'm right about you, it will pay very well."
The woman once known on her wanted posters as Billie Lurk laughs darkly. She leans in to kiss him, slowly and deeply. "Well, Daud," she says as she pulls away, smirking as his eyebrows lift in subtle surprise, "I'm listening."