Sinful Promises
Disclaimer: I own none of the stuff that Merecedes Lackey owns. But I do own Maire and Madame Louisa and the girls and the tavern... and other things that are to come later but would spoil the plotline!
Chapter 3
Maire didn't sidle up to this one, no, she put a soft look in her eyes and a pretty smile on her lips. She pushed aside the brown vest he had been fingering.
" Tut, sir, brown would fade into yer skin and make ye look like ye were a strange topless circus freak." She said, and picked out a verdant green one, with black embroidery at the hem and neck. " This would be more to yer advantage."
He arched a fine black eyebrow and smiled, revealing very white teeth in such a tanned face. " Oh really, miss?"
" Really." She purred, turning to face him. " Are ye with the caravan that's passing through or are ye planning on staying for a small while?"
" I'm with the caravan, pretty one," The glint in his eyes let her know that he had caught onto what she was. " But we are staying for more than one day. Some of the children have come down with a flu of the stomach and we must rest here until they are well again."
" Lucky for ye, then, isn't it?" She slid her hand over his arm, wondering why his skin was so warm when he was in so little, but it was pleasing. She would not have a cold night tonight.
" Aye, it is."
" My name is Maire." She pronounced it how it was meant to be, " Moy-ah." Her mother had been one for pronunciations that were much different than the spelling.
" Galen." He said, taking her hand and kissing the back of it, his eyes strangely riveted on her.
" Well Galen, do ye have something that will be occupying the rest of yer afternoon or shall we-" She stopped, seeing a beautiful white vision. " Oh dear."
" What? Is there something wrong?" He turned around, as if expecting to see another man or a theif or something dangerous, but all he saw was the Companion.
It happened so quickly, Galen said something under his breath and then was by the Companion's side, stroking her delicate neck. Maire didn't know what to do. She didn't want to break the spell that had been seemingly cast over Galen by the Companion, it seemed wrong almost.
" Maire, I'm sorry." He said to her, breaking the spell instead. " I've got to go."
Maire nodded, smiling sadly, because she really was sad, but happy for him. " I know."
" Thank you for understanding." He got on the Companion and they trotted away, bells ringing in her ears still long after he was gone.
" Maire, I think it is time we went to a different part of the market." Tourmaline took her by the arm and led her away, even though she still glanced back at the stall every once in a while.
" It's always about those thrice damned Heralds!" Maire raged that night, having gotten no customers. The beginning of the week was always slow. " First yer Kris gets to go out on circuit, and then my Galen gets Chosen right under me nose!"
" Maire, love, it's not always their faults." Darcie said, trying to pull her down to sit on the couch, as they were in the common room.
" It is always their faults, Darcie!" Lily said, standing up. " Heralds always caught me at my game when I was down at Little Pudding trying to get the catch and run for my dinner."
Lily had been a theif before she had come to Madame Louisa. Luckily for Lily, she only bussed tables. Lily didn't like men, and Madame Louisa's didn't cater to women.
" Aye, and it's only a matter of time before they come down on my head as well." Madame Louisa came through the door, looking more tired than Maire had ever seen her.
" Aunt Louisa, what's wrong?" Darcie asked, becoming sharp and eager.
" That meeting I had yesterday while you girls were out, it wasn't what I expected." Madame Louisa sat down on a chair that one of the girls ran and got, and they all sat with her, either at her feet or on chairs and couches around her. " Apparently rules have changed."
" What kinda rules?" Maire asked. She wasn't much one for rules, never had been.
" Rules on how I run my business." Madame Louisa sighed. " Apparently the Guild is having some trouble with the fact that I'm taking you girls in and raising and feeding and clothing you."
" And schooling us." Darcie said. Madame Louisa was a retired schoolteacher, and had decreed that her girls would know how to read and write and do sums, so they knew that thier men weren't cheating them out of their money.
" Why are they havin' a problem?" Maire asked, leaning against Darcie on the floor.
" Because we're competition for them. Instead of men going to church in the evenings for mass, they've been coming down to this end of town." Madme Louisa smiled. " But luckily it's not just me being hit. The Golden Flossy and Black Hart are being looked at as well."
Maire laughed. " If Flossy is bein' looked at, then we're surely in the clear. One look at what they have in the back rooms and the Heralds'll be falling over themselves to 'save' those poor boys."
The Golden Flossy was a place that catered to men, and only men. Preferably men who liked other men, but they also plied their trade in young boys as well, all over the age of sixteen. That was a rule they all followed, no matter what house you went to. You touched anything under the age of sixteen and you'd be barred from all the houses down on this end.
" As that may be, we're still being looked at." Madame Louisa sighed. " Seems that the Herald that's been seeing Darcie has recommended our services to some at the Palace, mostly tired Guardsmen, but somehow the nobles got wind of it."
There was silence for a moment, as they all contemplated what that would mean. But then Darcie spoke up.
" Is Kris not allowed to see me anymore, then?" She asked with the look of a sad child.
" We'll talk about that later, Darcie." Madame Louisa straightened her back. " But this is what's going to happen now. We'll go about our business, as usual. But there needs to be some changes. If you aren't doing anything upstairs, then you're down in the common room bussing the tables. No more men spending the nights, and no more than three men in a night, so be picky about who you chose."
Maire silently rejoiced inside. Those were more like the kind of guidelines she could deal with, most defenitly. Not that she had any more than three men a night, but she had always felt like she was being pressured into getting more than that. And she hated staying up in her room all night long. Now she could take breaks and lounge about and mingle like she used to.
Madame Louisa dismissed them all, going back into her office. Maire laid back on the couch, sighing to herself. She almost wished that this would have happened earlier in the year, especially when she had first started upstairs. But it was happening now, which was just as good.
" Maire, you ever wonder what happened to that Galen fellow?" Tourmaline asked, sitting on the floor with Lily.
" He got Chosen, I know that, I was there for it. I suppose he's at the Collegium now, bein' trained for bein' a Herald. I'll never see him again, that's for sure." Maire said, playing with a braid in her hair.
" Is that what you want?" Asked a soft voice from the doorway, and Maire sat up, looking at the door.
Galen stood there in a set of fine Greys, the outfit for the baby Heralds. Somehow the lighter color seemed to intensify his dark eyes and skin, and his hair was pulled back into a tight tail, so that you noticed his face now, all the planes and angles to it.
" I thought ye'd gotten Chosen." Maire said slowly.
Galen nodded.
" Then what're ye doin' here?" She stood up, straightening out her blue dress and smoothing down her bodice.
" Repaying the favor." Galen strode towards her, catching her around the waist. " If I hadn't seen you standing there and wishing you would come over to me, then Raya never would have gotten to me in time."
" Oh, that's nice." Maire said, wanting to melt into his arms, but resisting.
" Are you free tonight?" He asked, and Maire heard Tourmaline laugh.
" I suppose I am." She looked at him shrewdly. " Ye're a traveling man, Galen. Ye couldn't possibly afford my affections."
It was meant to be mean, to make him let go of her, but he laughed. " I didn't mean for any carnal affections. I want to take you out for a night, perhaps to the Collegium for a private meal?"
Maire stared at him in shock. " Ye'd take a whore to the Collegium, just for thanks?!" She pushed him away. " Ye're out of yer mind, Galen."
" You'd get to see me get the living daylights beat out of me by our Weaponsmaster." he winked, and Maire's angry resolve melted.
" Ye've got a done deal." She said. " Let me go up to my room and dress in something more appropriate. Just because I am a whore doesn't mean I have to advertise." ' At least not under the nose of the nobles.' She thought, leaving him with Tourmaline, Lily, Melana, and Darcie.
She came downstairs a candlemark later, and as Galen hadn't sent anyone up to get her, they weren't on a very tight time schedule. She had dressed in the most conservative outfit she had, a short tunic that ended at mid-thigh and was a rich midnight blue, with long sleeves that were tight to her arms and had silver embroidery at the hem and neck of some kind of a bird. The pants were black, loose so that they could be tucked into the tops of boots, which she had. The outfit and the boots had been her last birthday present from Melana, who had it specially made for her. Just one of the perks of working with a noble.
She'd wound her hair into a braid and then coiled that ontop of her head like a crown, anchoring it there with bone hair picks. The tunic had a high neck and long sleeves, which meant she was wearing no jewelry but for the simple silver ring on her left hand, the only reminder of her mother.
Galen whistled as she came back downstairs. " You sure do clean up nice, Maire." He said, bowing over her hand as he kissed it.
" I wasn't always a whore." She reminded him, and followed him outside to where his Companion was waiting.
" Maire, this is Raya." Galen introduced them like they were both human, and Maire bowed anyway.
" She's a beauty, Galen." Maire said, because Companions really were beautiful. And then she laughed. " Her tack matches me."
Galen blushed. " It was a present from my father, to match Raya." He helped her up, and then sat behind her and grabbed the reins. " You two complement each other."
Maire smiled as she looked at the blue tooled reins and saddle. " Mayhaps yer Raya may decided I'm prettier than ye and run off with me."
Galen laughed. " Don't be putting ideas in her head, now. She says that sounds like a good idea, if I don't start shaping up here soon." He started them off down the lane.
" Ye aren't a good student?" Maire asked as they started picking up speed.
" I'm a fine enough student. I'm just restless. I'm not used to staying in one place for too long, and I'm antsy to be off again. But I have to stay here." His breath tickled her ear.
" Maybe it won't be that bad." Maire murmured, and then Raya broke into a breathtaking run, and they did not speak after that.
A/N: Maire's upbringing and background will be talked about later, so don't worry, I shan't leave that a mystery, too much. And yes, she'll be meeting Alberich and Talia and Dirk.... Fun will ensue. Or I will beat the plotbunnies that planted this idea in my head.