The Pleasure Hound: Part One

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

Chanyn pressed the folds of her dress down. The light blue of the fabric made her skin glow a healthy brown. But when she glanced in the mirror of her changing room, she could see the curve of one breast. Chanyn's mother had hated any revealing of the skin. The body was sacred, her mother insisted, and need only be revealed to the Goddess and not another living soul. Perhaps her mother had learned that from her own mother?

Chanyn reached for another dress, but found it cut in the same way. In fact, all the dresses revealed some part of a woman's body. In the end, she assumed this was the way women dressed in the city.

Dain had found her family. He would arrive at her door shortly to escort her to their home. After three days here, it would be her first trek into the city proper.

Chanyn hadn't been out of the house since she'd come to stay with Dain and Khial. She hadn't minded. She spent the second day walking the gardens of the estate, and that night meandering the rooms. Dain had joined her and given her another tour with tales of his mother and fathers. Chanyn could tell that he had come from a loving home.

She and Dain had been alone and talking together for hours that day, the day after his proposal. She'd expected him to embrace her, to kiss her, to hold her hand.

He did none of those.

He would lightly touch her elbow to guide her in the direction he wanted her to go next. Always smiling at her, with that bit of awe at the corners of his eyes, he'd lean in every once in a while, and mock whisper something mundanely scandalous that he and Khial had done when they were younger. He'd smile or laugh with delight at her observations.

Dain was so easy to be with. Chanyn could easily picture them old and gray, walking and talking in this same companionable way. An ease, a sense of peace, settled over her.

The next day started the same way. A walk in the gardens. A chance meeting with Dain in a different part of the house. Another sociable talk, more delighted smiles, followed by companionable silences as they simply sat and gazed out over Dain's land.

Yes, Chanyn was sure she could get used to this.

A knock sounded at Chanyn's door. She recovered from her startle and went to answer it.

Dain stood on the other side, dressed impeccably in a white shirt, tan slacks, and his ever-present smile. But this smile was different. This smile didn't quite meet his eyes and that was because they swept over her body instead of looking into her eyes.

"How are you this morning, m'lady?"

Chanyn had a brief instinct to cover herself. But this was Dain. He'd never leered at her. In fact, she wasn't sure she'd mind if he did.

When she didn't respond immediately, Dain finally looked up and into her eyes, concern itched in the corners. It dawned on her where this concern came from.

"He didn't hurt me," Chanyn said. Dain must have been looking for evidence of foul play at the hands of the Pleasure Hound, Jian. "It was entirely my fault that..." 

Here Chanyn paused. She felt mortified to explain further any of what she and Jian had been doing. Which was absurd, since she'd seen Dain doing the same thing with Khial. And she'd likely be doing the same thing with both of them soon.

Chanyn looked away, face heating.

"I believe it was entirely your fault," Dain said.

Chanyn's mortification couldn't have increased more. So she'd broken yet another social custom. What did this mean? Would Dain no longer want a wild, untrainable thing such as her? Would he send her away?