A Dark and Starless Night

Chapter Two

Eve squinted against the sunshine as she made her way through the city. She fought against a yawn. She'd had two cups of coffee that morning, barely able to open her eyes. She needed to look lively if she wanted to pull off her plan. Brothels sometimes offered classes to rich young women looking to impress their lovers, even if it wasn't exactly legal. She'd heard about it on one of her trips to Greydock, and, while it had piqued her curiosity, she hadn't had any intention of getting involved.

But now it was an easy in to the brothel the young woman had worked at. Her name had been Nadia, she'd discovered. The name was an Islan one, but that didn't mean that she was from the Isle of Light. Plenty of Zyrnan people had ties to the Isle.

Eve adjusted her lilac-coloured skirt and wiped her brow with the back of her hand. The heat wasn't unbearable just yet, but she was nervous. Doubt gnawed at her and she had seesawed all morning as she'd fallen around the house trying to clean the bulk of the party's mess. But every time she decided to leave it alone, she remembered the way the boys had spoken about Nadia. The way they had said no one would investigate.

She exhaled sharply as she approached the building – the Sea Lily. It was a wooden building, like most of the buildings at the Greydocks, but unlike a lot of the others it had been painted a pale yellow. The door was a rosy-mesh curtain, marking the building as a brothel. She was surprised by the flower boxes that hung from windows and balconies. A white strip of cloth had been pinned to the wall beside the door. A symbol of mourning, white being the colour associated to the goddess of death. She hesitated at the sight, but charged on. If she didn't do this, who would?

She walked through the doorway, letting her nerves help her get into character – a young woman desperate to keep her lover's attention. She wrung her hands as her eyes adjusted to the sudden dark. The room she stood in was large, a few couches and low tables dotted around. One or two of the couches were occupied by women, looking pensive or sad. None of them looked much older than Eve.

"You alright, love?"

Eve started at the voice that came from a counter in the corner, a set of closed double doors behind her. She was tall and slim and dark of skin, her hair bound by a scarf. Her nose was broad and her cheeks full. Her skin was unblemished, except for a scar on her chin that looked like the cut had been very precise. Eve felt her cheeks fill with colour as she approached the woman.

"Good morning," Eve said, her voice thin with nerves. "I... I heard that you... that there are... classes?" She phrased it like a question.

The woman smiled, her teeth surprisingly whiter that Eve's. "And where did you hear that?"

"A friend of mine mentioned it," she said, hands gripping the cloth of her skirt. A gamble.

"There won't be any classes for a while," the woman explained, gesturing for Eve to follow her to one of the couches. "One of our sisters died recently."

"Not that poor girl everyone's been talking about?" Eve asked, hand going to her throat.

"Nadia," the woman said, nodding solemnly. "We expect payment up front. It's a hundred marks for three classes."

Eve reached for her purse, having guessed as much. "My condolences on your loss. Hopefully the guards catch whoever did that."

An angry huff came from one of the other girls. "They've never bothered before, not when clients get rough."

"You think a client did something like this? The law-"

"The law is skewed and twisted for all the lords and ladies of this city," another girl said.

"Especially when it comes to immigrants," the woman in front of her said quietly, leaning back. Eve wanted to squirm but she did her best to stay still. Something about the way this woman looked at her unsettled her.