Courtesans - English version

23 Blood

She was cold. She had been cold all night. Even though she had wrapped herself in broad leaves. Then she started tearing at the tall grass, but she was still cold. The moon had long risen, casting its strange, flattened orb above her. Dina stared at its half-full shape for a long time.

A flicker of hope, who knows where from, lingered within her even in the morning, that perhaps Zevran had escaped his attackers and might come back for her. But the sun had already risen, warming her chilled body, and the girl was still standing alone in the field.

Eventually, she turned back. Hugging herself with her arms, frightened but determined, she went. Emotions churned inside her; she thought she should have stayed and helped Zevran. Guilt tormented her, but she also knew with her rational mind that if she disobeyed, she too would be caught in the same way. Zevran might have been needed alive, which was why he was only drugged. But what about her? What would they have done to her?

Despite wearing only a nightgown, she marched resolutely back towards the inn. As she got closer, she slowed down and listened to the silence that enveloped the building. It was as if nothing had happened the day before.

She climbed the gate and, carefully, so that no branch snapped, crawled over the tree.

The balcony adjacent to Zevran's room also appeared deserted; Dina moved slowly past it.

As she climbed over, she heard the voices of two maids from below, their words filled with noticeable despondency. Only the birds in the forest chirped cheerfully.

Dina pressed herself against the wall and carefully pushed open the balcony door, which creaked softly as it turned.

The room seemed empty. Zevran's scimitars were gone, but the leather scabbard was on the nightstand, and a negligently discarded half-pair of gloves lay on the floor next to a bloodstain drunk up by the wood. The bed in the middle of the room was made up.

"Zevran...?" Dina whispered into the silence.

There was something unsettling about the atmosphere, and Dina couldn't immediately place it. A foul smell lingered, perhaps that of the sedative...?

The girl stepped forward cautiously, calling the man's name once more, although she knew he wasn't there.

She approached the bed and found her green dress draped over its headboard. She grabbed it, crumpled it, and held it to her chest when...

Her mind began to remember the peculiar smell. It wasn't the sedative. Dina's nostrils and eyes widened as she stared in horror.

Cigar.

"I knew you would come back."

Dina's heart pounded with fear. Trembling, she slowly turned towards Harod. He was sitting in the corner behind the balcony door, almost hidden, on a chair. He stood up, approaching Dina with a casual posture, causing her to take a slight step back. The half-blood's eyes were filled with an immeasurable rage that Dina did not want to see unleashed.

"And I knew you'd come back here, not to the brothel."

The girl felt that there was no room for excuses anymore. She glanced towards the door.

Harod's short laugh echoed as he walked to the lock, turned the key, and pocketed it. "No, darling, no. You're not getting away with this one. You've managed to escape so many times."

Harod continued to advance.

"You were exceptional, you know? In fact, perhaps you still are, to some extent. But I knew from the start that you wouldn't be an easy case. And now I'm disappointed in you! There are only two rules, and you've broken both, repeatedly. Moreover, despite my warning. Oh, you..."