Chapter 109: Chapter 109: Set the Bait

The weight of Byrne’s watchful eyes bore down on Kelli, making an already stressful time so much worse. Ever since she did as she was told and tried to poison Quintius and got Samantha instead, Kelli expected to be exposed and killed for her actions. Getting the wrong person had almost been the last straw. Running for it seemed more and more like a potential plan, given how things escalated, but fear kept her where she was.

“...and then I spent the next day servicing a merchant and listening to him blather on about his ungrateful children,” she finished, folding in half in her chair. Kelli buried her face in her hands and rubbed her eyes. “I don’t know how any of this is useful. I feel like I’m not going to be any more help. They’ve gotten paranoid, and are keeping things close to their chest.”

Of all the things Kelli passed along to her handler, Razia confronting her about being a spy hadn’t been one of them. Her position remained precarious enough without the Warlords deciding it would be smarter to kill her off rather than risk her being exposed or used against them. So she told what she could and lied the rest of the time. Running seemed smarter every day, and yet she didn’t.

“So long as they don’t suspect you, you’re in a good position to strike if we need to,” Byrne said in a talking-to-children kind of tone. Like his patience held out but wouldn’t for much longer, so stop arguing please. “Think of it this way, Kelli. The sooner we find one last good use for you, the sooner you can get out and walk away a rich woman.

“Just because everyone is laying low for the moment doesn’t mean you’re off the hook or that the war is over,” he said, turning and rummaging through a trunk beside the table. He retrieved a small, bulging sac that clinked pleasantly and slapped it on the table beside her. “Consider this a small bonus, for your continued efforts. All we need is one more usable thing from you. But if you disappoint us…”

Kelli eyed the bag of shards. She knew a trap when she saw one, but maybe if she took them and slipped away…With a sigh, she scooped up the shards in her lap. “Not like I’m gonna get a chance to spend it before this stupid street war gets me,” she muttered.

Byrne pursed his lips. He himself wasn’t especially scary. The scariest part of him lay in not knowing how far he’d go, or what he thought at any given moment. Unlike Piro and Christophe’s hot tempers and impulsivity, Byrne was quiet, calculating, and watched her like a hawk. Kelli doubted he had much love or respect for her, but who could tell?

“Then it’s in your best interest to spend it on yourself soon. Go out and have fun. Mingle with the other girls and make sure your position is safe. You say you’re still friends with some of the whores?”

Kelli sighed, jiggling the bag in her hand thoughtlessly. “Yeah. Jenna sees me as her best friend, and she’s been a good source of information. But she just never stops talking when it’s just the two of us.”

Byrne stood up and opened the door. “Then I suggest you stick near her until she gives you more information we can use. Off you go now.”

Kelli rose, nodding and slipping the bag of shards into her purse. It had a weight she may have once considered pleasant, but now it felt like an anchor around her neck, promising to drag her down. She made to step through the door when Byrne stopped her with his hand on her chest. Her blood ran cold.

“Before you go,” he said, voice dropping to something just above a whisper, “I want to impress upon you just how much scrutiny you’re under. Running or trying to leave Orchrisus for any reason would be a very, very bad idea. Do we understand one another, Kelli?”

She shuddered, dropping her eyes to the ground. Could he read minds? She could record voices and perform them on command, it wasn’t out of the question. “Yes sir,” she said, voice wavering. “I won’t run.”

“Good, good. Then please, have a good night and do something good for yourself. You deserve it for your hard work.” The door closed, leaving her alone in the hallway.

Kelli took a few seconds to collect herself and steady her breathing before she went to her room. Moonlight trailed in through the window, illuminating the bed. She sat down hard, dropping her purse on the floor and hugging herself, trying to suppress the way her body rocked with held back sobs.

She was going to die. Nothing could save her now. No running, no hiding, no getting out of this stupid job she should never have accepted. Kelli laughed bitterly, how could she have known how bad it would get? Working a whorehouse had never appealed to her, but she just figured it would be a way to double dip on shards before moving on to the next country on her world tour. She’d made it all the way from Finsk to here, so why not continue on to Carolas and Cartinia afterwards?

Running sounded better and better, but Byrne had someone watching her every move from a distance, just to be sure. For all Kelli knew, they had another spy working the Garden just for her. The Warlords hadn’t seemed especially cohesive or coherent, but Byrne changed her mind about that. As one of Piro’s top lieutenants, he proved the Warlords didn’t entirely lack cunning or patience. He didn’t yell, and this was the first time he threatened her. Arguably, she needed it.

Night turned to morning and then afternoon in just a flash. Kelli slept fitfully, dreaming of all bosses, her potential killers if things went sour. She woke unsatisfied just after noon and headed out with a full purse, unsure of what to do but glad to just roam the streets for a while. Funny enough, the Boulevard ended up being one of the safer areas, thanks almost entirely to the Shades and their allies.

All Kelli had to worry about was being followed and discovered.

Not today, though. Shopkeepers kept a watchful eye along with more security than before, but business boomed. After weeks of war making the streets flow with blood, things were almost back on track. Kelli took that opportunity to linger, looking over different stalls and shops. She found a pair of matching bracelets and with a grimace, she bought them.

After stopping for a quick lunch of good Finskovite sausage and sauerkraut, she finally headed to work. The Moonlit Garden always had someone on watch outside it now, and the gladiator barely gave her a second look as he let her in. None of the rank and file seemed to suspect her. Just Razia. As far as she knew, she kept it from Quentin and Kelli didn’t have to worry about him.

The Garden was always crowded these days, despite not entirely being open for business. All the whores either lived there or practically lived there and there were never fewer than a dozen gladiators hanging around, drinking and laughing and bothering the girls, ready for a fight at a moment’s notice. One of them, Jason she thought, met her eyes and smiled at her. Kelli did her best to ignore him and sat down on a couch beside Lucy.

“Hey Kelli,” she said, sounding both tired and lazy. She had a small, secretive smile and looked to be in a good mood. Annoyingly so. “How’d you fare after your 24 hours? Sore? Bored?”

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Kelli groaned, theatrically throwing herself against the arm of the couch. “If I ever have to see another wrinkly pair of balls that close again I’m going to vomit.”

Lucy chuckled awkwardly. “I get you. Do you mind if I ask you a question?”

Kelli shrugged, motioning for her to go for it.

“Why are you here? You don’t seem to like it here, and you get in fights a lot. What makes you stay?”

Oh no. Now even the other girls were looking at her with suspicion.

“It pays really, really well,” said Kelli, eyes dropping to her feet. “I thought it would be something I’m good at, and I guess I’m okay, but…I probably won’t stick around forever. I want to make enough money to get out of Orchrisus and travel, you know? And this is something in demand everywhere, so why not? I mean, not like you plan on doing this forever, right?”

“Well…probably not forever, no,” Lucy admitted. “But Isa’s still doing it and she’s like ten years older than me. Maria was still at it and she was in her forties. I’m still figuring out what I want to do. There’s just…So much out there.”

“Have you ever considered traveling?” Kelli fiddled with her hands. As scared and nervous as she was, she could still distract with the best of them. Even as bad as she could be, she knew the first lesson about being a spy or being a whore was that most people loved talking about themselves.

“Where would I even go?” she asked, shrugging helplessly. “Not safe to travel alone for me, and I don’t have anyone to go with me. Or know where to go. Though I would love to see Bellamoore sometime. I hear it smells bad but there’s these beautiful lights at night in the swamps and wetlands that are like nothing else.”

“What about Jonas?” said Kelli, shuffling closer and elbowing Lucy in the ribs. “I haven’t missed how you look at him. Nobody does. Or Mr. Q, given the last two days…”

Lucy made a distressed noise. “Jonas doesn’t notice me. He likes dusk-girls and other men, I think. And…Mr. Q and Razia was…I don’t know if it was a one time thing but it wasn’t anything serious.”

As little as Kelli wanted to know about their sex lives, she knew it would probably be smart to get all the info she could. But she couldn’t bring herself to. Not after the past two days left a bad taste in her mouth. Instead she just said, “I’m sorry to hear that, about Jonas. Hey, where’s Jenna?”

Lucy seemed grateful for the change in topic. “Oh, she’s out at an appointment. She’ll be back before too long, I think. Why?”

“Oh, no reason,” Kelli shrugged. “Just figured she’d have some good stories about her twenty four hours. She always cracks me up.” Gag. Still, Lucy bought it.

Kelli got up soon after and ventured into the kitchen to get a drink while she waited. Unfortunately for her, the kitchen wasn’t empty. Normally Samantha spent the most time there, cooking up simple meals for all of them before they started, but tonight Isa worked the stove. Isa looked over her shoulder and shot pure venom from her eyes.

“The fuck do you want?” she spat.

Anger and hatred of her own boiled up inside her. “I was just going to get a drink, if it’s alright with you your majesty.”

Isa waved her off. “No. Get out of my sight while you still can.”

Something had changed. The Ramali woman always hated Kelli, right from day one, but it had gotten way worse over the past few weeks. Almost as if she knew. Panic gripped her a moment before Kelli smoothed it over. If Isa knew, she would’ve done something about it. Maybe it had something to do with the auction and her foul mood after.

“What’s your problem, Isa? You’ve been up my ass since I first started working here.” Kelli stood her ground, puffing herself up as tall as she could. It still didn’t come close to Isa’s height. “Even when I try to stay the hell away from you, you give me shit. Why?”

Isa didn’t answer at first, shifting the contents of the skillet around continuously. She poured the eggs onto a simple plate and set it down. Kelli took it as a sign to just ignore her right back and get some wine. Seconds after she grabbed a bottle from the rack and turned away, she got her answer.

“You complain. Endlessly. You think you’re better than everyone else. You talk shit to literally everyone around you. And if I’m the one complaining about those traits, you know you’re a piece of shit. I hate you and if you were on fire, I wouldn’t piss on you to save your life.”

What surprised Kelli was the lack of heat in Isa’s voice. She had her usual impatient edge, but she didn’t sound enraged or ready to hurt her. Yet. Cold hate, Kelli decided, felt way worse. It could even be downright scary how simple Isa’s hatred seemed.

“Well, I hate you too, you rancid cunt,” Kelli said cheerfully. “You’ve been an asshole since the moment I got here, so excuse me for not trying to make friends. Everyone else seems to like me well enough, so fuck off and die.”

Isa turned around slowly. Kelli had never seen so much fury and hatred in a person’s eyes and couldn’t help but take a step back. It was too late. With a feral scream Isa launched herself at Kelli, tackling her to the ground. Kelli hit the ground hard and gasped as the air got knocked out of her. By the time she registered that, Isa’s hands closed around her throat and squeezed.

Kelli thrashed violently, swinging her fists into Isa’s face but not doing much more than pissing the larger woman off. Panic gripped her twice as hard as Isa’s hands. She kicked and rocked from side to side as spots blinked in her vision, widening and spreading darkness.

“Isa? What are you doing? Isa, STOP!” Someone screamed. A few seconds later Isa’s hands left her as she got pulled away by Jonas. “Stop it,” he pleaded with her, even as she struggled to get out of his grasp, throwing elbows and whipping her head around.

Kelli gasped for air, clutching at her throat. She sucked in every greedy lungful she could, shaking as her entire body screamed for her to run, get away from the danger, anything to avoid that happening again. After a few false starts she managed to get to her feet and backed up into a corner, eyes darting around wildly.

“What the hell happened here?” Jonas demanded.

Kelli pointed at Isa. “We argued and she just tried to fucking kill me!”

“Get over here and I’ll finish the job bitch!” Isa snarled, but eventually went limp in Jonas’ arms. The gladiator dragged her out of the kitchen. Once Kelli caught her breath, she came out cautiously, wondering how bad it would be.

The entire Garden stared at the two of them, whores and gladiators alike. Quintius was there, his hands on Isa’s shoulders. “She trampled my last fucking nerve,” Isa hissed, pulling away from Quentin.

“I don’t care what happened,” Quintius yelled, the first time Kelli could ever remember him raising his voice. “Get over to my house. We’ll talk about this later.”

The dusk-girl glowered at him but did as she was told. She trudged off, leaving all of the attention on Kelli. Tears welled up in her eyes, not entirely fake. “We argued and she jumped on me,” she whined, letting the tears run down her face. “I know we’re not friends but…”

Quintius came up to her and touched her arms tentatively. She wanted to pull away but instead buried herself in his middle and cried, hugging him. The big sap could never resist when one of his girls hurt. He let her cry there for a minute or two before it tapered off. Continuing would’ve been forcing it, so Kelli pulled away, sniffling.

“Thank you,” she said, wiping at her eyes. “I’m sorry. I know I’m not popular, but…”

His naturally scowling face looked especially harsh then. She averted her eyes. “It’s…It’s okay. Take care of yourself. And for your troubles, Isa’s next day of profits go to you. That sound fair?”

Oh shit, her first bit of money from this shithole since the party. Kelli nodded tentatively. “Thank you. I promise, I’ll stay out of her way from now on. Just…please don’t let her kill me.”

His lips twitched. “I can’t make any promises there,” he said, and she let out a nervous laugh. “I’ll be having a talk with Isa though. She’s been in a foul mood the past couple of days and I’m tired of it.” With one last nod he left her there.

Eventually, everyone stopped staring at her and went back to what they were doing. All except for one person. Jenna came up to her, wide eyed and worried. “Are you okay, Kelli? I’ve never seen Isa that angry.”

“I’m fine, I think,” Kelli said, tenderly touching her bruised throat. “Shit, that was scary and it hurt. I…Let’s talk about something else. How did your appointment go? After yesterday I thought you’d take a break.”

Jenna’s eyes lit up. “I had a really high offer today! Someone paid ten aquilos for me, for whatever reason. So me and Mr. Q went down to this house near North River Row. Dangerous, right?”

“Yeah! I can’t believe he was willing to go that close to the bridge these days.” That was interesting news.

“I know! I asked him about that and he said it’s fine if we’re well protected. And since the street war is paused, he said he’ll handle any big spenders, try to build up some goodwill and reputation again. He’s going to be going out again later tonight for Lucy, I think.”

Oh. Kelli bit her lip to avoid smiling. “That makes sense,” she said, mind already racing with possibilities. She wanted out of this damned whorehouse, out of this damned city, out of this horrible country. That would only happen when Quintius was dead.

“Hey,” she said suddenly, rubbing at her throat. “After Isa tried to kill me I just…I kind of don’t want to be here right now. Do you think it’s okay if I skipped out for the day?”

Jenna nodded. “I don’t think anyone could blame you. I don’t have any more clients. Want to go out and do something together? Maybe make it a spa day and get cleaned up and pampered.”

Kelli smiled. “That sounds excellent. Let’s do that.” She could afford to be patient. Sure that no one could see her, she twisted the gem on her ring, alerting Byrne that she had new information for him. He could wait a bit while her and Jenna threw off suspicion and had some fun. With info this good, maybe she could finally get the fuck out with a fat pile of shards to her name. She and Jenna left the Garden, a fresh skip to her step.