The holy man resided in the warty, dirty toe of the city, and that, Aurelie wholeheartedly believed, was a very nice way of describing the absolute garbage heap that Kirin dragged her down to. She held on tightly to his hand and grinned from ear to ear, stepping over the filth someone had chucked out on the walkway and even baring the sour yet earthy stench that every corner of Delfar held.
Kirin looked around wearily, disappointment set deep into his icy blue eyes. "We should go back."
"What? Why?" Aurelie stopped and peered in the same direction where Kirin had been starring. It was down a dark alleyway that was stacked with bags of rubbish.
"What do you mean why? I can't marry you here."
"Well, not right here."
Kirin's jaw was clenched and his mouth drawn back in tight disappointment. "When I was a kidâ"
"What was that fifteen years ago?"
He sighed. "Seventeen."
"Things change."
"This place was the heart of the city."
"Was it?" Aurelie smiled cheekily.
Kirin ignored her, though she knew he heard her by the slight rise of his brow. "There was a sweet shop right there," he said, pointing across the road. "There used to sell toffee apples the size of melons and flavored candy floss."
"What was your favorite?"
"Marzipan."
"Really?"
"What?"
"Nothing. I just thought it would be something dark, like licorice or blackcurrant."
"I hate licorice. It tastes like medicine. Blackcurrant is nice in jam, I guess."
Aurelie smiled. He seemed to have relaxed a bit, but the frown line on his forehead had yet to relax. "I'd marry you in that alleyway among the rubbish and still be the happiest I've ever been."
He shook his head. "But you shouldn't have to. I want to give you something nice to remember. If you were a princess atâ"
"I'd be dead. If I were a princess inside the Dranoir castle, I wouldn't have a nice wedding with a pretty dress, I'd be dead."
A woman came out and splashed a bucket of water out onto the street. She watched them for a moment, wiped the sweat off of her forehead with the back of her sleeve and put the bucket under her arm. "You lot lost or what?"
Kirin looked like he wanted to say yes and leave but Aurelie wasn't giving up that easy. "We're looking for a holy man that use to live in these parts."
The woman scoffed. "Holy man, eh?" She spat on the ground. "I know the one. Nothing holy about him."
Kirin narrowed his eyes. "He used to deliver children nearby and performed wedding ceremonies by the lake."
The woman smiled. "I know the one. Nothing holy about him," she repeated.
Kirin looked to be getting annoyed. That vein on his temple was swelling again and his jaw tightened. "Well, I'm quite sure we're not talking about the same person, thank you very much for your help, though. We'll be going."
He took Aurelie by the arm and began leading her away.
"He had a shop down the street. Gave kids cherry candy if they were good and took their medicine and called the mothers pumpkin pie."
He stopped. Aurelie felt his grip almost tighten on her arm and then he released her entirely.
"Ain't nothing holy about him," she repeated again, slower. "He runs a brothel on the other side of that alley, likes to test all his employees himself and thinks he's their bloody savior." She put one hand on her hip and the other held onto the blanket. Her hair was oily and he skin covered in dark marks from the sun. "The likes of you shouldn't be going near him."
Kirin looked at her with an equal amount of anger and disappointment. "But he . . ."
Aurelie took his hand and squeezed, wondering if they were actually talking about the man that had delivered him as a baby. He did not mention that earlier.
"Delivered me too, kid. Wed me to my first husband. Then took in my sister as one of his whores when she lost her husband. That's how we found out how he really made his coin. Since then he's moved in there and pretends he's a bloody king."
"At the other end of the alley, you say?"
The woman nodded. "Suit yourself, then." She went inside, shaking her head.
"Are we going to see him?" Aurelie asked.
"I am. You're not."
"Excuse you." Aurelie folded her arms over her chest.
"It's a brothel, Aurelie," he lowered his voice and glared at her as if he thought she'd never seen a female breast before, or a buttock, orâheavens no!âthe place babies come from.
She hid her smile. "What of it?"
"It is improper."
Aurelie narrowed her eyes and wondered whether he remembered that a couple of weeks ago, she ran around setting people on fire, killing a whole lot of them. "Improper? Brilliant." She nodded once and cocked her head. "We'll feel right at home then. Just the sort of thing we're used to."
"Aurelie."
"Go on," she nudged him, "after you."
"I'll go another day." Kirin began to walk back in the direction the two of them had come from.
"Suit yourself then," she said, rolled up her sleeves and headed down the alleyway. She heard Kirin's footsteps walking away for a few seconds, then he stopped and turnedâcurious as to where she was, no doubtâsaw where she had been, swore very loudly and caught up to her in the alleyway.
*****
"Well, this doesn't look like a whorehouse at all," she said much too loudly as the two of them stopped on the opposite side of the road.
"Shh." Kirin turned to her with his arms outstretched in shock and question.
"Sorry," she said and looked to see whether the two big men who were sitting on either side of the chestnut door had heard her. "It's just too nice looking. Well, apart from the two giants by the door, of course."
"Do you see there, the curtains are tied into two knots in the middle." He gestured with his head.
"Yes."
"That's a sign for a brothel."
"Oh. Well, there you go then." Aurelie straightened her skirt to make herself look neat and proper. A thought crossed her mind and her eyes shot up to Kirin. "Do you think they might think I want to," she paused and widened her eyes, "audition?"
"No," he said with a smile and extended his elbow toward her so that she could fit her arm through, "but let's not take any chances."
The men looked up at them with very confused expressions but instead of asking what the two of them possibly wanted in a place such as that one, they had perhaps realized that they'd seen things much stranger than a lady and her gentleman enjoying the company of a woman with loose morals because neither of them said anything and the one of the right gestured for them to enter. Aurelie wanted to explain away whatever they had thought of her or Kirin but he had already been pulling her through the door.
The inside was dark. There were couches everywhere and curtains dividing the room into what could be laughably passed for private seating. The women were clad in things that Aurelie wouldn't even wear to bed. They all had a dull flame of life about them. Not a spark but the glowing remains of a fire one a blackened log. Aurelie felt mighty young among them.
"Couple cost extra," a tall woman in a dark green dress said to them. "Yes, even if you're just there to watch."
"NâNo, we're here to see the holy man," Aurelie said.
The woman gaped at her. "We've no time for games here. Did you not see Hut and Toby outside? Best hope you've brought money with ya."
"The owner of the establishment," Kirin corrected her, "we'd like to see him." He reached inside his cloak and dug around for some coin which he then placed in the woman's hand. "If you don't mind showing us to him."
"Certainly, sir." She smiled and led the way.
She led them down some stairs and into a fancy waiting area which held crystal bottles filled with whiskey and couches that didn't need curtains to separate them from their set and a thick red carpet that tempted Aurelie to take her shoes off and to feel the fabric with her toes. The holy man was in his office which was behind the two wooden doors in front of which they were left with merely a knock to announce their presence.
The door opened about a minute later just as Aurelie thought to knock again, a very short and slightly hunched fellow came up. His hair was white and his nails yellow as paper that had dried after getting wet.
"Yes," he said, looking from Aurelie to Kirin.
Kirin watched him with some much anger that Aurelie thought he might attack the old fool at any moment.
"We think you might have delivered him when he was a baby," Aurelie said to save Kirin from having to speak.
"Name?"
"It's Kirin Donahue, sir," Aurelie said.
"Goodness, Kirin!" The man's whole face lit up. "I did more than deliver the lad, I wed his parents!"
"Really?" Aurelie tried to share his enthusiasm.
He didn't look to her that time, and instead, changed his glance over to Kirin. "You're disappointed."
"You run a brothel."
"I do." He nodded. "That's right."
"Do you have anything to say for yourself?"
"Absolutely," he said and smiled. "A man can be a great many things at once, Kirin Donahue. A great many things."
Kirin cocked his head and opened his mouth but the man spoke before he could.
"How's your service for the King going? Did you make your father proud, son?"
Kirin took a step forward. Aurelie followed and put a hand on his shoulder. "Please," she whispered.
"I'm not taunting you, Kirin. I wouldn't dare. I was just hoping you'd see."
Kirin sighed and sat down. "I do see and I don't. We looked up to you. All the kids. God, everything is tainted, isn't it? There isn't a spec of the past that is pure anymore."
Aurelie put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry, Kirin."
"Don't be. It's you that's making it all worth it." Kirin touched the hand that she help on his shoulder and turned his head to kiss it.
Aurelie came to stand in front of him. "None of this matters," she whispered. "Only you and I do. I love you and I want to marry you. I don't care who does is or where I have to stand when I become your wife. I just want to do it."
Kirin nodded and took a deep breath. "We want to get married. I came here to ask you to do it," he said without turning to him.
The old man beamed. "Me? I . . ." he looked out into nothingness. "I'd be honored to. I haven't done that in years. I'll be stiff and probably mess up a little but I can do it. When will we do it? Not right now, I hope. I need to find my old robe, have Martha wash it."
Kirin stood. "You're still married?"
"Of course."
"No. He's not doing it." Kirin turned to Aurelie. "Just no. I'm sorry. I won't have it."
"Whatever is the matter?"
"You sleep with your whores and then go to your wife for the night."
"Nonsense, I check the girls with Martha. She's a nurse, you remember. We're just trying to keep the establishment clean. It's spread that I do other things to them and that suits us fine. Makes the customers think that if I'll have them myself, then my girls must be good enough for them too." He laughed. "Sleep with them." He shook his head and widened his eyes for a second. "Martha'd have killed me not long after opening this place."
One of the girls came into with some tea and sandwiches. They sat down and talked more about their plans for the ceremony. Kirin wanted it by the lake where his mother had married. She had once told him that it had been her favorite place in the world and he wanted to marry there since. The only other thing he wanted was that they waited for Orken and Daerious to arrive because he wanted them both to be there. Aurelie had no requests. The only thing she could ever want is for her aunt and uncle to be there but that was not an option and so she smiled and distracted herself with their conversation.