Chapter 11

After an entirely silent car journey I stood in another foyer. I couldn’t tell if Yaru was happy with how things had progressed that afternoon. And I wasn’t sure how I felt anymore. I didn’t even think I wanted to feel. I wanted to be back in the safe cocoon of a body that couldn’t move. Where no one expected anything of me.

“Yaru. You didn’t tell me you had another new courtesan under your guidance,” a man said, sauntering over. “When you asked where I’d be I thought you were just coming to say hello. Maybe ask for a favour.”

“No, no favour. This is Auralia. She’s a sweetheart, and I couldn’t refuse Daniel once I’d met her.”

The man came over and stopped right in front of me. Taking my hands in his, he looked me over. Unlike some of the others, he appeared more fatherly, his eyes coming back to my face and lingering there the longest, searching my eyes.

“The first day being introduced is a shocker, isn’t it?” he asked eventually. I found myself nodding, my shoulders sagging a little,