Chapter 3

Rolduin didn’t know where the little woman had gone, but she hadn’t come into this back chamber where he was. The tall, thin man who had ushered him through the door into this room had said nothing. Rolduin had simply followed him because it was his only chance at staying out of sight of the Preserver of Rites and Rites Keeper Galanthus.

However, he had not been prepared for the sight that met his eyes in the back of the apothecary shop. As soon as he came through the door, he froze and stared. The room was lit dimly with candles held in sconces on the walls, and it was filled with shadowy, moving figures and the sounds of soft moans. The moans were cut through with the thuds of a blunt weapon hitting flesh and a whip snapping, and then—suddenly—a single cry of pain. He tensed up at the sound, ready to defend himself.

Slowly, the sounds stopped one by one, as people turned to look at him. A woman came up to the man who had brought him in here. She was naked, except for what looked like a light scarf the color of a clear sky tied around her slender hips. The scarf barely covered anything, and a bit of dark hair peaked out beyond the fabric near the knot tied at the front of one hip. In fact, that small tuft was the only hair visible on her body, as her head was completely shaved. She was lean and fit, and he could see the definition of muscles in her shoulders, arms, and abs. Her breasts—entirely exposed—were a soft contrast to the rest of her body. He tried not to look at the nearly naked woman as she spoke. “Sharl, what is going on? Who is this?”

The tall man—Sharl—shrugged. Then he gave a sideways glance at Rolduin before answering her. “The Chaperone’s got problems out there. We all need to stay quiet.” Sharl eyed Rolduin again. “And say as little as possible to the stranger.”

A troubled look crossed the woman’s face, and she turned to look at the center of the room. Rolduin’s gaze followed hers. There in the middle of the space, a man had a naked woman bound in rope, and he was crouching over her. The woman’s long, wavy, brown hair draped down her back and down the side of her cheek, obscuring her face. As Rolduin watched, the crouching man sunk his teeth into the immobilized woman’s upper arm. The woman moaned.

Rolduin lunged forward to help her, but Sharl and the woman in the hip scarf each grabbed for one of his arms. The woman hissed at him. “Stop.”

They were no match for his strength, but he didn’t want to use force yet.

“He’s hurting her.”

“You don’t understand.”

He glared at her. “No, I absolutely do not understand what is going on here.”

“Just wait until the Chaperone gets back.”

Rolduin saw that the bite had left a wet, red ring of teeth marks in the bound woman’s flesh. As the two held his arms, he watched the man on the floor twist the already tight ropes, and the woman shrieked.

He gritted his teeth. “Why are you allowing this? What kind of horrid ritual is happening here?”

The woman answered. “Use your eyes. Look at her face. She’s enjoying it.”

“How can you say such a thing?” Rolduin didn’t understand how they could be so cruel as to not extend help to the tortured woman, but he watched the scene, ready to spring and break their hold on his arms to help her.

As he watched, the man crouching over the woman on the floor brushed the hair away from her cheek and then smacked her across the face. Rolduin burst forward, breaking free from the two weaker people’s grips and stalked toward the couple at the center of the room, but as he reached them, the woman turned her face toward the man who had slapped her, and she grinned mischievously at him. Her eyes, in fact, twinkled at him.

That stopped Rolduin in his tracks. His mouth opened slightly as he watched the scene in front of him. Could it be that this was a game? That the woman was, indeed, happy about being smacked in the face? She looked, if anything ... triumphant. And perhaps taunting.

Rolduin shook his head and really took in the room. Everyone was watching him now, and they looked afraid of him. The man at the center of the room broke his concentration on the bound woman and stood, cocking his head at Rolduin. The woman he’d been administering to grinned at Rolduin from under loose strands of hair and winked at him.

He felt confused. The bald woman in the hip scarf approached from behind him. She lightly touched his arm, and he turned toward her.

“I can understand your discomfort here. Everything will be explained when Chaperone Cantrell returns.”

“I thought she was an apothecary.”

“She is ... of a sort.” The woman looked off and grinned. “She certainly found the remedy I needed.” The woman’s gaze returned to his face. “My name is Nissa.”

He glanced around the room, hesitating before offering his own name. “Rolduin.”

“Why don’t you come sit with me on a mat? I’m sure Chaperone Cantrell can explain all about the Midnight Apothecary when she returns.”

As his panic and concern for the bound woman calmed, he remembered that Nissa was nearly naked. His face got hot, but at this point, following her seemed less uncomfortable than standing awkwardly in the middle of this room full of strangers. Plus, no one here seemed too keen on clothing. He followed Nissa to a mat off to the side.

“What is this place?”

“You’ll have to wait for the Chaperone. This is her place of business.” That was all Nissa would say to him. After that, he kept his eyes facing down toward the mat until the halfling woman returned.

Fortunately, Rolduin didn’t have to wait long for her. When she came through the door, everyone in the room had already gone silent. He felt guilty, like he had interrupted something, though another part of him felt like perhaps this was something that should have been interrupted.

Nissa rose from the mat and walked over to Chaperone Cantrell, whispering something to her. Then dark-haired halfling walked over to where he still sat on the mat.

“Well, boy. I suppose you’ve discovered the source of your thumping noise.”

He shook his head. “I still don’t understand what this place is. How is this a place for treatment?” He glanced over to the couple now sitting in the middle of the floor, the woman released from her bindings. Angry red marks in the shape of rope twisted around her skin in various places. “How does any of this help people?”

Chaperone Cantrell laughed. “This place soothes what ails many people in this town, but you must be young indeed to have no clue what’s going on here. How old are you?”

He felt his face heat up. “Twenty.”

“Yes, about what I guessed.” The small woman smirked at him. “This shop is a meeting place for individuals with different tastes from the usual.” And when he didn’t respond, she added. “It’s a place where people come to act on creative sexual desires.”

Now Rolduin’s face really was hot. The little woman stepped closer and looked up at him. He met her gaze, this person who had possibly both saved him and damned him this night. “You run a house of sin?”

Chaperone Cantrell narrowed her eyes at him. “House of sin? This is no such place. I sell salvation. The only kind that’s available to mortals.”

“And what kind is that?”

“Connection.”

Rolduin looked around the room and, trying to ignore the bare bodies, really looked at the implements they were using. In fact, the instruments they held in their hands were not weapons at all, at least not any kind that he’d used, though one person appeared to be holding a flogger, like the priestesses used for flagellation. Another person held a paddle, like a parent might use on a child.

As he looked, he saw that torture and obscenity were not the only things that happened in this place. They were simply the most noticeable. In other spots, people had set up areas to engage in sensual practices like massage and ritualistic meditations. Had he truly entered upon some kind of religious ritual, then? Perhaps different from the kind he was accustomed to. His own mother had warned him about the people who lived in the rural areas and how their religious customs were strange.

At the thought of his mother, his jaw tightened and his brow furrowed. He shook his head, releasing the tension. She wasn’t right about everything.

Rolduin looked down at the tiny woman again. “Okay. Show me.”

Chaperone Cantrell raised an eyebrow. “Show you?” She laughed. “I don’t think you understand. Our membership is exclusive.” When he didn’t respond, she added, “You’re not invited.”

“But I’ve already seen some of what you do here. I’m curious. I want to understand.”

The chaperone turned to look at the others. “Does anyone here know this man?”

Heads shook. She turned back to him. “I’m afraid there’s no one here to vouch for you. We only take members with referrals.”