"This is Lady Chanyn," he presented her formally, as though they were in the courts of her novels. "She's come to stay with us."
Chanyn faltered a step as he led her forward, but Khial didn't miss a beat as he adeptly changed his plans. His hands clenched around her arm and brushed her shapely waist. Even through the layers of fabric, her flesh felt hot beneath his fingers.
Six fuming eyes turned to Dain. The bag of priceless china crashed down to the ground.
"You can't mean to..." stuttered Bil.
"But she's positively wild." Mikel took a step towards Chanyn. His path was immediately obstructed by Dain.
"A man who insults a lady, is no man at all."
Mikel recoiled as though Dain slapped him. Khial's fingers itched to do so. Though the law expressly forbade any man to harm a woman in any way, there was leeway when it came to harming another man. The consequences looked pretty good to Khial, at the moment.
"I bid you all goodnight and a safe journey back to your home." Their home was a one-story house they could barely afford. Syndra had expensive tastes, and no skills or political clout. Dain dismissed them and led Khial and Chanyn into his house.
"Who were those people?" Chanyn asked as Dain closed the door behind them.
Dain looked shamefaced when he answered. "My uncle, his mate, and their wife."
Dain walked over and once more took Chanyn by the hand. Khial's hands felt empty as he released her warm flesh.
"They are poor and rely on my generosity," Dain continued.
"It looked like they were stealing," Chanyn observed. "And they didn't appear to appreciate your generosity very much."
In spite of himself, Khial liked the indignation in Chanyn's voice. He could see that Dain liked it too, as he grinned down at her.
"Come, let's get you out of these travel clothes and into a bath. When you're done, last meal will be ready and waiting for you."
Khial groaned inwardly. There went his plans for the evening.
Dain walked Chanyn up the steps, where the household staff immediately enveloped her. The male staff of the house hadn't had a lady to care for since Dain's mother died. When Chanyn had been led away, with pampering instructions that the manservants took without question, Khial went over to Dain.
"She will be set upon by more of them," Khial said. Not just Dain's family, but her own, once they learned of her presence.
"And we will be there to protect her."
Khial scoffed. Tired, hungry, and horny, he finally opened his mouth to launch a formal protest.
"Take heed, Khial. We need her. She is our salvation."
Dain didn't stop to listen to the tirade that had built up inside of Khial. He went off down the hallway towards his office and disappeared around a corner. Khial watched him go with anxiety creeping up his spine.
He'd never been anxious in Dain’s house. Never feared what might lie in wait behind a door or in a corner. After his fathers' murders, Dain had been Khial's salvation. After Dain's own parents were killed, he'd turned to Khial.
It chaffed now, that Dain sought salvation outside Khial's arms. It left a bitter taste in Khial's mouth that that salvation was in the form of a woman.
5
Chanyn peaked into the mirror, and a stranger gaped back at her. The stranger had the same dark hair, but hers was full of lustrous black shadows and deep brown highlights. The skin coloring was similar, but the stranger's glowed healthily; kissed by the sun instead of being burnt. The lips, full of awe, were a deep red and no longer cracked. Eyes, the same shifting liquid gold and brown, watched as those lips spread into a delighted smile at the reflection.
"Do you like, my lady?"
Three males stood behind her. Last night, Clent drew her a bath of the most sweet smelling scents. Then the large manservant, who resembled one of the wrestlers of Chanyn's sports books, led her to the softest, largest bed she'd ever seen. Chanyn climbed on board and fell asleep at once. Meaning only to nap before dinner, Chanyn missed the entire affair, awakening an hour ago when Tem roused her.
Tem, thin and wiry with large eyes like an owl, brought her to the sitting room adjoining her quarters, and tackled her hair. He painstakingly brushed each kink out, never once pulling or yanking. Hurting a woman in any way was grounds for imprisonment.
And finally, Rianald, a shorter man with a slight pudge to his belly, dressed her in the most exquisite gown she'd ever seen. It was Rianald who asked for her approval.
The green material skated over her shoulders, drawing down into a V to highlight her full breasts. The wiring in the bodice supported and lifted her breasts. The material flared over her hips and backside before falling to the floor. High slits at each side revealed both her legs.
"The female form is living art," Rianald told her. "Art is meant to be displayed and enjoyed, not hidden and ignored."
Chanyn was definitely on display. She felt like a piece of art, the way the three man gazed at her. There was not a single leer in any of their eyes. They looked at her with a sense of pride in their work, mixed with reverence at her gender. Chanyn stood straighter, chin tilted higher.
"Do you think Dain will like it?" she asked.
Tem and Clent exchanged a glance, both of their lips lifted in smug grins.
"All men will fall at your feet, Lady Chanyn," Rianald answered.
Chanyn learned from the male servants that all females were given the title of Lady.
"In truth, my lady, we don't know what Lord Dain prefers in a female," said Tem.
Clent dabbed at Chanyn's cheek with a small brush. "He's never courted a lady in all the time that I've been here. And I've been here since before his mother's passing."
Chanyn's face fell. "So, he doesn't like women."
Clent paused in his
