The Prisoner's Release and Other Stories (44 page)

He reached around, pulled my rear against him, and gave me a kiss. “I said I don’t mind.”

That was all the encouragement I needed. If you think it’s tough to get all the way to climax when you’re already tied, then you’ve never been young and in love. I wanted to be a part of him so desperately that just being around him, I was halfway to orgasm, and a kiss and a smile brought me most of the rest of the way. He slid his arms around me and held me as I let his wonderful scent and beautiful body sweep me upward until I was shaking against him and emptying myself into him again.

I collapsed on top of him and just lay there while he stroked my back. His muzzle brushed my ear, and as I floated through a warm haze, I heard his voice.

“What would you like to be doing in ten years, Cef?”

“This,” I murmured.

He laughed. “Silly. I mean, will you be working? Maybe for your father?”

“Maybe. I don’t know, I’ll probably be a lord of some province. That’s what Rashi says he’ll be doing.”

“I thought your family didn’t own land.”

“Well, it would be my wife’s land.”

“Wife? You want to get married?”

“I have to. I told you about my family.”

“It sounds like you have enough brothers, though.”

“If they all find noble wives, then I might not have to, but there’s no guarantee of that. Kigi will probably end up married to some barmaid.” I grinned. “He doesn’t know what he’s missing.” I rubbed my stomach over Richy’s sheath.

He smiled and nuzzled me. “What do you want to be doing? If all your brothers marry noble bitches and your father says you’re free to do what you want, what would you do?”

“I don’t know. I’ve always liked geography. I could be an explorer.”

“I know someone who went to Ferrenis.” He rested his muzzle between my ears. “Pike says he’s doing well.”

“I wouldn’t want to go there. It’s all explored already, and anyway they’re all nasty.”

“Not all of them.”

“Well, anyway. I’d rather go north to the icy wastes. I heard there are white wolves there ten feet tall, and fields of snow that hurt your eyes. Or down the river to the south, where they say there’s a plain of water and a mountain of sand.”

“A plain of water?”

“A huge expanse, like a valley that’s flooded, but it’s so deep that you could swim straight down for a month and never get to the bottom. Can you imagine?”

“Mmm. It sounds strange.” He nuzzled me. “But fascinating. Tell me more.”

“An explorer who went south said they’ve built huge boats, bigger than the ones we use on the river here. He said you can be floating across the water for days until you can’t see land any more.”

“I’ve thought about going down the river, sometimes. You should go, and come back and tell me what you see.”

“What’s down the river?” I trailed a paw through his stomach’s fur.

He smiled. “I don’t know. But I’ve also thought about going to Ferrenis, or just quitting. I never will, though.”

“Why not?”

“This is where I belong. I’ve been here…a long time. I don’t know where else I would go.” His paw brushed mine. “And I like working here, too. I get to make you make that cute face and those funny noises.”

I looked away and curled my ears back, but I couldn’t stop grinning. “I like that too.”

He squeezed me, and I felt myself slide out of him. “Awww.” He thrust out his lower lip in a mock pout.

“I’ve been here too long anyway.” I sat back, then slid off the bed, letting my eyes travel up and down his body.

Our reverie was broken by a knock at the door. “Just a minute,” I called, hurrying to get my pants on, but there was no answer.

“That was Tally,” Richy said, sitting up. “Time is up.”

“Sorry.” I slid into my tunic. “I’ll be out of here in a second.”

“Don’t worry about it.” He smiled and helped me lace up my pants. “I said it was okay.”

“Are you going to be in trouble?”

“No more than usual.” He straightened the wrinkles from my shirt and patted my shoulders. “Go on now.”

I leaned forward to kiss him. He hesitated and then met my muzzle briefly. When we parted, his green eyes were sparkling and a smile was forming on his muzzle. “Go!” he said, and patted my rump.

I wandered back through the main room in what was fast becoming a familiar daze. It was crowded tonight, so I had a choice between leaving without a drink and sharing a table. I compromised, gulping a cup of wine while standing and then heading for the door, dizzier than ever.

The cool evening air helped some, but I was still feeling unsteady as I got back to the gate. The guards didn’t say anything as I showed my papers, and fortunately I knew the palace well enough that I could have found my quarters with my eyes closed. Which I almost had to do.

I was lost in a happy fantasy that I don’t think I need to detail here when Kira walked back in. Half-dreaming, I barely noticed her until she sat down on the edge of my bed.

“Hey, squirt.”

I struggled back to full consciousness. Even in the darkness, Kira was a beautiful, imposing wolf bitch, an inch taller than our oldest brother and almost as stocky as Kigi. Her eyes fixed me with a green shine, and I could see the ghostly image of her teeth when she talked.

“Hi, Kira.”

“So tell me what’s going on.”

“Huh?” I tried to rub sleep from my eyes.

“You’ve disappeared almost every night this week. I saw Rashi and Kigi go out and thought I’d ask you to come for a walk in the garden, but you weren’t here again tonight. You come home smelling of wine…” She hesitated there. “Not very good wine, either.”

“Sorry,” I mumbled. “I’ll try to drink better.”

She put her paw on my shoulder. “Is it that barmaid, the one Rashi was complaining you tried to steal from him?”

“Uh?” Barmaid? Oh. “Dasha?”

“Is that her name?” I saw her teeth flash in a grin. “You’re sweet on her and you’re worried about Father finding out because he wants you to meet Jelila tomorrow.”

“Yeah.” I stuck my nose into my bed. “Can I sleep now?”

“Sure.” She got up. “Your secret’s safe with me.” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her tail wag as she crossed the room to her bed.

The dinner was worse than I’d suspected it would be. Jelila was a year younger than I was and cute, but apparently had spent so much time grooming her fur that she’d forgotten to develop any personality. All of her responses to any questions we asked were delivered in one soft syllable. Even when she introduced herself, the last part of her name seemed to drop to the floor unheard.

Her parents were at the dinner as well, and though they weren’t palace residents, her father was apparently a cousin to Lord Rhychel and had been here before. They told us that Jelila was a beautiful singer, and came of healthy stock. Kira told me later that that meant that she wouldn’t die in childbirth, like our mother had when delivering Sheni, my sister who’d died six months later.

The awful part of the dinner was that my father kept telling Jelila’s parents about
me
. I thought she was going to be the topic of conversation, but every time Father opened his muzzle, it was “Cef is doing
so
well in his studies” or “Cef is learning three different weapons at the same time,” leaving out that they were all three swords, and I was doing poorly in all of them. And Kira was worse. “Cef gets around the palace all the time and knows half the lords by name.”

That
one led to “Have you met Lord Rhychel?”

I had, but I hadn’t been paying much attention at the time, so I had to maneuver through the questions after that without giving offense. Like, instead of “he sounded really pompous and used lots of big words,” I said, “He seemed really smart.” Instead of, “He ignored me and didn’t say a word to me the whole time I was there,” I said, “He’s really involved in a lot of important affairs.” And rather than say, “He smelled kind of like old cheese,” I said, well, nothing.

After dinner, we sat around and talked further, and Kira got to leave for that part. As the center of attention, I couldn’t, though believe me, I tried. It took two agonizing hours to escape, and the worst part was that I couldn’t escape to Richy’s embrace afterwards. It was too late, and I hadn’t come up with a way to get enough money to visit him again.

Rashi and Kigi were gone, too. I stomped into my bedroom and sat on the bed.

“How was the talk?”

Kira was lying on her bed, brushing her tail out. I growled. “Agonizing.”

“Well, the family want to be sure they're getting their money's worth.”

“Why not put Rashi up there, or Kigi?”

Kira grinned at me.
“You think those two haven’t been through that?”

“Where are they now, anyway?”

“I don’t know. Back at that tavern, I suspect. Kigi said he was going to get that barmaid tonight.” She rolled her eyes. “That was the meat of what he said, anyway. He went on for quite a bit longer.”

I imagined Kigi describing exactly what he was going to do, and that at least made me grin. “I could use an ale. I’ll go join them.”

“Of course you will.” She winked at me, and it took me a moment to remember what I’d told her the other night. It was an odd feeling, the disconnect between what she thought I was going to do and what I was actually thinking of doing. I dug my last silver piece out of my savings, dropped it in my purse, and winked back at her as I walked out the door.

To my surprise, Dasha cornered me almost as soon as I walked in. We talked, and talk led to a back room, and that led to her trying to convince me that she was as good as Richy. At least she enjoyed herself in the process, and while we were tied afterwards she pressed me about Richy, and I finally broke down and told her what I felt. I had to tell
someone
. We weren't a family used to keeping secrets.

It felt good to take her into my confidence, initially. Then she kept harping on about Richy being “just” a prostitute and that I was paying him to be whatever I wanted, and I should be careful. It ended up souring the mood, and I left wishing I hadn’t said anything at all.

4: The Brother

Two days later, on Ursiday, I got my allowance, and scurried straight down to the Jackal’s Staff that night to spend it. The clouds had come in over the afternoon, dripping a fine mist that soaked into your fur so you didn’t realize you were wet until you stepped into a dry space. I stepped under the sign and through the door, shook myself off in the entryway, and stopped dead.

The room itself had gained a certain familiarity, but the people in it were always changing. So every time I walked in, I looked more at the muzzles than at the room itself. There was a young wolf with his back to me who looked more familiar than the room, as if I’d caught my own scent in a place I’d never been. It took me only a second to recognize Rashi.

He’d figured out my secret and was waiting for me. I couldn’t convince my paws to take me back out the door, and a moment later it was too late. The host that night, a raccoon I’d seen once, was coming towards me and Rashi, alerted by the motion and the breeze, glanced back to look. When he saw me, his muzzle curved into a smirk.

“Good evening, sir,” the raccoon said. “You’ve got the appointment with Richy? He’ll be free in just a minute.”

“Yes,” I said automatically. “I’ll wait over there.”

I’d gestured vaguely, still not sure if I wanted to ignore Rashi or confront him. He made the issue easier by walking towards me. I braced myself for the crowing I would have to endure, and mentally wondered if I could live in the Cup and Crown in a spare room until I came of age next year.

“You see, squirt, you’re not so smart.” Rashi sneered down at me. “I don’t know how you figured this out, but I caught on fast.”

I stared at him helplessly. He barked a short laugh. “You might’ve gotten one night with Dasha, but you’re not going to get any more.”

“No,” I shook my head. If that were his price, I'd pay it gladly.

“Once she sees me coming out of here,” he went on, “she’ll forget all about you.”

I blinked. “She will?”

“She’s all over that gay thing. That’s the only reason she liked you, because she thought you were doin’ it with other males. I’ll walk out in a couple minutes and head over there and then we’ll see who she likes better.”

He didn’t know. He'd been too far to hear the raccoon mention my appointment, or hadn't been listening. I almost panted with relief, and I had to stop my tail from wagging. He thought…I wanted to laugh. To buy time while I processed this, I said, “She likes me better.”

He waved a paw. “She was only interested in you because we tricked you into coming here. Don’t kid yourself.”

She had been pretty interested in my experiences here, but she’d also said I was cuter than Rashi. “Well,” I said, “you’re probably right. She really wanted to hear what it was like, and I don’t think I was very convincing. I’m not a very good liar.” I’m a
great
liar.

The raccoon was signaling to me; I nodded to let him know I’d be right there. I had to wait until Rashi was either out the door, or until he’d taken my bait. Right then, looking at his narrowed eyes, I thought it was about even chances on either. He said, “She did?”

“Yeah. I tried to pretend but she saw right through me. Said she’d talked to guys who’d done it with other guys and she could tell right away when someone was lying.”

Now he definitely looked worried. “She won’t be able to tell when I am.”

I nodded. “Oh, I'm sure you’re probably right. You're a much better liar than I am.”

He started for the door, then stopped. “Go ahead,” I said. “I’m going to find out what it’s really like.” And with that, I walked towards the host and into the back without looking back.

Richy was waiting for me in a blue silk robe that highlighted his eyes. I almost tore my clothes off before he could get up.

“You’re grinning,” he said after he’d pulled my naked body against his soft robe and kissed me.

“I think I just tricked my brother into getting a blow job here.”

He shook his head. “I shouldn’t ask about your family, right?”