The Prisoner's Release and Other Stories (20 page)

“
Oh, so you’ve experience. You do boys, right?”

“
Males, mostly, yes.”

“
Not much market for women, but there is some.”

“
Really?” The Staff had technically been open to both sexes, but Jonas in all his years had only seen one female customer.

“
Oh, sure. Trust me.” She laughed, but it was a warm, inclusive laugh, and Jonas grinned along with her. “Okay, boy, pull your pants up and let’s talk numbers. I seen enough.”

She motioned him to a chair beside a small table, and after fastening his pants, he sat down. “You gonna be charging what, four, five silver a customer?”

Jonas hadn’t thought about it. The Staff charged five, but that was a large house. He’d supposed he would start with one silver and increase as his reputation grew. “You think I could make five?”

“
With some folks. The cougar thing, that’s worth a lot. Better to start out expensive than try to increase your price later.”

“
Maybe four.”

“
Okay. I want one of the four. I’m sure Mikka’s takin’ some too, but probably no more than one. That leaves you two per, which is good money.”

Jonas tried to do the figures in his head, but he couldn’t get them to work out. “I was thinking more like one copper per silver.”

“
Well, that’s not quite the same, is it?” She peered at him shrewdly. “How about two coppers per silver?”

He wanted to suggest something in between, but although he remembered his father talking about half-coins, he didn’t know how that worked. If he suggested one and a half, would she laugh at him? All he could come up with was, “Mikka said I shouldn’t give more than one.”

“
Oh, did he? Well, I’ll take one for now, then, and I’ll have a talk with that fox.”

Immensely relieved, Jonas smiled. “Okay.”

“
Well,” Hazel said, “looks like we’re in business.” She got up and walked over to a small cabinet, where she poured two small glasses of an amber-colored liquid. “Let’s celebrate, then I’ll show you the room.”

The rich smell of the port filled the room before she turned around, even over her scent. She grinned as she handed him the glass. “I can’t stand reg’lar wine. Too bitter.”

Jonas chuckled and touched his glass to hers. She said, “To a long relationship.” He repeated the phrase, and drank with her. The port was sweet, went down smoothly, and lingered on his lips afterwards.

“
Good, eh? Tapha gets it for me. He’s got the room below yours. Won’t tell me where he gets it ‘cause he knows then I’d go get it for myself.” She laughed. “Come on up and look at the room.”

The apartment was very similar to Jherik and Benton’s rooms. Now that he thought about it, Jonas realized the building itself was very similar. The only furnishings in the apartment were a small table and chair in the outer room, and a bed in the inner room. Hazel waved at the bed. “I don’t know if that’ll suit. I can see about getting a nicer one, but it might take a while.”

“
Please do,” Jonas said, “but that one is fine for now.”

“
You can bring in whatever else you want. I got some friends, let you have some stuff a bit on the cheap.”

“
Thanks.”

“
Think nothin’ of it Just helpin’ my investment.” She laughed again. Jonas put aside the odd feeling that this was his new home, and joined in.

He returned to Mikka’s late that afternoon, having taken some time to explore his new neighborhood. He was pleased in general; the people seemed friendly, or at least not hostile, and the streets were clean and smelled good. He would be close to the market and about fifteen minutes from Mikka’s shop.

When he told Mikka about his agreement with Hazel, the fox nodded. “I figured she’d be the one. She’s sharp and saw a good opportunity in you.”

“
I like her,” Jonas said, and Mikka smiled.

“
That too. Come on. Let’s eat. Kerial is a pretty good cook, you’ll see.”

Jonas had to agree that the dinner was good, but Mikka started talking about Alexan before he’d taken two bites, and the mood didn’t help the taste of the meal. Mikka and Alexan had met at the market two years before Alexan’s parents had died, and at first the attraction had been purely physical. Jonas squirmed through a rather lurid description of their first night together that he was sure was improved over what the reality had been, especially when Mikka told him it had been his first time.

They’d dated for a couple years, across Alexan’s trips to Tephos, but soon after his father died, Mikka said, “I just couldn’t be with him like that any more. He felt like the world owed him something, and so I think it was harder for him to appreciate the things he had.”

“
Like you?” Jonas felt a stab of empathy.

“
Like me.” Mikka’s eyes and warm smile reflected Jonas’s feelings.

“
I know what you mean. I think he always expected his plan to work. You know, to get the noble’s support.”

“
What happened…I mean, how did he react?”

Jonas looked down at the table, trying to compose his thoughts. Mikka touched his paw. “I’m sorry, kitten. If you’d rather not…”

“
No, it’s okay. You deserve to know.” Jonas told the story quickly, but honestly, watching Mikka’s ears fold back as he got to the part where Alexan made him wear the crown and forced himself on Jonas. “I didn’t mean for anything bad to happen,” Jonas said. “I just wanted him to stop.”

Mikka nodded. “I know,” he said, and then rolled up the sleeve of his shirt. He held up his forearm so Jonas could see the neat white line running from the top of the forearm to the white fur underneath. Only an inch of white cut through the grey, but Jonas could see when he looked closer that the scar ran two more inches through the white fur.

“
Alexan did that one night when we’d both had a lot to drink and I wasn’t feeling so good. I tried to fend him off and he bit me. Afterwards, he was so sorry and fussed over me so much that I just said, well, we’d been drunk and it was a one-time thing. But I think it was always there, under the surface. I thought you might be able to handle it, because you’re bigger and stronger than he is.”

Jonas took another drink of the mead Mikka had laid out. “I wish it hadn’t been that way. I wish the king had changed his mind.”

Mikka sighed and shook his head. “It wouldn’t have changed anything. You see? Something would always have come up.”

“
If you think that,” Jonas said slowly, “how can you be sorry?”

Mikka took a drink and folded his ears back. “Because he walked all the way here to see me when he couldn’t afford a cab. Because he brought back a beautiful curio from Tephos and it was exactly what I loved. Because I wish there hadn’t been that dark side to him. You see?”

Jonas pulled the gold cougar pendant out. “He gave me this a…a week ago.” Had it really been only a week?

Mikka peered at the pendant, and then whistled. “Phineas was looking for this. There was a big argument between him and the family at the funeral. They were disputing his claim to the house, and he said that as that item hadn’t turned up, his claim was legal. Then they accused him of keeping it for himself so he could have the house. I thought it was the one I’d seen you with, but I didn’t say anything.”

“
I don’t want to return it.” Jonas closed his paw over it and stuffed it back down his shirt.

“
Nor should you. His brother didn’t care a fig for him while he was alive.”

“
I didn’t even know he had a brother.”

“
Dixan. He apprenticed himself to a lawyer when he was fourteen. Over his parents’ objections, I might add. He has a wife and a couple cubs, and I believe he’s a junior lawyer himself now.” Mikka waved a paw. “Fox teaches us to respect our family. He turned his back on his. Darkness take him.”

In the awkward silence that ensued, Jonas finished his mead. He held up a paw when Mikka offered to refill his mug. “I should be getting to sleep. Hazel said she doesn’t stay up too late, and I don’t have a key yet.”

“
Oh.” The grey fox’s ears flicked back. “I thought…you might stay here again tonight.”

“
I’m sorry. I’ve, uh, got a lot to do tomorrow.” And if he stayed one more night, would that turn into another night, and a week, and a month?

Mikka took another swallow from his mug. His ears had flattened slightly. “Well. Thanks for staying up with me.”

“
I’ll see you again soon,” Jonas said, trying to lighten the blow. “I’ll be opening for business the day after tomorrow, I hope.”

Mikka nodded. “I already have a couple clients for you. I’ll send them along.”

“
Thanks. Maybe I could come over for dinner sometime too.”

“
I’d like that.” But the fox didn’t look like he meant that, and Jonas, aware that he had managed to hurt Mikka while looking out for himself, left as quickly as he could.

Chapter 11

His first client was a marten by the name of Jeffis, who had a nervous habit of looking around as though he were being followed. When he saw Jonas, his eyes widened and he had his head halfway down in a bow before he remembered where he was. After that, he agreed to the price of four silvers quickly, and told Jonas that what he wanted was to get up inside him and stay there through as many climaxes as he could manage. Jonas had done that before for weasels at the Staff, and while it wasn’t his favorite activity, it was fairly easy. Weasels didn’t require much in the way of activity from their bottoms. In fact, all Jeffis asked him to do was leave his clothes (mostly) on, which Jonas took as a sign that his “noble” guise was working well. He moaned in all the right places, complimented the marten’s endowment, and got two extra silvers for his trouble.

After he’d washed up (a process which took nearly as long as the marten himself had), Hazel told him he had another customer waiting. This time, it was Xaric, come to fulfill his fantasy. He bucked and thrust into Jonas’s muzzle, gasped and shuddered as he came, and left looking very satisfied. He didn’t leave a tip, but he did say he would be back.

At the end of the day, he put the ten silver into a lock box Hazel had chosen for him. As an afterthought, he added the gold pendant. Sleeping with it was uncomfortable, and he didn’t see any reason to do so now that he had another place to put it. He set it down carefully in one corner, and then just sat and looked at the sum total of all his fortune in the world.

The silver coins glinted under his paw. He moved them around, reflecting on the course his life had taken. Truthfully, he hadn’t minded servicing his clients, and seeing all that silver in the box (even knowing some portion of it had to go to Hazel and Mikka) made him feel better. All he really wished was that he had Sasha’s paw, or even Pike’s, to help him pleasure himself that night.

His next customer didn’t come until three days later. He spent most of that time berating himself for trusting Mikka and starting this business, and the remainder worrying about what he would do when the end of the month came and he couldn’t pay Hazel. Hazel told him not to worry about it. “They’ll come, boy. You didn’t expect to be busy right away, did you?” Jonas mumbled that he had, and Hazel laughed and patted him on the back. “Mikka believes in you, and so do I,” she said, and Jonas didn’t realize until later that she must have gone to talk to Mikka about him.

He had one customer the next day, and Xaric came back the day after for another blow job, and when he was done, Jonas asked him to tell his friends if he thought they would appreciate his service. “Hrrf,” Xaric panted. “I already have.”

That cheered Jonas a good deal. For his first week in business, he’d had four customers and made probably half his rent. That Gaiaday, he went to services with Hazel at a cathedral near the palace. “This is where the nobles go,” she told him. “Just not at the same time.”

“
Like where I come from,” he nodded, though the cathedral itself was very different. It was broad and low, stained glass dotting each of the wall sections. Unlike the Great Cathedral in Divalia, which was split into six sections, this cathedral was one large room, and the Cantor (whatever the Ferrenian equivalent was) was a cougar whose deep voice made Jonas shiver. He led them through the services, which Jonas now knew well enough to follow along on his own (his first time with Alexan, he’d started to sing the verses for all the families until Alexan had nudged him hard in the ribs). Afterwards, Hazel asked what he’d thought.

“
It was impressive,” he said.

“
I go there every once in a while,” she said. “Usually just the one closer by, but I thought you’d like to see it. It’s somethin’, ain’t it?”