TURNABOUT IS FAIR PLAY
Thick clouds of smoke hovered around the low ceiling of the tavern as the evening wore on
into night. Outside, equally thick clouds lowered, eventually dumping sleet-thick sheets
of rain.
The bar was steamy, dirty and packed.
I sat in a darkened corner, in one of the few booths whose seat didn`t have holes and
dingy stuffing leaking out, sipping a glass of Cardei and smoking a thin black cigar. If I
hadn`t, I`d have stood out a little more than I cared to.
I was wearing a soft, worn violet leather flight jacket, a particular favorite of mine,
which was good for any kind of adventure and unremarkable enough to keep my charade
intact. This was over a black lace shell which I myself had crocheted from crystal-weave
thread, twisted with thin, shiny amethyst filament. It only shimmered violet when the
light caught it. I`d holstered my service pistol on my right hip and a plain rapier on my
left. My katana and wakasashi would have been more of a dead giveaway as to my identity
than my emerald green eyes and wine-black hair (expertly glamoured to a more sedate
grey-green and dark auburn) would have.
Even so, I`d still had a couple of offers from the spacer rabble, which was flattering on
a rather base, primal level. I hadn`t seen anyone I would have considered taking up--at
least not yet.
As the evening thickened into a serious attempt at night, the sleet coming down colder
and harder, delivery times, deadlines, drunkenness and lechery prevailed and most of the
earlier crowd moved out to other destinations.
I toyed with my glass, nursing my third brandy. It was beginning to appear that this
place was a washout, not only in interesting prospects but in information of any type.
Perhaps Aquila was, indeed, too far out to be of any use to the Directorate, particularly
the Duchy of Aventura, other than mining and cheap labor.
I reached into my pack for another cigar, lit it behind my hand with a quick spell and
had just turned back to my indolent observance of the bar when I heard, "Slumming,
Your Grace?"
I stiffened just a bit and took a carefully controlled drag off the cigar. I knew that
smooth, drawling, lazily amused voice. Schooling my emotions into a facade of icy aplomb,
I turned my head a fraction in his direction, not bothering to look at him. "I`m sure
I have no idea what you`re talking about."
Joshua Wetfire swung around me just then and dropped into the booth directly opposite me.
He was smiling like a demon and, though his voice had been low, his steel grey eyes
glittered with amusement. "You`re like an onion, Alena. Layers upon layers." He
chuckled.
I frowned.
"Don`t bother trying to keep up the pretense with me," he said before I could
reply. "You`re a Crystal Master and at least an adequate sorcerer. You know I can see
through your little sophistry." With a negligent flicker of his long fingers, a glass
swirled into existence in his hand.
I took a sip from my own glass and sent him a cool look. "Fine," I said
quietly. "You can, but no one else here can and I expect to keep it that way."
Joshua took a sip from his glass, his gaze sliding down to the ring on my right hand.
"Oh really, Alena," he chided in a soft voice uncannily like an Academy
professor, "You expect to keep your identity secret, but you`re wearing your
Keystone?" He chuckled again. "And your colors?" Tsking softly, he shook
his head.
I hate being mocked. Joshua knew that, which of course, was why he was doing it.
"No one notices, or cares, Wetfire," I said evenly. "The only thing this
rabble notices is if you`re female or not. I doubt most of them even know for sure what I
really look like."
Joshua sipped his wine. "Alright. I`ll give you that." He let his eyes slide
over me again and I felt an annoyingly warm tingle that made me frown again. "Your
choice of clothing is certainly... interesting." His eyes lingered on my breasts,
which sent another warm flush through me. Luckily it didn`t show on my face.
"Why are you here?" I snapped, taking a drag off my cigar, turning my head to
look at the rest of the bar.
"Slumming," he said simply. "Like you. Though I suspect you might have
more than just an opportunity to mix with the peasantry on your mind. This bar is bad for
political intrigue, Your Grace. These people are interested in having a drink and getting
laid. That`s about it."
I snorted and sipped the last of the brandy from my glass.
Joshua was silent for a few minutes. I looked up at him as I set my glass aside.
It was at that point I realized he was not dressed in his usual romantic, casually
elegant, and understated expensive style. His flight jacket was well-worn black leather,
over a tee shirt that was, in this lighting, nearly black, but I knew instinctively that
it was a deep, vibrant royal blue. He sported a light golden dusting along his cheekbones
and chin and his long blonde hair was pulled loosely back in a ponytail bound by what was
most likely a strip of navy leather.
He raised his glass to sip thoughtfully at it, still quietly looking at me. Then, setting
his glass down, he leaned back against the seat and stretched luxuriously, the leather of
his jacket creaking softly.
I frowned again. The entire effect was so unlike anything I`d known of him before that it
was disconcerting enough to make me slightly nervous. He reminded me of nothing so much as
a lion and as he settled down again to look at me, I felt another twinge, this time much
warmer than before.
"Perhaps you`re not so much interested in overhearing intrigue..." Joshua said
thoughtfully, gesturing absently and refilling my glass with a golden sheened red brandy
that was the unique trademark of Dirandan Cardei, "As you are in... hmm... playing
hooky perhaps?" He chuckled. "Or... playing?"
I stopped myself from frowning yet again at his words and took a sip of the brandy now
filling my glass.
His head tilted smoothly to one side. "What`s wrong with your sophisticated, slick
Dirandan nobles, Alena?" he drawled, "Are you bored? Or have you finally had
enough of yes-men in your bed?"
I managed to not choke on the mouthful of Cardei, but just. Setting down the glass I
said, "What business is it of yours anyway, Wetfire? It`s not as if I cannot take
care of myself."
He chuckled heartily then, and I was struck by it. I don`t think I`d ever seen or heard
Joshua this relaxed before. Perhaps he actually was drunk, although this seemed wildly
unlikely. Joshua wasn`t the type.
Joshua was grinning. "Somehow, I didn`t think this?" he waved a hand at the bar
in general, "?was your type."
I snorted softly and lifted my cigar to my lips. "This isn`t my type," I said
with a sigh I couldn`t conceal. "Not this evening anyway."
That, I noticed with a pleasing amount of satisfaction, caught him off guard. His eyes
widened a little and his brows rose.
"Really?" he asked with a half-smile, his grey eyes glinting in the dim light
as he glanced around. "Well, I will give you that as well. This crowd is not
particularly palatable right now."
I set down the cigar. "I was considering leaving."
Joshua smiled fully then. "Ah. Where shall we go?"
I blinked at him. With a snort, I pulled my violet sapphire energy around me and
vanished.
* * * *
I found the shadows of a different tavern on the east side of the `port city and blended
into them with little more than a disturbance of the drifting smoke. I was chuckling
softly to myself as I found a table in the back corner and slid into a chair, looking
around the room to see if the prospects were any better.
Apparently so, as this particular bar had a stage and a cluster of men and other beings
around it, watching a humanoid woman dancing, who was pretty enough even if she wasn`t
Dirandan. The men were good-looking in that rough, savage way I particularly liked and the
women were also rather attractive.
I felt him before I heard him. And it wasn`t a surprise to me at all. I`d expected him to
track and follow me.
"Cute trick, Your Grace," he drawled as he slid into a chair next to me.
"I`d forgotten that translocation was one of your specialties."
I snorted, watching the dancer. I didn`t need to see him. I could smell his spicy,
leathery scent and feel his closeness, which was bad enough. It was warm and close in here
and I felt another flush of heat rising as he bent close to my ear and whispered,
"Nice choice."
"You should venture out from Vendalli`s more often," I said, my voice acid and
deliberately taunting, "You`d see a lot more of what I can do without those annoying
restrictions."
He laughed. "I`d like to see what you can do, true enough, Alena."
I continued to watch the girl on the stage remove her clothing, to the cheers of the
watching men. The energy in this place was lusty enough to make my violet sapphires warm.
I caught a distinctly spicy scent and knew that my Keystone was also absorbing it and
passing it on to me. I felt warm breath on my ear and shivered.
"You smell rather nice, Alena," he breathed. "You like it here."
"Mmmm..." was all I could say at the moment, because a hot flash of electricity
had leapt through my bloodstream. Damn Joshua anyway. All I could think about as we
watched the blonde on the stage bring one of the audience up with her, was something
Joshua had said to me once: Admit it. Something deep inside you needs to be dominated.
The blonde was kissing the lucky spacer, whose hands were all over her naked body. I
licked my dry lips unconsciously as Joshua whispered, "You owe me a kiss."
"Mmhm," I murmured, blinking my eyes and watching with no surprise as the
couple on the stage began to do what couples usually do when one is naked and both are
horny. Cheers rang out from the barflies and I shifted in my chair. "I guess that`s
allowed here," I muttered, feeling Joshua`s hands on my arms, massaging them slowly.
Usually I wouldn`t have allowed him to touch me without my express permission, but that
had never really mattered to him anyway. And it felt too good to get picky about things
right now. He pulled me back, against him and I leaned against his chest.
"Now," he breathed as the man on the stage got a friend up with him and the two
of them fucked the pretty blonde between them while the others continued to applaud,
"About that kiss..."
He turned my chin as he tilted his head toward me and lowered his lips to mine. I
stiffened a little at the touch, a wave of nerves and protests rising in me, accompanied
by a flood of fire that was disconcertingly uncomfortable as the sane part of my brain
tried to remind me who it was I was kissing and at the same time extremely exciting. I
turned into him and wrapped my arms around his shoulders.
He wasn`t gentle. His lips were very warm, firm and strong and his kisses were equally
so. His arms went around me and crushed me to him, a low growl coming from him as he
plunged his tongue between my lips. I returned his kiss with an equal amount of
aggression.
It was almost as though we were fighting rather than kissing. I growled back, dimly aware
of the sounds of sex coming from the stage behind me.
My violet sapphires were pulsing with the charged energy around and within me, now almost
painfully hot and Joshua was stealing my breath, as well as what little remained of my
sanity, the longer he kissed me. I felt myself tingling and twitching as another burst of
fire seared my insides and I groaned long and deeply into Joshua`s mouth. I slid my legs
the rest of the way off my chair and over his lap, straddling him. As I did, I felt him
groan softly as well, and his hands slid me up tightly against him. I could feel the hard
length of his erection against me and shivered involuntarily.
Something wicked sparked in my lust-sotted brain at that moment. I felt him rubbing
against me in an erotic way that was definitely going to result in me screaming, very
soon, just as the woman on the stage was gurgling and screaming through the thick shaft
that filled her mouth. And I just couldn`t allow him the satisfaction--not yet, anyway.
With what control remained to me, I summoned my sapphires to power, feeling their heat
searing my skin and translocated myself right out of Joshua`s arms.
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