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"Draw." Toroi snarled at Rashar, hand on the hilt of his shiversword.

Behind him, Captain Yaroi discretely entered and circled the room to stand behind Wei. He flashed Wei a battle-sign out of the viscount's line of sight, a directive to_Hold_ and not move from position.

"Aren't you overreacting a bit?" Rashar replied, placatingly, hands raised and very pointedly nowhere near his shiversword.

"Overreacting? You think you can go behind my back and offer rekkakai to my betrothed? You_insult_ me like that the day before my wedding and I'm overreacting? Draw."

"Cousin, really, no insult was intended or made, I know it's unconventional for a sapphire to train in the sword, but times change." Said Rashar.

"Draw your damn sword.

"Please, viscount, there's no need for this, if you forbid it I won't-" Wei tried to interject.

"Stay out of this." Toroi snapped. "You are not to blame here." He added, sans venom.

"Toroi, calm down, what the hell has gotten into you? I'm not going to fight you." Rashar said, sternly. "Uncle Jashiid would never forgive me."

"He can forgive your corpse." Toroi said, his eyes were hot coals.

"You're not going to fight me, cousin." Rashar said flatly, folding his arms. "You're going to calm down and speak like a civilised person."

"Am I, now? And why is that?

"See? Easy isn't it?" Rashar said, before a look in Toroi's eye made him hurry on. "No insult was meant, it_never entered my mind_ that you would think of it like that, I'm still not sure why you would object to Baronet Wei being trained in the shiversword by me-"

"He's not_yours_ to train!"

"Ancestors!Really? That's a very old-fashioned mode of thought, even for you." Rashar scoffed. "Don't you think we're a little past the time when sapphires were tantamount to property? I'd expect that kind of retrograde hogswash from Janai, but you?"

"No! It's not that. There's no need-" Toroi's ears flattened against his head, his face an unreadable combination of anger and embarrassment. He turned his gaze to Wei again and his expression softened somewhat, replaced by a whole new unreadability. "Baronet, I don't understand why you would want this, do I seem so weak to you?"

Wei flushed under the fox-lord's stare. The tone of his voice; was there just confusion there, or betrayal? He hoped not, more than anything he hoped not. Toroi had been... distant, distressingly distant, but not ungallant. And he was a hero! He saved the_Dragonfly_ and all aboard it, Wei included.

"My lord, no! Not at all!" Wei exclaimed, somehow managing not to break into squeaks. "Please, I asked Lord Rashar to teach me but I never meant to discredit your ability to defend me!"

"Others will see it that way." Toroi said, levelly. "Conservative elements, old Houses, Houses I and my kin will have to deal with. Appearances_matter_, even in marriages of convenience.

"Not_that_ much, not any more." Rashar said.

"And what would a mere knight of a cadet branch know of it? Hm?" Toroi snapped in reply. "You want to talk about old-fashioned and retrograde thinking? Have you even met the people father has to deal with? Even he only gets away with so much because nobody wants to question the hero of the Endellion Gulf. Janai is an ass, but he follows the old ways tightly for a_reason_, he's going to be Archduke."

"Hate to tell you, cousin mine, but you're not exactly close in the running on that point." Rashar replied, acidly.

"No,cousin mine, but thanks to this marriage I'm being put in charge of one of the most prosperous marches in the sector, do you think I won't have to deal with these people too? You get to ignore the realities of power because you have none, you can afford to move in lower circles and do as you please because the only thing giving you a title at all is a talent for killing and a quarter measure of Xanshin's blood!."

Rashar narrowed his eyes and his already defensive posture stiffened slightly but he didn't retort. Wei was shocked beyond measure by the venom in the Viscount's voice, he'd never heard_anyone_ speak so to another, especially as Lord Rashar didn't deserve it.

"My lord, allow me to explain." He said, as firmly as he could. It had been a long time since he'd last raised his voice - it wasn't 'becoming', as he'd been told so often as a child - but it did distract the Viscount's attention away from Rashar. "As you probably know, I was recently subject to an assassination attempt. Probably a Lashani agent trying to prevent our union."

"They could never touch you here, not here on Byzantium, the danger is passed-"

"I know, my lord, I know it intellectually but... has anyone ever tried to kill you?"

"Of course, pirates and barbarians-"

Wei held up a hand, Toroi stopped. "I think perhaps that is not pertinent to my meaning... or perhaps it is, but in a different way. I am not a warmaster like you, my lord. I am not a warrior, I have no experience with soldiery, I have not left the Yusho mansions unescorted since the day I was born. In truth, I haven't really done_anything_ except... prepare for our wedding day." Wei took a breath. "I apologise if I have caused offence, I knew it was not proper for me to practice such things but I wanted to be-" He struggled for the right word. "Capable, I suppose. To not need protecting."

Toroi said nothing, Wei felt his eyes on him like a hot wind but, unusually, it didn't make him want to cower as it might have once. He wasn't quite sure what it made him feel, he'd be lying if he said it wasn't at least partially shame... but also_anger_, or at least something like it.

"In any case, there is no stain on your honour yet. Many sapphire husbands are warriors before they are called upon to be so by their House. Not all know their calling from such a young age as I did. It is traditional, I believe, for those in such circumstances to give their sword to their spouse."

Wei unlooped the silk cord that tied the scabbard of his shiversword to his side and held it out at arms length with his left hand. He heard Captain Yaroi take an uncertain step toward him.

"Your honour, that is a priceless House treasure, you don't have to give it up. Another will do if you really want to do this, a symbolic gesture is all honour requires." He unhooked his own sword's scabbard from his belt, a battered but well serviced Yusho house guard blade, and offered it to Wei. Wei didn't even look, his eyes never left the Viscount's own.

"Thank you, captain, but no. I won't have my sincerity put into question. And heirloom or not it is mine by inheritance, I can do with it what I will and I choose to offer it to my betrothed."

"I am your sword also, your honour." Yaroi pressed.

"Enough, captain. I have made my decision."

All eyes were on Toroi. Deflated, the fox-lord approached Wei hesitantly. He lifted his hand to take the offered sword and then... didn't. His hand dropped to his side.

"I already have a shiversword." He said, lamely.

"Mine is better." Wei said and Toroi flinched as if slapped.

"It's... it's nothing. Forget the matter."

"My lord, you not five minutes ago direly insulted and tried to draw your kinsman into a duel over this matter, it is_not_ nothing. In a very short period of time you will have almost unlimited power over my life, I cannot risk animosity between us. If you feel your honour is besmirched by my practice then there is a precedent to erase the insult. Please, take my sword and with it my promise to not take it up again."

The fox-lord's ears drooped slightly and he broke Wei's eye contact in favour of the ornate gilded and enamelled butterfly guard of his shiversword. With more confidence than before he grasped the hilt and drew it from the scabbard. He held it up in front of his face and examined the blade. He held the sword_just so_ and the mechanism activated, filling the room with the subdued hum of thousands of tiny flapping wings. A look of wonder passed over the viscount's face for just a moment.

"It_is_ better than mine." He said to no-one in particular. The viscount released the mechanism and let the tip of the sword touch the dojo's mat until it stopped humming, then he returned it to the sheath still in Wei's hand.

"My lord! It is yours, I give it to you, take it!" Wei said, proffering the blade again.

"You may present it to me at the wedding if you choose. Until then, no, it is not mine." Toroi replied. "And before then you may make any decisions you please."

"I don't understand." Wei shook his head slightly in confusion.

"I think," Rashar piped up, stepping between Wei and Toroi. "That my dear, if mannerless, cousin means to say that... there is a loophole that can be exploited."

Rashar gave Toroi a pointed look and the viscount nodded curtly.

"You see, for a sapphire husband to bear a weapon is irregular, yes, and a break with proper protocol, it is... untraditional. That matters more to some Houses than others, but I will concede that the closer you get to Catalos and deep Imperial space where the old Eagle Empire culture prevails... the more it matters. And, alas, those are the Houses Ro'Xanshin deals with most often." Rashar said. "Not that you couldn't have put it in a less hurtful way. But I forgive you, brute that you are." He shot at Toroi out of the corner of his mouth.

"Then, if I were to continue practicing it would cost you face... I don't want to be responsible for that."

"Do you want to learn the shiversword, yes or no?" It was Toroi who spoke, his voice a hoarse growl.

"I... I know we are not wed yet but if you forbid it then I will abide by your wishes, I don't want any animosity between us or-" Wei began before Toroi raised a hand to bid silence.

"Yes or no, do you_want_ to?" He said, firmly but not unkindly.

"I..." Wei caught a faint trace of irritation in the fox-lord's eye. "Yes, yes I want to. But that doesn't mean-!"

"Enough, the matter is settled. You will begin rekkakai tonight,now, and there will be no more word of it."

"But it's impossible, isn't it?" Wei said uncomprehendingly.

"As I said, we are not married yet, until then you may make any decision you please. What you decide right now has no baring on me or reflects on anyones honour but yours. And, well, there isn't a precedent for this but in the case of rekkakai... it's a pious act, it's honouring the ancestors through emulation of their skill, and once it is started it must be followed through to conclusion so... if you were to start it before the wedding, when you are not my sapphire, an argument could be made that it would be... more proper to continue than not to." Toroi sighed in exasperation. "It's shaky, but as a rule House traditions trump orthodoxy. Some still might object but... they'd be arguing theology, and that gets you fucking nowhere fast."

"It's rather like the special dispensation for warrior-philosophers called to be sapphires, one duty trumps another. Duty to the Empire or House is more important than duty to one's spouse, in theory. Rekkakai would be considered a duty to House Ro'Xanshin, as one of its traditions." Rashar elaborated.

"So I have you permission? To continue training with Lord Rashar?" Wei said, hesitantly.

"No." Said Toroi, flatly.

"Then how-?"

"If you will start the rekkakai you will learn from me." Toroi said. "I... I sought you out... the reason I am_here_, is because I wanted to speak with you. Before... well..." His ears flattened and he avoided Wei's gaze, shifting feet nervously. "Anyway, tomorrow you will be a Ro'Xanshin and... it is right you should learn our customs, is it not? Nobody can object to that, especially if it is from me."

"Forgive me, my lord, I am grateful beyond measure,, but I don't see why it would make a difference if it is you who teaches me."

"Do you formally and wholly declare your desire to enter the rekkakai, now?" Toroi asked, expectantly.

"I do, I... yes, I do." Wei replied, feeling a little firmer.

"Then it begins." Toroi muttered something under his breath then drew his shiversword, still in its scabbard, and brought it down in an overhand strike onto Wei's shoulder. The mouse gasped in pain and surprise and took a knee onto the training mat, forced down by shock and the strength of the impact. Captain Yaroi stiffened and took a step forward but Wei put a hand on his knee and bid him to stop with battle sign.

"That's why. If I am to swear I will protect you from harm then... the rekkakai is brutal, it's meant to be, and I cannot shield you from how harsh it is or the illusion will fail. But I still won't let_anyone else_ hurt you. That will have to do, as far as honour demands." He offered a hand to Wei, who took it, and gently helped him to his feet. "The first blow is struck, your rekkakai has begun, but that is enough for now." Toroi bent at the waist in a bow, lifted Wei's hand to his muzzle and kissed the back of the mouse's fingers. "I apologise if I caused alarm or offence, my lord."

Wei rubbed his bruised shoulder with his other hand, quite beyond knowing what to say. "It is forgiven, my lord. If you will do the same for me. " He settled on, in the end.

"Yes, done." Toroi nodded. "I did not know your character, Wei Yusho. I came because I wanted to... needed to know you better. I am not displeased with what I find." He turned away, giving Rashar an unreadable look as he did. "We will speak more after the ceremony tomorrow. You can bring your shiversword but I won't ask for you to give it to me... in fact, I think you should. Yes, it would be better if everyone saw you wear it..." He scratched his head and growled under his breath exasperatedly. "Gah, I don't know, maybe it's a terrible idea, but... I think maybe it would be better to get it out in the open. Once the rekkakai is complete, then you may decide if you want to do that. For now, I think I shall take my leave, I have a small function to attend."

There was a stunned silence left in his wake when Toroi left. When the screen door finally clicked shut behind him it was Lord Rashar who was the first to speak.

"Oh, you are just going to be able to use him as a pinky ring with the way you tie him around your finger, aren't you?" The fox said with a giggle.

"I'm... glad to have his blessing in this, but I don't follow." Wei said, tiredly.

"When I get maudlin I write poetry, when Toroi does he watches opera. Such sincerity! Such conviction! Such virtue! He goes wild for that stuff, positively weak at the knees for a bit of melodrama. Oh he likes to talk tough, but he's a romantic at the core." Rashar chuckled. "Yes, intentional or not, you knew just the right thing to say.

~~~*~~~ _"Heaven help me if Uelo ever hears of this." _Toroi whispered under his breath as he drew his shiversword in its scabbard from the looped cords of his sword belt and raised it two handed at shoulder height. He brought it down on the mouse-lord's shoulder hard enough that nobody would accuse him of holding back. A look of shock and pain flashed across the baronet's face for just a moment before he folded under the combined force of the blow and autonomic shock and dropped to one knee.

The old, grey-furred ferret who had arrived with the baronet's security detail bared his teeth in sudden fury and shot Toroi a look that could have melted lead as he stepped forward, hand moving to the hilt of his own blade. He was stopped in his tracks by a touch from the baronet and a piece of military sign language he didn't recognise, House Yusho's proprietary warsign he supposed, some kind of 'Halt' or 'Stop' command most likely.

That... had been harder than he had expected it to be. The sight of Wei's face contorted in pain sent a cold spike of guilt right through his gut. But it had to be done, rekkakai could not formally commence without the 'first lesson' as it was so euphemistically called. Ordinarily it would involve the master demonstrating the superiority of their skills to the student through the medium of a long, drawn out and thoroughly humiliating drubbing, Toroi's own had gone on for hours and left him mentally, physically and spiritually exhausted, but... this was enough for now. The little mouse-lord didn't look like he'd need a particularly hard lesson to realise how thoroughly out of his depth he was, how unlikely it was he would be able to bear the rekkakai. It was an ordeal designed to grind a blade out of unworked steel, not pretty glass.

Nevertheless, he deserved the right to try. No matter how problematic it would be.

And it would be problematic, of that he was sure. It was irregular, untraditional, improper, and to a significant number of the more religiously conservative Houses impropriety was only a hair's breadth away from impiety. But maybe this way they at least couldn't argue the point to his face without insulting Ro'Xanshin directly. This way at least would only cost him the respect of people he didn't particularly care for anyway, not any public face.

It was still a compromise but... Wei offering of his sword, the gesture of absolute submission it represented, was too much to bear. It_shamed_ Toroi with its sincerity, he felt a brute and an ogre in the face of it, suddenly unable to hold the baronet's fiercely determined gaze. It was his to accept by right but... he didn't deserve it, not yet, maybe not ever. He helped the baronet to his feet, gave his excuses and left in a kind of daze.

"I have a small function to attend." He had said, like a drowning man grasping for flotsam.

He returned to his chambers and changed from his silks into street clothes of well cut and expensive but comparatively drab and common cloth. With his shiversword stowed away in its charging cradle only the House markings beneath his eyes made him stand out from any well-to-do fox about town, easily overlooked in the dim and smoky conditions of the kind of rough caffe houses and music halls Veoni favoured. As an afterthought he donned a stun pistol in a shoulder holster under his coat, one too many attempted muggings while partying with the wolf had taught him the value of prudent paranoia. Feeling suitably armoured, he turned to leave.

A bleep from his comm's console halted him in his tracks before he did. Being generally not socially inclined, Toroi received few direct communique's so when they did arrive he took notice. He opened the console cabinet and applied his thumb to the biometrics scanner. The message was still loading, the progress bar inched along ponderously, showing an estimated completion time more than three hours ahead. Judging by the signal compression it was coming from... very far away. Offworld, certainly, and under heavy encryption. So much so that the security on the file seemed to be the bulk of its contents and the reason it was taking so long to get through.

But it was the sender ID that caught his eye: Uelo, Adept Fourth Class.

Uelo? Toroi had a brief moment of panic, wondering if the lotus man had spy cameras or smart dust somehow monitoring him and had just seen the incident in the holo-dojo, before he realised that if it was taking this long for the message to reach him from wherever Uelo was there was no way a video file could have made it to Uelo in less time.

Which of course begged the question, what exactly was it then for?

He comm'ed the House infotechnicians and badgered them for any way to speed up the download. He got a stonewall 'no' delivered ever-so politely but in the tone of someone talking to a mentally challenged child. This was fairly par for the course with cybernaughts, who are subtle and quick to anger, though in deference for his noble status they did offer an apologetic explanation that they were too busy trying to find the breach in Ro'Xanshin's gate control systems to devote any time elsewhere. He could have forwarded his requests to his brother Seyocu, who was apparently project manager on the breach investigation and system patch, but from their tone he surmised it was probably a technical limitation that nothing could be done about.

Growling in frustration, Toroi hung up and paced the chamber restlessly for a good quarter-hour, hoping that maybe the download might speed up. Fruitlessly, it seemed, still the progress bar creeped along in utter mechanical contempt for his desires.

Briefly he considered calling off the revel and staying in to wait for it but... that would be unfair on Veoni. It was rare enough for the wolf-lord to put serious effort into planning anything, it wouldn't do to discourage him on the one thing he did.

"Oh hellfire, it'll keep 'till morning." Toroi finally threw his arms up in frustration. He knew he'd be thinking about Uelo all night now, but wallowing wouldn't bring the lotus man to his side any sooner - painful though it was.

With a final backwards glance he left his chambers and went to seek out a madman for advice on the best ways to stay sane.

He found Veoni in the midst of a little pre-celebration drinking in the gardens, sitting under a trellised awning with a mouse girl Toroi recognised as one of Wei's handmaidens and a bottle between them on the garden table. The wolf drew her in close and whispered something that made her purse her lips to keep from laughing and bat at the boyar in a mock slap, the punchline to one of his ridiculous, appalling, outrageously filthy jokes no doubt.

Toroi took the tumbler of... something that looked like fresh brake fluid out of Veoni's hand and downed it in a single gulp. Veoni's head spun around to face him in surprise - false, Toroi was sure, Veoni was too heavily noetic not to have noticed him coming - and grinned ferally.

"Toroi, my friend, come sit, let me introduce you to this charming creature. Lady Mara, meet-" The wolf began.

"We've met," Toroi said, which was technically true. "What is this stuff, by the way?"

"Platinsgraff."

"Its taste is bizarre. What's in it?"

"Fruit alcohol and colloidal platinum, it messes with your metafauna's toxin flush functions for an hour or so, gets nobles hammered just as fast as commoners." The wolf explained. "Good for poisonings too, my parents never touch a drop unless the bottle has been scanned for tampering by a loyal maestro and they're sure the other is offworld at the time."

"Fucking hell. Why isn't it illegal?"

"It's only made on Galagos, our little private reserve. So little makes it outside that nobody ever thought to ban it."

"And you chose to ply your date with it? Bad form." Toroi said, gesturing at the mousemaid with his empty glass.

After a split second his statement dawned on Mara like a light switch, she suddenly stood up, face a mask of fury, and slapped Veoni across the muzzle hard enough to make him go momentarily crosseyed before storming off with an indignant 'harumph'.

The wolf watched her leave in speechless exasperation, inchoate platitudes dying on his tongue. When she passed from view his shoulders slumped and he collapsed head-first onto the table, ears lying flat.

"Well done, tovarich, I was in there." He said, morosely, burying his head in his folded arms.

"I just saved you a world of trouble."

"Oh, thank you, thank you soo~oo much. Wherever would I be without you?" Veoni replied, voice somewhat muffled by his sleeves. One hand shot up, index finger raised. "Oh yes, laid, now I remember."

"She's an unmarried girl from one of Yusho's patrician Houses, and I happen to know they're a bit old fashioned in that part of the galaxy. If you'd gone and taken that poor girl's virtue under the influence of this liquid metaphor for Nal'Galagar decadence you would have caused an incident, and embarrassed me in front of House Yusho." Toroi explained, then set his pilfered glass down in front of Veoni with a sigh. "Now pour me another and let me tell you how I just embarrassed myself in front of House Yusho."

Veoni's ears perked up at that. He propped his head up on one hand and poured a healthy measure of platinsgraff into the glass before pulling Mara's former measure over to himself and topping it up.

"Ah, tovarich, for all that you can be a moon-faced assassin of joy, I do live for these moments." He said, taking a pull and rising to his feet glass in hand. "Come now, tell Veoni your troubles... you can talk on the way to the club, I assume?"

~~~*~~~

A shadow flitted through the halls of Ro'Xanshin's ancestral manor, rendered sensor-invisible through a combination of noetic training, subtle technologies and a still-undiscovered remnant of the intelligent virus that was even now overriding certain key components of the House's security infrastructure. Just a little irregularity, so easy to overlook, a surveillance blindspot that could hide only a single person. The glazed-black carbuncle of an auto-recognition camera set into the ceiling clicked nigh-inaudibly at the figure's passing, scanning them to confirm their authority to be present in the ruling family's living wing. The shadow gestured at the camera outcropping with a complex haptic mudra, fingers dancing into a series of coded postures with incredible speed. The camera clicked rapidly for the span of a breath and then the override command the mudra contained took over. Authorised personnel it's rudimentary machine mind said, and paid the shadow no more heed.

The House guard rarely patrolled here - this was where the Ro'Xanshin family were supposed to be able to enjoy some comparative privacy, after all. The majority of the security was delegated to automated systems and dumb-AI. This suited the shadow well, in these narrow corridors there were few places to hide from a diligent visual sweep and while dealing with any overly curious guards would be child's play... it would raise questions. That would be sloppy, amateurish, and the shadow did not move like an amateur.

The door to the Viscount's chambers may have resembled wood and silk but the sheen of fullerene mesh belied its bombproof strength. Fortunately, it was locked biometrically. An impediment to some, not to the shadow. It placed a bundle down on the floor and unrolled it: a pair of chopsticks, a furbrush, a shallow drinking bowl, a scrap of sweat-stained cloth, a dataslate full of covertly taken photographs. One by one it turned them over in its hands, sometimes sniffing at them, licking them, stroking them, lifting them up to examine them.

"Tented arch, zero zero. Skin PH three point seven five two. Pheromone concentration forty-six nanograms intimidation-optimised vulpine atypical makeup-" The figure whispered to itself as it worked, making the calculations a mantra of sorts. Finally satisfied, it placed the items back and bundled them together again. Noetic algorithms resolved as the figure grunted and huffed in discomfort, muscles flowing like potter's clay under its clothes. The twin black arrows that framed it's eye were replaced by the red crescents of Ro'Xanshin.

Viscount Toroi, or a convincing simulacrum at least, rose and touched the biometric scanner set into the wall beside the screen door. There was a moment's hesitation, a flicker of doubt, that maybe a detail had been overlooked... before the lock disengaged.

The faux-fox released a slow breath and smiled as they slid the door aside and entered. The room's comm-panel was recently used but locked, not taking the risk that it ran on the same biometric algorithms as the door he scanned the room for any usable material. An embarrassment of riches came in the form of a pile of discarded clothes and a set of nearly perfect prints left on the lacquered surface of the scabbard of the charging shiverblade. He spent a few more minutes of careful study on the prints and examined the clothes as best he could without disturbing them - the Viscount was known not to allow servants in his chambers often and had at least enough noetic training to notice anything that was not where he left it. Slowly, agonisingly, he refined his bio-template, even adding a new layer of dermal nanofauna that would outwardly match the Viscount's own to scans.

After that the comm-panel's controls opened at his touch like a flower to the sun's light. On the screen the latest finished download was prominently displayed as a gently gyrating pinkish-white lotus. He tapped the symbol and the videoclip player opened.

"Toroi, my lord and student, forgive the heavy encryption I placed on this message. When you hear it you will know why I could not risk its contents being known to any other, I only hope it reaches you in time." A handsome ermine bearing the mark of the Lotus Order on his left cheek said to the camera. "What is important that you know is that it is not House Lashani that threatens the life of your mate, there are factions within Lashani that have been seeking peace with House Yusho and this marriage has made their voices loud enough to overpower the warmongers. Your true enemy lies not in the Houses, it is-"

The assassin cultist keyed the 'delete' icon and emptied the system memory before opening the panel's registry and replacing the download's entry with one of his own. an unintelligible corrupted file that now sat on the desktop bearing the same spinning lotus icon. Accidents did happen in interstellar transmissions, after all. The viscount would be so disappointed, but what could he do but send a return transmission? By the time he got a reply from the lotus man it would be too late.

As he slipped from the palace grounds he grinned to himself, thinking of how delicious it would be to come to the lotus man in this form, weeping and aggrieved over the loss of his beloved Wei who he had become so fond of in such a short span. Oh, how the courtesan would comfort him in his time of woe! Oh, how delicious the betrayal on their face would be when he slid a sweetly venomed blade across their throat when the charade was at its height! He bit his lip, savouring the thought, and decided to keep this template in his memory for a while. Who knew, it might even happen if his employer decided that the whore was too much of a threat. He might even lower the usual fees.

Or perhaps not. It wasn't as if they couldn't afford it, after all.