Chapter 201: Storytelling (2)
"They haven’t told my girls anything about their next destination," Madame Liz replied to Ronan, adjusting her red skirts as she sat down on the desk in her private office. The older woman wore more than enough make-up on her wrinkled face, though even behind her age, Ronan knew she was once a beauty. Her greyish-blonde hair sat around her bare shoulders where the dress was strapless, and she held onto a fur coat around her arms.
She flicked her hand out, gesturing for him to give her what she needed.
"The night’s still young," Ronan began as he wandered closer to the madame, placing only two out of eight vials in the woman’s hand. "Maybe your girls will have more information by the end of it."
"Where’s the rest?" Liz demanded, expecting the other vials in payment.
Ronan turned his back on the woman, his gaze roaming the dark wooden room with fumes of tobacco wafting in the air. Unlike other brothels, there were no sounds of the women and their customers. It seemed even in Kuramji, there were differing qualities to the establishments, and prince Conrad’s men went to the higher-quality brothel.
"You will get the rest when I know for certain you are not holding back information for me." He looked back at her then, a smirk curling on his lips. He knew those girls of Liz’s could get the information he needed. Men loved to brag and talk about themselves, and who wouldn’t to a beautiful woman giving them time and attention.
Liz stood, narrowing her gaze at Ronan as she slid the vials down her bust and adjusted herself accordingly. "At the moment, they do not know their next destination. I cannot give you information that the men themselves do not know. Ronan, dear.." She sauntered towards him, putting her best smile on, which he knew she reserved for those she liked. Otherwise, she would have called for the guards outside the door.
"You know why these medicines are so important to these girls. Two vials are not enough," she said softly as her hand caressed his bicep. "I need them in working order."
Ronan refrained from revealing the disgust he felt from her touch and the words leaving her mouth; he couldn’t help the shiver running through him, though. Liz thought it was her charm that made his body act in such a way. How far she was wrong.