Book 3 Chapter 15: Get out of there
Dantes arrived back at his club at the deepest part of the night. There were still a few people gambling, trying their best to avoid going home to explain their losses to their husbands and wives. A few men near passing out from drink were still soldiering on as they poured glass after glass down their gullets. Almost all of Vera’s girls had cleared out, having found their last clients for the evening.
He noticed all of this and collated it in that same part of his hindbrain that he used to track things throughout the city. His forebrain was focused almost entirely on Sevryn, who was singing a song in what he believed to be elvish. She was wearing a dark purple dress covered in glass beading that made her sparkle as she moved, and her emerald necklace and other jewelry all made it seem as if she was covered in stars. Her voice was deep for a woman, with a kind of throaty quality that made it seem sultry. He couldn’t tell by tone whether the song she was singing was meant to be seductive or sad, but either way he was enamored by it.
He held up a hand to the bartender, a Kobold named Ber-Ban, who often did the job when Zilly was busy. He slid him a glass of wine and Dantes enjoyed it slowly while he watched Sevryn’s performance. She’d noticed him shortly after he’d entered, and had shamelessly looked only at him from then on as she sang, as if her performance was only for him. There was something familiar about the way she moved. He couldn’t quite place it, but he found it comforting.
When she finished her song, she shot him a wink and disappeared backstage. He finished his wine and started heading that way himself when he stopped. One of the drunks at the bar, an orc, looked familiar.
Jacopo took a look as well and sniffed the air in his direction, sharing the sensation of it with him.
Dantes walked over to the orc and patted his wide back gently.
“Decker? Is that you?”
The man groaned, but didn’t stir. Next to him wasn’t a bottle of brown or anything strong, but rather a very sophisticated and dry red. That was definitely Decker.
Dantes motioned over to Ber-Ban. “How long has he been here?”