Page 58 of Wanted: Rogues and Bards

Lirion held his breath and waited to see how Fenric would respond. He knew it was a long shot and Fenric would likely turn him down. It would mean a significant delay on his own job, but Lirion had to ask. Had to take the gamble.

Fenric gave nothing away. His reaction was the same as if Lirion had said he needed Fenric to accompany him across the street to purchase some ham hocks. He didn’t frown, scoff, or laugh. The devilish rogue just continued to lounge in the chair as if he didn’t have a care in the world. “Your emergency is your sister?”

“Yes,” Lirion replied, trying not to clench his teeth.

“Why? Tell me what’s going on first.”

Fair enough. Lirion sucked in a breath and tried to figure out where to even begin. Should he explain absolutely everything? Not feeling comfortable doing so, he mentally pared it down to the basics.

“My sister is a succubus, as you can probably guess. The way I understand things, she accepted an invite to a boat party hosted by a high-end brothel in Warón. The situation turned out to differ greatly from what she was told.”

Fenric lifted a hand to halt Lirion’s tale. He was listening and listening hard; the way his brow furrowed was a clear indication. “Is that common? For your kind to work in brothels, even just short term.”

“Yes and no. It’s tedious because you can’t choose your partners and there are rules you have to follow, but it’s also easier because we don’t have to be constantly on the hunt for a partner. It’s the easiest way to stay fed and comfortable. My sister is younger; I think she wanted a safe place to feed before she was meant to travel north.”

“All right, makes sense. Go on.”

He didn’t ask if Lirion had ever worked in one. Was he not curious? Or did he just not care? Lirion mentally shrugged the question off and continued talking about his sister’s fate. Yet, as the words tumbled from his lips, his voice became clogged and trembled. “Instead, she’s been kidnapped and forced into a horrid sex ring. I’ve been chasing after her since she failed to make our meetup in Hundager a little under two months ago. It’s taken me this long just to figure out where she is. I’m…not sure of all the details of the location, to be honest, and likely won’t know until we get there.”

Fenric sat up straighter and his eyes narrowed. For the first time since Lirion had started talking, his voice hardened. “Where is she?”

Lirion pointed to the map. “Baza.”

Fenric’s frown deepened. “Quite the hike to get up there.”

“I know. That’s inherently my problem.” Lirion rubbed his forehead, the logistics threatening to give him a migraine. “How much do you know about incubi?”

“You’re incredibly handsome and the sex is off the charts. Other than that, not much,” Fenric answered promptly, a glimmer of mischief in his eye, but there was still some lingering hardness in his set jaw, making Lirion think maybe Fenric was trying to distract him from his pain.

Well, at least he had enjoyed their encounter. Lirion still felt a bit bad about being so demanding, to be honest. He was glad Fenric wasn’t the type to hold grudges.

“In order to stay healthy, I must have sex every other day. I can’t go longer than four or five days without it severely impacting my energy and strength.” He traced a sea route. “The fastest route is, of course, this one. The problem is, I’d need someone on board the ship to feed me. I can’t go on a week-long voyage without sex. I’ll be little better than a pretty corpse upon arrival. Historically, ship voyages haven’t worked out well for me. Either no one’s comfortable having sex with me or they try to turn me into the ship’s whore.”

“I see the problem,” Fenric murmured, eyes on the map. “The land route will work better for feeding because you can stop and have sex with a random partner as you make your way, but it’ll take closer to three weeks, barring weather and road conditions.”

“I dare not let this situation continue. I have no information on whether my sister is even alive at this point.” His voice hitched and he shoved a hand through his hair, twisting his fingers in the pink locks to the point of pain. “These sex rings are…brutal. Most don’t survive the year. Even for a succubus, this will be very hard for her to survive.”

“Yeah, they’re bad.” Fenric surprised him by agreeing.

Lirion cut his eyes to Fenric as he released his hold on his hair. “You, er, have experience with them?”

Fenric gave a single sharp nod, his eyes locked on the map spread across the table. “I have experience breaking them up. Who’s in charge of this one?”

“Count Pierres.”

Lirion held his breath, praying at this point. Count Pierres was a powerful man. Absolutely the worst of the worst, as well, known for his disregard for people and his gluttonous appetite for every vice. Most people—sane people—avoided any contact with the man. To make matters worse, the count was supposedly related to the royal family via some distant cousin or some other such nonsense. It was the only thing that explained why the royal family had done absolutely nothing to squash him and his illegal activities. At the very least, The Box should have issued some grand edict to have this man castrated and beheaded, but so far, nothing. For years, nothing.

Fenric sat back, eyes level on him. “He’s a very bad man.”

“I know,” Lirion admitted, trying to keep his voice strong.

“He basically has his own personal army.”

Yet another reason for Fenric to stay far the fuck away from this quest. “And part of his army is likely protecting the building he’s set up in. I know.”

“I now understand why you’re so desperate. It’s not just the trip up there and back you’re asking for help on. It’s getting her out.”

“I will absolutely fight at your side for your job. Sword. Magic. Whatever I can do,” Lirion swore. He shifted to the edge of his seat, partially leaning on the table. “I’ll keep the scales even. I’ll give every bit of help to you that you render to me. I just can’t do this alone, and I have no one I can ask for help from.”