Page 52 of Winter's Edge
"You're the one who shot off Lager's finger," she said, a smile in her tone.
The other women laughed.
Lager. The bald man. I filed that name away.
"It was well-deserved, I’m sure,” the woman said. “The man’s a twat, but I'm not so sure it's good that you're here. He’s out for blood."
"Then answer my question, and I'll leave."
The silence stretched, and I could feel the women studying me, hear the swish and sigh of their dresses. They were probably beautiful—the dresses and the women.
"Well, I guess depends on which girl you’re looking for,” the smoky lady said.
"Jade and her brother, Lee. Jade has black hair, fifteen, and Lee has a disability. Really sweet, both of them. I think they were…sold…" My voice gave out, and it took some effort to push out the rest. "Sold to work here."
"We don't do that kind of selling here,” she said. “I remember this Jade and her brother though. Lager tried to push them off on me, but I don't buy my girls and guys. My employees come to me of their own free will."
"But you’ve seen them. Where are they?"
"Gone."
My heart splintered. "Gone where?"
"Lager took them to Faust, and another of his men took them somewhere where there would be more buyers. I couldn't tell you where."
My stomach hit rock bottom and then plummeted through that too. They weren't here. They could be anywhere, but with winter coming tomorrow, they wouldn't have gone far.
"When did they leave?" I asked, the words shaky.
"Two days ago?"
Two days. Two days from here. But I had no time left to find them.
"They were here though…" I fisted my hands on top of the bar, the smooth wood at odds with my cracked hope. "They’re kids, and you didn’t try to help them?"
The two other women scoffed as if I’d just said the dumbest thing ever. One of them picked up the bottle off the bar and splashed more alcohol into her glass before setting the bottle down again in front of the smoky woman.
"I don't interfere with Lager or Faust or any of those men's business just like I don’t let them interfere with mine. We're all trying to survive, aren't we."It wasn't a question, her tone as cold and harsh as outside.
"I'mdamn tired of trying to survive," I said, tears prickling my eyes.
She gave a heavy sigh. "Aren't we all?"
What was I supposed to do now? I couldn’t just pretend Jade and Lee weren't slaves and go on about my life, such as it was. But it looked like I would have to with winter coming. The thought churned in my gut, and I thought I might be sick.
"I could offer you a job here, you know," the woman said, and put her hand on my knee.
I jerked back, both from her and the idea. "I'm not a whore."
"It's good money, especially for you with your long, silky hair and your exotic face and your"—she clicked her tongue—"disability. The men would pay well for you. Hell, the women would too. What else would a girl like you do?"
"I'm not for sale." At one time, I'd half considered it, but now, I would rather fling myself into the roughest, most arctic weather than be a whore, no matter how much it paid.Doing nothing but lying there for sex seemed like a lateral move into only surviving. I was through with only surviving.
"Well, maybe you'llseethe light and change your mind." She laughed at my expense. I fucking did not join her. "And maybe you won't."
"Well, maybe the fire will burn this place down." I swiped up the bottle next to her and stood. "And maybe it won't.”
I walked out of there with my chin held high, like I damn well deserved to leave here with a free, almost full bottle of booze. She hadn't taken anything from me—nothing that I hadn't already lost anyway—but anyone who felt the need to tease the fact that I was blind and who'd implied I couldn't do anything else deserved to be brought down a notch. She didn't try to stop me either.
