Ginn Hale - Lord of the White Hell Book One

Elezar clapped Kiram on the back.

"Taken like a man," Elezar congratulated him.

At first Kiram felt nothing but relief, then a wave of disorienting heat rolled over him. His tongue felt numb.

Javier took a quick swig himself and then handed the bottle to Atreau, who drank deeply and let out a whoop. He passed the bottle to the man beside him. Moments later young women, clothed in nothing but gold powder paraded into the room. Several carried bottles like the one Javier had forced into Kiram's mouth. The Hellions howled and hooted as the women ran their hands over each other's breasts and slid their fingers between their thighs and lips.

"White ruin!" Javier shouted. A young girl pranced to the bedside holding a bottle at a provocative angle in front of her groin. Javier snatched the bottle from her hands, nearly pulling her off her feet. The girl fell half on Elezar and half on Kiram. Javier wrenched the cork free and drank more.

More women tumbled and bounded onto the bed. They giggled and squealed as Hellions grabbed their bodies. Kiram evaded jiggling breasts, jutting nipples and closely cropped pubic hair as girls wiggled past him. A strong smell of alcohol and sweat rolled off the girl lying across him. He felt one of her hands grope at his hip. Kiram shifted quickly, rolling her onto Elezar.

"May I have a kiss?" Atreau purred from across the bed. Some dark-haired woman smiled at him and spread her legs wide. Atreau shoved his face into her glistening crotch. A wave of nauseous dread rose through Kiram. He could not do that. No matter how much he wanted to impress Master Ignacio, he just couldn't.

Next to him, the young girl crouched over Elezar's newly bare hips, but leaned forward to where Javier stood beside the bed. She grasped the front of Javier's trousers and opened them with agile hands.

Someone's bare thigh brushed the side of Kiram's face. He rolled closer to Elezar to avoid the contact. Gasps and breathless moans mingled with whispered obscenities. The bed rocked and jerked with so many writhing bodies. Kiram eluded another leg, though his hand came away wet.

And then he realized that Javier was staring straight at him as the girl took him into her mouth. His gaze seemed unbearably intense and Kiram didn't know if it was desire or shame that colored his cheeks. Kiram couldn't help but remember the taste of Javier and the heat of him in his own mouth and yet he hated the sight of this girl taking what should have been his own. He despised the fact that Javier just stood there, looking beautiful and aloof, and allowed it to happen.

Arousal, repulsion, and jealous anger crashed through Kiram. He didn't want to see this. He didn't care if this was what it took to be a Hellion-to impress Master Ignacio or Prince Sevanyo or to convince all these Cadeleonian men that he was worthy of their company-he didn't want any part of it.

Beside him, Elezar's hips flexed and pumped, bouncing the girl's splayed legs against Kiram's thigh. Javier clenched his eyes closed. Elezar pulled himself almost upright, driving deep into the girl but reaching out and grasping Javier's hand. Javier returned his grip but didn't open his eyes.

Some woman slid her hand down along Kiram's chest and dug her nails hard into his shoulder.

"Do you want to fuck me?" The woman's hot breath fluttered across Kiram's ear.

"I." Kiram could feel the blood draining from his face. No doubt, Javier would have taken the woman. Maybe he still would. The thought tore into Kiram.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Kiram said quietly and instantly the woman's hand retracted. Kiram slipped off the edge of the bed and fled the grand chamber.

He took the stairs in a fast dash, raced through the entryway, and was out the door. Cold night air washed over him on the street. Kiram shuddered. He had taken his shoes but left his borrowed vest and jacket in the Goldenrod.

As he gazed around him he realized that he had no idea of how far he was from either the Grunito house or the Tornesal townhouse. During the carriage ride to the Goldenrod he had been packed between Javier and Elezar and had seen nothing of the streets they traversed.

The black masses of buildings that rose up against the dark skyline offered him no hint of even their architecture. Yellow firelight illuminated many of the windows. He could make out the figures of women coming and going. Just across the street, a door opened and lamp light flared out. Kiram saw the silhouettes of men, staggering and laughing as they entered another brothel. Their merriment augmented his sick misery.

Only a day ago Rafie had warned that he might come to regret staying with Javier, and already Kiram suspected that his uncle had been right. His thoughts slurred with the white ruin and suddenly Kiram found himself reminiscing about Musni. He'd be married by now. Would it have been any easier to see Musni wed than to watch Javier with some drunk whore?

Hot nausea welled up in Kiram. Sick sweat rose and his stomach clenched. He crouched on the curb and vomited.

"Pathetic." Lamplight from a nearby window illuminated the smirk of a passing man and his big-breasted companion. The woman giggled and led the man into an alley.

Kiram spat the sick sour taste out of his mouth and straightened. He half wanted to follow the man into the alley and beat the life out of him. But then his common sense returned. He was far from certain that he would win any fight he picked. He just needed to wash and go to bed.

The sooner he put this night behind him the better.

Night bells rang from far across town. Kiram clumsily navigated toward the sound. The bells would lead him to the church in the town square and from there he would be able to stumble onward to the Tornesal townhouse.

As he wandered beyond the brightly-lit brothels and common houses, the street grew darker and Kiram encountered fewer men. Occasionally a carriage rolled past him, and once an older man with a lamp stopped on the walkway to watch Kiram pass. He scowled at Kiram and placed a protective hand over his coin purse.

"None of your begging here, Haldiim," the old man muttered.

Kiram rolled his eyes and made an obscene gesture.

The old man hurried away and Kiram continued on, grumbling and trying to count the number of things that he hated about Cadeleonian society.

More than once in the darkness he lost his way but then the church bells would sound again and he'd correct himself. By the time he reached the Tornesal townhouse, his bitterness had turned to numb fatigue. Lamps glowed at the entry and yellow light streamed between the heavy curtains of several windows. He wondered suddenly if the staff spent as much of the night as the day cleaning the spotless house. He reached the doors, leaned heavily against the frame, and knocked lightly. A door opened immediately. A footman took a single look at him and smiled as if Kiram were his long lost nephew.

"It is so good to see that you've returned, Master Kir- Zaki. His Lordship was very worried."

"His Lordship?" Kiram had thought that Javier would still be at the Goldenrod, but then he realized his mistake. Javier might have sex there but he couldn't sleep anywhere that wasn't protected with spells.

"Could you inform him that I'm fine and that I'm going directly to bed?" Kiram stepped past the footman and headed toward the green room.

"He will be informed at once, sir."

Compared to the cavernous entryway the green room was comfortingly small, warm, and dark. Only embers burned in the fireplace. The bed looked appealingly clean and empty. Kiram pulled off one shoe. As he worked the laces of the second the door flew open.

"Kiram!" Javier rushed in. "Where in God's name have you been?"

"Walking." Kiram thought that sounded better than saying he'd been lost. "I needed to get out of the Goldenrod and clear my head." He dropped his second shoe beside the first.