Caught In Quicksilver

Three

...

Sebastian

...

"I've not been drinking... Not really... Half a pint at most..." My voice keeps itself low as I gaze at the handsomely cheeky devil in my arms and I find myself so much more than amused as I gaze at his delicate features trying to commit each and every detail of his face to memory... The moonlight reflecting itself in his stunning silver eyes trapping me where I stand with my arms locked around his waist as he stares up at me confused as to why I've felt the need to catch him and gather him close... 

I know that I should explain myself, but I seem to not be able to find the right words to explain that just the sight of him inside the brothel had nearly driven me to madness trying to figure out if he was a phantom sent to haunt all of my senses and tease my mind into thinking that maybe Bernard was right and I need to take more time to relax before my my mental state finds itself completely ragged and exhausted... But no... He is as real as the earth beneath our feet and smells as though a summer breeze has enveloped both of us whisking hints of honey and the smell of late summer blossoms around us, more fragrant than even the ripest fruit when not clouded by the scent of sex and debauchery that had hung in the air inside the house of pleasure... I feel so very overwhelmed by him that I do not know how to cope with it for I cannot seem to dull any of my senses from how they've been so very sharpened by his allure... 

"Well,  Sir, if you've not been drinking maybe you could find it in your heart to release me? Sadly my body isn't one for purchasing... You'll need to see one of the girls inside with open robes for that." His tone is still so dry and humorous... I can't help but look down at him in wonder trying to figure out if laughter is the reaction he is searching for or if he might be offended by my chuckle as I slowly peel my arms away from him, my feet refusing to take more than half a step back while he sizes me up trying to decide if I might try and catch him once more if he tries to walk away... I'd let him go for the night, but I would find myself looking for him around every corner in this village until I've found him again and can introduce myself with a fresh and proper start... A small "Thank you." working its way from his lips as he takes a step back from me but doesn't move to actually leave. 

"Is there something I might help you with?"

...

Nyke

...

It seems as though my question puzzles the stranger who thought to pull me into his arms... As if he had not just responded to me in the same tongue and doesn't understand what I am asking of him... His strange eyes tracking me just as I had noticed them doing inside the brothel... Mama had noticed it too... That's why she dismissed me and ordered me to make myself scarce for a few hours, her mind still set against the idea of letting me join her and the others when there are clients to entertain... Her excuses always some form or another of her wanting me to find a husband and not just a john or a keeper, the sentiment understood even if it might be frustrating to me to feel as though I am not pulling my own weight... 

We had both seen him, spinning himself around in circles to stare at me as I delivered drink after drink around the different rooms that make up our pleasure parlor, and both Mama and I had worried over his intentions with the heat from his gaze being so extreme... The way he had looked as though he was becoming agitated watching me being Mama's driving purpose to tell me to take the evening off and come back late into the night... Our effort defeated when he had chased after me, my sandals not able to carry me quickly enough to evade him... 

Eventually, he seems to make sense of what is in his mind though, for his mouth opens and I find myself stunned for what I thought might be an inquiry over the state of whether or not I might be bought is up for discussion turns out to be an invitation of a very different question, "I was hoping to ask after your name... And if I might have the chance to know that you are not a phantom or a figment of my imagination..."

I have no idea what to say to him, his cheeks flooding with the lightest of flushes, the second part of what slipped out from his lips painting my own cheeks shades darker than Mama's reddest rouge... My eyes going wide as he steps forward to invade my space once more... The habit looking to almost be a pattern if he had not stopped with just the barest amount of space between us before lifting his hand so that his fingers might catch a few strands of hair that had worked their way in front of my face... The quiet calmness that he seems to carry not disrupted for even a moment even though I myself would not be able to deliver a line of that nature without my entire face bursting into flame... A phantom or a figment of his imagination... Such words make no sense when used in regards to me... Somehow I find myself shocked into answering him, my name dropping from my mouth as if it were heavier than a stone while I try to recover myself... "Nyke... M-My name is... Nyke..."

Giving him his answer does not lead to him giving me any more of my personal space back... In fact, it almost looks as if he might pull me towards him for another embrace... That is until the man I had seen him inside with stumbles into us, his body unsteady from drink... My balance forfeit when he trips over his own feet slurring his words at the strange man who had managed to get me excused from my duties for the evening while bumping into me as if he does not even know that I'm there, the rock that finds itself under my bottom when it kisses the ground ever so sharply...