The Prize of Dysprosium

Chapter XII: The Murder of Mafalda Kase

"Uh, hi," he says uncertainly and looks around, his eyes flickering to me now and then. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything?"

"You're the Potentate's son," Hannah says although I have no idea how she knows. A rush of gasps and another chorus of murmurs break out as Anton bends his head and his cheeks flare up.

"Shut up," Barooba says and everybody do. Then she turns to Anton. "Get in. It doesn't do you standing on our doorstep."

Anton takes the step inside, his hands deeply buried in his pockets. He only takes one out to push his glasses back up on his nose. And now he has to face the curiosity of a bunch of prostitutes who all found out at the same time as him, that his father beats his mother, and may now have killed her.

"I uhm," Anton says and looks at me, trying hard to ignore everybody else. "I have to talk to you."

"Oh, hot wrut," Alivia says and Quills smacks her on the shoulder.

I open my mouth, not even knowing what is going to come out of it, but Barooba saves me.

"Take him down to the Cave," she barks before turning to the others. "Everybody upstairs until further notice. Now," and suddenly there is a murmuring shuffle as the stairs are being trampled by people who'd rather stay downstairs. "Garmen," Barooba says and Garmen turns to the owner, her face scrunched as if she's been caught red-handed stealing candy. "My office." Garmen takes a breath and walks into Barooba's office. Barooba sends me a lightning stare. "You," she says. "Get your wrut fixed."

I nod and wait until most of my colleagues have gone upstairs. Then I manage to glance at Anton who looks even more like someone who'd be on the cover of Insomnia Weekly than I remember him.

"We can talk downstairs," I say and turn around. I hear him follow me as I descend the stairs and walk through the hallway to the least presumptuous room I can find. It's room 20 which has green sheets and is even lit here in the late afternoon. No wild colours or extra toys to spice things up.

Anton only hesitates for a second before he steps inside. It's weird seeing him in a room I associate with sex. While we were in the White House everything felt illegal, even eating ice cream in the abandoned kitchen seemed dangerous. All we ever did was kiss and talk. There was also the fact that Anton is incredibly inexperienced which is adorable, so anything we did was loaded with electricity and newness and adrenaline. And I will never push him into something he isn't ready for no matter what effect his smile has on me.

Anton looks around at the room as I close the door behind him with a little click.

"It's nice," he says. "I suppose this is where you have your, uh, customers."

I nod, wondering just what he must be seeing. He's always known what I do for a living, but there is a big difference between hearing it and seeing where it happens.

"I honestly though it would be different," Anton says.

"Different how?"

"Dunno," he shrugs. "More dildos or something."

"More dildos?" I say with a smile in my voice.

"Yeah, I know how it sounds," Anton sighs. "But to be fair I've never been to a brothel. Although I might be one of the only ones in the White House who haven't."

"Anton," I say and take a step forward, hating the wall between us.

"I spoke to my mum," he blurts. Air catches in my throat. Before Garmen shouted it in front of everybody, I hadn't even considered the idea that me outing the Potentate would put Hera Thelonious in fatal danger. I thought it might help her, free her. It was incredibly bad thinking on my part.