Amon left shortlybefore Rooksgrave's breakfast was laid out for all the girls, and I found an open seat with a few familiar faces I hadn't properly met yet.
"Pass me the coffee," I said, although I was already reaching for the pot.
"I'm surprised you're not hoarse. We all heard you howling most of yesterday," one girl said, making me and a few others giggle. She was small, with bright blonde hair and a pretty but slightly pinched expression to her face.
"I'm enthusiastic," I said, shrugging.
"What was he? An incubus?" Lilah asked, passing me the cream for my coffee.
I shook my head. "A sphinx."
The other girls stared blankly back at me, and I shrugged, explaining the version of Amon I'd seen in the desert dream.
The one who'd accused me of howling reared back. "Oh god! Did you have to fuck that?"
I blinked and tipped my head in thought, wondering if that was even possible and if Amon would be interested. He'd been shocking in his sphinx form at first, but I couldn't say I wouldn't try it if he asked me to. He was still Amon either way, and maybe the fur would feel nice?
"No. He looked mostly like a man this whole visit. But he's got a special cock," I said, making Lilah gurgle her own cup of juice. I grinned at the blonde across from me and added, "Hence the howling."
The rest of the girls leaned in, ready to gossip, asking for details, but I was surprised that the blonde only wrinkled her nose and went back to her food. Maybe she was jealous?
After a long discussion of male anatomy over our morning sausages, the table began to clear and quiet. I was not the only girl with a fancy cock to enjoy, one had something similar sounding to Amon's hook, but it was at the base, and another girl got to enjoy one that moved on its own. I was a bit jealous of that, because it sounded like she could just cuddle up and get fucked without much effort.
"Sometimes it gets a little too big to be so energetic," she said with a slight wince and a shrug.
I thought of Mr. Tanner and how full he'd made me feel, and decided it still sounded like fun to me.
Mary, the blonde who'd tried to embarrass me, cleared her throat. "I'm going into the village this afternoon to spend a little. Maybe buy a new hat. Anyone want to join me?"
"Didn't you just buy a new hat?"
"Boot buckles," Mary corrected. She turned to me and feigned a whisper. "I buy myself something nice every time my gentleman from last night comes for a visit. I convinced him he ought to pay me extra for the things he likes to do."
"But we get paid plenty," I said, laughing.
Mary rolled her eyes and shrugged. "He can afford it, and this way, I don't have to spend my earnings."
So this was the kind of girl Amon was talking about.
I thought of the money Magdalena had given me from my first paycheck, and my scuffed, too-small black boots.
"I'll come," I offered. Maybe I would find a slightly nicer change of clothing too for walking about the country on my days without any visitors.
Mary smiled, but the look didn't reach her eyes, and I noted that none of the other girls offered to join us. There was something unfriendly about her, and I thought I might feel bad for whoever this unwelcome gentleman of hers might be.
We finished our meal, and I hurried up to my room to grab my coat and little purse, meeting Mary back downstairs.
"The others let their gentlemen pick out gifts for them," Mary said, marching slightly ahead of me as we left the manor. "But I don't trust any kind of man to choose things for me."
Thinking of the dresses I'd received so far, I nodded with a little smile. "I imagine they pick to their own tastes."
"Exactly," Mary hissed. "Hunter, this fellow, he'd put me in nothing but chains or rags if he could."
My eyes widened at that. "Nice chains?" I asked, hoping for lightness.
Mary huffed. "You sound like him," she muttered.
"Is he cruel?" Hadn't Magdalena said that Rooksgrave Manor didn't tolerate that sort of thing?
"He's disgusting," Mary snapped, her steps speeding up until we reached the road, then slowing a little. "No…not cruel. They aren't allowed to be are they? But he gets away with what he can, and I make him pay for every minute of it."
I hurried to catch up, walking alongside Mary. She was a few inches shorter than me, but she marched down the road like she had a fire on her heels. I wanted to dig for details—did he have scales, did he punish her like Amon had with me yesterday, did he have a particular sexual taste that she abhorred? I felt bad for this Hunter and the way Mary was using him.
And then I thought of Magdalena Mortimer and all her careful study of the arrangements of her gentlemen and ladies. Perhaps Hunter was using Mary too. Maybe they were both a little awful and deserved each other. I hoped that was the case.
"How many do you have?" Mary asked.
"Three. Two officially, but one man was the one who found me the position here, and he's coming to visit soon. You?"
"Two at the moment. I had others, but they moved on."
"To other girls in the house?" I asked, eyes widening.
"Other houses, you know, like Rooksgrave but elsewhere," Mary said with a wave of her hand.
Maybe because you were trying to bleed their pocketbooks dry, I thought. "Do you like your other gentleman?"
Mary let out a weary sigh. "He's more tolerable. Mostly wants someone to listen to him talk. Eventually, I'll have enough saved, and I won't need this place, or its men," Mary murmured, gaze distant.
I stuffed my hands in my pockets, and we walked the rest of the way in silence. Mary wasn't very interested in me, which was fine, and I was a little afraid of her answers. I hadn't considered life after Rooksgrave, I'd barely been there for a month. But surely Auguste and Amon and any others wouldn't want to pay to keep me indefinitely. There were a couple of older women at the breakfast table, but not many. Was that because men didn't want them, or because the women didn't want to stay?