alcove that faced a tiny garden.
Despite the chaos the children caused, she always let the girls keep them if
they wanted to. With the girl-children there was no problem with their earning
their keep; no virgin was ever too ugly. But the boy-children were apprenticed
off at the earliest possible age. Their wages were garnished to support the on
going concern that was the Aphrodisia House.
‘There is a soldier at the front door, Madame.’ One of the girls who had been
cleaning the lower rooms interrupted as Myrtis spread a thick blue-veined cheese
over her bread. ‘He demands to see you, madame.’
‘Demands to see me?’ Myrtis laid down the cheese knife. ‘A soldier has nothing
that “demands” to see me at the front door. At this hour, soldiers are less use
than tradesmen. Send him around to the back.’
The girl ran back up the stairs. Myrtis finished spreading her cheese on the
bread. She had eaten half of it when a tall man cast a shadow over her private
dining alcove.
‘You are blocking my sunlight, young man,’ she said without looking up.
‘You are Madame Myrtis, proprietress of this … brothel?’ he demanded without
moving.
‘You are blocking my sunlight and my view of the garden.’
He stepped to one side.
‘The girls are not available during the day. Come back this evening.’
‘Madame Myrtis, I am Zaibar, captain of Prince Kadakithis’s personal guard. I
have not come to inquire after the services of your girls.’
‘Then what have you come for?’ she asked, looking up for the first time.
‘By order of Prince Kadakithis, a tax of ten gold pieces for every woman living