Seven Devils and a Rose

Caleb felt a little sick in the stomach at the thought of Alfie bedding another person. Of course, he had doubts that delicate feminine frame could do much to please any woman in bed. He'd guess that Alfie's little brother was as small and delicate as the youth was.

"Are you curious about the girls?" he asked bluntly.

Alfie stared up at him, more than a little shocked at his queries. She licked her lips again, her cheeks now red with embarrassment. She asked, flustered, "You mean the girls here?"

Caleb nodded.

Avoiding making eye contact with him, Alfie shrugged. "They are very beautiful, but I guess it's kind of the same everywhere, isn't it? This type of establishment. I mean, it's sad that girls must do this sort of thing for a living. I just can't imagine having a life like that… I mean, if I were a girl, that is… I mean, I just can't do something like that. If I were to do it… err… have sex… make love, it'd have to be with the one I love. That type of thing is precious, after all."

Caleb was pleasantly surprised at Alfie's words, and he felt at ease. He asked, "Then have you found the one you love yet?"

Holy fuck! Why did he have to go and open his mouth, asking that sort of personal question?

Alfie shrugged those slender shoulders again. "There are a few crushes, but then again, it doesn't mean anything, right? Especially not when it's here in this world and I'll be returning home anyway. So there's no point. I'd just end up heartbroken." A chuckle followed that statement. "And anyway, it's none of your business, my lord."

Alfie was right that it was none of Caleb's business, but he wanted to know nonetheless.

He grabbed her hand and expertly changed the subject. "I suspect Brenna is going to be a while with her sister." When Alfie nodded in agreement, he continued. "Let's find a place to wait until she's done."

Alfie raised her face to look up at him, a bright smile playing about her lips. "That sounds good. I was beginning to wonder what I was supposed to do. I mean, I don't want to disturb them, Brenna and her sister, and out here, I have no idea where to go." With a whispery voice, she said, "There are so many clients here, and I don't want to disturb them by wandering around like a lost little duckling, you know. Aside from that, a few men came up to me asking if I wanted to accompany them for drinks."

That piece of information made Caleb frown darkly, and he asked, his voice cold, "Who were they?"

Alfie shook her head. "I didn't accompany them. I told them that I don't work here and I also don't drink. I'm not good with alcohol."

"Who were they?" Caleb asked again.

Alfie said, "It's fine. I don't remember who they were."

Caleb knew Alfie was lying about the fact that she didn't remember. He decided to let it rest. He said, "You're too enticing by half, and it is not safe alone."

Alfie raised a brow. "Even in the city? Is it because of my pure qi?" She thought for a moment, considering the possibility.

Caleb suspected Alfie didn't understand what he meant. Pure qi aside, that pretty face and slender body would attract and entice any male with sinful, erotic thoughts who happened to pass by. And fuck, Caleb knew that he was one of those immoral bastards.

He pulled Alfie toward him and wrapped his other arm over her shoulders intimately. He said, "Let's go."

He led her back the way he had come. There, instead of heading toward the private quarters where the other lords were still being entertained, he opened another door that led them outside to an alleyway.

"Oh…" Alfie expressed, looking around curiously. "We're outside."

"Do you like stargazing, Alfie?" he asked.

She nodded. "That I do, my lord."

Caleb turned, and as he moved his arm from her shoulders to wrap around her waist, he said, "Caleb. Call me Caleb."

Alfie looked at him for a moment, a dazed expression on her face. Then she smiled. "You don't like me calling you my lord?"

Caleb gave her a grin, knowing she was teasing him. Another quirk of hers he adored.

He said, "No, I don't. Now wrap your arms around my shoulders."

"Why?" she asked curiously.

"Because I don't want you to slip out of my arms," he said seductively.

Alfie blushed in response, which pleased him.

Once he felt those two slender arms wrapped intimately around his shoulders, Caleb said, "Hold on tight." Then he gathered his dark qi and, a moment later, jumped high up and their bodies appeared to have faded and disappeared into thin air. A flick of a second later, they were up in the sky, floating.

"Wow!" Alfie chuckled, tightening her arms around Caleb's muscular shoulders. "We're suddenly flying without your winged lion."

They landed on the top of the roof of the three-story building a moment later. Caleb said, "It's a basic warrior technique called Silent Move."

Alfie repeated, "Silent Move. Can I learn such a technique even if I'm not a warrior?"

Caleb thought about this for a moment and then said, "Would you like me to teach you?"

Alfie nodded her head furiously in excitement. "Yes, please. This Silent Move, it's like a ninja technique, isn't it? How exciting."

Caleb wondered how Alfie knew it was one of the secret techniques taught to him and his comrades by ninja warriors from the Yamato Kingdom. Unless the boy had been to that nation and rubbed shoulders with the upper echelons of the country, which he doubted.

He said, "We'll make a date for that."

Alfie nodded furiously. "Yes, please. Then it's a date." She grinned brightly at him.

"Alfie?"

"Hmm?"

"You know about ninjas?"

Alfie chuckled uncomfortably. "Err… a little…"

A little, eh?

Caleb led her to the middle of the flat roof and then sat down, making himself comfortable. Alfie hesitantly followed suit.

The lord watched as Alfie raised her face and gazed at the sky, admiring the aurora lights that danced and shone before them, with dots of countless stars as a backdrop in the distance.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" she asked, mesmerized at the sight.

Caleb agreed, his eyes never leaving her face. "Yes. Very beautiful."

"But the stars are not the same here…"

Caleb didn't miss the slight tremor in that soft voice and wondered why. Is that panic? Fear?

"How are the stars not the same?" he asked, curious.

Alfie said, "The clusters are different. It just confirms to me that I'm very far away from home."

"Do you miss it?" he asked. "Home?"