Nathaniel held Tabitha in his arms, savoring everything about the experience. Her slender body pressed against his, the feel of her dress fabric on his skin, and she smelled of some flower Nathaniel couldn't identify. Not that he needed to, whatever she smelled like would be a welcome change from the sweat, piss, and smoke of the Hound.

Eventually Tabitha pulled out of Nathaniel's arms and made her way to the bed and sat down, her legs clicking with each step. Nathaniel was still amazed at the workmanship of her prosthetics. Attached to her thighs just above where her knees would be, they were made of polished wood and brass with intricate clockwork mechanisms that allowed the artificial joints to bend as she put weight on them and would spring back into position when she lifted her 'feet' off the ground, allowing her to move more naturally than mere wooden pegs would permit.

"Are you hungry? Would you like something to drink?" she said, gesturing at a small table scross from her where wine and a bowl of assorted fruit were laid. Nathaniel realized just how hungry he was, particularly for food that wasn't heavily salted meat or hardtack. He was too nervous to eat just yet, though.

"No, thank you. Maybe later," he replied as he shifted uncomfortably on his feet. "Actually, I have something I want to ask you but I'm not sure how to say it."

"Oh?" Tabitha said, leaning back and raising an eyebrow. "In the mood for something... different?"

"Yes, I, sort of," Nathaniel stammered. "But not in the way you think!" he added quickly before sitting next to Tabitha. "I want you to come away with me."

"Well, that can be arranged. Madam Vivienne requires a significant deposit before she'll allow us to escort you outside of the building-"

"No, not like that," Nathaniel interrupted her, placing his rough hand on her small and smooth one. "I want you to leave this place behind and come with me. I'm done with the sailor's life. I'm going to head east, maybe find work in the capital or on a farm outside the city or something. Anything, just as long as it's on the ground."

"Oh, Nathaniel," Tabitha replied softly. "You want me to play the farmer's wife?"

"Well, no, not necessarily. I don't want you to think we have to get married. We could, if that's what you want but I don't want you to think you have to. And it doesn't have to be the farmer's wife, I'm not sure what I'll be doing. I just think it'd be nice if you were with me when I figured it out."

"Oh, Nathaniel," Tabitha said again, shaking her head. "Do you know how many men have asked me to marry them in my bed?" After a pause she continued: "More than I can count. The idea almost always leaves their heads once the blood can flow back into them. Or they realize I wouldn't just stay hidden in their beds all day, their friends and family would know they're married to the clockwork whore," she said, her face darkening and bitterness obvious in her voice.

Nathaniel put his arm around Tabitha and gently kissed the side of her head. "Well, I don't have any family and all my friends are sailing away on the Hound," he said, kissing her on the forehead. "Besides, we'd be leaving this place and starting over where nobody knows who we are or what we've done."

Tabitha sat in silence, occasionally glancing over at Nathaniel. At last she broke the awkward silence. "Why? Why me?"

"I don't know," he replied, "I've just always enjoyed your company."

"All of my customers do," she said with a laugh. "One man enjoyed my company so much he tried to convince me to live with him but since his wife wouldn't approve of a live-in whore I'd have to work as his maid for the privilege of letting him use me whenever he pleased."

"I didn't mean it like that. I mean, yes, I enjoy laying with you but I also enjoy our talks and hearing you laugh."

Tabitha looked at Nathaniel, who gave her a weak smile, before she turned and look down at her legs.

"I couldn't leave with you, even if I wanted to. I owe a debt to Madam Vivienne," she said, gesturing at her legs. "When infection took hold in my legs, they were turning gangrenous. Madam Vivienne paid for a surgeon to remove them and had an inventor craft these, and they did not come cheaply."

"How much?"

"A lot. It'll take me at least another year to pay off, assuming business remains steady."

"A year?" Nathaniel replied in shock. He was never good with sums but he knew how much a night with Tabitha cost.

"At least. If business slows down it'll take even long. Doesn't matter, I've already been paying her for five years, what's one or two more?"

"How much?" Nathaniel asked again.

"One hundred and seven crowns."

"A hundred and seven? Is that all? But I paid ten just for one night!"

"I don't get to keep it all." Tabitha said with a laugh. Not a laugh of derision but of genuine amusement. "The house keeps most of it. Madam Vivienne deducts wages to pay for the bouncers, the entertainers, she charges us for food and lodging, and for the medicine that keeps us from becoming ill or with child. After everything adds up there's not much left to go towards settling my account."

Nathaniel nodded. He should have known that the women working her wouldn't keep all of what was paid, it was obvious in hindsight, but he figured they would keep most or at least a significant portion of their fees.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"Lots of girls here owe Madam Vivienne something. Some of the girls start off just working as dancers but girls not working the beds only get paid with what's left over after everything else gets paid. If not enough business comes in then their pay is often less than what the house charges them for food and lodgings and their debts only grow. If I just stuck to dancing I'd die of old age before I even paid a quarter of what I owed."

A few moments of silence pass. "I can pay it," Nathaniel said quietly.

"How? Are you going to take my place on your back? Because Madam doesn't hire men-"

Nathaniel interrupted her. "No, I have money. I can pay off your debt and we'd still have some left over to start our new lives together. But you wouldn't have to stay with me if you don't want to! I'd like to have you with me but I don't want you to think I'm buying you. I want you to have a new life, not a new employer."

"Nathaniel, I'm confused. Is this a game you want to play? I know some men like to play pretend in the bedroom-"

"No, I'm serious. Let me prove it to you."

Nathaniel stood up and walked over to the pack he had discarded on the floor. He dug around inside and found his carefully hidden money bag wrapped up in his change of clothes. He opened the purse and showed Tabitha the collection of gold coins inside.

"How did you come by so much money?" she said after a moment of staring into the bag. "I know how much sailors earn, it would take a lifetime to save up that much."

Nathaniel froze. In all of his daydreaming about this moment he only imagined that she would reject him or would accept his offer and they would leave together. It had never even crossed his mind that Tabitha would want to know where his money came from.

"Well? How did you get this?" she asked, her serious tone interrupting Nathaniel's thoughts. His mind raced as he looked into her quizzical, searching eyes. What could he tell her? She was right, there was no way for a common sailor to earn that much money honestly, even the most frugal captain or quartermaster would be hard pressed to save up two hundred crowns at once. Inheritance? She would know that a sailor would not come from a family who could leave that much money behind. Success at gambling? Surely she wouldn't want to stake her future on a man who gambles with half a year's wages. In the end he decided he had to tell her the truth. Or, most of the truth.

"Tabby, I... before I was on the Hound, I spent years working on... less reputable ships."

"Less- a pirate?" she exclaimed, pulling her hand back from his as she recoiled. "You're a pirate?"

"Was! I'm not anymore, I left that behind. I swear to you, I'm an honest man now!"

"How is that possible? I thought pirates killed traitors and deserters."

"They do, it's true. But pirates are mostly free to come and go as they please," Nathaniel spoke quickly now, as if speed would make Tabitha understand quicker. "If a pirate wants to leave his ship he's free to as long as the ship is in port. He has to swear an oath to keep his crewmate's secrets until he dies. And if possible the captain will have a Caller perform a ritual, a blood oath, where the Caller inscribes curses for betrayal and blessings for loyalty onto a piece of paper and then the man leaving the ship seals it by cutting himself and putting his bloody handprints on it."

Tabitha remained silent, her body still leaned away from Nathaniel. She eyed him up and down as he spoke.

"The rituals bring misfortune to anyone who betrays their comrades, but there's also more practical ways of enforcing silence," Nathaniel continued, trying to avoid even a moment of silence. "If any pirate is strongly suspected to have told port authorities about his former crewmates, anyone who finds him will kill him. If he's lucky he'll just be stabbed and left to bleed in an alley. But if possible he'll be brought on board a ship and tortured to death and the men will draw it out as long as possible. 'The Fate of Traitors' it's called. I've only seen it once, they flayed a man over the course of a week."

"That's awful," Tabitha replied, covering her mouth in shock. "Are all of your kind so cruel?"

Nathaniel's mouth opened and closed wordlessly. "You misunderstand, Tabby. Not all of us are like that. Some pirates are vicious, yes, and some are just ordinary sailors who turn a blind eye to the illegal dealings of their cremates, most fall somewhere in between."

"And you? Did you kill anyone?"

"I did. And I'm not proud of it, I took no pleasure in it."

"Then why did you do it? Why did you join with such people if you didn't enjoy murder?"

"I didn't have a choice, not at first," Nathaniel said, standing up and pacing the small room. "When I was fifteen years old a band of sailors from a Royal frigate took me off the streets. 'The right of impressment' they called it. Said the law gave them the right to force any man to serve on a ship that was short of hands. I never even got to tell my parents. As far as they know I simply didn't come home one day. I was on that frigate for four months. Starved, worked until I couldn't stand, and publicly flogged for even the slightest hint of defiance or even not working fast enough."

Nathaniel stood in the middle of the room and looked at Tabitha, his expression stern. "Four months I sailed on that frigate against my will, beaten for not performing duties I didn't choose to take on. We were patrolling the skies, hunting pirates who had been openly attacking transports in the area. We found pirates, or rather, they found us. A pirate captain by the name of Uriah lead an ambush made up of a dozen modified transport vessels he had captured. Our frigate was hopelessly outgunned. When we were boarded our officers tried to order us to fight back even though we were outnumbered five to one. An older sailor said to me, 'Boy, throw down your weapon and raise your hands to the sky. If you fight back and lose they'll treat you so cruel you'll pray to all the gods who've ever been named in hopes one of 'em will kill you. If you surrender they might let you live or they'll just kill you quick.'"

Tabitha only sat in silence. Nathaniel took a deep breath before continuing. "I put the club they gave me down and so did most of my comrades. The pirates rounded us up and gave us sailors two options: Join him as pirates or be thrown overboard. Most of us decided to join. The officers weren't given a choice, and the few sailors who refused were all thrown over the edge of the ship. Uriah was true to his word and any man who joined him was free to leave after serving aboard his ships for a year. I had no idea what else to do so I served under various captains until I left a few years ago and took up honest sailing."

Nathaniel suddenly felt shaky, exhausted, but also free, like a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Tabitha sat in silence, her eyes wandering over Nathaniel's face and body.

"You swear to me that you took this oath years ago, and you've been on an honest ship since we met?" she said at last, her eyes fixed on Nathaniel's.

"I do, I swear it." Nathaniel said, kneeling before her and taking her hand. "I've left all of that behind me and I want to start a new, quiet life, hopefully with you."

"Very well," Tabitha said with a nod. "Let's leave tonight."

Nathaniel was taken aback. "Tonight?" he asked, surprise obvious in his voice.

"Yes, let's not wait. I have a customer who works for the railyard. He owes me a favor, he can arrange passage for us on a train leaving for the capital in the morning," Tabitha said, rising off the bed as her legs clicked into position. "But first, we must pay a visit to Madam Vivienne to settle my account before you get a chance to think too much."