Lucas immediately feared a double cross, but instead, it was just a handful of off-duty women that had come from one of the lower floors. They looked tired but bore no weapons; the most dangerous thing about them seemed to be the outfits they wore.

“I have some correspondence I have to address, but while I take care of that, these girls will be your… models,” Artesia explained. “try out your potions and salves on them, and if I like what I see, we will talk about whether or not we can do business. If your little alchemical tricks backfire - well, then you’ll owe me damages, won’t you.”

The Madam’s final words before she excused herself and left him in the company of her employees sent a chill down his spine. She thought there was a chance that what he could do might harm them, and was still okay with him proceeding? It was unbelievably cold and spoke to just how little she thought of the women she prostituted. He sold drugs to addicts, but even he wouldn’t consider accidentally poisoning them part of the cost of doing business.

Still, even before he was trying to process that, the three women were sitting down around him and pouring themselves tea, making it even less likely that the stuff was poisoned.

“Who’s the new guy,” the blond one asked.

“Who knows,” the busty brunette purred, “But if Artesia says he can do whatever he wants…”

“Now now, ladies,” Lucas teased, trying to regain control of the situation. “Business before pleasure.”

“So you’re saying there is to be some pleasure then,” the dark-haired woman said in an accented voice, leaning a little closer with hungry eyes. It was only when she brushed her long, straight hair aside that he realized she was an elf. That explained the lack of tits, at least.

Lucas introduced himself and spent a few minutes explaining why he was there and what he was looking to do with them today. Surprisingly, they seemed disappointed that none of his activities was going to involve sex, especially when he informed them that they’d all have to remove their current makeup for the mask.

Each of the beauties complained about being seen without makeup, as they scrubbed it off with enough effort that Lucas decided he was probably going to have to add a facial cleanser to his list of future products. Did I save any dyer’s berries or holly leaves? He wondered to himself. He wasn’t sure he had, so reluctantly, he filled the project away for the spring.

“I’d rather be seen naked than do without my eyeliner!” the brunette complained.

“You’d rather be seen naked, period,” the elf quipped immediately. Everyone laughed at that, even Lucas, though he was trying to remain serious. When they were finally ready, he had them look at themselves in a hand mirror before providing them with the mud mask, and then they sat around for an hour while it did its small but noticeable magic.

“So we would do this every day?” the blond woman complained. “That sounds so boring. Who would want to put mud on their faces and just lie around?”

“Well, where I come from, it's considered a luxury for rich women who show that they have nothing better to do with their time than to spend the day lying around doing nothing at all,” Lucas explained. “A mud mask, some cucumber slices on the eyes, and a few mimosas to drink. Hell, toss in a massage and a steam bath, and you walk out looking like a new woman. It’s never been my thing, but one of the women I dated said that a spa day made her feel ten years younger.”

“Massage? Steam Bath?” The brunette asked as the elf scoffed.

“As if ten years younger would mean anything at all to me,” the raven-haired woman shot back.

Lucas was tempted to ask how old she was exactly but decided that was probably considered rude in any world. She looked like she was somewhere around thirty, but for all he knew, that meant 300.

He spent the rest of the time explaining to them what saunas and spas were because they were foreign concepts here, apparently. The closest they had were dwarvish baths, which were apparently a little bit too warm for any of the other races. Lucas noted it down as another business opportunity.

From drug lord to a chain of boutique spas and cosmetic shops, he thought to himself with a smirk. That would be one hell of a way to go straight. That was just a pipe dream, of course, but it was a funny one.

When all of the women cleaned off their faces, it was easy to see the difference. They quibbled, but he could definitely see they looked prettier than before. It was even more obvious once they returned from reapplying their makeup in their dressing rooms and adding a dusting of enchanted perfume on top of it. The three of them had been lovely before, but now they were positively stunning.

They alternated between soliciting his stone faced bodyguard by the door for compliments, and asking Lucas if he had anything else they could try. Sadly, he had no more products ready for market, though he did notice with annoyance that his muscle was starting to melt under all the attention he was getting from the beautiful women. It was hard to blame him too much, though.

“You really think there's a difference?” the women asked each other, teasing as they talked about the way it made her cheeks fuller or reduced her laugh lines.

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Lucas was well out of his depth here, and part of him wished that he’d brought some woman here with him to handle this. Certainly not Danaria, of course, but having a woman on his team who could handle this strange sort of situation, well, that might be useful.

The Madame’s bell tinkled again, making him look up. A well-dressed servant entered the room, and she ordered, “Bring us some refreshments and send in someone to light the lamps. I cannot be expected to judge these results properly in such dim light.”

The man bowed and left, leaving Lucas with the three painted whores and their boss, they were all crowded around him just closely enough to make him feel uncomfortable. He didn’t know if all the touches, brushes, and glances were an actual attempt to seduce him, but he was sure that for most men, it would already be working.

It worked even better once a new servant came in with a lit wick on the end of a long pole came in and began to light the lanterns that hung from the ceiling near the walls of the room. He hadn’t noticed how much darker it had gotten or really how much time had passed, but even though it was nowhere near night yet, the winter gloom had turned the skies gray, and he would be hard-pressed to say exactly where the sun was.

The women continued to talk over the effects or lack thereof, that his products had on them for a few minutes longer before the refreshments arrived. By then, Lucas was feeling just a little overwhelmed by everything.l Between whatever spicy scent it was they’d put into the lamp oil and the perfumes they’d already been playing with, he wanted fresh air more than anything, but they were minutes away from a deal. He could feel it. So, he wasn’t about to walk out of here empty-handed.

Instead, he waited and was eventually rewarded by a nod of approval from Artesia. “You know, I think we can do business after all, Lucas. You are clearly a man of many talents.”

“Thank you,” he answered. “I love it when people recognize my value.”

“Oh, your value has been hard to miss, even after they stopped putting up those posters with those horrible little pictures of you,” the Madam said with a chilly smile. “Do you remember my offer from before? Would you rather be paid in time with my girls or in coin? As you know, I can be very generous…”

Very generous with other people’s bodies, he thought, biting his tongue.

“I always prefer to be paid in coin, of course,” he smiled. “No offense to your lovely ladies, but I’m a one-woman sort of man.”

“Well, I’d be happy to be that woman,” the elvish beauty sighed, stroking his chest lightly with her fingertips. “You know, if the spot isn’t already filled.”

Lucas brushed her hand aside lightly, trying to think of the most polite way to rebuff all of this attention, even if the need to tell them all to fuck off was slowly growing more powerful inside of him.

“I understand,” Artesia said with a cruel smile, “I feel exactly the same way. That’s why I could haggle with you over these trinkets, or I could sell you to the city guard. Did you know that your reward is up to 150 golden dragons now?”

“Now, that’s just short-term thinking right there,” he said, stalling for time as he tried to figure out whether that was a bad joke or he’d horribly misjudged the situation. “You and me - we could make a lot of money here. I’ll work on some cosmetics over the winter, and by this time next year, you’ll be dominating your competitors.”

“Well, that is possible,” she nodded. “What’s the saying... A bird in the hand and all that?”

It’s not a joke, he realized, not after a statement like that.

All of this had been part of the trap. The normalcy. Letting him keep his weapons. Everything.

It wasn’t as if he was defenseless, though. One of the vials labeled perfume, in his case, was a stink bomb, and of course, he still had his sword and his ring.

Lucas’s mind started to whirl at high speed as he tried to decide on what the best plan was. If they wanted to take him alive, then it was possible that the women were armed, but he was certain that a dozen well-paid toughs were only a ring of Artesia’s bell away.

“You think you’re so clever, don’t you,” he said, buying time. “You think you can just take whatever you want.”

“I usually do,” Artesia agreed as he started to rise from his chair. “And after you rejected me all those months ago… well, the only thing that can mend my broken heart is gold, I’m afraid.”

Lucas was about to say something witty, but it was only when he started swaying unsteadily as he reached for his sword that he realized how fucked he was. He looked at the lanterns and finally put two and two together. That wasn’t incense or even an aphrodisiac, as he’d suspected. It was some kind of sedative, or…

He looked to his man by the door and noticed that he was slumped over, passed out by the wall. Lucas had no idea when that had happened.

Instead of drawing his weapon, he had to put his hand on the back of his chair and lean on it to keep from falling over. “Oh, it’s much too late for heroics, I think. Not after all the Nulim oil you’ve inhaled.” Artesia said with a broad gesture at the lamps. “I’d worried that an experienced alchemist would notice the scent, but it would seem that you’re less of a scholar and more of a petty pusher. My girls and I are quite used to the stuff to make the aggressive men that come here… more tractable.”

“I—” Lucas opened his mouth, but he had nothing to say. His brain was still working fine, but his body was barely functional. What had snuck up on him as a feeling of dizziness and claustrophobia had become a lethargy that bordered on numbness. He still had legs, but his feet might have well been leagues away.

That didn’t stop him, though. Instead, he staggered toward the window. The giant picture windows didn’t open, but if he could break one of them and get some fresh air, then he could wash away some of this weakness and use one of his tricks to get out of there.

“Oh, it’s much too late for that,” she gloated. “In a few seconds, you’ll be as weak as a kitten, and in a few hours, I’ll trade you for that fat reward.”

Lucas never made it to the window. Instead, his vision began to blur, and his legs went out from under him after only two steps. I didn’t even drink the tea, and the bitch still got me, was his thought as he lay there on the throw rug, looking at the floor as the woman that had done this to him started to order people around and bind his hands and legs tightly.

“Pity we couldn’t have had more fun,” the elven beauty whispered in his ear. “I generally prefer to be the one who’s being tied down, not the other way around.”

Lucas sighed inwardly, unsure what in the hell he was going to do to get out of this.