They arrived back at the brothel far later then he'd wanted. It was nearly completely dark outside by the time they had returned the horses and carriage, and walked their way back. Rain had hindered the second half of their journey and given Amia a bit of a cold because he refused to go into the carriage when he started shivering.
Hollem wasn't pleased, but he pushed aside his frustration with Amia's stubbornness for the moment as they stepped inside the warm brothel. They headed straight for madam Maria's office. The weight he hadn't known was sitting upon his heart slid free as he laid eyes on the slightly older woman sitting behind her desk, hard at work.
"Darn, I thought they'd get you before I got back." He said with enough sarcasm to draw the woman's lips up as she finished writing something, then lifted her eyes to them.
"Glad to see that you're still standing, too... but why does one of my cutest workers look like he's about to come down with a rather nasty fever?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at Amia with slight disapproval.
Hollem fidgeted, scowling when Amia stuck his tongue out at him.
"You know his stubbornness, madam. He refused to stay inside the carriage I rented for us while I drove in the rain." He said, making Amia grumble something unintelligible and look down at his shoes.
Madam Maria just shook her head and gestured for them to sit in two of the chairs opposite her desk. They did as told, waiting silently until she set aside what she had been working on and gave them her full attention.
"I'm sure you'll be surprised to hear this, but the rat poison had been recovered minutes after you two had left." She said, making Hollem and Amia look at each other in surprise before returning their attention to her.
"Who had it?" Amia asked before Hollem could.
Madam Maria leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest. "That's the problem. A young busboy I had recently hired had it in one of his aprons."
Hollem rolled his eyes at the same time Amia snorted a laugh.
"I thought the same thing, but that places the rat poison out of their hands. At least you saw Lauriette buying it, so that still allows us ample reason to keep our attention focused on her. I had to let the boy go since he had it on him without an excuse, but I also got him a job down at the dock with one of the fishmongers, at least until this situation is dealt with and I can clear his name."
It was no surprise that madam Maria would look after a brand new employee, especially since they had clearly been wronged. Work was hard to come bye, and she knew that all too well.
"What do you suggest we do, ma'am?" Hollem asked.
Madam Maria was quiet for a moment before nodding toward the door behind them. "Go get yourselves settled, then set Amia up to work behind the bar for the evening."
Hollem nodded, but after a quick glance from Amia, he straightened in his chair and settled his hands in his lap.
"We have another thing we'd like to discuss with you, though perhaps this is not the time for the full conversation." He said, looking nervous in front of the madam for the first time since he'd been hired years ago.
Madam Maria pursed her lips and looked between them, then sighed. "I have a feeling that I'm not going to like this discussion, and also, I believe that I already know what it's about."
Fidgeting with his hands, Hollem looked down, then back up before opening his mouth to speak, only for madam maria to lift her hand and silence him.
"I understand. You will work with me tonight so that I might be able to catch up on all of this paperwork. I will move your two clients for the evening, since they said they didn't mind another if you weren't available." She said, sighing as she massaged her forehead.
"Out of here for now. Both of you problematic love birds." She said, shooing them away with her other hand.
Neither of them wasted any time and hurried from the room. The moment the door was shut Hollem took Amia's hand and pulled him up the stairs.
Not a second after they'd dropped their small travel bags Amia had Hollem shoved down onto the bed, his own shirt flying over his shoulder. They were extremely busy in no time, and it was all Hollem could do to manage to keep up with Amia's determination.
After several hurried rounds he was left panting on his back while Amia rinsed off in the cool bath water that had been waiting for them. The guy was already clean-shaven and dressed by the time Hollem was able to lift his tired body up into a sitting position.
Amia walked over as he lifted his head and grasped either side of his face between his hands, then leaned down for a long kiss.
"Don't fuck anyone else again. Do me as much as you want." He said against Hollem's mouth, making him lean back in order to speak.
"You mean as much as you want?"
He had a hint of humor to his words, so when Amia just pushed his forehead, making him flop back on the bed with a quiet grunt, Hollem just chuckled.
"Get ready for a fun filled night sitting next to the madam." Amia said, ending Hollem's laughter abruptly with the realization that his normal work was canceled for the evening... and possibly forever.
He pushed himself back up, only to see Amia disappear out the door.
I feel like I have no choice in this matter and that it's just happening on its own. He thought to himself with a shake of his head as he stood up, stretching his tired body. They couldn't have been busy for more than twenty minutes or so, but Amia definitely took the energy out of him when they got into it. Not that he hadn't desperately wanted to take the man since they'd left the magistrate's awkward home, but perhaps a bit of rest beforehand might have been wise.
Yawning, he made his way over to the cool bathing tub and quickly scrubbed himself clean, then changed for the odd evening he was about to have... and it sure was. It had been nearly a year since he'd actually sat down with madam Maria and helped with any kind of paperwork tasks.
A lot of the things he was given to work on were past order forms and different receipts they'd gotten for transactions over the last year. He was given the exciting task of tallying up numbers and making sure everything was correct before they were stored in their appropriate locations.
Please, kill me.
"I know you're having a lot of fun, but I suppose you can have a break and go check on your lad." Madam Maria said quietly after several silent hours as she continued to hastily flip through a large stack of papers from their market purchases.
Hollem didn't need to hear another word. He jumped from his chair and was around the large desk in seconds, darting out the door to the sound of the madam's snickering.
He stopped briefly in the communal washroom to relieve himself, then hurried to the bar... only to find it absent of his problematic friend.
Looking toward the tender on shift that night, Hollem caught their attention with a quick wave.
"Where is Amia? He is still on shift, is he not?" He asked, looking around for the lad, but finding no sign of his messy hair or impish smirk. Surely he wasn't in the greeting rooms or, if he would dare, a customer.
The young woman nodded quickly and pointed to the front door.
"He went to take a break a short a while ago after talking for a time with a patron. I was just about to go fetch him."
Hollem waved her off with a small smile. "I'll go get him. Take care of things here." He said, hurrying toward the front door with a hint of unease in his belly.
The moment he stepped out into the crisp night air his attention was drawn across the street. There was a ruckus of some sort being surrounded by civilians, but as he pushed closer, he realized that it wasn't a fight, but people dragging someone through the dimly lit street.
"Get the hell off of me you bastards!"
What the...?
There was no mistaking that voice.
Hollem yelled as he surged forward at the same time the two horses hitched to the carriage reared back, then bolted straight ahead, forcing their way through the crowd and trampling several people in their path.
Leaping upward, Hollem just barely managed to get a hold on the back of the carriage and climb up before it took a sharp turn. His right hand slipped off immediately but his left one just barley managed to hold on as his feet went flying behind him for several terrifying seconds.
"Amia?" He shouted as he tried, unsuccessfully, to skirt around toward the door of the vehicle.
It took him several more tries, and nearly all of his remaining energy to make it to the opening. The door seemed to have been broken in the previous struggle, because it hung partially ajar, flapping back and forth in the wind. He shoved it back with a grunt, then swing his body inside the carriage.
He'd been ready to fight off the attackers he knew had to be there, and briefly noted the strangeness of a woman's presence off to his right beside one of the men, but he hadn't been ready to be distracted by the sight of Amia, unconscious and tied up on the floor, the right side of his face bloody and a dark red cloth in his mouth that had clearly been white at some point.
The young man's name wasn't even able to leave his lips before Hollem felt something sharp and firm easily slip through the thin layer of his shirt, then into his flesh. A swift kick to the exact place the sword was abruptly retracted from sent him flying through the air as darkness swarmed his vision. There was nothing he could do to halt his landing, but he wouldn't forget the man who had stabbed him... nor would he let him get away with what he had done.
He would kill Amia's uncle and see his love to safety if it was the last thing he did.