"Are you sure you're all right?" Mhairi asked, sitting beside me on the small sofa. We each had a tablet in our hands, typing out messages, but I still shuddered every now and then, and I still had to summon up the courage to go back to Daniel and find out what he thought.

"I think I'm just really tired," I said, lying. "It's been a long week."

She nodded. "I can still remember my first few days. I was a mess. You're already doing way better. You've got this."

After giving her my best attempt at a grateful smile I heard the ding of my tablet getting another message.

"Oooo, is that your first incoming message?" she asked. I pulled it open, not minding that she leant closer to read it over my shoulder. It was, but instead of it being from Tomichii, the only person I'd yet contacted through the system, it was from Benton.

Hello, Auralia,

I hope you liked the gift I sent you the other day. I remember you said they were a brand from your pre-resurrected days. I hope they help you feel more at home in the here and now. You've made me feel much more at home myself. Not that I'm a resurrected. And not that I'm comparing myself to one. I can't begin to imagine what that would be like. But it would be great to talk more. I'll look out for you while having lunch in the garden each day.

A frown spread across my face as I read. It was an interesting message. I could tell he was trying to be nice, but it felt a little too forced.

"Want me to show you how to reply?" Mhairi asked.

I shook my head. "I think I can work it out, but I'm not sure I want to."

"Why not? He seems to really like you."

"I know. That's the problem...." I noticed Mhairi raise her eyebrows. "I don't find him attractive at all."

"Oh.... I don't find half of my companions that attractive."

It was my turn to look surprised. I hadn't expected her to say that.

"You just imagine the ones you do find attractive when you have to do anything physical."

I couldn't help it, I let out the loudest laugh. It was absurd, yet so normal. How many times had I heard of men doing something similar if they wanted sex but were struggling to find their partner attractive because of age or pregnancy? Here were women employing the same tactic.

"You know this whole thing is totally crazy, right?" I said, when I'd finally calmed myself down.

"Yeah, but I'm alive, and I'm going to be alive a long time. One day I'll be free. You too..." Mhairi's eyes lit up, her mouth becoming a set line. She meant every word, and it helped me find that last little bit of hope I needed. If she could still believe in finding a way out, so could I. After all, we were now in it together.

It did mean one thing, however. I needed to reply to Benton. Sighing, I opened up the messaging system and began typing on the screen.

Sorry for not sending you a message sooner. All this new technology overwhelmed me for a few days. Only just getting my head around it all. Thank you for the kind gift. I and several other of my fellow courtesans enjoyed eating them. They made me feel a little bit more at home, something I very much needed. It was also comforting to see someone read a paper book. When I was getting ready to be frozen I feared they'd no longer exist in the future.

Thank you so much, again.

Auralia

Whether it led anywhere after that would be up to him. I'd been encouraging but not direct or confrontational. It was the best I could do for a person I wasn't sure I wanted as a companion.

As soon as I'd finished sending it Mhairi gave me a thumbs-up.

"Now, who else do you want to message to remind them you exist and are about to be unveiled?" she asked. I bit my lip as I thought back, trying to remember all the people I'd bumped into and had at least a vague sort of connection with rather than just listened to as they hit on me or tried to get into my knickers early.

Suddenly a person jumped out at me. Spencer. He'd been sitting at the bar in the restaurant on my first day out with Yaru. He'd said something about being on Mars for a few days, but we'd had a brilliant conversation when I'd pointed out the error in his math.

Although he'd not been instantly attractive, like James or Tomichii, there had been something about his smile and gentle manner. He'd also been one of the most polite of all the men, making it clear he wanted a deeper connection. Getting to know him might be something I enjoyed equally as much as he might enjoy talking to me. I pulled up a fresh message and tapped away.

Hear you went to Mars. Hope you had an uneventful trip and no one else lost their Xs on your watch. I've kept an eye out for you, but I've had to suffer more than one dinner without the sort of wonderful conversation I was hoping we'd share again.

That was the last of the messages I wished to send. Very few others had jumped out at me, and I was still more than a little shaken by what had happened with Daniel's banker. Letting Mhairi know I wanted some rest, I got up to walk back to our room.

I never got all the way there before I saw Edward, lingering near the doorway to the main court. As soon as he spotted me he held out his hand, inviting me to join him.

More than willing to spend more time with him after he'd protected me, I hurried over, hoping he wasn't in too demanding a mood. It might have been my day off, but I had no idea if the men in the house allowed the courtesans to rest as well.

The second my hand was in his, Edward pulled me away from the door, leading me through the house to a nearby empty room. It appeared to be a medium-sized cloakroom, an open door leading to a small toilet room on the opposite wall, the two side walls lined with hooks, and a set of wooden shelves boxed as if for pairs of shoes. The room was empty, evidently unused for the moment.

"Daniel told me what happened. Are you okay? Did he manage to screw you?"

"No," I said, my body shivering harder, the memory enough to make my throat tighten. Wrapping his arms around me, Edward frowned. "He didn't hurt me at all. Just scared me. Wanted to look at me."

"I wish I could tell you it got better," he said. "But it doesn't. There's always going to be men thinking they can have exactly what they want."

"And most of them will get it, won't they?"

"Well, it's going to be my job to make sure none of them do you any major harm, but yes. If a man has paid for your time and you said yes to it, I'm not meant to intervene unless he's trying to do something really sinister like cut you up, or break bones or something." His eyes were full of pity.

"Would you? If I asked you to?"

"Sorry, princess. It's not you who pays my bills. I'll step in before some of the guys here, but if it's considered an official fetish, I don't get to stop it."

I nodded my head, only feeling more sick. A depressing conversation like this wasn't something I wanted to hear. But he'd mentioned one other important detail.

"You're assigned to me, though?"

"That's right, princess. You're now my responsibility. I make sure you're not bothered by anyone not on the database. That you travel safely and get home safely, and anything else I need to do to keep you in one piece."

"Thank you," I whispered, wrapping my arms around him as well and resting my head on his chest. "That helps."

More tears pricked my eyes.

"Want to talk about it?" he asked a moment later.

"Don't think so. Mostly just wish I hadn't frozen when he first grabbed me. Or that I'd been strong enough to defend myself, to stop him myself. It had always been on my bucket list to learn a martial art."

Edward looked thoughtful for a moment, like his mind wasn't entirely with me. Eventually he snapped back to the present. I felt his finger tilt my chin up so I was looking at him, his eyes moving to my lips.

While he looked at me, not speaking, I felt a hardness form, pressed against my abdomen.

He opened his mouth to speak several times, but closed it again, almost as if he was trying to find a way to ask me to do something for him, but not quite able to find the words. I realised there were a lot of horny men in this world and not enough women to go around. At least he had the good grace to know his demands weren't entirely appropriate.

Somewhere inside me I found the ability to become rational again, and then, as I did what Mhairi had suggested, thought about the good sex I'd had, and how Edward's well defined chest felt, a tight heat began to spread between my thighs. Before he could open his mouth and flounder once again, I lifted onto the tips of my toes and pressed my mouth against his.

Relaxing into me, he sighed, his hands moving to cup my breasts. I'd predicted right. He was more than hungry for what I had to offer.

Wanting to get things over and done with, I slid my hands down him, stopping only long enough to unzip him and find his hardness. A moan came from deep in his throat as I wrapped my hand around his shaft and began sliding it slowly up and down.

The sound of someone else coming into the room made me jump. I broke off the kiss, freezing with my hand in Edward's trousers as a guard and one of the other courtesans came walking in. They stopped when they noticed us.

"Ed, what are you doing in here? Cassie and I always catch a quickie in here at this time of day."

"Sorry, we won't be long. I thought you two had already got your game on today," Edward replied as if they were discussing the weather and I was holding something as benign as a bunch of flowers rather than his crown jewels.

Cassie looked up at the bodyguard, tucked under his arm, and for a long, awkward, moment no one moved or said anything.

"You can be a complete dick, Ed. You really can." The guard led his courtesan away, closing the door behind him. Right away I felt Edward put a finger under my chin and pull me back around to face him.

"Now, where were we?" he said, before taking my nipples between his thumbs and fingers and rubbing them. I carried on, a small part of me now used to having an audience or having people walk in and see something that in my previous life would have been inappropriate or shameful.

Doing my best to put my heart into the act again, I brought my mouth up to meet his and resumed my slow, steady massage of his manhood. Before long his hand slipped between my legs, finding me hot, wet and ready. For a fraction of a second I worried that he'd go further, penetrating me with his fingers, but he held back, running circles around my clit.

His other arm snaked around me, helping to support me as we both grew hotter, our breathing speeding up, losing its rhythm.

He cried out first, covering my palm in his sticky cum, but I was only a few seconds behind. I clung to him with my other arm, my legs refusing to hold me.

We stayed in a cosy embrace for a minute or so, my head resting on his shoulder.

"I think Dave and Cassie will want to use the room soon," he said. "We've already made them about twenty minutes later than normal. I lifted my head and gave him a good look. They hadn't walked into the room that long ago.

"You knew, didn't you?"

"Yes," Edward replied, having the good grace to look a little sheepish. "But it's important they all know you and I are screwing. It'll help keep you safe."

"Didn't stop the banker." I shuddered, wishing I could push the thought away and think of something else, but it had tainted the entire day.

"Don't worry. He won't bother you again. Daniel wouldn't allow it."

I nodded, letting Edward lead me from the room, but I wasn't convinced. People had often told me something wasn't allowed and then it happened anyway.

Cassie and her protector shot us looks as they hurried into the room, but they didn't say anything. Jake, standing by the front door, gave us a brief smile, but he too didn't open his mouth as Edward slung his arm over my shoulder,

"Come on, princess. Daniel will probably be ready to see you now," Edward said, steering me down the hallway. I leaned into him, appreciating the warmth emanating from him, but just before Daniel's office he pulled away, putting distance between us.

"Wouldn't want him thinking we're too comfortable together," he said, barely above a whisper. "He'll worry you'll let it hamper your ability to do your job."

I could see the logic, even if I didn't like having to be secretive.

Daniel stood near the massive screen. Instead of showing the progress of each courtesan that day, it displayed a table of costs. Now and then Daniel tapped at boxes in mid-air, editing them, adding to the table and reading the rest.

Coughing, I walked farther in, noticing Edward lingered by the door.

Daniel didn't stop or even glance my way.

"What were you thinking?" he asked. I stopped part-way between sitting and standing by his desk. "He could have ruined everything."

"I tried to stop him," I replied, feeling a lump harden in my stomach. Was he really angry at me for this? It wasn't like I had much control over it.

Suddenly Daniel stepped away from the costs board.

"Edward here has probably already told you, but from now on you don't go anywhere without him. Do you understand?"

I nodded.

"Good. And you're lucky. Letting Aiden undress you like that could have caused a scandal and ruined your career before you'd truly begun it. If anyone else had seen, or he had decided to brag... You'd be looking at losing all those guaranteed companions at your unveiling."

Once more, I didn't speak. He evidently had more to say.

"The only thing that redeems you is how eager he was for me to get him an invite to your unveiling as well."

"Really?" I replied, shivering at the very thought. He was not someone I particularly wanted in my life.

"Yes. He's very willing to pay to be one of the first to screw you. Makes it nice and obvious he's not managed to take it for himself."

It was something of a relief, making me sigh and exhale.

"Go on, go get some rest. You've got even more to try and earn back now. You're going to need to really push yourself to impress enough of the right men.

As I walked from the room I felt like my feet were lead. The goalposts just kept moving. And it was all I could do to keep up.