Snowtear, Prologue by Sam Davidson

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Her breath caught in her throat at the sight of the startlingly frail, completely nude man standing before her.
She gasped, and her hand went to her mouth. The brazen man smiled at her loss of composure, and walked around her to an end table next to the bed. He lit a candle and sat down on the edge of the mattress, mercifully crossing his legs.
The dim orange glow of the candle provided a shadowy view of his emaciated features. Standing, he would've been maybe six feet tall. His dirty blonde hair-emphasis on dirty-drooped in straight oily strands on his face and to his sharp shoulders. Emerald eyes rested just above a small thin nose. His bare torso looked like someone had draped sheer skin over a skeleton. Women of lesser standards might deem the man's face attractive in an aloof sort of way, but his sunken cheeks, pointy jaw, and the dark circles around his eyes did little to bolster such a claim. She didn't care for his mischievous smile.
"What can I do for you, Min?" Snowtear asked, his voice deeper than she would've imagined for a man of such diminutive stature. His height was the only thing big about him.
The air of confidence he exuded as he sat across from her, discomfited not in the least by his nakedness, didn't mesh with his sickly look. In fact, Jillian had seen a few folks on their deathbeds that looked healthier.
Before she could answer his question, she heard a moan from the other side of the bed. She looked past the man and frowned at the mess of blonde hair beneath the sheets behind him.
"That's just Gretchen," Snowtear said.
Another nocturnal whimper followed. And not from the same woman.
"Don't mind Pollo either," the man said, his grin widening.
Before there could be any further interruptions, Min Dumay spat out, "The girl I care for, Sage Ullimar, has gone missing. I want you to find her."
"Human or Sophci?" the man asked, taking a halfway depleted herb roll from the end table and lighting it with the candle.
"What could that possibly matter?"
"I'm assuming, of course, that she isn't Liechen."
"Nay, but..."
"Sometimes, Min, it matters," Snowtear said, blowing blue smoke through his nostrils.
"Fine. She's Sophci?"
"What phase?"
Jillian narrowed her eyes at the man. When his gaze didn't falter, she answered. "Sage is in her Second New phase."
"When?"
"When, what?"
"When did she go missing?"
"Last night. I put her in bed around nine of the dial, checked in on her at midnight before I retired myself. When I went to wake her this morning, she was gone."
"Less than a day?"
"Aye. So?"
"Children have ways of getting lost for longer spells than that in a city this size. Many exciting things to do here, you know. Winter Moon can be quite the feast for the senses, believe me. Most find their way back to their mummas and papas in a few days, hardly worse for the wear for their brief time of frivolity."
"If you knew Sage, you wouldn't say that," Jillian said.
"I don't know Sage, so..."
"I think she's been taken."
"By whom?"
"I don't know," Min Dumay said, dejected.
"Then why assume?"
"Her parents are very wealthy."
"A lot are in this city. Wealth, fortunately or not, is something of a surplus in Winter Moon."
Jillian's chest grew tight, hot. Why was she wasting her time with this miscreant? Gretchen or Pollo, she couldn't tell which, made another low hungry noise from the other side of the bed. Suddenly, she very much wanted to be out of this rank, muggy room. Surely there were others who could help her.
"One lyn a day," Snowtear said, tapping the ash for his roll onto the floor.
"You'll help then?"
"For one lyn a day."
"My thanks, Mon Snowtear. Truly. I'll inform Sage's family at once."
"Grand," Snowtear said. "In the morning, we'll work out all the details. Until then, I have other more pleasant business to attend to. Good evening, Min."
Jillian Dumay exited Wicked Delight's luxury suite to the sound of Riken Snowtear slapping the bare bottom of Gretchen or Pollo. Possibly both.