Nadia hugged herself, grumbling as she made her way through the streets, pulling her shawl closer to herself. She had tried to argue her way out of this. There had to be some way of stealing the keys without seducing a man! Granted, she wasn’t a pickpocket, but there has to be a way of taking it without him knowing.

She sighed. There was no way learning to seduce was going to be easier than learning to pick pockets…or in this case, getting the key off of the man’s neck.

As soon as she got to the Pleasure District, she stopped and blanched, still in disbelief that she was here. She made sure to be in the Mid-Town side of the district, but it was easy to see where the buildings and the people transformed into that of the Outer Reaches.

Where she was, the buildings looked reputable, and even the names of the establishments were classy. The streets looked dignified and so did the patrons who came up in their tuxedoes and top hats and canes. The further down she looked the more the streets shed off its mask to what it really was. Beyond, she could see women hanging out outside their establishments, bosoms threatening to spill from cuts that were too low. Face paints were either gaudy or nonexistent with nothing in between.

Nadia shuddered. She could never be any of those women!

“Asher.”

Nadia turned around surprised at the voice, hand gripping at the jaderound in her hand, before relaxing when she recognized him. Shadow barely had a rugged look about him, but he did have a strong jaw. His high cheekbones and narrow eyes gave him his Roku-Shinlai appearance, and his skin color said he was Mauan, but when you add his blue eyes and his build, he was pretty much Calcedonian. It shouldn’t work, but on him, the mish-mash of nationalities did.

“My name is Asher,” Shadow said. “You are Nadia yes?”

He had on a pleasant smile that Nadia wanted to punch. “I am not going to learn to be a whore,” she hissed.

Shadow laughed and Nadia grumbled. The man looked pleasant and charming. It was like who he was and what he looked like were two very different people. I was hard to hate him face-to-face like this, but it was easy to dislike him because of his morals and everything he stood for.

“Of course not,” he said, offering his arm. “Come, stroll with me.”

Nadia looked at his arm, then at his face. Was she supposed to take it? He nodded and she sighed, walking arm-in-arm like he was a gentleman and she a lady. It was all an act that must be a way Shadow masked his identity.

“I ask you to trust me. Everything will come to light. And I will assure you that by the end of the job, you will not be soiled unless you want to. Seduction will be nothing but a mere distraction to what you really have to do.” He touched her finger ever so gently in assurance, and strangely, Nadia did feel a little more at ease with what she had to do.

They walked deeper and deeper into the heart of the pleasure district until they came to where the two divisions seemed to merge.

“You see the women displaying their wares?” He said very conversationally as if they were talking about the weather.

Nadia nodded. “I can’t do that.”

“Good,” Shadow smiled. “That’s what I want to hear.”

Nadia’s brows creased. “I don’t understand Sha—er…Asher. Why are we here? Why am I looking at the women if you don’t want me to do that?”

“I want you to look at what not to do. You see, when people hear the word seduce, this is what people usually think about: blatantly showing what they have to offer. Enticing with such wild abandon. But that is the worst way to seduce.” He shook his head. “I want you to look at them. Observe them. Think about how you would to all of what they do without being so obvious.”

Nadia sighed and looked at the whores. They swayed their hips and shimmied their breasts at people, calling out with sickly sweet voices, batting their eyes so often it was like dust was in their eyes. Everything they did felt so…contrived.

“You’re getting it,” he smiled at her. And she found that his smile was very, very charming indeed. And yes, it made him handsome, if she admitted it only to herself.

“I didn’t even say anything.”

“You didn’t have to. Your face showed everything,” he grinned boyishly. “I knew you were smart enough to get it. And yes, all this is something I would hate for you to do. After all, your charm lies in your purity and innocence. It would not do to have you soiled. Horrible thought that.”

Nadia blushed as he talked about her purity and innocence. Of course there was value in not being carnal, but to have him say it, it felt embarrassing. Like she wasn’t an adult. She bristled, but took his advice and observed the women who reeked of desperation, blatantly telling the men to take them. It was distasteful, catering to the basest instinct of men to satisfy their needs, but it obviously only worked for those who themselves are desperate for a lay.

“You see, Nadia,” Shadow’s conversational tone continued at her side, “a Ducass needs nothing. They can want, but need? They have everything and their desires are not on the readily available, but on the unattainable. Something they can feel is a conquest because they can’t easily have it. And that is your job,” He turned to her, bright eyes gentle, as if sharing a conversation that was only meant for them both. “Make him want you, by denying him. Make him curious by being different and interesting.”

Nadia caught herself staring at him and she took a deep breath surprised that she had been holding off breathing. There was a…change in Shadow. Something she could not put her finger on. The Shadow she knew, the one they took from the Prison Catacombs, was rough, heartless and quick to get people out of his way. This Shadow was different. Charming. Easy to be with. But perhaps, it was because he was without his mask in public. If people recognized him, this charming man whose lips were perpetually quirked as if he held a secret, they wouldn’t connect him with the stoic outlaw Shadow.

“Come,” he offered his arm out again, the very picture of a perfect gentleman. “Perhaps you can absorb things better once you’ve had a bit of a treat in you. Calcedonian strawberry cake, maybe?”

Nadia couldn’t help but smile. The cake was a favorite of hers! But she quickly schooled her face still and took his arm without a word.

Shadow chuckled, “I’ll take that as a yes.”

Nadia took a deep breath and nodded. She was never one for a lot of words, but now, she couldn’t even trust herself to speak as he shook her whole view of him. Perhaps, this was the real Shadow? She looked at him from the corner of her eye. He looked ahead tipping his top hat to a few people who greeted him. His cordial look never wavered.

He stopped a jadelev carriage and told the driver to head to the Leranne House in the Estates. Nadia gasped. Prices in any establishment in the Estates were exorbitant, but it didn’t faze Shadow and even hiring a jadelev was an excess. They could have just rented a carriage. Cheaper. It was the difference between levitating and traveling on wheels. But since he was paying, she rode with him, still in wonder that he even knew where to get the best Calcedonian cakes.

He grinned at her and nudged her chin prompting her to close it. She bushed and looked out the window as the jadelev passed the streets.

“Oh, come on, Nadia. Not even a word to me?”

There were a thousand things she wanted to ask from his appearance to his finances to knowing what she wanted, but she didn’t know where to start. Instead, she settled for the first thing that came into her head. “Why are you helping us?”

Shadow paused for a moment, considering, then sighed, letting his arms rest on his knees leaning toward her as they sat opposite each other. “I’m sure you know I didn’t have the best childhood with what I’ve become. But the reason behind it all still eludes me. Perhaps, in time, we’ll know for certain what it is. For now, let’s just say, I don’t want other children to go through the same things I have.”

Nadia searched his eyes for any guile. For any semblance of trickery or deceit. She saw none. He was earnest and that shocked her more than anything. A man like him made a living out of lying and other underhanded tactics. To see him actually honest, open and vulnerable…it was unexpected.

“I won’t ask what you have been through to create this rebellion yourself. I’m sure you will tell me when you feel more at ease about it.”

Asking what he went through would have been rude when he made the statement, so she asked the other thing that was on her mind. “Do you really think we can do this?”

“If you and your jadegeneers are as good as you claim, then the security wouldn’t be a problem. More than anything, it’s the jademechs that would worry me. Sabotage that, and we can probably take care of any other mishap.” He leaned back, his eyes twinkling, “And if you do a good job, we won’t have to resort to a riskier backup to get the money.”

Nadia stiffened. “You have a backup plan?”

Shadow nodded. “Always. With everything. Even with my part. Sometimes, things don’t always go the way you planned. What do you do then? How do you make it work? Of course, spur of the moment decisions make a big impact on the outcome, but plans under plans provide a safety net that reduces problems.”

“So that was why you were so stiff and snappy when we took you to steal from the lab?”

Shadow nodded. “If it failed, what do we do? If we get caught with no way out, what will make sure we get out of it alive? Nothing.” He shrugged, palms open. “People say our business is risky. They’re right. But when you know how to manage risk, well, it becomes a different matter. It’s what separates the common thief from the…specialists.”

That bit of information shed a little more light into who Shadow was, but she still didn’t know if she could trust the rebellion’s success in a criminal’s hands. Of course, Mandu was a different case. The man was there from the beginning. Helped build the Red Band from the ground up. Covered for the Red Band’s activities.

And Shadow was nothing but someone who ran in Mandu’s circles before he reformed.