Well, he is a man ...

"Well Evelyn, Merthin is a man after all, and you are young, sweet and really quite beautiful." Madam Scarlet smiles kindly at her newest girl. "Why else do you think he rescued you from that hypocritical pig, Anthyl?"

"I know Lady Scarlet, it's just that I'm still a virgin. I don't think I could let a man do that to me. Not unless we were married." Scarlet's motherly demeanor became much harder, she understood why Merthin wanted this pretty little thing especially if she were truly still pure, but chastity and whorehouses did not go together and the quicker Evelyn learned her place, the better it would be for everyone involved.

"Listen to me, Evelyn." Merthin would not tell Scarlet who his newest toy was and where she came from other than he took her from the bishop's 'hole' but it was clear that this was no commoner. "I don't know what your life used to be like, but it's time for you to let it go. You're a whore now, Evelyn." Christine flinched at the casual coldness of Scarlet's assessment. "Oh, we'll dress it up as best we can. We'll call you companions, or courtesans but the fact of the matter is that the only real difference between what you'll be doing here under my roof and a streetwalker by the docks that here you'll have a bed under you when your customer climbs between your spread legs."

"Alice said that no one would be allowed to touch me except Merthin."

"That's right, my dear." Once again Scarlet was gently encouraging. "As long as you keep him happy, you'll belong exclusively to him ... so when he comes knocking on your door you best be ready to let him do whatever he wants. Got that?" All things considered it could be a lot worse, the memory of the stinking outlaws on the kingsroad flashed into her thoughts. The way their grubby hands tore at her clothes and the stench of their foul breath as they pulled her against their bodies. Bishop Anthryl wasn't much of an improvement, his body might be scrubbed clean and his hair neatly oiled, but on the inside the lecherous cleric's soul was as rotten as the outlaws teeth.

"Well girl, are you going to be a good girl when Master Merthin comes calling, or should I have you stripped and tied spreadeagle on the bed so he can take you without a fight?"