Liam left the brothel entirely after the experience, instead settling on its roof, puffing from his pipe while the night sky accompanied the revolutions in his mind.
Much, if not all, was falling into place. Liam's perspective had changed, and, with that, his view on many of his memories. Clearly, Joel had been in the know since the very beginning, and the same went for his Master and the Disciplinary Elder.
Actually, probably everyone had realized what was happening ever since Melissa first clung to Liam's elbow.
And things didn't stop there.
Everything had a proper shape now and was connected. Lust and love were different, but Liam could see them both as separate entities and intertwined forces.
The courtesans' behavior fell into categories Liam could finally understand, and that perspective stretched to past events that had left him utterly clueless.
'Toy with a maiden's heart,' Liam recalled words that had confused him for months. 'Did Lucy like me? Like me in that way?'
