Much to Victoria’s annoyance, it wasn’t long before she and the miner emerged from her room. Apparently “knowing what to do” much jack hammering her until sweating, and finishing long before she could even get started. Occasionally, she might have spared him some pity after such a performance, allowing him to stay hidden in her room for awhile longer, as to preserve his reputation. Tonight, however, she felt no such benevolence, and ushered him out by the time she cleaned herself off.<br/><br/>As it so happened, she was leaving the room as Missy got up to make her big announcement, and she leaned over the railing to get a listen in. More of that pretty talk from before, so far as Vic could tell. It was hard to tell if it was working on the townsfolk. Oh, they were listening alright, soothed by the drinks in their hands, watching the young woman with mostly curiosity, with perhaps a touch of carnal hunger. She was, after all, a pretty young thing making a fuss in a whorehouse, and therefore easy to draw that association.<br/><br/>And it was clear it wasn’t fooling everyone, as Jeb spoke behind her,<i>"That primrose bloodsuckin' leech, she'll bleed this town dry and feed the husk to the buzzards. Mark my words. Ain't no place safe from the Eastern slave masters. Talkin' of money? That money will go in only one pocket, folk here will be fightin' over the scraps."</i><br/><br/>Vic spared him a backward glance, and nodded in agreement. “She got some kinda machinations over Onyx Landing, but I couldn’t begin to tell ya what they were.”