Before me was a colossal atrium. The ceiling was so high I wouldn't have been surprised to see clouds up there. Tiered rings of crystal chandeliers made of solid Mana drifted in the air. Throughout the black marble floor there were glowing, golden veins.
Stepping out, we could see the bridge door opened up from a pillar in the middle. Three hundred and sixty degrees around there were floor-to-ceiling glass windows. A large, active city sprawled below lit by the moonlight.
The Mana in the atmosphere was electrifying.
There were multiple levels. Broad obsidian steps not far from where we were descended into a room with a royally long dining room table in front of a large fireplace. Several people were sitting or standing near the table. One spiral staircase led upward into levels that hazed into obscurity. I wondered if there might not be any end to the rooms in the Penthouse, as if it was as infinite as the Hotel itself.
We stepped down into the room with the fireplace.
There were seven, not including Elaine, who was also seated, who sat in the seats right next to the fireplace, so that if I sat in front of them, I would face them and the fireplace. Three women and four men. The Board, presumably.
The woman on the far left spoke first.
"Theodore MacBride. We've heard a lot about your exploits already."
"Expensive exploits," the man next to her said with a laugh.
The woman wore a deep midnight black gown with a deep V-cut that advertised a healthy set of B-cup breasts. Her silver hair was long and wavy, falling well down her back. She stared at me with purple eyes.
"My name is Vesperine LaCroix. It is nice to meet you."
I bowed. "It's nice to meet you as well."
The man next to her laughed.
"No need for that. My name is Damian Voss, by the way."
He smiled a charming smile. It was one that I couldn't immediately trust. Everything about him was well-crafted. Too well-crafted. His black hair was perfectly swept back, his chin prominent and strong, and a perfectly tailored suit which had pinstripes that glowed silver.
Next to him was a large man. Not quite as large as Matterhorn, but definitely someone who looked like he had spent a lot of time at the gym. He had a huge beard and wore a burgundy suit trimmed in gold.
"Lord Harlan Thorne," he said, nodding. "Welcome."
"Thank you, Damian, Harlan," I said.
The woman after him had shortly cropped, jet-black hair. She wore a tight black jumpsuit with crimson trimmings, the same color as her irises and a ruby that was lodged into her neck, surrounded by fissures. Her tits were huge and solid against the tight fabric.
She didn't say anything, but just sat there, arms crossed, studying him. However, she looked more analytical than someone who was mad at me.
The fifth person now seemed out of place. He wore wire-rimmed glasses and a tweed jacket. He had sandy blonde hair. The most in-place thing about him was a binder he had in in front of him covered in runes.
"Professor Elias Crowe," he said. "I've had some time to talk to Dr. Ryebald about your case. I'm sorry to hear about the conditions of your initial appointment with him."
"Thank you, Professor," I said. That made me a little bit nervous. I had known that they probably knew some things about me, but I wasn't thinking about my medical information or any of the other embarrassing details of my life that Dr. Ryebald already knew about me.
Next to the professor was a woman who looked a little more modern than Vesperine LaCroix. She wore a transparent and loose emerald crop top without a bra, revealing two ample breasts with piercings on her nipples connected with a silver chain. She had a piercing at her belly button that reminded me of Bridgid but couldn't see the rest of her under the table.
"I'm Seraphina Voss, Damian's sister," she said, smiling. "I'm the beauty. We're still on the market for brains."
Damian laughed.
Lastly—not counting Elaine, who had taken her seat at the very end of the group—was a person I couldn't tell much about given that he was hidden in black robes. What pieces of him I could see of him when the hood shifted were pieces of skin that were heavily burned and scarred.
"We also have Kael Draven with us," Elaine said. "He is not able to speak for the time being but has indicated that he welcomes you to the Penthouse of the Kiss Kiss Hotel."
"Thank you, Mr. Draven," I said.
I could feel the Mana simmer intensely in this room. I wanted to check their statuses but wasn't sure how much of a social faux pas that would be while I was first meeting them. I could try to do it on the sly, but then I might be distracted if someone tries to ask me a question. But I knew they must be incredibly powerful. Then again, I was told that Matterhorn was powerful at a Sugar level of 100, and mine was several times that.
"Do you know why you're here, Mr. MacBride?" Damian asked. "Has our esteemed Mistress Elaine said much at all about our operations here?"
I was finding it more difficult than I expected to speak. It wasn't until recently that I had been expecting to meet anything like the Board at all. I was more or less anticipating going straight to the Sugar Babies. But beyond just general unpreparedness, I had to watch what I said around them. After all, they were responsible for the death of the old Sugar Patriarch.
And can I really trust them?
"Just that I'd be trained," I said. "And that I'd be paired up with a Sugar Baby to help me get started."
"For what purpose?" Elias asked.
I wasn't exactly sure. I knew that I had a lot of Sugar in my blood, and that it made me a ripe target for people like the simps and who knows what else, and that I was also incredibly powerful and a potential danger to myself and others. I also knew they probably had their own interests in mine.
"So that I don't end up doing something bad."
The Board nodded to themselves.
"We're on the same general page, then," Elias said. But I caught a curious, skeptical glance from Lord Harlan.
"Alright," Elaine said. "Let's call in the candidates."