The turn in conversation could be called an improvement from a moment ago, even if it didn't feel that way. Dorian's hand dropped from the door, but he remained in front of it, body posed in wariness for some potential assault. He wasn't sure he would be able to do anything even if it came. He didn't have his staff, and this was close range, not a strategic front.

It didn't mean he would roll over and let himself be killed.

"I do have a lovely voice." It was sharply spoken, a drawling self-flattery meant to cut in reply. The question almost made him bristle, though he managed to tamp down on his own reaction before it could be obvious. "And I don't see how that matters to you. If I said yes, what would you do? Reassure me that it's deserving of my newfound position in society? Regardless of what either of us may want, it's what they mean for us to do. Give ourselves as property to someone else."

So, yes. He was contracted.