Poor C’adon.
Facing the door again, I let myself out. Instead of going to the next door and starting my search, I waited for him to join me.
You would have thought I held a knife by the way he cautiously approached. I almost smiled at the thought that a monster had any reason to fear me. C’adon was the one with the strength and the magic that could crumble a building as easily as it could make a meal. I was just a simple, powerless human, standing in front of him without any underwear.
I looked away first and moved for the next door. He trailed behind me, silent for a change, and I almost missed the chains around his wrists. At least, the clinking had let me know he was with me.
When I reached the door, I didn’t put my ear to it. I looked at him instead. He watched me warily.
“What game do you play now?” he asked softly.
I debated reaching out and patting his chest then thought better of it. Touching him would only encourage him to touch me. Besides, comfort wasn’t the only thing he wanted from me.
So, I faced the door and opened it. Inside, a creature was chained to the wall. Rather than being afraid, I was annoyed, and it must have shown because C’adon leaned toward me to peek into the room.
“Goddess, everything is as it should be.”
Was it though? This poor thing was covered with larger than average ants. They crawled over his skin, converging on his open sores. He moaned weakly.
“Please. Forgive me. I will never again touch what is not mine,” the creature mumbled.
I grabbed the latch and slammed the door on the horrific scene, pretty sure those ants were eating him alive.
“She’s upset. Why? What was missing? He suffers greatly.”
I made a “yeah, exactly” gesture at the door while looking C’adon dead in the eye. His expression turned from confused to angry.
“Ask no favor of me when you are unwilling to give the same,” he snarled at me.
Gods, why did I think he would be capable of even an ounce of compassion?
Turning on my heel, I went to the next door and flung it open without caution. Inside, the startled souls fled to the other side of the room.
“I tire of your games,” C’adon said, stalking toward me. “Direct your anger at me. Have I not waited long enough? Give me your touch.”
He grabbed my shoulder and spun me around.
“Love me!”
My hand cracked across his face before I realized what I meant to do. Chest heaving with fear, I stared at him with wide, shocked eyes. His angry gaze held mine.
“Hate it is, then,” he said a moment before he tossed me over his shoulder.
I struggled against his steel hold as he strode forward. A minute later, he flipped me onto a bed. I rolled with the bounce and fell off the other side.
“Goddess, curse you!” he said.
I crawled under the bed, knocking the empty piss pot out of the way in my mad scramble to get out the other side. A hand closed around my ankle. I kicked at it, but the hold tightened, and I felt myself dragged backwards. My skirt stuck on the stone floor and slithered up my legs as he continued to pull me out from under the bed.
“Look at her skin,” he rumbled.
I twisted and looked back, aiming a kick at his face while he was preoccupied with the view of my calves. My heel collided with his nose. He grunted and released me. I desperately scrambled forward.
“Run, and I will find you. Fight, and I will subdue you. You will take me into your body this day. I vow it.”
When I popped up from the other side of the bed, he lunged at me. His fingers brushed the material at my back as I bolted for the door. I wasn’t thinking of the other monsters in Hell when I flew out into the hall, only of escaping the one bent on raping me.
I raced in the direction we hadn’t yet explored, hoping for another stairwell.
