Mabon’s expression darkens. His eyes flash with something that makes me shudder.
“The man who made him a rhocyn was a half-orc, and big like you.”
Mabon’s tone is conversational. Almost idle. But I’m not stupid. I don’t understand any of what he just said, but I know it is bad. Far more than someone simply being intimidated by my size.
I watch Mabon carefully as he pours another drink. He is not scared of me. Quite the opposite. His appreciation for my build is the whole reason I’m here. He liked what he saw and decided he wanted to keep it. Just a new way for my size to get me into trouble. Being big has honestly been the bane of my life.
Mabon hands me the drink he just poured. I take it automatically and stare at him in surprise. Giving someone a drink is a rather civil gesture.
“You helped me,” he says calmly.
“I did,” I agree warily. I thought we were to never talk of this? Is he testing me?
“What do you want in return?’
A thousand stories flash through my mind. Fairy tales, movies and books. Making deals with the fey is woven into human culture. I never thought in a million years I’d be actually doing it.
“Um…my freedom?” I try.
Mabon laughs. A clean, joyful sound with no malice in it. “No,” he says simply.
Well it was worth a try. And I’ve amused him, so it’s all good. A step in the right direction. Hopefully, we will reach stable ground and this tempest of emotion will soon be behind us.
Mabon walks over to a cabinet. The grace of his movements is truly mesmerising. I’d love to see him dance. I bet it would be incredible.
He glides back to me and stares at me intensely for a moment. Then he takes an earring out of his ear and replaces it with one he retrieved from the cabinet.
He holds out a simple gold earring, the one that was just in his ear. “Your payment.”
I take it with numb fingers. “I only have one pierced ear.”
I’ve got used to the silver feathers and don’t feel their weight anymore. But I know the earring is there, translating for me. I imagine Mabon thinks it is more useful than this simple gold ring.
Mabon rolls his eyes, snatches the gold earring back from me and steps up close. His intoxicating scent floods my senses. Citrus? Jasmine? Maple syrup?
A sharp jabbing pain in my unadorned ear makes me yelp. Mabon steps back, places his hands on his hips, and admires his handiwork.
Gingerly, I feel my ear. The bastard pierced my lobe. With brute force by the feel of it.
He nods sharply, as if satisfied, and then abruptly turns on his heels and marches over to his desk. He opens his laptop and seems to be immediately absorbed in his work.
I guess that means I’m dismissed?
I shake my head and feel my new earring move.
He goes to kill me, then to cut out my tongue. Then he gives me a gift. And now he is ignoring me.
Mabon is one confusing son of a bitch.
Chapter eleven
Ithought captivity and being enslaved were going to be many things. Boring was not one of them. But here I am, more bored than I have ever been in my entire life.
It is a little chilly, so I’ve stolen a sheet from the bed and now I’m wandering around wrapped in it, for all the world like a ghost. A lost and lonely soul, draped in white. Walking around aimlessly.
Mabon left for the evening, what feels like hours ago. I’ve been left alone in his rooms. Locked in. His rooms are luxurious, so this really is no prison cell. But there is absolutely nothing to do. No TV, no computer or sound system. No books. I can’t even tidy because everything is spotless and I don’t have any mops or dusters.
I’ve done all the situps, pushups, crunches and even star jumps I should do for the day. Maybe Mabon will buy me some weights if I ask him? He is certainly a fan of my muscles, so presumably he will be keen for me to maintain them?
