“And?” The word was so quiet, Grimbold barely heard it.
“And then your punishment is over. You may spend the rest of the evening doing anything you wish, including hiding in your room—but I have an extensive library, should you wish to read, and there's a media room that Reynard set up. You could watch a movie or play a game. It's up to you. But first, you have to take your punishment. Do you understand?”
Walter nodded. He looked confused, and wary, but also hopeful.
“Good.” Grimbold left the dim shelter of the table, stood, and turned back to reach a hand toward Walter. “Come, now. Part of your punishment is sitting at the table, Walter, and not under it.”
Slowly, the boy reached out and grasped Grimbold's hand.
“There's a good lad,” he encouraged. “Now. Sit down.”
Walter sat with alacrity.
Grimbold rang for Carsons, who came in with two footmen. “Please clear the table and bring the next course. What is it?”
“Poached salmon with lemon and dill.”
Grimbold looked to Walter. “Will you eat that?”
After a pause, the boy nodded, then said, “I like fish. I don't like beef or pork very much, but I like fish. And vegetables.”
“Excellent. Bring vegetables as well.”
Carsons gave a very slight bow. “Of course, sir.” Then he and the footmen, laden down with dishes from the last course, left the dining room.
“You're doing very well,” Grimbold affirmed, and he noted the pink that bloomed in the boy's cheeks. He blossomed under even the tiniest crumb of praise.
“Thank you, sir,” the boy mumbled, looking down.
“Eat a roll. And butter. The cook whips it herself, and her pastries are also quite superior. She used to work for my son, but I stole her when he moved with his mates to California.”
Walter shivered, but obediently took a roll and spread a thin layer of butter on it, then ate it with small, careful bites.
Watching the boy eat kindled something inside Grimbold he didn't have a name for. The feeling was full of joy and sadness, regret and fierce protectiveness. Someone had beaten Walter and made him fearful. Someone had abused him. Not once, or twice, but systematically.
Someone,he thought,will pay.
But that would be later. For now, he had an omega dragon who'd been shattered into a million jagged pieces to try to puzzle back together. Avenging this fragile boy could wait.
But not forever.That was the voice of his dragon, and he would not be denied.
No,Grimbold answered back.Not forever.
Then he asked Walter what his favorite dessert was. He would make sure Angela prepared it for the boy tomorrow.
Sometimes the road to one's goal could be bumpy, and in this case, paved with éclairs.
4
Wally
With a belly full of salmon and his cheeks reddened from a single glass of wine, Wally excused himself from the dining room once his punishment was over. Grimbold had tempted him with mention of the estate’s library and media room, but Wally knew better. As nice as dinner had been, the Amethysts were a wily bunch, and Wally saw through what Grimbold was trying to do. The invitation was a ploy to get him to misbehave.
Well, the joke was on Grimbold, because Wally was a good boy.
Anexceptionallygood boy.
He would never fall for such obvious tricks. While Grimbold the man was skilled at deception, his dragon was not. Wally had heard the beast rumble,But not foreverover dinner, which made it clear as day that Grimbold was stacking his offenses so he could take it out on Wally all at once with some sadistic form of torture. The beastly dragon in his soul wanted him to actnow,but Grimbold resisted. Wally heard the conversation in his head.
