He cut him a warning look. “You promised to obey. So obey. Youwillmarry me. Say it.”
“Why is that important?”
“Because I’ll have all of you in every possible way I can. Submit, Rabbit.”
“Or what?” He felt the first flare of anger in a while. “You’ll leave me to deal with my mother on my own? And when she comes after you? What then?”
Baikal straightened. “Are you worried about me, or about her? If she tries for the company, she’ll be dealt with by the Brumal. They’re one and the same. You know that. Are you making this deal not because you want freedom as you claim, but out of loyalty toward your mother? Do you think I would hurt her?”
“Void,” his voice turned steely, “I’m going to say this once, and only once because it honestly sickens me to do so and it makes me feel like scum. I couldn’t care less what you or anyone else does to that woman.”
He cocked his head. “Then…are you asking me to kill her?”
“What?!” Rabbit gaped at him. “Good Light, no! I’m not saying I actively want her hurt, just that whether or not her own actions get her in trouble is her problem, not mine. I don’t want you to kill anyone.”
“That better not be one of your terms, little bunny, because I can’t agree to that.”
He blinked, but it was obvious that Baikal wasn’t joking.
“You won’t have to see it if you don’t want,” Void quickly added, coming back to hug him close once more, as though trying to soothe him with his touch.
It was working ,damn it.
“You won’t have to be involved in anything Brumal. Like I said, your future is yours to decide.”
“So long as it’s with you.”
“Exactly.” He smiled at him. “Give yourself to me, little bunny, and I’ll make all your dreams come true.”
Before, picturing life after graduation was him being rushed from planet to planet by a manager selected by his mother. One who kept him on her leash from afar. He’d marry who she chose, attend the parties that she told him to go to. He’d play the part he’d been playing all his life.
Her puppet on her strings.
Baikal was offering a different possibility, one which may still include strings of sorts, but one which also allowed him to make his own choices. He could decide what to do with his time.
“What about friends?” he asked, hating that he sounded small but unable to lift his voice any higher. He also couldn’t meet Void’s gaze head on, staring instead at his navel, counting the rise and fall of his abs as he waited.
“Friends?” Baikal was clearly confused. “What about them?”
“Can I…” He exhaled and forced it out. “Can I have them?”
The silence was deafening.
Rabbit eventually glanced up, unable to stand it any longer.
Baikal was frowning at him again, but this time there was something else mixed in with the expression. It wasn’t pity, necessarily, but it was close. “Rabbit. Are you…Are you not allowed to havefriends?”
He felt like a child.
“What about Sila?” Baikal insisted.
“We don’t hang out off campus,” Rabbit explained. “And Professor Ludo has never spotted us together. An acquaintance is all right, but if she thinks I’m letting someone become a distraction…”
“Professor Ludo? What does he have to do with anything?”
“He’s a spy for my mom. He fills her in on everything I do. I was worried he’d told her about you being in my dressing room that day before the recital, but when she didn’t bring it up I figured your reputation had scared him enough he’d kept it a secret. Now though…You told her yourself, so that’s that.”
“You mentioned she locked you in a dark room and forced you to play for three days without food,” Baikal brought up. “And the left handed thing…What else has she done to you? I knew you were afraid and there had to be a better reason than simply you being too much of a coward to say no to your mother, but…Rabbit. Tell me. What has she done?”
