Page 58 of Of Monsters and Mazes

I didn’t anyway.

Fuck, am I becoming naïve? Did he dickmatize me in my dream without me realizing it?

The more Alessi looked at me through that amused expression, the more I felt like an idiot. Maybe it wasn’t too late to go back and shove him into the plants.

“This is fascinating. Nightmares and all, you see him as someone safe?” His grin didn’t have the menace or mischief it did before, but there was something else in the dim glow of his eyes that I couldn’t quite place. “Do you have a crush on my little Dream Weaver, Bijou?”

“N-no, of course not.” That was completely absurd. I wouldn’t even entertain such a ridiculous question. “I just felt safe with him, that’s all. He was still a dick 99% of the time, but this place is insane and I don’t have magic, so I had to work with whoever was willing. And he was willing, so…”

“Precious.” He approached me and ruffled my hair. Still I couldn’t read the look on his face. “Maybe we are the same, after all.”

“Both terrible judges of character?”

“The worst.” His grip dropped from my hair to my neck where he began slowly drawing sharp lines up and down my pulse. It was both gentle and threatening and that made my heart skip. Then he moved in close enough for the quietest of whispers, “But make no mistake, Sela—there is nothing submissive about me. Not for him, and most certainly not for you.”

The low growl to his voice made me shiver, and I stepped away for much needed space.

“Whatever. That doesn’t answer my question.” I turned away to hide the redness in my cheeks. He had a way of getting to me, and I was not proud of that. “What do you think I should choose here? Knowing we’ll both be involved somehow, I mean. I have some of my own guesses, but you know this place a lot better than I do, so I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.”

Alessi turned his head to evaluate our options, while not receding an inch from my personal space. “Personally, if it were me, I’d probably most enjoy door number two.” His grip moved to my shoulder, where he continued to draw small circles over my collarbone. “Tying someone up, stealing their eye sight, seeing them bound and completely at your mercy, with no choice but to be your little fuck toy.” He practically purred as he spoke. “I think we might have fun with that one.” His partially shifted claw nicked my skin, and a thin bead of blood dripped from my collar bone. He caught it before it could stain my V-neck, then he brought his finger to his mouth to lick the blood from his nail.

“What if the task is that I tie you up? Maybe the maze will want me to have you blind and at my mercy. I could imagine it flipping the script. The Labyrinth can’t always be too predictable, you know?”

“The more I think about it, I’m not really into box two. Let’s move on.” He dismissed my inquiry with a wave, and I rolled my eyes at his immediate change of tune. “So, if I were the Minotaur, I’d probably nod towards door number three. Rai has always worn a collar, and I know he has a thing for whips. I’m fairly certain that’s where this came from.” Alessi twirled the whip in his grasp like it was a baton. “The first door is completely lost on me. I have no clue who would have interest in nails and hammers, and I have even less of an idea as to how those could be used sexually. Unless it’s for some kind of construction kink, and the challenge is going to tell us to build a cute bench to fuck on, I wouldn’t want anything to do with whatever the maze has in mind with that one.”

Right. A construction kink.

Nope, I would not be clarifying that one for him.

But also, “bold of you to assume we’re just going to move straight from whips and vibrators to fucking me.”

“In my defense, usually the fucking comes way before the whips and vibrators.” His smugness didn’t make it better. “The Yellow Sector seems unusually sexually charged this iteration, so it’s a reasonable assumption. I would say I feel a bit bad I skipped the courtship before putting you in these positions, but you were just so adorable each time you came all over my hand.”

“I think I’m going to pick the blindfold, just so I can wad it up and shove it in your mouth.” I grumbled.

“I would love to see you try, Bijou.” He flashed his fangs in a grin.

“So what about the fourth box?” I said loudly, as a not at all subtle demand to change the subject. “What the hell do you think nothing means?”

He tilted his head back and forth for a spell before his gaze landed on the empty box. “Nothing is probably what Rai thinks of Jericho’s bland bedroom game.” Alessi snorted at his own joke, while that break down had my mind spinning.

“Is that what this is?” I looked to the fox by my side, then back to each choice, one at a time, fully absorbing the meaning. “Is each one of these signifying a different person in the maze? Door one is Theron, door two is you, door three is the Minotaur, and door four is the King?”

His amber eyes widened. He looked between the cubbies again. He nodded along, as if seeing my point, then he stopped short and furrowed his brow. “Wait, why would door one be Theron?” He asked with a scrunched nose.

“Process of elimination.” I waved a hand dismissively. “What do you think would happen if I were to pick a box that represents one of the other men?” I had no intention of answering honestly, and he didn’t seem to pick up on it.

“I couldn’t say. It really just depends on what kind of mood Rai is in. If he’s in a bad mood, it’ll be something bad. If he’s in any other mood, it’ll be something bad but nonfatal.”

“You’re not even trying to be helpful.” I glanced between each box again. I wanted to pick the empty box, but not if it could mean summoning Jericho. But then again, even if it was associated with the Devil King somehow, there was nothing to strangle or maim me in there like in all the others. That had to be good, right?

I started towards the empty box, but I hesitated. Glancing back over my shoulder, I stared at the box of nails long and hard.

Was that to signify Theron?

Or was that to signify me.

After all, it wasn’t his mind that created that vision. At least he claimed it wasn’t.