by Xenia Melzer
“I believe you. I really do. But I’m going to need time. Too much has happened this year that I still haven’t come to terms with. Before we can reshape our relationship, I have to deal with my new status and all the change it brings, otherwise I won’t be able to decide what I really want. Perhaps we can start by no longer avoiding each other?”
Noran slowly got up. This was beyond what he had hoped could transpire between him and Sic. He was eager to show the young man his willingness.
“Whatever you wish, Sic. This time, you’re the one to set the terms. I will no longer avoid you and will try to behave normally around you.”
Sic smiled shyly.
“That would be a nice start. I’m not going to lie to you, Master. I want to forgive you, but I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to do so. First, I guess, I have to learn to trust you again.”
Noran tried hard not to appear too forward.
“You don’t have to forgive me. If I were you, I probably wouldn’t be able to do it. I’m already thrilled that you’re even considering it.”
“Then we can start anew?”
It was an anxious question, one that showed how deeply the cuts between them ran. Noran was aware of the monstrous task lying ahead, but the mere fact that he had been allowed to take the first step on this long journey made him giddy with joy.
“Yes, we can start anew. Let’s see where time will take us, okay?”
Pure relief flooded Sic. This day, which had started out as a complete failure, had suddenly brightened up considerably.
“I thank you, Master. And I wish you a good night.”
“I wish you a good night as well, Sic.”
The last Emeris left the smithy lighthearted and, for the first time in weeks, at peace with himself.
“DARAN, GET your pretty ass over here right now!”
Kalad sounded so irritated, Daran hurried to do his bidding. Since he had overheard his masters’ discussion about selling him, the moods of the two warriors had taken a turn for the worse on a daily basis, although Daran tried everything within his power to please them. This only served to confirm his fear that his masters had grown tired of him and wanted to get rid of him as soon as possible.
Kalad had just come back from an errand. His gaze was fixed on the package Lord Sic had brought only a few hours ago. When he remembered that discussion, Daran felt his heart constrict with reproach. The smith’s guilty conscience, the agony he was going through because he thought he had done to Daran what he himself once had to endure, had overwhelmed the thief. In his desperate attempt to please his masters, he hadn’t thought about the consequences of his actions. While he had tried to calm the Emeris, Daran had understood for the first time why Aegid and Kalad abhorred lies so deeply—they never amounted to anything good. Now Daran was getting the uncomfortable feeling he would be paying the price for this particular lie in the near future.
“What’s that?”
Kalad eyed the package with suspicion, as if it would burst into flames at any minute. Daran raised his hands in a soothing gesture.
“It’s a present from Lord Sic.”
The warrior’s forehead wrinkled.
“For us?”
“No, for me.”
Kalad’s lively eyes drilled into Daran’s bent neck.
“Why would Sic want to give you something? Yesterday was good, but not good enough to merit a present.”
Trembling, Daran reached for the worn collar around his throat; then he knelt down, anticipating Kalad’s rage when he heard his next words.
“It’s not a present, per se, but a plea for forgiveness.”
“Daran.” Kalad’s voice had now a threatening undercurrent. “If you don’t tell me right now what’s going on here, you’re in deep shit, and that’s a promise.”
Daran gulped, afraid of what was to come. He had never seen Kalad so furious before.
“Lord Sic has given me this present as a symbol that he owes me. He was very upset because he’d taken me against my will.”
A long silence followed these words, a silence filled with all kinds of emotions—Daran’s fear, his regret about having lied, and his terror of being abandoned. Kalad’s fury about the lie, about the fact that Daran had given his consent in the first place, about the love he felt for the thief that had taken deep root in his heart. The irritable tension that had been building up during the past days finally found an outlet.
“You said it was your pleasure.”
“I lied. I only complied because it was your will.”
The desert warrior let out his frustration in a roar; then he grabbed Daran, yanked him up, and slapped him hard.
“You worthless, despicable piece of shit! How dare you? Strip!”
Shivering all over, Daran obeyed. His master’s fury terrified him. He had never seen Kalad like that; it was as if he had lost all control. As soon as Daran was naked, Kalad seized him, pushed him face-first against the wall, and chained him there. Then he got a whip. Until this day, the worst punishment Daran had ever received from the hands of his masters had been the twenty slaps on his backside after their first time together. All the more brutal felt the bite of the whip, which Kalad handled with merciless cruelty. Daran bellowed in pain but didn’t dare to beg for forgiveness.
After an eternity, Aegid returned to the chambers as well. Questioningly he turned to his brother.
“Why are you whipping Daran?”
“That’s for the scrawny little rat to tell. Go on, you worthless street mongrel! Tell Aegid what you did!”
The order was heightened by three brutal strokes on Daran’s thighs. Aegid stepped toward Daran, bent his head back, and regarded him quietly. Daran felt tears streaming down his cheeks, his voice was nothing more but a sobbing sound. The pain caused him to see Aegid’s face only in blurred lines.
“I’ve lied to you and your brother, Master. I didn’t want to have sex with Lord Sic. I only did it because you wanted me to.”
Aegid’s milky-blue eyes narrowed in anger, and his face hardened. Grimly, he turned to Kalad.
“Hand me the whip.”
If Daran had thought he knew the meaning of pain after Kalad had punished him so cruelly, he was now taught better. Aegid whipped him methodically, peeling the skin off his back until thin trickles of blood streamed down the thief’s legs. Only when Daran was close to losing consciousness did the furious man stop. Disgusted, he threw the whip aside.
“For the night, you stay like this. We’ll decide about your fate tomorrow.”
The desert brothers left their desperate slave alone.
Crying, Daran hung in his chains, trying to ignore the searing agony in his back and not think about his disgrace. He had wanted to stop his masters from selling him, but it seemed as if his thoughtless actions had brought about the contrary. He didn’t expect the slightest mercy from their side.
THE NEXT morning, Aegid and Kalad found their slave riddled by guilt. Like a heap of misery, he cowered at his owners’ feet after they loosened his chains. In between his sobs, his pleas were hardly understandable.
“Please, forgive me, Masters. I’ll do everything you want, I’ll bear any punishment. Just please, forgive me!”
“Do you have a choice in the matter?”
Kalad sounded contemptuous. Whimpering, Daran huddled even more.
“Of course not, Master. I’m so sorry. Please, show some mercy.”
“Why should we?”
Never before had Aegid sounded so uncaring and dismissive, as if his voice had turned to ice.
“We have given you a home, Daran. We have fed, clothed, and protected you. We’ve always been good to you, and we never asked for things you didn’t want to give. You had privileges only few slaves can enjoy, and yet you go behind our backs and lie to us, knowing how much we hate it. Why?”
Crying like a child, Daran pressed his forehead to the ground.
“I didn’t want you to sell me. I heard you talking about it. But there’s
no way I can ever belong to anybody else but you. It’s simply impossible. I thought if I did everything you asked of me, you would change your mind and keep me. I’m solely yours. I hated it when Lord Sic touched me and all I wanted to do was run away, but for you, I endured it. I love you so much.”
Now that he had bared his misery to his masters, Daran started sobbing again. Aegid and Kalad exchanged a long, loaded glance. Last night they had been too agitated to think clearly; their rage about Daran’s betrayal, about his willingness to lie to them, had ruled their emotions. Now that they had learned the truth, they felt embarrassed. It had never crossed their minds the explanation for Daran’s strange behavior might simply be his love for them. Because of a misunderstanding, they had forced their precious thief to do something he didn’t want to. At the same time, they had also violated the laws of the Pack by forcing Daran to have sex with Sic. That he hadn’t told them no only made it worse because, in their opinion, they should have known. There was no denying they had messed up badly.
Carefully, so as not to wound him any further, Aegid lifted Daran up.
“Shh, little thief. It’s fine.”
“I’m so sorry, Master. So unbelievably sorry!”
“We know, Daran, we know.”
Gently, Kalad swept a loose strand of hair from Daran’s face.
“Come, we better take you to the bath.”
In the flickering light of various candles, the brothers stared at what they had done. Kalad was worried.
“This looks bad. We overdid it. I better get Noemi.”
“I agree with you, brother.”
After Kalad had gone, Aegid turned to Daran, his face tense with worry and regret.
“I’m sorry we punished you so harshly. It was over the top.”
Shyly, Daran glanced at him.
“I’m your possession. It’s your decision, Master.” He hesitated a moment, then went on with a voice thin from pain and fear. “I really didn’t want to lie to you, Master. But I was so afraid. The mere thought of living without you….” Daran stopped. The idea was too terrifying.
Aegid placed his hand on the young man’s cheek.
“You little idiot. We could never sell you. We love you too much to do that. We were very hurt when you agreed to serve others as well.”
“I hated every single moment. But if that’s the price I’ve to pay for staying with you, I’ll do it.”
Sadly, Aegid shook his head. “There will be a price to be paid, Daran, quite a high one. We all will be paying it. But I can assure you, you’ll never belong to anybody else but us.”
Despite the searing pain in his back, Daran managed a weak smile.
“I thank you, Master.”
In silence they waited until Kalad returned with Noemi. The snake witch placed her cool hands on Daran’s shoulders without commenting on his wounds. A tingling sensation ran through his body, and then all traces of his punishment were gone. Full of respect and awe, Daran bowed in front of the fragile-looking woman.
“I thank you, lady. You’re very kind.”
The witch chuckled warmly.
“It’s fine, Daran. I can only advise you to never anger your masters like that again.”
“I’m not planning to, lady. Once is more than enough.”
Again that deep, warm chuckle before Kalad escorted the healer outside. When he returned, Daran glanced insecurely at his masters.
“What are you going to do to me?”
After a few moments of loaded silence, Kalad grabbed Daran’s wrist; his voice sounded amused. He was definitely back to his old, easygoing self.
“We’re going to have a very, very long talk with you, little thief. About trust and obedience and how you owe us both. I’m afraid you won’t like it, but it’s only fair after what you’ve put us through.”
“Before that”—Aegid started to take off his tunic, his tone full of warmth again—“we’re going to wash off all this blood. You look like a slaughtered pig.”
“Once you’re back to your old, clean, and delicious self, we’re going to fuck you silly.”
Kalad’s hand was resting on Daran’s back, his lips close to the thief’s ear. Daran gulped. With a wolfish grin, Aegid took his hands and pulled him into the water while Kalad pushed him forward. The giant embraced him tightly, his enormous muscles tense when he carried Daran into deeper water.
“We’re going to introduce the concept of make-up sex to you. It kicks in whenever we have an argument, just like now.”
In a daze, Daran let his masters wash him. He didn’t resist when they first took him in the water, then on the floor in the bathroom, and later on their bed. Only when he was completely exhausted—after all, he hadn’t slept a wink the previous night—did they allow him a break. Aegid got a platter full of food, placed it next to the bed, and took turns with Kalad to feed Daran.
The thief was so overwhelmed by his owners’ sudden kindness, he didn’t know what to say. When he finally had gathered the courage to speak up, his voice was thin and insecure.
“How can I thank you, Masters? Why are you being so generous with me?”
Kalad shoved an apple slice into his mouth.
“We’re generous because what’s happened is our fault as well. If pressed for details, I’d say more than half of it. We should have known something was off, that you weren’t being your usual self. But we were so eager to get you out of our lives, we didn’t notice it.”
Affected by these words, Daran lowered his gaze. The apple was stuck in his throat.
“So you’re really going to sell me? Can you at least tell me what I did wrong?”
Aegid kissed him lovingly.
“We won’t sell you, I already told you that. And you didn’t do anything wrong. If anything, you were too perfect. We had never planned to fall in love with you. When we chose you, we only wanted to keep you throughout the winter, as a pastime.”
“But you’ve been so delectable, so easygoing, we kept you around. It was an oversight on our part. And when you took on that stupid mission for Casto and we almost lost you, we had to face the fact that we had fallen in love. We had no choice but to part ways with you.”
“I have to go because you love me?”
The desert brothers managed to look contrite. It was Aegid who tried to explain in more detail.
“As we said, it wasn’t planned that we fall in love with you, and until the incident with Sic, we still thought we could end it without being hurt. Since you so readily agreed, we assumed you weren’t as attached to us as we thought. And yes, we do admit this was wishful thinking on our part, even though it annoyed us.”
“I still don’t understand. Why is it so bad that you’re in love with me? It almost sounds as if you’re regretting it.”
Kalad took Daran’s hand, his fingers massaging the young man’s palm.
“No, we don’t regret it. It’s just—Daran, we’re immortal, and you’re not. This kind of relationship always ends badly, and we didn’t want to do this to you. The coming ten, twenty years are going to be bliss, that much we can promise, but then you’ll gradually realize that you’re growing old and it’s going to weigh you down, especially since you’ll be confronted daily with the fact that we don’t. It’s going to be a difficult phase for you to come to terms with, if everything goes smoothly. And then we’ll have to watch you die slowly, every day a bit more. We’re going to lose you in the end, and it will break our hearts. That’s what’s going to happen.
“We’re really sorry to subject you to something so cruel, but we love you way too much to let you go. You’re bound to us for the rest of your life.”
There was a long, shocked silence after these words had been spoken. When Daran answered, his voice was gentle and full of conviction.
“Don’t be sorry, Masters. You saved me from an existence that would have led me to the gallows sooner than later. I owe you the best five years of my life so far. I understand your fears, and I’m not going to tell you
it won’t be difficult, but no matter what’s to come, nobody can take from me what you’ve given me so far. I’m really grateful and truly happy. I love you.”
Moved deeply by those touching words, the warriors leaned in to kiss their beautiful, courageous slave. Their hands started exploring his sensitive spots once more, and only a short time later, they drowned their fears in sexual fulfillment.
“SO, WHAT did Sic give to you?”
Kalad was leaning on his right arm, his eyes sparkling with ill-concealed curiosity. Daran whimpered.
“Please, Master. I haven’t slept all night and I’m sore from all the sex we had. All I want is some rest.”
“Forget it.”
Aegid smirked while his arm snaked around Daran’s waist. “As you should know by now, he’s unbearably curious. View it as part of your punishment.”
Sighing, Daran left the bed.
“All right, all right. I’ll get it. I haven’t opened it yet.”
“You’ve gotten a present and left it wrapped?”
Kalad obviously had problems getting his head around such an alien concept. Daran grinned at him in amusement before he turned serious again.
“I felt too bad. It was my fault Lord Sic was so miserable. The thought of looking at the proof of my stupidity wasn’t alluring at all.”
“We’re going to talk about that later. I’m sure we’ll find a way to compensate Sic for the inconvenience you caused him.”
Grateful, Daran bowed to Kalad, who shooed him away.
“Come on, what are you waiting for?”
Daran got the package and placed it on the bed.
“You can open it, if you want, Master.”
Kalad shook his head.
“It’s your present. Come on, hurry.”
“You better get going, little thief, before my brother here explodes from the excitement.”
“Shut up, Aegid. As if you’re not interested in what’s in there.”
His heart beating wildly in his chest, Daran opened the clasps holding the lid in place. Once it was removed, all three of them stared at the contents, lost for words.