Chapter 25 #2
“Would you do that for me?” Master breathed, shifting a little closer so that I could smell the scent of him and taste it on my tongue. It was like smoke and sand and pure, brutal man . Why in the world had I thought he was a girl?
Because you’re a damn idiot who lost your mind a thousand years ago.
“Ask for it,” I whispered in return.
“I want you to make sure you stay mine,” he said, lowering his voice in a way that made a shiver race down my spine.
I liked the way he called me his. I liked him claiming me like that, like I was precious and important and real.
It made me feel like we were sharing some secret beyond the bond of a slave and their master, and I smiled at him as I turned my magic to his desires.
The coin flew from his pocket, hanging in the space between us as I surrounded it with a band of platinum until it was contained within a ring of it.
Silver light appeared next, condensing into a chain which slid through a loop in the platinum which now held the coin before forming an unbreakable circle.
I cloaked its appearance too, so that it looked like a golden amulet inlaid with rubies instead of a coin.
The necklace dropped over his head and the last echoes of my magic flared in his eyes as it fell against his skin, hanging just above the open collar of his tunic.
My eyes tracked over the tattooed skin there, the hard planes of his muscular chest holding my attention as I looked to the buttons he’d left open below his throat, a swallow making my mouth dry out.
“You really are something special, you know that?” he murmured as he twisted the tiny coin between his fingers, inspecting my work.
“Special isn’t always a good thing,” I replied quietly.
I would have given anything to just be normal and to have never set foot in that coin. But that choice had been stolen from me by the man who had murdered my sister and this path had been the only one left for me to tread.
“Says the special one,” he teased, leaning back on his elbows so that he could look up at the stars.
I couldn’t help but stare at him as he laid there before me.
He was so real. His hair was as black as midnight and his skin the richest bronze as if the sun kissed each inch of it every single day.
His mouth hooked up naturally like he was happiness given flesh, and his dark eyes held more secrets than I could ever hope to untangle.
It was a shame he was so ugly, but then I’d take a hundred ugly faces over another moment of solitude.
A smile pulled at his lips as he noticed my attention on him, but I didn’t look away.
He thinks you’re staring because you like him.
I frowned. I did like him so why did it matter if he knew it?
Not the way you’re thinking. He thinks you want to see him naked.
“I don’t want to see him naked,” I muttered beneath my breath.
Master’s eyes swivelled to me, and he frowned.
“I wasn’t talking to you,” I said quickly, and he nodded, though he didn’t seem very happy anymore.
Just about you .
I wrung my hands together, looking away from him awkwardly.
“I was wondering about what you said before, about how you used to be Fae,” he said eventually, and I looked back to him with a surge of relief that he wasn’t still mad at me.
“Yes?” I asked, as my pink hair swept forward around me, reaching down to my currently blue toes and tucking them in to keep them warm.
“It’s just that you said that you were going to be able to disguise yourself so that you don’t have to go back inside the coin, but from what I’ve seen you’re not very...normal.” He waved a hand at me and my heart tugged.
“I don’t understand,” I admitted, trying to ignore the fear I felt at the idea of going back into the coin.
Master pushed his hair back from his eyes and the muscles on his arm bulged as he did so. Somehow it seemed intentional, like he wanted me to notice how strong he was, but I wasn’t sure why.
“Fae don’t tend to have multi-coloured skin and hair,” he explained and a rainbow of colour skittered across my hands as he drew attention to it.
I’ve told you that a thousand times.
“Oh.”
“So can you turn that shit off? Maybe make yourself look like you did before you were a Blessing?” he asked. “Otherwise, I think there won’t be any other choice but to go back in the coin when we reach the city, and I would really rather keep my promise to you.”
I recoiled, my eyes widening in alarm as panic loomed like a kraken before me.
“No, please,” I whispered and for a moment I thought I could see pity in my master’s eyes as he noted the desperation in my tone.
No man has ever had mercy on you before so don’t go kidding yourself that this one is any different.
“You don’t have to, providing you can look Fae,” he said, his voice a little softer than before.
I nodded keenly. “I’ll figure it out. I think my magic simply bled into every piece of me while I was trapped in there, but I can contain it again. I can remember what I was like...before.”
Liar. You can’t even remember your sister’s name, let alone the colour of your own skin. We’ll be back inside that coin the second we get close to civilisation, and he won’t bother with you again until he wants more magic from you.
Tears welled in my eyes and I looked away from my master quickly, not wanting him to think he’d upset me, but the idea of that reality was like a punch to my gut which shattered my ribs and punctured my lungs.
I couldn’t breathe when I thought about returning to that prison and I knew I had to figure this out, make sure I could stay out here with him like he was offering.
“It’s hard to imagine what you truly look like when your features keep changing,” he said, his eyes roaming over me with interest like he was trying to see beyond the magic to who I was at my core. “Perhaps you’re as attractive as me?”
“But you’re not...” I chewed my lip again as irritation flickered in his eyes and forcefully reminded myself that he didn’t like it when I pointed out how ugly he was.
“Are you trying to bait me or is that really what you think?” he asked in a growl. “I have never met a woman who didn’t like my face before.”
“You seem to care about your looks a lot,” I murmured in response, not really wanting to answer. I did like his face, I just thought it could do with a bit of rearranging if he wanted to be more appealing.
He narrowed his eyes at me then waved a hand dismissively like he didn’t even care.
“If ninety-nine women fall at my feet and one turns up her nose at me, what difference does that make to me anyway?” he scoffed, but I wasn’t sure if the question was really for me or just for the stars.
Besides, it seemed like it did make a difference because his jaw was gritted with irritation and he wasn’t looking at me anymore.
You could try lying.
“I’m not sure I remember how to lie,” I hissed because my kind had never been meant to do that and though I knew all too well that it was possible now, it still wasn’t something that came naturally to me. “I only seem to be able to tell the truth.”
“And the truth is you find me ugly?” my master demanded as if I’d been talking to him.
I scrunched up my nose as I tried my hardest to do what I’d suggested and lie to him.
“I don’t find you ugly,” I said slowly and his eyes glimmered as if he’d expected me to admit that. “I find you…not...attractive.”
“Not attractive?” he deadpanned and I could tell I’d angered him again. Shit .
“Umm...”
“I think it’s time I got some sleep.” Master got up and walked away from me and I bit my lip, wondering if I should tell him that he would probably look fine if I just switched his mouth and eyebrows about a bit.
Probably best to shut up at this point.
I nodded sadly. I might have been right for once.
When I was alone, I focused on drawing my magic away from my skin, my hair, my features. I needed to look Fae again if I wanted to remain free of the coin, and it was truly the only thing I desired anymore.
I laid flat on my back and stared up at the stars, asking them for strength as I tried to focus on what I needed to do, my fingers and toes pushing into the soft grass as I used the feeling of it to ground myself in reality.
As I started work, I realised how deeply I’d let the magic bleed throughout my flesh. My body wasn’t even my own anymore, crackling and sparking with the power I fought to contain, and it hurt as I began to tear it from my skin inch by agonising inch.
My spine arched against the grass covered hill as I sucked in a harsh breath, the feeling of me forcing the magic from even the tips of my fingers akin to peeling the skin from my flesh and setting my bones alight for good measure.
I didn’t know how long it had been since I’d allowed the magic to permeate my body like this, but it felt like my flesh had forgotten how to be without it, the skin mourning its loss with a flare of unthinkable pain as I gritted my teeth and dragged it back.
I stifled my screams as I worked to force it away without so much as pausing to question my dedication to this, each time the pain flared too hot I only had to remind myself of the alternative.
If I couldn’t do this, then I would have to return to the coin.
And there was no fate worse than that which I could imagine, so any amount of torture was worth it.
So I bit down on my lip and buried my screams and tore the power from every inch of my body, forcing it back down into the well which existed inside me and making certain that it remained there out of sight and under my control.
It took me hours, during which time my other self constantly insulted me and made me doubt myself. My skin coated with a sheen of sweat and my heart raced to a beat so powerful that it sounded like the thrum of hummingbird wings in my ears.