Chapter 36 #3
Master laughed louder, drawing the eyes of the princess once more even though she had tried to stop looking this way twice already now. “Fuck no. I never said she was harmless. She’s an utter savage, aren’t you little goddess?”
His bright eyes drank me in, and I nodded in agreement. “Utterly,” I parroted back to him, making him laugh more while Cassius took a subtle step away from me.
Magdor snapped something to draw Austyn’s attention back to her though the princess’s eyes briefly met mine, stilling my breath as she gave me a faint frown before she looked away once more.
The next two contenders moved into the ring, leaving me to look at her all I liked while she was distracted. She really was beautiful, regal, all the things any man might dream of finding in a woman.
I bit down on my bottom lip and felt my cheeks heating, a strange sensation building in my gut which writhed and twisted like a bucket of worms.
“Prince Gurvine’s got this one in hand without even having to try,” Cassius murmured as a beast of a boy bowed to a willowy man who seemed to be sniffing at the air.
“I want to use the bathhouse. This heat is exhausting,” Master said, his gaze flicking to the brawl which was about to begin before he turned away from it, looking back towards the palace.
“We should watch the other bouts and see what we can pick up about the winners’ fighting styles,” Cassius objected. “Any advantage could be pivotal to you winning again in the next round and-”
“And that sounds like a great job for you,” Master agreed dismissively, and I couldn’t help but snort a laugh.
Cassius opened his mouth to object again, but Lord Kalaviv approached us suddenly and he was forced to hold his tongue.
“Good match, Count Nazari,” he said, acting as though Cassius and I weren’t even present as he moved to stand so close to my master that I was forced to take a step back.
He held his hand out and Master shook it with a hard smile, pulling him close and gripping his arm like they were great friends.
“It was for me , anyway,” Master said, and I almost laughed again but Cassius caught my eye, warning me not to with a shake of his head.
As my master drew back, I noticed something glinting in his palm which he quickly concealed in his fist, and I cocked my head curiously as I wondered what it was.
“Indeed,” Kalaviv replied curtly, not looking too happy about his loss though he was trying to front it out. “Would you care to join me to watch the remainder of the matches? I know many Nazaris back in my homeland, perhaps they’re some distant cousins of yours?”
“Perhaps,” Master agreed with a shrug. “But my father died when I was young and all I really inherited from him was my title and my estate. Mother remarried and I never had much to do with the Nazari side of my family after that, so I wouldn’t really know.
And thank you for the offer but I don’t plan on watching the remaining matches, I’m in need of a bath. ”
“That’s a shame about your father,” Kalaviv said with a frown, not letting him escape so easily. “May I inquire as to how he died?”
“Trampled by a herd of elephants while voyaging in the south. Mother always did tell him that his exploits would end badly one day.” Master shrugged.
I gasped. “Oh, that’s so sad. I didn’t know,” I said, my heart twisting with pain for him as I thought of his poor father crushed beneath the feet of such enormous creatures.
My memories of elephants didn’t paint them as naturally violent, but then again maybe what I was thinking of wasn’t a memory at all.
Sometimes I felt like a vat of information with no source.
I knew what an elephant was and had my own impression of the way they behaved, but actually trying to think of a time when I had laid my eyes upon one was impossible.
Would I ever remember who I was, or would I always be this empty creature without any real sense of home?
Kalaviv’s eyes turned to me in surprise. “Does your maid often voice her opinions while her betters are speaking?” he asked coolly, and I could see anger flashing in his eyes which reminded me of the masters I’d known before, the ones who favoured silence and punished failure harshly.
“Her betters ?” Master asked roughly, all amusement slipping from his gaze as he took a step closer to Kalaviv, his eyes dark and full of threat which made my muscles tighten in a delicious kind of way.
I held my breath as I watched him, uncertain if I should speak again or not.
“I see no one here who is any better than her.” His gaze stayed fixed on Kalaviv, and it was clear the comment had been aimed at him.
Tension stretched through the air, the feel of it brittle and just waiting to break, the memory of the recent fight between them stirring and the sour taste of testosterone rising once again as the challenge hung there unanswered.
Cassius cleared his throat, raising an eyebrow at my Master but he ignored him entirely, waiting for Kalaviv to respond. The lord narrowed his eyes in confusion, cutting a look at me which dragged down my body slowly before a knowing smile tugged at his mouth and he nodded.
“Ah, I see. She’s that kind of maid, is she?” he asked, violence slipping from his gaze and something more improper taking its place, his eyes rolling over me in a way that made my skin feel sticky and filled me with the desire to bathe in boiling water.
“What kind?” Master asked, a low growl to his voice that should have been all the warning the lord needed, especially after the beating he’d just taken, but he didn’t seem to pick up on it.
“The kind who services your cock as well as your home,” Kalaviv replied, his gaze on me turning lascivious. “How is she? Perhaps you’d like to lend her to me as a consolation prize? I’m sure I could teach her better manners given a night in my-”
Kalaviv cut off with a strangled yelp as Master’s hand snapped out and grasped his manhood tightly through the white britches he still wore from the bout, causing Kalviv to release a curse as he froze, his eyes bugging from his face and hand moving to his belt as if in search of a weapon.
But he wasn’t carrying one thanks to the rules of the brawl, meaning he had little option but to wait and see what would happen next.
I gasped audibly, my heart catapulting into my throat as the shock of the move struck me. Was he…defending my honour? Was that promise of violence in his dark and tempestuous eyes put there on my behalf?
It’s a trap. He only wants to trick you into trusting him.
It didn’t feel like any kind of trap though. It felt raw and brutal and an exhilarating kind of real.
“My liege,” Cassius began but Master shot him a dark look, forcing him to bow his head and step back in deference, though the way his jaw ticked made it clear he wasn’t happy about that.
Master stepped closer to the lord, his grip tightening and all amusement falling from his face as nothing, but cold, furious rage spilled from him.
“She is not a possession in my keeping to loan out on a whim,” Master hissed, and a shiver ran down my spine which had no place being there on a day as hot as this one.
“She is neither property nor for sale in any kind of way. She has a name. One which you are not worthy of hearing. She is worth far more than any price you could ever pay, and certainly far more than some kind of pity gift to allow you to feel like a big man again after being humiliated so publicly out there in the ring. And even if by some miracle she agreed to go to your bed out of choice, I would sooner cut your cock off than allow you to put it anywhere near her. Do you understand me?”
“Unhand me or I’ll-” Kalaviv spluttered but Master pushed forward, squeezing harder and glaring right into his eyes, their noses brushing.
Kalaviv barely suppressed a wail of pain and Cassius subtly positioned himself to try and hide them from view of any prying eyes.
“You’ll what? Cry out and tell everyone you tried to barter for a night with my maid as if she were some street whore for sale to you?
Go ahead. I wonder what the princess would think of one of her supposed suitors looking to bed another woman within her own palace walls?
Though after your performance in the ring today, it seems highly unlikely that she will ever have to worry about the burden of you becoming her husband. ”
Kalaviv tried to jerk free, but Master only followed, the thick muscle of his bicep bulging with how hard he was squeezing the lord’s manhood.
Cassius moved strategically to continue blocking them from view, still trying to cover where my master’s hand was placed in case anyone looked our way.
I glanced around to see if anyone was paying attention, but they were all caught up watching the next suitors as they warmed up in anticipation of their brawl.
Kalaviv looked like he might pass out from the tightness of my master’s grip and I strained my ears as I watched them, listening hard for the sound of a testicle popping, not wanting to miss it if it happened.
“Apologise,” Master growled and Kalaviv looked even more horrified by that suggestion than he was by the threat being posed to his manhood.
“I’m sorry,” he spluttered and Master’s lip peeled back to reveal his teeth as he practically growled at him.
“To her .” He gripped Kalaviv’s chin, forcing his face around to me and I fell utterly still as I waited to see what he would do.