Chapter 4
“How did you think of offering the oiyer?” Vryal’s growls had a lilt at the end that might have denoted a question, but he was looking at Trenet when he said it, stroking Asher’s hair as Asher accepted the last berry in the bowl.
Vrayl seemed to really like playing with Asher’s hair.
Asher had no idea why. His hair was dirty and probably looked a mess.
He was overdue to wash and braid it, but…
He didn’t exactly know what was going to happen to him next.
“My smart mate!” Vrayl made an interesting purring sound in his chest that Asher felt through his whole body.
It was alarming how pleasant it felt, especially now that he had something in his stomach.
Berries wouldn’t keep him going forever, but he’d gotten by on much less than a full bowl of those large, delicious Dreshtian fruits.
For the first time in what was possibly too long, he didn’t feel sick or weak from hunger.
Maybe they fed you to prepare you for whatever comes next.
He couldn’t help thinking it. Something else was coming for him.
It was as obvious as the senchr inside him, making itself known with every shift, and the mitts on his hands, and the gag that Vrayl had placed on an empty plate on the table, within easy reach.
Something was coming that he had to be ready for.
“There now,” Trenet said, voice still soft. “You see? Our food is good for you, Asher. You can eat everything here. Won’t it be nice to try something else?”
“How about some klitaz?” Vrayl plucked up a small round patty, brown in color, and just from sight and smell, Asher could tell it was savory. Some sort of meat. “These are made of a synth meat that has a fragrant, bold flavor. It’s spiced, but very mildly. Will you try some?”
Asher shrank back as far as he could get away from the patty, going so far as to turn his head into Vrayl’s chest, hiding his face against the Dresht’s smooth scales.
I won’t eat it and you can’t make me, he thought mutinously.
“Maybe… he isn’t hungry?” Trenet said. “Or he’s used to such small meals that he… he doesn’t know he can eat more now.”
“Our poor little love,” Vrayl said, sounding sorrowful. “Alright Asher, if you can’t eat more right now, we understand.”
Asher heard his name but refused to pick his head up. He wouldn’t eat it!
“The Match agency got back to me,” Trenet said next. “But it’s a longer missive, so I’ll read it after bathtime. For now, best to give him his humshus back so he can have something comforting filling his mouth.”
Claws slid through Asher’s long hair again, but this time they closed at his nape and pulled. Gently, but still so immovably that Asher had no choice but to let his head be tilted back unless he wanted to rip his hair out.
He clenched his teeth together. He wasn’t going to open his mouth for any of the rest of the food they wanted to feed him. For all he knew, it was made of the last Human they’d happened across.
But when he opened his eyes, it was to find that Vrayl was holding out the gag.
Asher heaved out a breath through his nose. Fucking fine. Fine! At least if he was wearing the stupid gag, they wouldn’t be trying to feed him any more meat.
He opened his mouth and let Vrayl slide the ball between his teeth. A moment later, there was a beeping sound as the gag was secured into place.
Asher deflated, blinking hard as the reality of the situation crashed over him anew. He was just so well and truly trapped here. In what universe did he ever get free?
Vrayl made another low crooning noise, stroking his free hand up and down Asher’s thigh. “There now, what a good little yshain. Being so very brave for us.”
“We’ll eat quickly, Asher,” Trenet rumbled next. “And then we’ll enjoy the baths. We can’t wait to take care of you, little love.”
Asher watched as Vrayl and Trenet set to their own meal. They moved almost in sync, passing each other dishes and leaning forward to pop bits of food into each other’s mouths. If he’d had any doubt that the two were married, the meal erased it completely.
But then it seemed as though they were finished eating. Trenet placed the covers back on the dishes, and then pushed a button on the table and the plates disappeared. It was technology Asher was unused to, and he found himself staring at the table.
“Bathtime!” Vrayl’s low growl had a hint of a musical quality. Was the Dresht… singing? Or maybe telling Asher something he was excited about?
He and Trenet had finished eating. Was it…
Was it time for Asher to be dessert?
Asher yelped as Vrayl suddenly stood, taking Asher with him. Asher was helpless but to be carried in Vrayl’s arms, wherever they were headed. Trenet was quick to follow, coming up beside Vrayl and stroking a covetous hand down Asher’s bare chest.
Because they were all still naked.
“He’s so soft,” Trenet said, exhaling like a sigh. “So soft and smooth.”
Vrayl smiled and nuzzled Trenet’s cheek. “You’ll have plenty of time to explore him in the baths, my mate.”
Asher tried to lift his hands to push Trenet away, but his mitts were still too fucking heavy to move more than a few inches. They weren’t pulling at his shoulders, thankfully, but he wondered how they worked. It was like the cuffs were able to manipulate gravity.
They started walking, Vrayl holding him in his arms, but Trenet kept a heavy hand on Asher’s shoulder too, his huge thumb sweeping back and forth across Asher’s bicep.
Had these two ever seen a Human before? Did they know what Human males tended to look like?
Asher knew from his moms that he was small and slight for a male, which had been a source of great relief for them as Asher grew older and started to mature.
He also wasn’t hairy like a typical Human male, because his moms had sent him to laser treatment pretty much the moment he hit puberty.
The only hair Asher really had were his eyebrows, eyelashes, and the hair on his head, which reached nearly to his waist.
Asher had the general idea of what he looked like.
Short and slender, green eyes and freckles, long red hair that had a wave to it.
He didn’t actually know what other people might think when they saw him, though.
Lilliana had thought he was pretty. His sisters and moms always said he was cute.
To Trenet and Vrayl he was tiny. And probably pathetic.
Not exactly a shining example of a Human.
Asher just hoped they didn’t look at him and think he would be tasty.
They turned down one last hallway and this time went through a doorway.
Asher looked around the room they had entered, trying to get the measure of it.
It was big, and when he looked up, he found that there was a window in the ceiling that would let light in during the daytime.
Right now it was a vision of stars, the constellations unfamiliar.
Vrayl kept moving, so Asher pulled his attention from the stars in the window to find that they’d stopped in front of an open bowl, surrounded by nozzles.
“Why don’t you try to use the facilities before we get started,” Vrayl said, nuzzling Asher’s hair before turning him in his arms.
Asher cried out as fingers spread his cheeks, baring his hole to the room. Those same questing fingers then found the base of the senchr and started to pull it free.
Asher groaned as the senchr was removed, leaving him strangely and unpleasantly empty. He’d never had something inside him before, and certainly not for so long. Suddenly being without it was—it was strange.
Then he was being set on the open bowl, and he flushed as he realized what it was for.
“It’s okay, little love,” Trenet said, tail curling around Asher’s ankle. Both he and Vrayl were just watching. “We’ll take care of you.”
Asher grit his teeth, fighting down tears. This was a new humiliation on top of the ones he’d already endured. But he couldn’t lie and say he didn’t need to.
He squeezed his eyes shut. Fine. But he refused to watch them watch him.
When he was finished, Vrayl made a low hissing noise as he and Trenet used water from the nozzles to clean Asher… thoroughly.
“Such a perfect yshain you are.” Vrayl scooped Asher up again. “And now don’t worry, we won’t leave you empty for long.”
Asher dug his teeth into the gag for lack of any other way to vent out his displeasure at being carried about like a doll. Although maybe that was what he was to them; just a toy to play with.
“I know you’ll enjoy the bath, little love,” Trenet said. “You’ll get to relax and be clean and—” he made that low-throated laughing sound. “—I think our mate is looking forward to washing your hair.”
“It’s so pretty,” Vrayl crooned, nuzzling his cheek on the top of Asher’s head. “Such a lovely, lovely red color, like glowing embers. And so long! We’ll braid your hair into all sorts of pretty patterns, Asher.”
“And dress you in all the finest silks,” Trenet said. “For our fine, beautiful yshain.”
Asher sighed, gnawing petulantly on the ball of the gag in his mouth. He’d heard his name. They were either talking to him or talking about him. He wondered if it even mattered to them that they couldn’t understand each other.
Not that he’d exactly been given much opportunity to talk, to try bridging the language barrier. Aside from the meal, he’d been gagged. Which did not lead Asher to believe that Trenet and Vrayl were very interested in him joining the conversation.
Still. He could make an effort. His translation implant was only keyed to three star quadrants, and hadn’t included places like Journey-5.
Asher had learned the language of the Almari clan all on his own.
He hadn’t been great at it, which hadn’t been helped by the Almari being an insular people, but he’d been getting by. Learning more every season.
So much for that.
Vrayl stopped walking and started… going down some steps? Along with the sounds of gentle splashing.
Cold fear dripped down Asher’s spine as he pulled himself back to the present to find that Vrayl was stepping down into a large, steaming pool. Trenet was already standing in the water. It was chest deep on the large Dresht, which meant that Asher would be up to his neck or worse.
While gagged so he couldn’t cry out and cuffed in mitts so heavy he couldn’t lift his arms.
This is it, Asher thought frantically. I’m going to die here. The warm heat of the room suddenly felt oppressive, the gag in his mouth choking him. He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t move. All he could do was sit curled up in Vrayl’s arms, frozen, and wait. Drowning was such an awful, awful death.
But considering how Trenet had tasted him earlier…
At least it would be better than being eaten alive.