Chapter 6 #4
“Is it a lack of materials? You seem to have enough wood and stone…”
“It’s a lack of…” Aria pursed her lips as she thought.
What was it a lack of, exactly? “People don’t have the skills to build houses.
We specialize in our jobs. I flew planes.
Other people might program computers, or look after others with medicine, or prepare food.
It takes years to learn those skills and there’s no time for house building.
So builders have to build them—and the land they’re on is very expensive, especially in big cities. ”
“Why is it expensive?”
“Because people want to live there. So they will pay more.”
“So it’s expensive because people will make it expensive for themselves?”
“I guess,” Aria said. “I don’t really… I mean… it’s complicated. The economy and… I don’t know.”
“Hm.” Vyktor nodded slowly. “Such complexities for such simple creatures.”
“We’re not as simple as we seem.”
A smile passed over his face. “That I can believe, pet. Come, you need your bath.”
The bath was not far away down the winding halls of ‘simple’ carvings that Vyktor did not seem at all impressed by, and that made Aria feel as though she were in the chambers of some great ancient civilization.
The world outside the mountain was starting to feel much less real somehow, more ephemeral.
Had there ever been places that were lit with incandescent electric light, garishly blaring through day and night?
Had there ever been a world where creatures like herself thronged pavements?
Aria shook her head to clear it. She had only been with the dragons for a day, and already she was losing touch with the reality she had known.
It was the total isolation from everything that was doing it, and the captivating way Vyktor had of drawing her attention so completely that it seemed there was nothing outside of him.
“These are our communal baths,” Vyktor said, leading her into a cavernous space where several dragon men were lazing in a body of water that looked much like an interior lake, and that was the size of a swimming pool.
The humidity in the room told her that the water was being warmed, though how that was happening she was not sure.
They nodded to Vyktor, though Aria did not see what else they might have done as she was too busy closely observing the ground. What felt natural with Vyktor, being on a leash, was soon shameful when the eyes of others fell upon her.
“And here is our private bath.”
He led her to a door in the wall marked boldly with the letter ‘V.’
“You used human script,” Aria noted in surprise.
“I did,” he smiled. “I rather like it.”
“Are you going to get it tattooed on you somewhere?” Aria asked the question with a little smirk. Vyktor’s interest in humanity was quite charming. She had to be careful that she didn’t end up telling him too much and giving something important away.
“Tattooed?”
“It’s when people get ink injected into their skin, so they can walk around with symbols or pictures or words on them.”
“Intriguing.” Vyktor nodded. “No, I admit, I had not intended on marking myself permanently with the V.”
He opened the door, revealing a relatively small chamber that featured a bath-like hollow carved into the floor.
It was about twice as large as any bath Aria had ever seen before and it was filled with gently steaming water that flowed from a niche in the wall at one end and drained at the other in a steady flow.
She could see claw marks in the walls, indicating that he—or his craftsmen—must have taken their dragon form to create the space.
“Wow,” she breathed. “This is perfect.”
“I am glad it is satisfactory to you, pet,” he said, no small amount of amusement in his voice. “I have also found some lotions of a cleaning nature among the supplies we have managed to forage during our time here. I hope one of them will be suitable for you.”
Aria slid into the warm water, finding it a perfect temperature. Hot enough to make her muscles relax, not so hot she felt as though she was being poached. She leaned back and let herself float in the water, closing her eyes for a moment to simply relax in a moment of comfort.
There was a soft splash as Vyktor slid in next to her, the tub comfortably accommodating both of them side by side with some room to spare.
She reached for the soaps… then burst out laughing.
“What is it, pet?”
Aria giggled, holding up a golden bottle. “This is dishwashing liquid. We use it to clean up after meals.”
“Well, you are bite-sized,” Vyktor replied with surprising alacrity.
She pushed the bottle back onto the ledge and looked at him, shaking her head. “You’ve spoken English for a few weeks and you’re already using puns?”
“Dragons enjoy wordplay,” he said. “We enjoy most play.”
“Yes,” Aria said. “That was what we noticed first when you invaded—how fun you all are.”
Her words dripped with sarcasm, causing Vyktor’s brows to rise. “I hear being punished on wet skin is worse than dry. Shall we test that theory, pet?”
“Oh, yeah,” Aria grinned, her natural mischief coming to the fore. “You’re just so much fun!”
She splashed a little water at him. A few droplets caught him across his cheeks and the bridge of his nose.
For the first time since knowing him, he looked a little comical and Aria liked it.
The fear and embarrassment that had been present for so much of their association was gone.
She might have been wearing his collar, and he might have had her leash in his hand, but she suddenly felt a little more equal.
“Naughty pet,” he drawled, wiping his face.
He rested his arms along the back of the bath and watched her as she pushed off from the side and glided naked through the water, her progress only arrested by coming to the end of her leash.
Vyktor let the links of the chain slide through his fingers and drop to the floor of the tub, which was almost five foot deep.
The chain was long enough that it dragged along the bottom of the tub, feeling a little like a very gentle anchor.
“Am I still under effective control?” Aria smirked at him as she swam lazily to the other side of the tub, putting her a good ten feet away from him.
“You’re always under control when you are in my presence,” Vyktor said in deep, gravelly tones. “Whether you know it or not.”
Aria had the unsettling feeling that was probably true. She felt some freedom in the bath, but she was enclosed not only in the bath, but she was still collared, still naked, still entirely at his mercy.
“Come, pet.” He crooked his finger. “Let me wash you.”
Aria considered his offer for a moment, then accepted.
Kicking off the side of the tub, she glided back to Vyktor, allowing him to catch her in his hands.
The intimacy between them was already intense.
She didn’t know why. He had been holding her prisoner for not quite a day, not nearly long enough for Stockholm syndrome to have set in.
And yet, when he held her gently as he was doing now, and she looked into his handsome face and those strange not quite human eyes, she felt a bond.
Maybe it wasn’t based on her captivity. Maybe it was the same bond or yearning that had drawn her to the portal storm. Aria didn’t know, and it was too difficult to think about as Vyktor took a soft cloth and rubbed foaming body wash into it.
She sighed softly as he turned her around so she was facing away from him and began to rub the soap over her back and shoulders in a slow, sensual massaging motion that made muscles she had not known were tense begin to relax.
His large hands could be surprisingly gentle, and Aria found herself starting to sink into a deeper state of relaxation as he roamed her back with the cloth, clearing away the grime of the previous day’s efforts.
“That feels really good,” she moaned softly.
“Good,” he replied, his deep voice rumbling behind her ear. He pulled her back to rest her bottom on his thigh and continued washing her body, coaxing the cloth around her form. She let out a little moan as he massaged it around and under her breasts, making her nipples stand to attention.
“You are so responsive, pet,” he said. “I confess, I knew humans were tamable. I had no idea how easily they could be tamed.”
“I’m not tamed,” she said, turning in a swirl of water and pushing away a foot or two. “I’m just not stupid.”
He looked at her steadily with his wise face and knowing eyes. “Oh?”
She shut her mouth. If she told him she was only going along with him to make him think she was falling under his spell, then that would introduce an element of mistrust, which totally undermined her entire plan.
Vyktor shook his head and crooked his finger at her.
“Come here, pet,” he murmured. “Your pride will not allow you to admit how you feel, but I see it in your eyes. Hatred no longer blazes there as it once did. You should not feel shame for that. It is natural for a weaker entity to depend upon a stronger…”
“Fuck off,” Aria swore. “You are not stronger than me.”
Vyktor threw his head back and laughed with genuine amusement, his deep bellows echoing around the walls.
“What kind of delusion do you have, pet?” He looked at her in the way one might look at a dog with its head stuck in a cat door. “Of course I am stronger than you.”
“Maybe physically,” she said. “And maybe you can speak languages better… but…”
“There is no but,” he replied, cutting her off.
“You were made to be my pet. You’re perfect for it.
A softly formed body, enough spirit to be a challenge, with a yearning for the sky which made you step into a dangerous craft and imagine you have the wings you humans seem to have an instinctive desire for, but have somehow lost.”
When he spoke that way, she was almost tempted to agree with him. Maybe it was his charisma, his deep rumbling voice that vibrated his truth into her. Or maybe he was just… right. He was so much more powerful, more ancient…