Heather prowled into the room while I was eating and stared at me as I finished the meal. She came and sat down on the table just at the edge of my reach and her skirt was pulled up in an enticing way. I kept my eyes fixed on her face as I looked up at her. She peered down imperiously and stroked her nails against the wood of the table filling the room with the odd sound of scratching.
“Are you enjoying yourself?” Heather asked while tapping her nails against the table with impatience.
“The meal was excellent. I was able to regale your maid with a tale that helped me remember something important.” I wiped the corners of my mouth with the handkerchief that was left on the table for my use and scooted my chair back. “Would you be so kind as to arrange a meeting between myself and your father? I’d like to talk to him about the deal.”
She purred deep in her throat as she stood and walked behind me. She dragged a nail across my shoulders as she moved past. “Oh I sure hope for your sake you have good news for him. I have no doubt he wouldn’t be pleased you took advantage of his dear beautiful daughter.” That sparkle of madness was back in Heather’s eyes as she stared at me with a mix of greed and lust. She wanted to possess me as much as her father did.
The encounter left a sour taste in my mouth as I stared at the bones left on the plate. I stood and made my way to the door before I was intercepted. Heather wrapped her hands around me and grabbed a handful of my body and squeezed uncomfortably tight. “Your belongings are going to be showing up soon. We put some pressure on those damned Ursals so you won’t have to do anything but please me tonight. No worrying about leaving or anything. I expect you to do your best, do you understand?”
I pried her hands off my body and cleared my throat. “I have to go speak to your father. I think this is going rather quickly and without my consent. I’m sure he will understand what has happened and be able to better communicate with me about how this arrangement might truly pan out.”
She ran nails down the sides of my face and jaw just shy of scratching. “Toys don’t get choices, Dolan. They get played with whenever I please so don’t go around thinking that you are going to get your way. Daddy dotes on his favorites and my brother isn’t around to stop him. Of course he is just a puppet that does what Daddy says.”
I pushed her back gently to claim some of my personal space back and she went to smack me with her anger flaring like a fire crackling to life. I pulled back just enough for it to miss. “As I said it is time to speak with your father and not you. I don’t appreciate that you have made the Ursals send over my things without even communicating with me that it was time for me to work with your family. Now if you don’t mind we can speak later if it pleases you. For now though I am sure that I have things to do.”
I turned my back to her reddening face as Heather’s jaw clenched and the veins of her neck stood out. Rage and madness burned in her eyes and I could already see that I wasn’t a person in her eyes. I was truly a plaything for her entertainment and I knew that wouldn’t last long unless I was able to manipulate her. I could use magic to push all those thoughts away but I didn’t want to waste it if I could manage to do this diplomatically. It wasn’t wise to have magic solve all your problems in life.
I made my way through the halls that I remembered and came back to the lounge that the Master of the house was using earlier. The smell of powerful hash smoke wafted from through the door and I guessed this was the right place to be. I knocked on the door and waited patiently for me to be summoned into the room.
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“Enter,” Came a wistful and light voice that sounded truly relaxed.
I walked into the room and the smoke was intense and thick. A maid lay sprawled on one of the couches, her dress messy and her eyes glazed over as she giggled mindlessly to herself. The master of the house sat in front of her smoking from a strange contraption that looked like a vase. Several tubes snaked from its body and the older man was pulling smoke from it with a long breath in.
Blowing out a few smoke rings he leaned back on the woman before snorting at the interruption. “Forgive my maid, she is susceptible to the smoke I enjoy. Pay her no mind. Now what can I do for you.”
“I believe you know that I am forced to take your offer and would like to see if the whole deal will be honored.” I kept my back straight and my chin up in defiance of my place in the house to come. Hoping beyond hope that he would dismiss me and find me no more favorable.
“Do you doubt my word?” He questioned with a raised eyebrow.
“I don’t even think you’ve introduced yourself to me. It seems you hold all the cards in the game and I would like to at least know the name of the man that cornered me so thoroughly and with such ease.” I kept any notes of petulance from my tone as I stood there. I felt like I stood on a knife’s edge ready to teeter off into the abyss if I misstepped.
“I am Reginald Portage, Master Reginald will do.”
“Reginald,” I motioned to a chair. “May I sit. I’d like to formally accept your position in this house on a temporary basis. I still plan to join the court and would appreciate your support and would like to better discuss how I might earn that distinction in the future.”
The man smiled as he pulled more smoke from his contraption and blew rings out as the maid squirmed under him before wrapping hands around his waist and sighing lightly. Reginald cleared his throat after a particularly deep inhalation. “We shall see what I come up with. For now I am having a rather large dinner and would like for you to entertain my guests at that time. I want to have you play music during the meal and afterwards we will retire to a lounge to enjoy some smoking and you will regale us with a tale of my choice. I have the king’s own nephew in attendance so I will expect you to do your absolute best to enrapture us all.”
I bowed my head, “What tale would you like me to tell at this dinner? In case I don’t know, would you have it in any of your books that I might be able to study up on and practice.”
Reginald stroked his chin and looked down his nose at me before being pulled away from the maid and stood up walking to the window. The woman sat up and started to smoke from the same mouthpiece as the Master.
“Do you know the tale of the Emperor of the East and his twelve concubines?” He turned to me with a glimmer in his eyes as he smiled wickedly. “I want the people to know that I am what keeps them from dealing with the savage barbarians of the East and how they treat those that are of lesser station from themselves. That they rely on me to protect them from it all. You will tell of their most disgusting customs. The story shows that even the women who should be soft are sadistic and cruel. I have the book in my study. I doubt you would know it. Go and read it and prepare. You have a week’s worth of time before we will be entertaining my guests so I want your best.”
“I will do as you wish. I am not familiar with the Easterners and how their world works beside our own.” A blatant lie. I had spent more than one lifetime in their realm. “I know dozens of songs so would you like me to play anything in particular at the dinner?”
“Something light and airy. The nephew of the king is known to be a soft boy and hasn’t yet bloodied a sword in his hands. I might even call on you for more if he takes a fancy to you. There are rumors that he is a buggerer of men. Or take it from them. I never bothered to learn which is the truth.” The woman approached the man and fawned over his chest. “Leave me for now. I have private things to attend to.”
Feeling disgusted with the whole situation I left the room. The pervasive feeling of being used and seen as a tool filled my chest. It almost reminded me of the first time I was truly commanded by the gods and not given a choice in what I needed to do in order to serve the world. Snagging the passing servant I pulled them close and they averted their gaze from my own.
“I would like to be shown the quarters that I will be given while I stay here. The Master has also requested I learn the tale of the Emperor of the East and his Twelve concubines. Please bring me that tome so that I may better serve the master.”
“I don’t take orders from another servant of the house. You deal with it on your own.” She pulled out of my hands and harrumphed in my face. I would find no allies here yet. I would have to ingratiate myself to them in time otherwise I would be truly alone and trapped here. Having been shown the kindness that the house lavished on me already would put some strain on how the other servants would treat me. I knew jealousy could go to people’s heads and cause them to fill with such hatred.
I have to get the book first. Then I will search the servant’s quarters for a quiet room to make my own. Maybe if I keep out of everyone’s way I will be left alone.
I entered the study and froze in my tracks. A new man was standing there with Heather, and he looked angry.