In the Air Chapter 13
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In the morning, Mistress hadn't mentioned Leandra, and Halsin hadn't brought it up. He was no closer to a decision that the night before, unwilling to submit Leandra even more to Mistress' attention but at the same time fearful for her life should he refuse her.
Mistress left him alone even before breakfast, petting him and promising him she would be back in the evening. Halsin kept himself busy cleaning up, as much as there was for him to tidy. He couldn't help but imagine having Leandra as company for days like this. But he knew perfectly well that she would not want to be there.
By the time Mistress had him carry her dinner of thinly sliced raw fish onto the balcony, Halsin had decided to not take her up on her offer. He had to hope she wouldn't simply have Leandra killed out of spite. Kneeling next to Mistress' chair and taking a few pieces of fish out of her hand, he waited for her to ask. She didn't, merely making light conversation about a plan to remodel some of the garden. Halsin hoped that it had been a spur of the moment idea that she gave no further thought to and tried to hide his relief.
It was made easier by Mistress asking his opinion on the garden. Once she was done eating, she took him to the library and had him sketch out a plan of how it would look and where to plant what. Halsin had always preferred to leave nature to do what it wanted, but in the Underdark and in the middle of a city, the garden was a more than welcome reminder of all the things he missed so fiercely. Maybe he could convince Mistress to allow him to help with the remodelling.
For a few days, things seemed—normal. Mistress spent time with him, only leaving for a few hours between morning and afternoon. The garden started to take form in Halsin's mind and on paper, and Mistress enjoyed hearing his ideas, rewarding him with her attention.
Halsin was excited to tell her about a plan he had had for a waterfall leading to a pool with the enormous purple-leafed and white-flowered water lilies she had shown him a while ago. Realising that Mistress barely had time to eat before she left, he didn't mention it in the morning, but it gave him something to look forward to.
It was noon and he had sat down with a book when the apartment door was thrown open. Halsin only had time to take a few steps out of the library before Mistress strode up to him, snarling with rage.
"Did you know?" She struck him across the face with a cane he hadn't even seen she was holding. Pain seared his cheek and ear, making his eyes water and his knees buckle.
"Know what, Mistress?" Speaking hurt and he tasted blood. Letting himself fall to his knees, Halsin kept his head down. He did not dare look up at her. The cane branded his other cheek, splitting his lip.
"Leandra. She has seen fit to abuse my generosity, steal from me and run. No doubt the guards will bring her back." Mistress voice was calm and detached. If he had not known better, Halsin would have thought her anger gone. "Now tell me, did you know?"
He shook his head, not trusting himself to speak.
Mistress' dress rustled and gathered on the floor around her as she knelt in front of Halsin. The tip of the cane under his chin signalled him to raise his head. Halsin shook all over, digging his fingers into the fabric of his pants, his heart racing.
Gripping his chin, Mistress pulled him forward into a kiss. It lasted only for a heartbeat, and it startled Halsin worse than the whipping. Pomegranate mingled with the copper on his tongue and he swallowed, the shivers winding down to a barely noticeable tremor. His blood flecked Mistress' lips and she wiped it off before murmuring an incantation. She rested the cane against his cheek.
"Did you know?"
Mistress' thoughts wound their way through his, a cold presence in his mind. He grasped for memories that were not what Mistress sought, trying to pretend that there was nothing more. But they slipped through his grasp like fog.
Another strike with the cane scattered all his thoughts, the last conversation with Leandra swimming up to the surface. Mistress' anger squirmed and writhed, lashing out at him as she learned the truth. She pulled back from him so quickly that it drove a sharp spike of pain through his mind.
"So she did not tell you. Well. Why would she. After what you did to her." Mistress stood, smoothing down her dress and tossing her braid over her shoulder. She trailed the cane up his chest until it sat under his chin. "Stand up."
Halsin did, gripping his own wrist behind his back to hide how badly he was shaking again and to try and please her. Leandra might not have told him about any plan she had, but that did not mean Mistress had forgiven him. If nothing else, she knew that he had taken Lenadra's wish to escape as normal, and he hadn't tried to convince her otherwise. And underneath it all had sat Halsin's own unspoken desire to be free.
"I really did think you enjoyed the life you have here." Mistress landed a quick row of strikes with the cane, leaving marks down his bare arm and across his thigh. Halsin clenched his jaw to keep quiet, fighting the urge to protect himself when Mistress raised the cane again. It struck across the back of his thighs, making him stumble before he caught himself and stood still.
"Well?" An almost playful swat to his shoulder. "Tell me, do you remember where you were when I found you?"
"I was to be sold." Halsin had not forgotten. After being marched to the city, the soldiers had delivered him to a prison where he had been kept locked in a cage for days, watching others be sold or be claimed by the priestesses. Either way, he quickly learned that their fate was to die in the Underdark, by the knife of a priestess or by the whims of their new owners. "You saved me."
"And you have lived well here with me. I let you have your freedom as much as possible, I gave you books to read, I not even felt it necessary to chain you. Yet you want to escape." The whistle of the cane gave Halsin a moment's warning before it struck his thighs again. It didn't matter that he was wearing pants, the pain burned fiercely enough to make him cry out. Mistress hit him again and again until Halsin couldn't tell the single welts apart any longer. Even the touch of his own clothes set his skin on fire while Mistress paused to catch her breath.
He thought it was over for a moment. Long enough for the bright pain to settle into a deep ache. Time for him to try and come up with something, anything to say to Mistress. An apology, a reason why he wanted to stay. Anything.
Mistress lashed the cane across his cheek and ear, hitting the very first mark she had left with excruciating precision. The next strike came up between his legs, and the next. Halsin howled with the pain, tears blurring his vision. He bore another two hits, the last one so vicious that he tried to protect himself. It earned him a smack across the knuckles, and a second one even as he jerked his hand away.
"Hold still." Resting the cane right under his balls, Mistress waited until Halsin held his hands on his back again, standing up straight for her. He dared a quick look to her face and found the mask slipped, rage baring its teeth underneath.
He couldn't say how long it lasted. Mistress placed every hit with deliberation. Crisscrossing welts she had left before, leaving new ones, only one at a time or raining them down on him until he screamed. When he flinched or turned away out of a reflex he couldn't fight, she waited for him to present himself the way she wanted: hands behind his back, head down and legs apart. Then she started over. Halsin feared that he would simply collapse and pass out. If he did, he might not wake up ever again.
When his knees finally did buckle and he fell at Mistress' feet, shuddering with the pain tearing through him, Halsin was merely glad that she stopped. He didn't have the strength to be afraid any more.
"Get out of my sight. I don't want to see you until I have decided what to do about this." Mistress was breathing heavily but her voice was calm, no trace of the fury he had seen. She nudged him with her foot when he didn't react immediately, almost gently.
Halsin's legs wouldn't carry him. He crawled away from her on his hands and knees, hot blood running down his face and dripping to the floor. Finding his way out onto the balcony, he squeezed between some of the big pots holding ferns and mushrooms, curling up behind them. With no other place to go, he lay like an animal in its den, waiting for the pain to stop.
Chapter 14
Chapter 1