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I told myself that his behavior warranted this contraption, but I think more than anything, I got off on owning him and claiming him as mine. My unruly street pet who I have to tame and make mine.
“Yes, you are.” I finally answered him. “Sex between our races isn’t encouraged.”
He chuckled, his small hands running along my naked chest. We shared the large floor bed, both of us naked under the valley of blankets. “The only difference we have is the height and your pointy ears.” He reached up to play with them, dangling the small band ring I had embedded in my flesh.
“Still, your kind are considered…lesser…” I’ve never hesitated in stating this to any dwarf I’ve ever met, and yet here I was, hesitating.
I waited until his breathing slowed, the sign he was sleeping, and slipped from the warm bed. After getting dressed, I left the room.
Once I reached the bottom floor, Diana was there, my head servant, waiting for me as loyal and attentive as ever. I knewwhat she wanted from me, but I never had the inclination to give. But her feelings were not reasons enough to get rid of her. She was good at organizing the other servants and keeping them in line. She took two days to remember all of my favorite foods. She was just good at what she did, and I needed her to be just as good for my new mate.
If she could keep her emotions and desires in check.
“Diana, you can go to bed now. Tomorrow you will wake Kal and bathe him and help him get ready for the day. Take his measurements and order some clothing for him and everything else a thrall needs. Make a list of his favorite foods—”
“Sir!” She cut me off. Her blue eyes desperately searched mine. “With all due respect. I know how difficult it was for you to maintain this house. I’ve seen you challenge the most powerful nobles among you and reign supreme.” She gazed up at the banner of this house. “Whenever I see this banner, I am proud. I can walk with my head high knowing I serve you, and I will serve faithfully. However, this man threatens everything you’ve worked hard to keep.”
“Tread carefully, Diana.”
“Aren’t pets supposed to be above servants? He wasn’t trained at any school. What happens if he has to accompany you in public? He’s a street—”
“That is enough, Diana.” I gestured for her to leave me. “Do not presume to tell me what to do based on your rank in this household.”
“I have served for a long time. I know how things operate here, and a thrall must represent the household. They must know etiquette and carry themselves with grace. And they should never be taken to bed. If the others find out, they will exile you or worse—”
“Diana!” I raised my voice. “Perhaps I have become far too lenient with you. You are a valuable servant, and I have always valued your input, but it is causing you to forget your station.”
“I…I apologize, sir.” She bowed low and scurried away to the servant’s wing.
“She is right.” Gio appeared from one of the back halls, skulking about and eavesdropping. This habit of his was growing bolder.
“Not you too.”
“She’s only looking out for your best interests. Word will spread of that dwarven male’s presence whether or not you like it. Hell, they were whispering the moment you two entered the castle soaking wet, you shirtless, and he wearing an obvious titan garment. They have been watching your apartments for quite sometime, wondering when this mysterious wet dwarf will come out. They know it isn’t like our kind to kill one and sully our home with their blood, so why bring one here in the manner you did? If your plan is to keep him a secret and to yourself, that failed the night you brazenly walked him through the front door. If he is a thrall as you say, then they will expect a debut. Is he a virgin? Not from what I’ve heard upstairs.”
“Gio, you should know more than anyone not to push me around in this manner.”
“Like Diana, I—”
“Don’t say you care for me.”
“Is it not your plan to leave this place and return home if that rune is true? Did you not say that I was allowed to remain here and take full control over this House once you do? If you are exiled, it voids your living Will and the council will get everything. If you’re put to death, they would force me to join you. Is that dwarf’s ass that good?”
“If anyone finds out about this degeneracy, I would know who to blame.” I narrowed my eyes to him, hoping he understood thethreat. Once he took over this house, he could run it however he damn well liked, but so long as I was in charge, I would alleviate the nightmare of these lands anyway I wished.
“I have no intent to inform the others of your…actions.” He said actions as if he was swallowing bile. “I am just as invested as you are in reopening the portal back to our realm. Of course, my goal is to remain, but I do have family back home I would like to join me here.”
I walked away and pressed my finger against a small panel on the wall for the needle to take my blood and watched the hidden door open to reveal my secret room filled with recovered runes and tech from our world. Inside, I had the rune inside a shield. Without the shield, the rune was an atom bomb waiting to explode. Now, because of that damned dwarf Felman hired to create a bunch of forgeries of the traveler’s rune. The barrier was also now used to verify the real one from the fakes. If the silver color turned black after spending a few hours inside, it was a fake. I slammed my fists against the console once I saw the black ball.
I remembered my prior conversation with Felman about the Madam and the possibility she too was searching for the rune. If so, I would need to pay her a visit and take a chance on recruiting an ally. “I need to see the Madam.”
“That woman is a recluse who already has Felman as her potential enemy. You may as well resume searching for that dwarf who made these fakes and get him to talk.”
“If I did that, then every one of our kind will wonder what I was looking for.”
“Do you really believe they would stop you? You’re not the only one who misses home.”
I squeezed my brow, Gio was a smart man, but he could also be foolish. “Gio, since we’ve come here, at least a handful of former servants have gained wealth and status for themselvesthey never would have achieved if they had never come here. Do you believe they would be eager to return home and be reduced to a servant once more? Or men like Felman, yes he was a noble, but from a minor house, and now he is the King of an entire city with other nobles waiting to eat the crumbs from his hands. You think he will give up that power?” I scoffed. “No, that’s why he paid that dwarf hacker to forge the runes, to throw anyone searching for them off.”
