Page 83 of Forge the Blade

The wound site looked abused and angry, but it wasn’t bleeding. “He kicked you?”

“Kneed me,” Lisa corrected. He rocked back and forth. “Wouldn’t hurt so bad if this blasted thing wasn’t there and we hadn’t done so much practice.”

“The stitches are still fine. You’re going to have another bruise.”

Lisa shook his head. “Not worried.”

“Pants up, then ice.”

Lisa nodded. He helped, pushing his ass off the floor so Ellisandre could pull the loose pants into place.

In the kitchen, they found body packs of ice already in the fridge. Sevastyan did know what he was doing. There were towels in one of the drawers. They wrapped the ice pack and returned to Lisa. The man’s eyes were closed and he leaned back against the couch, exhaustion in every line of his body.

“You practiced hard this morning?” Ellisandre settled the ice on the bruise.

Lisa nodded. Then swallowed and worked his throat. “Yes.”

“You don’t have to answer.”

Lisa shook his head and peeled open one eye. “Have to answer a direct question with a verbal answer, unless otherwise directed. Training, remember? And as much as I fucking hate this . . .” He shook his head, closing his eyes again. “I’m not going to fuck it up.”

Ellisandre sat on the couch opposite Lisa. “I don’t know if I could do what you’re doing.”

Lisa laughed. “No one can do it. You just do do it.”

Ellisandre watched his face, the third phrase Lisa hadn’t said ringing in their head. You crumble from doing it.

Ellisandre opened and closed their mouth. Even being near to the Merchari, just preparing to fight them, wrought damage. The knowledge of what they did, their existence, was poison in the air. It was jarring, the space they could feel between themselves and Lisa, just with his choice to assume the posture of a slave, to know that they could sit on the couch and he could not.

There were reasons the Merchari had rules for their slaves. They had to “other” them. To be able to do what they did to other humankind, they had to position them as not the same.

Ellisandre settled in silence. Lisa met their eyes, the edge of his lips twisting towards a sardonic smile.

“Uncomfortable, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Ellisandre said. They weren’t going to hide their displeasure.

“It wouldn’t be, if you viewed it as my place. You’re with Sevastyan. Just treat us like you’re one of the masters. You’re dominant, after all.”

“I won’t be them.”

Lisa narrowed his eyes. “So you can’t make as much of a sacrifice as Sevastyan?”

Something cold flushed through Ellisandre. Lisa’s smile widened. He had them cornered and he knew it.

Episode 10

Rei

A nightmare twisted through Rei’s mind. Sheets of dark smoke wrapped themselves around his limbs. Blankets of flames hunted him through the pillars of the ever-shifting room. His own screams chorused with the sound of shattering glass and cracking wood. Through it all, there was a thread, a single scent that clashed with the dream.

It came with the sound of a voice. Sevastyan. Rei’s hands rose, clutching at the cotton and muscle suddenly above him. Even though the dream was fire, he was cold. But this sense of Sevastyan was warm.

Rei opened his eyes.

“Here. I’m here, precious. They won’t—ever—never again. Not while I breathe. Never again.”

“Master.”