Page 19 of The Monster I Am

“Yes, sir,” Jared said, the edge of a sigh in his voice.

Rhys eyed him dubiously. “Is there a problem?”

“No, sir,” Jared said quickly, his body stiffening.

“Good.” Rhys rose from his chair, taking his coffee cup with him as he headed for his office. “Do you like to read, Jared?” He wasn’t sure where the question had come from, but he’d found himself asking small questions of the human over the past week. He knew very little about the slave, but he’d been getting tidbits even as he kept his own past under wraps.

Not many, but some, all the while keeping everything about himself hidden.

“Yes, sir,” Jared said quickly. “Well, I used to. Before.”

Before the Takeover, or before he’d been taken by Russell? Rhys couldn’t be sure. He didn’t ask; some memories were painful, and he had a feeling this would be one of them. It would be a kindness to let it go, and he was of a mind to be kind given what he expected Jared to endure that evening.

Rhys nodded. “Come.” He went to his office, and he gestured to one of the large bookshelves on the wall. “Pick something. After you’ve finished for the day, you may read.”

Jared’s eyes went wide, and Rhys tracked his gaze to the bookshelf. He was an eclectic reader, and while he read most often digitally, he did like to have books on his shelf as well.

Why was he doing this? He didn’t need to let his slave have entertainment. But Jared had been doing so well, and maybe Rhys was buttering him up a little ahead of the evening.

“Or you can watch television,” he added, settling down at his desk and opening his laptop.

Jared reached out and carefully tugged a book off of the shelf, holding it like a lost treasure. “I’d like to read this one, sir, if it’s okay.”

Rhys glanced up to see which one Jared had chosen, a science fiction novel with a spaceship on the cover. “Have you read it before?” he asked, and there was a touch of a smile on his lips. He’d read that series multiple times.

“Most of it, sir,” Jared admitted. “I was reading it, before.” He shrugged slightly. “I didn’t get to finish it.”

“Go on, then,” Rhys said, dismissing Jared. He’d need to go back to the Council offices soon, most likely, but for now, he took care of his heavy workload from the comfort of his home office. Once the door closed behind Jared, he queued up the first of his meetings for the day and settled into his usual routine.

He ventured out only at lunchtime. He found his sandwich on the table, a little perturbed to find that Jared wasn’t in the kitchen or living room. He went to the room he’d given the slave, arching a brow when he saw him reading with his own sandwich, but he didn’t interrupt.

Instead, he ate and returned to work.

Let Jared enjoy the day.

Rhys would enjoy the evening.

He finished his work on time for once, and it was his turn to hurry through making dinner. By the time the simple noodle soup was done cooking, he was impatient for what would come next. He called out for Jared, settling into the strange domesticity of the moment without examining it.

At all.

Jared rushed to the kitchen with quick steps. “Yes, sir,” he said, a touch breathlessly, as he got plates and bowls out of the cabinets and held them out to be filled with soup.

Rhys watched Jared move, his eyes lingering on the bare expanse of healed skin. He’d been tinkering with his knives late at night, and he was reasonably certain that the enchantment he’d added would allow them to speed up the healing, too. It would be a good time to test them. But tonight… He thought he might try the middle blades, which had been spelled to bleed a bit more in measured drips.

They would be lovely to see.

He didn’t speak as they ate, even though he’d occasionally asked questions or coaxed answers out of Jared during their meals in the past. Not tonight, though. Tonight was about more than simple games.

When they were finished eating, he helped Jared clean up, something he hadn’t done before. But he needed what was coming next, and together, they had everything cleared away and put up in minutes.

“Bedroom,” Rhys murmured, running the backs of his knuckles along Jared’s cheek and making the slave shiver. “Move the chest out of the way. Then stand at the foot of the bed, facing the door.”

Jared’s eyes were wide, but Rhys didn't think it was fear that was making them bright when he let out a soft breath and shivered. “Yes, sir,” he whispered before ducking his head down and hurrying to the bedroom.

Rhys followed Jared to the bedroom with a slow, lazy stride.

Could he really do this?