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“What can I tell him?” I asked. “About his freedom and about where we’re going, what we’re doing.”
Magnus considered me for a moment, then said, “You remember our plan?”
I nodded gravely.
“Then stick to that. Tell him my opinions have been overridden,” he said.
“I already did,” I said.
“Good.” Magnus nodded.
“You’ll have to unshackle him right away,” I told him.
I could tell Magnus didn’t like it, but he knew I was right. “I’ll send Captain Andreas down with the keys after we finish our meal. Tell Dmitri what you’d like about that.”
I nodded, then continued on.
“Aren’t you going to stay and eat supper with us?” Neil asked, almost like he would jump up and stop me.
I shook my head, barley having the nerve to look at him. “I want to. I miss you all terribly. I have so much more to tell you about the forest. But I need to focus on this right now.”
“We’ll all spend time together as Sons once we reach Good Port,” Sebald said, smiling at me. That smile faded when he went on with, “Assuming Dmitri lets you spend time with us.”
I wanted to groan with misery. I was Dmitri’s pup. Under the rules he probably held to, he had every right to keep me under lock and key if he wanted to.
“He will,” I said, even though I wasn’t so certain of that, then headed on to the stairs leading down to the dim cabins.
It took my eyes time to adjust to the dimness again. So much so that I didn’t see Dmitri’s movements before he threw out an arm and grabbed my ankle. Again, I nearly spilled the food I’d fetched for him. I did slosh ale over the side of the mug.
Dmitri laughed. “You truly are too quick to flinch, pup. You’ll have to develop a stronger stomach than that if you’re going to last more than a few days with me.”
I dreaded what he might mean by that. At the same time, I wanted to prove to him, to prove to someone, that I wasn’t as big a waste of time as everyone thought I was.
“Here,” I said, holding the plate out to him.
Dmitri eyed me suspiciously, then snatched at the plate. He pulled it to his chest as though I would change my mind and take it away from him. Then he stared at its contents as though I’d brought him a treasure.
I guessed why right away. Aside from the pheasant leg, the plate was piled with a succotash made from corn, beans, and root vegetables. Beside that was a fried fish fillet. God only knew when the last time Dmitri had eaten fish was. There were some ponds and streams in the eastern forest, but none that produced fish large enough to eat. And all of the vegetables on his plate were the sort that had to be cultivated by farmers, not foraged from undeveloped land.
I hadn’t brought cutlery with me, but Dmitri didn’t care. He dove into the meal, shoveling handfuls of the vegetables into his mouth and groaning as he chewed. He didn’t need words to tell me how desperately he’d missed that sort of food.
I missed it too, but I still didn’t have an appetite. I sank to sit with my back against the wall on the opposite side of the hallway from him. The hall was narrow, and I was well within Dmitri’s arm’s reach now, but I no longer worried he’d grab me and kill me. He was too busy with his food.
After half the treats on his plate were gone, he blinked and looked at me, as though just realizing I was there.
“Aren’t you going to eat, pup?” he asked.
I shook my head, eyes downcast.
He held out his hand for the mug I still held. When I handed it over, he gulped down half its contents, then sighed.
“I’ll give you something to eat later,” he said with a vicious smirk, undulating his hips. I was certain that if he had a free hand, he would have grabbed his crotch.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about what he was suggesting. Between Ludvig and the things the other Sons and I had talked and laughed about, I was confident in my ability to suck cock. That was about the only thing I was confident in, though.
“Why am I still chained to my cabin?” Dmitri asked as he finished the rest of his meal at a slower pace. “I thought I was someone important, not Magnus’s prisoner.”
“The captain said he could come down and free you after he finished his supper,” I said what Magnus had told me to.
