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She sighs. “Yes. Nutritious, not tasty. He said that he needed to take care of me, keep me healthy…” she trails off, looking out the window, to the blanket of snow covering the mountain. “He only did it to make sure I healed, to make sure I would survive… unlike the last ones.”
“The last ones? What the fuck are you talking about?”
Her gaze is fixed, still looking out the window. “I was the third. The first two are buried somewhere in his garden. One of the first things he made me do after he got me was make me dig one up and look at her. Look at what she became and what would become of me if…”
I’m still, clutching the wood countertop, feeling it creak beneath my grip.If what?!
“Then I had to cover her with the dirt and bury her all over again…”
I grit my teeth, it’s hard to keep calm.
“How… how did you end up with him?”
Her gaze shifts, looking down at the hands she’s now fiddling with in her lap.
“I was looking for something, someone… we talked for a long time, I thought he was what I was looking for. He did an excellent job of pretending he was…”
“What were you looking for?” I watch as her cheeks go red. First drop of color that I’ve seen on her skin, and it looks good on that gorgeous alabaster. I wonder how the aftermath of my spanking… or my paddle… or my belt… would look on that beautiful skin?
I shake my head and refocus.
“It is not important anymore…” she answers. “I do not know where he held me… I do not know where he is, but he is definitely not close to your cabin.”
“He couldn’t be close, I own this peak, this is my land. Unless he’s at the base of the mountain, maybe on the other side where I rarely go. There are some old cabins around, but the territory is vast. I know the people living around me though, none of them are named Adrien.”
“Own the peak?” she asks meekly.
“Yeah.” I brush off the worry I hear in her voice. “I know what area of the woods you were referring to, where the hill looks like it’s going downhill, it’s a start.”
“I’m sorry.” She drops her eyes to the empty cup she’s holding between both hands.
“I’ll talk to someone. I’ll see what they know. Did he look like he lived there for a long time?”
“I do not know… all I saw was the dungeon… even the garden, I saw it at night, one spotlight aimed at the grave. Everything else was dark. When I ran out of the dungeon, I went straight for the treeline for cover. I did not see anything else around.” She’s trying, she is actually trying, but if she doesn’t know the area, the mountains, it’s impossible to give me directions.
“What’s your name?”
She lifts her gaze from the empty cup and looks at me, still and analytical. There's an internal debate going on, and I can see the wheels spinning.
She could just lie to me right now, yet somehow I feel like she won’t.
“Suki, my name is Suki…” She looks at me like she told me the biggest secret she’s ever held, like she entrusts me with this terrible burden. Almost like she needs to make sure someone does, someone knows her name and she won't disappear into the abyss.
But her name, it goes in through my ears, gliding through my mind, wrapping itself around it, knotting so hard that I know there's no fucking way I will ever pry it out.
“Suki…” I whisper. It spills gently from my tongue and I wanna lick it back in, unwilling to let it go. “Japanese?”
“Yes, my dad was a history buff. Loved the Japanese culture…”
I nod. “I'm Nik… Niklas.”
“Niklas,” she whispers gently and,fuck, if my name on her lips isn’t the sweetest damn sound I’ve ever heard.
I look at her, sitting there on the chair like it’s the most natural thing in the world for her to be in my kitchen, dressed in my clothes. I don’t know what to do with her, I don’t know where to put her because in my house, in this house, no woman has ever had a place.
Not to mention that my intentions for this one are definitely not domestic.
Most definitely not domestic.
