Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 89539 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 448(@200wpm)___ 358(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89539 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 448(@200wpm)___ 358(@250wpm)___ 298(@300wpm)
Eridan swallowed the sudden tightness in his throat.
“Look at me,” Castien said.
Eridan turned around, still kneeling. He lifted his gaze to Castien’s, whose face was unreadable.
“It suits you,” his Master said, touching the gemstone on Eridan’s neck, his fingers brushing against his skin.
Eridan shivered and caught Castien’s hand with his own. Looking his Master in the eye, he brought the hand to his mouth and kissed the black dethrenyte in Castien’s ring, the gemstone that had once been Castien’s own thaal. It wasn’t the first time he’d done this—far from it—but he had never meant it more.
“I will not let you down,” he said softly. “I promise you: you won’t regret this, Master.”
Something flickered in Castien’s eyes.
He stared at Eridan and gave a clipped nod. “The thaal has the additional benefit of helping you focus. It should help you fight the nausea you feel at the contact of another telepath’s mind. Just focus on my mark and it should ground you. What happened with Master Tker today should not happen again. It should not feel as intrusive, because the thaal will shield you from the worst of it.”
Eridan bit his bottom lip and nodded, feeling stunned. It was the first time in his memory that Castien had allowed someone to bend his rules. Despite Eridan completely failing to follow his orders, his Master hadn’t cast him aside but instead basically allowed him to cheat by giving him the easy solution to his problem with Tker. It was so unlike him.
“Thank you, Master,” Eridan said, his voice thicker than he would have liked. Looking Castien in the eye, he turned Castien’s hand and pressed his lips against his palm. It was warm and dry. “I will not bring shame to your name.”
The blue eyes bored into him for a moment before Castien retrieved his hand and walked to the window. “I still expect you to stop relying on me in the future. Now go to bed. It is late.”
Eridan nodded and turned toward the door.
“Eridan.”
He looked back. “Yes, Master?”
“Call my servant and tell him to come.”
Eridan pursed his lips, glaring at Castien’s wide back. It was the middle of the night—Javier was almost certainly asleep—but he knew Castien didn’t care about inconveniencing a mere servant.
Scowling, he bit out, “Yes, Master.”
He was still fuming when he called Javier and was still fuming as he got into bed.
He was still fuming as he tried not to think about what poor Javier must be doing for his Master at that moment.
With your face, you will spend all your time on your knees or on your back, servicing Master after Master.
Was that how Javier spent time with his Master? On his knees and his back?
Eridan squeezed his eyes shut and had to employ meditation techniques in order to calm down.
Stop thinking about it, dammit.
The important part was, he was a real apprentice now. The fate of a servant would never befall him now. He was an apprentice. The first apprentice of Master Castien.
His hand closed on the thaal on his neck. The gemstone felt warm to the touch, emanating his Master’s telepathic mark.
Poor Javier would never know this.
Eridan could only pity him.
Chapter Six: A Merge
One year later
“What are you sulking about, Eridan?”
Eridan flinched and looked at Gaina, and then at the other apprentices beside her. Out of all his fellow apprentices, he liked Gaina the best, but he wasn’t really in the mood to talk to her, much less to talk about what was really bothering him. She wouldn’t understand, anyway. None of them would. They would probably laugh at him—if they actually unclenched a little and allowed themselves to laugh.
Eridan pursed his lips, feeling very much alone. He had thought—hoped—that once he became one of them, he would feel more included, but he still didn’t quite fit in, even after more than a year as an official apprentice. Most of the time, Eridan didn’t mind—he didn’t spend enough time with the other apprentices to care—but the chasm between him and them became glaringly obvious when his Master was away and Eridan was forced to spend his time with them.
Salah looked at him with barely contained disdain. “I’m sure he’s moping because he misses Master Idhron. We all know what a big baby Eridan is.”
Eridan gave him a pleasant smile. “There’s no need to sound so jealous, Salah. It’s not my fault your Master doesn’t give a shit about you.”
An angry flush appeared on Salah’s face. Honestly, it was kind of hilarious that all these hypocrites acted as though they were so much better than him just because they could fake humility, control over their emotions, and obedience better than him.
“You’re delusional if you think Master Idhron cares about you,” Salah said. “Master Idhron doesn’t care about anyone, much less about an overly emotional, disobedient failure of an apprentice he was saddled with.”