“Look,” Tomas says, “we don’t need to do any of this today, right, Pell?”
I shrug. “Whatever. It’s not like we’re on a deadline.”
“Great. So why don’t you go take a bath or something, Pie? Change out of that outfit. Which is completely adorable, by the way. But you’ve been wearing it for days now.”
At the mention of her clothes, Pie looks down at herself and frowns even deeper.
“And you have new clothes now,” I add. “So. That’s… nice.”
She doesn’t even look up at me. Just continues staring down at herself. “There’s no hot water in the cottage. I can’t take a bath.”
“There is so,” Tomas says. “Come on.” He takes her hand. “I’ll show you how it works.”
And then he leads her out of the steam cave.
They leave me like that.
Like they are together and I am no one.
Just like always.
But I follow them. At least until I get to the cemetery.
Then I veer off and head back to my tomb where I belong.
CHAPTER TEN - PIE
It was stupid of me, really. To think that I might fall into some good luck. That’s just not how my life works. I never get anything good. Everything that comes my way is terrible. Sometimes, it’s borderline evil.
Like this. Being cursed with a monster. This is what I would consider borderline evil.
I’m sitting on the bed listening to Tomas mess with some water heater thing downstairs. You have to feed it wood. And he says it takes a while to get enough hot water for a bath, but it’s worth it.
So he tells me.
I’m not arguing. I do need a bath. I didn’t even notice how bad I smell and how my cute, completely-appropriate-for-Halloween schoolgirl costume now looks more like a three-day-bender, I-have-no-other-clothes outfit.
Tomas comes up the steps and walks into the room smiling. Then he frowns. “I thought you were gonna put your new clothes away?”
We both look at the piles of bags filled with new clothes. Then back at each other. I sigh and shrug. “It’s not as fun now that I know it was a high price to pay. I would be better off getting a waitressing job in town to pay for what we need instead of using the free money.”
“Can you do that?”
I perk up a little because he didn’t immediately tell me it’s against the rules. “I don’t know. Can’t I? I mean… if I came home every night it wouldn’t be breaking the rules, right? And then I wouldn’t have to go into debt and I could pay for all our food and stuff.”
Tomas sits down next to me. He’s been really nice to me today. “I don’t think Pell would like that though.”
“No,” I say, feeling utterly defeated. “I suppose he wouldn’t.”
“But you could ask him. No one has ever come up with that idea before. It’s a good one. It saves you, at least.”
“But not him, right? I’m here to please him, and work for him, and break his curse.”
“It’s your curse too.”
“Yeah.” I don’t need reminding.
“Come on.” He stands up. “I’ll help you put your new stuff away. Then you can take a bath and settle in, and I’ll even make dinner tonight.”
“Fuck. I forgot about dinner.”
“I said I’d make it. You just relax.”
I look up at him and man, this guy just gets better-looking by the second. He’s still got the same roaring hot body. But he’s a good guy too. And that’s not usually how the hot ones come. “Thanks, Tomas. I really mean it. I don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t here to help me today.”
“Believe it or not, Pell is a pretty good guy.”
“Guy?” I make a face. “He’s got horns, Tomas. And hooves. He’s half-goat or something.”
“He’s actually half-minotaur.” Then he pauses, like he wants to say something. But the pause goes on too long and even though he keeps talking, I just know that what comes out next wasn’t what he was thinking about. “My point is, even if I wasn’t here, you’d be OK. He’s not that bad.”
I shoot Tomas a look. “Did you see the list in that book?” He winces. “I’m not an idiot. I know what ‘fellatio’ means.”
“No slave caretaker has ever—and I do mean ever—given Pell a fucking blowjob to pay a debt.”
My eyebrows shoot up. “Did they do it to not pay a debt?”
“The point is, he’s not gonna make you do any of it. Except for the foot wash and the horn polishing. He does like that shit. Especially the horns. So if you need to pay a debt off, you can’t go wrong with the feet and the horns.”
“Hoof washing.” I sigh.
“It pays well. It’s a win-win.”
“Whatever. I don’t want to think about any of it right now. I feel so… worthless. Like my life has no value at all. I’m just some thing to be used and discarded.”