All Things Wild and Beautiful

22. Unusually Comforting

A day passed and neither of them spoke about what had occurred. Nascha seemed content to forget that it had ever happened. Fenrys didn't share the sentiment. Something in him had changed now. What it was, he didn't know, but it had everything to do with her and he was determined to figure it out.

Fenrys emerged from the bathroom and found Nascha sitting on the window seat, staring vacantly into the distance. "Do you see something of interest, Sweetheart?" Fenrys asked, sitting down beside her.

"Don't call me that," she muttered.

"You liked it well enough yesterday." He grinned as a furious blush crept into her cheeks. "If you insist, I'll reserve it only for special occasions."

Nascha rolled her eyes with a scoff. "I think it's about time I came up with an irritating nickname for you."

"Well if you need suggestions, Rowan likes to call me Boyo and Pup from time to time. Some people just call me Fen."

"I think I'll just call you Asshole."

"Not very creative for a writer like yourself." Nascha glanced at him, worry leaping in her eyes. "I haven't so much as peeked inside your journal. Don't worry. I'm not interested in violating your privacy any more than I have to."

Nascha pursed her lips. "Thanks, I suppose, and you're right. I can do better than Asshole. I'll keep thinking."

"We're heading back to Orynth tomorrow."

"Are you planning on telling everyone what happened here?"

"If you mean stuff about the trip in general, yes. I'll be expected to report on what we did and how things went. If you're referring to what happened in the bathroom, no. That, and any future events of that nature, can stay between us."

"I thought that might be something you'd gloat about. You seemed so proud last night."

Fenrys' smile faded. "I wouldn't gloat about something like that. What makes you think I would?"

Nascha shrugged. "It could increase your pride and decrease my own. You must be proud because I hate you, and yet I let you bring me to the point where I obeyed you just so..." She gave a disgusted huff. "I'd be humiliated if you revealed that to the others."

Fenrys tilted his head, crossing his arms over his chest. Nascha didn't look at him. She tugged the end of her braid over her shoulder and toyed with it. "Maeve was often proud of me. She was proud that she owned me. She liked to flaunt her control over me to others. She would humiliate me by making me service her in front of them. Other times, she would be the one pleasuring me. She would taunt people by promising me to them if they could accomplish something for her."

Nascha's throat bobbed. "Did she ever..."

"Yes. Not very often, but yes. If the person was one of her favorites, she could be persuaded to share me. When she didn't want to share me, she gave them Con. There were occasions when she passed Vaughan around too. It was a game to her, seeing how hard we would fight back and how long it took for us to submit. She loved to humiliate us. Break our pride. Increase her own."

Nascha closed her eyes, turning her head away. "So believe me when I tell you, Nascha, that I have no intention of treating you that way. If you want to discuss it with Lysandra, or Aeron, or someone else, I don't care. I don't believe you intend to try to humiliate me somehow, or use me to bolster your reputation." She gave a slow nod. "If you bothered to get to know me, I think you'd find that you can trust me."

"Everyone I have ever trusted is dead."

"Maybe you should focus less on the dead, and more on the alive. There are trustworthy people amongst us."