She was stirring something in a pot on the stove when he found her. He drank in the sight of her naked body, just in case she wanted nothing to do with him after he told her. Swallowing hard, he had to pause to control his turbulent emotions. “Kitten?”
“Breakfast will be done in just a second, master,” she replied to him. “Iffin ya will just take a seat, I’ll bring it over. The coffee is already on the table for ya.”
He took the coward’s path and went to the table, taking a seat and sipping at the coffee she had poured for him. A minute later she brought over two bowls of frumenty, she set his bowl before him before taking her seat. Her eyes met his and she froze as she read the fear in his face.
“Master,” she asked softly as she covered his hand on the table with hers, “what be troublin’ ya?”
Alburet looked away before meeting her eyes. “I’ve been given the okay to tell you about my past. All of it. You might understand why I’m having the troubles I am. However, if you tell anyone what I’m about to tell you then the gods will consider it a violation of the NDA quest. And I will be pulled from this world and not allowed to return.”
Stacia’s face went white, “Do ya need to tell me, master? I do nay care what ya did in the past, ya could have killed the gods of ya mad world and I would be fine with tha’. I never want to risk losin’ ya.”
“This is a sin that weighs heavily on me, Kitten. It’s why I have nightmares, like the one today that I couldn’t snap out of until you slapped me. Your mother is helping Fluff with her issues, so maybe you can help me with mine. If you know what it is.”
Stacia could see the fear, self-loathing and despair in his eyes. “Iffin ya need to speak of it to me master, then I will listen to ya words. I swear on me soul I will nay tell another what ya tell me. I can nay do what me mother does, I have nay been taught how to do it. I will ask, though, iffin there is anything that she might be able to teach me.”
Alburet nodded and looked down for a moment to collect his thoughts. “Thank you, Kitten. Let’s start at the beginning. I have a friend named David…”
Breakfast grew cold while he told her about David, and how they became friends. Of Kaylee and how he ended up like a surrogate father to her. How the three of them had found a happiness that, while slightly odd, was one he had enjoyed. His voice faltered when he got to the call from David, the attack, Kaylee in the hospital and the surgery to save her life. His voice broke when he described how she’d been left paralyzed and terrified of all men except David.
She covered his shaking hands with her own, her eyes not judging him but giving him only love and compassion as he told her about the day he’d gone to work and killed the man responsible for hurting Kaylee. He described how he’d executed the man in cold blood and eventually been sentenced to life in prison. He was able to bring his emotions back under some control by the time he told her about the offer he’d received that led to him being here all the time.
“The nightmares center around Kaylee being hurt and me killing the man who hurt her. Today I relived the part where I killed him in the hall. The words… the words I said in my dream are not what I recall saying to him. Somehow, they’re the right words, though. The words I recall are wrong, flawed, false in some way and I don’t know how.”
Stacia said nothing as she got out of her seat and went to him, sitting in his lap and holding him tightly. He broke as she began to stroke his hair, clutching her and sobbing out his hurt, fear and anger. He’d been so afraid she would curse him and revile him, yet here she was soothing him and speaking words of love to him.
“Master, ya did the right thin’, do nay doubt that. I would have done the same iffin it had been me sister in her spot. Ya did what ya should have done, it was right even if ya mad crazed world could nay understand it. Ya said ya hope this guild, Mindblown, mayhap be able to one day give her the chance to join ya here. To walk and laugh and love again, aye?”
He nodded once as he sniffled, trying to stifle his tears, “Yes.”
“Then they know and be okay with what ya did. Instead we should do our best to give them what they want to help make them feel like they should do what ya wish, aye?”
His lips quirked slightly at her logic, “It doesn’t work that way, but yes, Kitten.”
“I can only love ya more, now tha’ ya have told me, master,” she said and tipped his head back so their eyes could meet. Hers were fiercely proud of him and full of love, “Ya did what ya did for family. Protectin’ ya family be what everyone should do. Ya have no reason to fear me lovin’ ya less, the Dark Lord knows, I just be lovin’ ya more now.” She dipped her head and kissed him softly.
The pure love in that kiss came across to Alburet. Almost as if their hearts were one, beating in unison. When the kiss finally came to an end he realized they hadn’t eaten and that he had a very naked Kitten on his lap. He smiled softly, “Thank you, Kitten. Now we need to eat up and you need to dress. We’re supposed to meet up with the others after my first meeting this morning.”
Stacia wiggled on his lap slightly, “Aye master.” She got up slowly, making sure he had a really good view of her toned athletic body as she did so. “I be right back, then. I can eat after ya go. And iffin I do nay get dressed, ya very well may be too distracted to eat.” She sashayed to the bedroom, glancing back and winking at him at the doorway.
Alburet shook his head and turned his attention to the meal. It was a little like glue, cold as it was, but still tasty. He finished eating just as Stacia came back out from the bedroom clad in travel clothes and her leathers. “I will be over at the guild hall after ya go, master. Iffin ya want to meet anywhere else just let me know.” She sat down and began to eat.
“Will do, Kitten.” He leaned over and kissed her cheek as he got to his feet. “I’ll go see if Gerald is already here. If I don’t come back, it’s because it was time for me to go.”
Stacia nodded at him, her mouth full of cold frumenty. After he left the house she put her spoon down and bowed her head. She knew he wasn’t a religious man, so she tried not to bring her own religion up in front of him. “Dark Lord, iffin ya are listenin’, please look on me husband with kindness. He has given me much happiness and brought me into the fold under ya guidance as a Succubus. He has darkness in his past which haunts him, dark deeds committed for a good cause. Use ya will and ease his burden for him, please. As the shadows grow, light ends.” When she finished her prayer, she picked up her spoon and continued to eat. She would have to talk to her mother about learning the dream techniques that Succubi normally learned in the Dark Lord’s service.
Alburet stepped outside to find a carriage waiting outside the archway and Gerald just exiting the guild hall. “Oh good, thought I was going to have to wake you,” Gerald said in greeting.
“I’ve been awake for a bit now,” Alburet replied, keeping his face neutral. “This for us?”
“Yes, this is the carriage that Kim hired to get us there and back,” Gerald said and handed a card to the driver. He climbed into the back. “You seem a little worn.”
Alburet got in after him, “Late night celebrating with the family. Add in a woman who craves sex like a fish needs water and, well…”
Laughing, Gerald shook his head, “I still don’t get it. But you seem happy enough. I mean, Succubi are supposed to be all about sex. I still don’t get why you picked her over Karen, though. Hell, even Fluff seems sweet on you.”
“Who knows why love does what it does?” Alburet replied, looking out the window. “Four years ago I would have taken the chance with Karen or Fluff. Even if I hadn’t married Stacia though, I wouldn’t have hooked up with either of them now. My current situation would not allow it to work.”