When the silence stretched, Andreas spoke again. “There’s also another option,” he said. “A better option for you. I can assign you to another job.”
For a moment, Troy was sure he’d heard it wrong.
What?
He must have said it aloud, because Andreas replied, “It’s very unusual, yes. Normally, servants aren’t allowed to change their field of work once they are assigned to it. In fact, it would be a more serious breach of the rules than keeping you as my servant. But it can be done.”
Troy shook his head dazedly. “I’m not—I’m not good at anything else. I failed my aptitude tests.” It would have been humiliating to say that to anyone else, but Andreas already knew that.
His Master’s eyes softened a little. “You may not have aptitude for specialized fields, but you can still work some office jobs that don’t require a particular aptitude. In fact, the old High Hronthar monastery is in need of a clerical worker right now. I’ve inquired about it today. The job is yours if you want it.”
Just like that?
Troy couldn’t wrap his mind around it. Servants didn’t just change their field of work like that. It wasn’t done. Pleasure servants didn’t become respectable clerks in the monastery. It was… It was…
His vision suddenly blurry, Troy turned his back to Andreas and blinked the wetness away.
“You’re upset,” Andreas stated.
Troy felt him step closer and put his hands on his shoulders.
The urge to sag back into this man and feel his arms around him was so strong Troy had to use all his willpower not to do it.
“No,” he choked out with a laugh. Though he wasn’t being entirely truthful. It was upsetting to know that all one needed to change one’s life so drastically was the right connections. The right man.
It wasn’t Andreas’s fault, of course. It was the corrupt system. What Andreas was offering him was beyond wonderful. Andreas had been wonderful to him.
He had been so wonderful Troy couldn’t imagine leaving him.
Troy bit his lip hard, the thought making his insides hurt. That was the crux of the problem, wasn’t it? Despite the incredible opportunity Andreas was offering him, part of him—the stupid part—felt panicky and tight in the chest at the thought of not being his pleasure servant anymore. At the thought of Andreas replacing him with someone else.
He wanted to stay so badly it was defying all reason and logic. He knew it was extremely foolish. He knew he was being offered the opportunity of his lifetime.
Yet it didn’t change the fact that he wanted to turn around, bury his face in Andreas’s neck, and never let go.
Idiot. When exactly had he gotten it so bad for him?
It was just an infatuation. It had to be. It couldn’t be anything else, because the high and mighty Senior Masters of the Chapter didn’t fall for their pleasure servants. As Master Castien’s example showed, pleasure servants were just tools to slake the Masters’ desires when they couldn’t have someone they really wanted.
“Thank you,” Troy said. His voice didn’t even sound like his own. “When do I start? Should I go to the Coordinator first?”
Behind him, Andreas was silent for a moment before saying, “You may leave right now, if you want. I’ll give the Coordinator a call.”
Troy closed his eyes, his heart somewhere in his stomach. “Thank you,” he said again, turning around. Say you want me to stay, something in him begged as he met Andreas’s eyes. One word and I’ll stay.
Andreas’s gaze was unreadable. He said nothing.
Later, Troy would be grateful for that.
But that would be later.
***
Andreas didn’t even come to see him off.
Troy packed his things as slowly as he could, hoping against hope that Andreas would show up. But he was nowhere to be seen, and Troy could no longer loiter around without looking ridiculous and pathetic.
“Wow, no wonder you needed help,” Noel said, looking at his bags.
Troy glanced at his bags and cringed. Until that day, he hadn’t realized how much of his stuff he’d moved into Andreas’s house. It was kind of eye-opening. And depressing.
“I’m surprised Master Andreas allowed you to move so much of your stuff into his house,” Noel said, grabbing a few bags and heading to the nearest teleportation chamber.
Troy didn’t say anything. He grabbed the rest of the bags and followed Noel slowly, violently squashing down the urge to look back at the house.
Noel chattered on, undeterred by his silence. “I still can’t believe Master Andreas is getting another job for you.” He chuckled, clapping Troy on his shoulder. “Did you suck his cock that well? Or maybe—”
“Shut up,” Troy said, without looking at him. “Please.”
Noel shut up.
Troy could feel his probing gaze on him, but he stayed mercifully quiet.
They were still silent as they arrived at Troy’s old apartment. Then Troy spent a good twenty minutes looking for the keys to his apartment while Noel waited patiently. It was probably painfully obvious that he had stopped returning to the apartment a long time ago.