“Did you sleep well?”
“I did,” I say, getting up to take the bread. It smells far too good to let it go to waste. I break off a chunk of it and discover to my pleasure that my scent did not send me wrong. It is the most delicious bread I have ever eaten. Tethys went heavy on the butter, and she did a damn good job. He’s lucky to have a daughter that talented and caring.
“Don't be too hard on her,” I say. “The bread’s really good, and she was acting in good faith.”
“I’m not worried about the faith she was acting in. She is an idealist. She does not think before she acts. She’s…” He stops himself from launching into a parent’s tirade of worries. “This does not concern you.”
It doesn’t concern me. What does concern me is getting the hell out of here. I’m now fed, rested, and back in the right frame of mind. Today is the day.
There is a crash from somewhere in the house. If I didn’t know better, and I do, I’d say that was the sound of an impetuous brat breaking something in a fit of temper. I never thought of Sithren as allowing anybody in his family to behave that way. I assumed he’d rule all women, wives and offspring, with a proverbial iron fist.
“I will be back,” he says, spinning on his heel with a growl.
He leaves me alone in his bedchamber. I am sure it is not really his bedchamber. I am sure this house is full of his bedchambers, dozens of the things, no doubt. Regardless of what this really is, it’s a room full of items. I can kill a man with a toothpick, so leaving me in a fully furnished room is like leaving me with my own personal arsenal. I sit on the bed for a few minutes, picking at what is left on the tray, then I get up and look for something like clothing. Most of it is too big for me, and far too grand and quite scaled, but I eventually find what’s probably a shirt for him that fits over my head and falls to my knees. The front is heavy because of the scale pattern, but other than that, it works.
Padding out of the room, I can hear arguing in the distance. Something to do with everything not being fair, apparently. I cannot fucking believe my luck. I am going to just walk out of here.
The room I’m in is not directly adjacent the front door, unfortunately, but I do remember how I got here, and sneaking through the house gives me the chance to map the territory a little better. It is very large, and as I suspected, the bedroom I am in is in a hall of many other bedrooms. I suppose this was created so that the master of the harem can travel between each of his nightly liaisons while still maintaining the appearance of privacy.
This is a house of horrors dressed up in finery. I can only imagine how many women of all manner of species have been used and abused in these walls. It sends a shiver through me as I creep toward the stairs that wind down to the entrance we used yesterday. I have been fortunate so far to avoid the worst of what happens here. Sithren is still playing the role of genteel captor, but at any moment that could change and I would see the full horror of his patriarchal vengeance unleashed on me.
It’s not enough to just run out into the street clad like a mad person, though. I have to have a plan. As soon as I leave his home, I will need a place to hide. Somewhere to make communication and get some breathing room. Or I could go to the harbor and try to take one of the ships there. That’s a reckless plan, but if fortune is in my favor, then it may be the best. Sometimes the boldest solutions are the best.
“Stop. Right. There.”
Sithren’s voice rings out just as I start down the stairs. I am too far from the front door to hope to get to it, so I don’t bother. I just stop and turn around, shrugging as I do.
“What do you think you're doing?”
“Escaping.”
“While wearing my clothing. Did you hope to pass as me?”
“No, but now you mention it, that might not be the worst idea.”
“Take that off and go back to your room.”
“I thought it was your room.”
“They're all my rooms,” he snarls. He is not in a good mood, and I am certain that it’s not entirely on my account. He’s been arguing with family, and that never puts anybody in a positive temper.
I have to walk past him to follow his orders. The second I get within arm’s reach, he grabs the back of my shirt and physically propels me back into the chamber. My feet barely touch the floor until I am back on the bed, the shirt being ripped from me with those furious scaled hands.