After the first meal, Nel had been led by the neck to a bedroom. She hadn’t ever seen a room more fitting of the title. The bed occupied almost the entire space and that space was not small. The entire cadre of vampires she hunted with the Elysium Order over the summer would have had room to spare during one of their–well, they wouldn’t have taken up half of it.
Despite sinking into the bed like she was resting on a cloud, Nel got no sleep the first night.
Ylva decided to climb into the bed with her. She sat a foot away from Nel and stared. Her cold, gray eyes watched over every movement without a hint of life in them. They were impossible to ignore.
Due to her lack of sleep that first night, Nel had fallen asleep against the demon’s skeletal leg the next morning. She tried to fight it off, but recovering from the attack combined with a total lack of sleep had overpowered her will.
Ylva had simply sat on her throne and ignored it. At least, as far as Nel was aware.
The demon never made any mention of that transgression.
She hadn’t tried to watch Nel sleep since the first night. At least not when Nel first went to sleep.
More than once, Nel had awoken to find foot sized wrinkles in the otherwise smooth sheets leading to just near where she slept. The first time, Nel thought they were simply hers from getting into the bed. She quickly discarded that idea the next morning when there were two sets of footprints leading towards her.
Nel tried to simply ignore it.
Overall, her situation wasn’t so bad, if she was honest with herself. There was plenty of food and despite whatever happened at night, she got a good amount of sleep. A lot more than she got the last few months during the constant surveillance on Eva.
The best part was that no one was trying to kill her. Probably. Eva seemed to gleefully allow her to fall into this situation. Then again, Eva essentially saved her from a death by starvation. Unless it was all a ploy to–
Nel shook the thought out of her head. No. No one was trying to kill her here. Not yet at least. Even if someone did try to kill her, they wouldn’t succeed as long as she had Ylva’s favor. She didn’t know where the demon ranked on the power scale–she’d been too scared to try connecting–but it had to be quite high.
Bony fingers ceased scratching Nel’s head at the sudden movement.
A chill ran up Nel’s spine that was completely unrelated to the cool air of the throne room. She’d completely forgotten about Ylva’s near constant massage of her scalp. Why the demon was so obsessed with running her skeletal fingers through Nel’s hair, she couldn’t guess.
“Is something troubling you?” Ylva’s voice carried command and authority with every syllable despite the soft tone it was spoken in. It wasn’t the booming voice that Nel first heard. The demon hadn’t used that since the school teacher fled from her presence.
It might not be the booming command, but it was not something Nel could ignore.
“Nothing, Lady Ylva.” Nel tried to quell the trembling in her voice. “I was merely lost in my thoughts.”
“Be honest,” the demon commanded. “Never before has a mortal been in Our service. We admit We are learning. If there are additional mortal desires you require, We will oblige.”
Nel bit her lip. She shut her eyes and drew in a deep breath. Nel sat between Ylva’s legs on the cold marble floor. Despite facing away, she was sure the demon could see her sigh. “Clothes, maybe?”
“Proper attire is already in production. It will be ready soon. We request you wait.”
Ylva resumed her petting of Nel’s hair. A shudder ran up her spine as the fingers ran down her skull. It was a confusing shudder for several conflicting reasons.
On one hand, Ylva could kill with a touch if she so desired. Eva checked in on her a few days after mentioning food and they had a few minutes to talk. Telling her about the touch thing almost sent Nel into tears again.
On another hand, the petting was a sign of affection. At least, Nel hoped it was. So long as the demon enjoyed her company, Nel was safe.
The final reason, it started to feel good at some point. Something Nel hated to admit even as she leaned into the gentle strokes.
Nel stopped herself and pulled away. “If it isn’t too much to ask,” Nel said as she shuffled her knees against the hard floor, “would it be possible to get a pillow or even just a blanket for me to sit on here? I mean, my legs are aching.”
There was a pause as the hollow clank of bones bumping each other sounded just above Nel’s head.
She leaned back to look up. Two empty eye sockets stared straight down at her.
Nel clamped down on her jaw and tried to avoid making any sounds or sudden movements. She stared back, wide-eyed, at the polished white skull of her…her master.
She tried not to think of Ylva as her master. Master implied owner. Ylva was her boss, her queen, her savior. Not her master.
