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Chapter 15

My Sweet Master

~ARRIK~

‘Things okay?’ I type a few hours after tucking Master in. I can still feel her tossing.

‘Prince wasn’t involved. They tried to pay us hush money. I negotiated protection.’

‘So can we come back to the rental?’

‘Not yet. I have a few loose ends to take care of. How is she?’

‘Not great. Her worry is seeping through my vessel.’

My brother types a response, deletes it, and then types another, finally sending:

‘She’s staying in your vessel?’

‘Her idea. She insisted I take the bed.’

‘Reassure her.’

‘Thank you, Einstein. Because I’m not already doing that.’

Velis doesn’t respond for several minutes.

‘I’ve got my sound on. Ping if you need backup,’ I send him and then hide my Ray away, pulling the projection of our conversation from the wall.

I flick a switch to infuse the room with indigo haze and sink into the mattress, my master on the bedside table beside me. I wave my hand to diffuse the light clusters in the corners of the room and under the bed, dousing the room in darkness, thick with mind-tiring fog.

Master’s calming aura, the fog, the sprites.

It works, and I finally sleep for the first time in days.

I jerk awake to the sound of suppressed sobbing in my ear.

Master’s guilt is overwhelming.

I don’t have enough magic to spare to numb her through the night—not with emotions as strong as hers.

I tell her it isn’t her fault. I tell her I have a plan.

And then I make a choice.

I pull the heirloom vessel into bed with me and tuck her to my chest, my other hand firmly on the back.

Velis can be mad all he wants. This is a thing masters and their wish-granters do. Usually, it’s the other way around. But it’s not abnormal. It’s not sexual .

I’m sharing my body’s heat with her through a physical barrier, and there’s something primally comforting about another’s warmth. Pack animals know survival lies in seeking it. People don’t realize the power of an embrace until they’ve been denied them.

I’ll fix this.

When Velis gets here, I’ll let him know that the only way either of them get to keep their little fantasy is if he removes her memory of me. And mine of her.

Because I realize now: I can’t exist knowing she exists. And she never should have remembered me anyway.

Soon, this pain in my chest will no longer be mine. Good fucking riddance.

But for tonight, I’ll relish it one last time .

I slow my breath when I feel her begin to match it and listen for her to drift to sleep, drifting myself in the process.

I wake to darkness. I didn’t set a daylight alarm, and the room is heavy with indigo haze. It smells like a master’s lotion. I don’t fully remember what I’m doing here, but based on the full ass in my hand, I’d like seconds.

I pull my bed-partner’s body closer against me, not sure if this is a dream or reality or which master’s bed I’m in this time.

She smells like summer. Her neck tastes like honey. Her belly is soft.

My cock is semi-hard against her back.

I tuck it away from her and enjoy the shape of her body cushioned against mine and the scent of her hair near my lips as I fall back into deeper sleep than I’ve ever known—because, for the first time ever, it feels like I’m home.