Page 33 of A Curse of Hope and Shadows: Part I
“You don’t have to talk.”
“How about a song?”
“Are you any good?”
“I’ll let you be the judge.”
She sang one of her mother’s lullabies, hands still brushing through his hair, and was still singing when she looked down and realised he’d fallen fast asleep.
Chapter Nine: A world altered
Adeline woke an hour later, slumped against Dimitri’s pillow, his head in her lap with his arms around her waist. His distorted side was pressed to her thighs, so he looked like an ordinary person. If anyone were to witness the two of them from afar, the picture it would cast was very different from that of employer and employee.
The clock on the mantelpiece ticked. She had dozed off almost an hour ago. An hour! When was the last time she had napped during the day?
“Dimitri?” she whispered, wiggling beneath him. “I’m sorry, but I need to get up.”
He murmured something into her lap.
“You need to let go. I have to get your lunch.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“If you don’t let me go, someone else will bring it up, and if they see me in your bed, I’ll be dismissed.”
“I would never let anyone fire you.”
“It’s not proper.”
“You didn’t say that before.”
“You needed me. I was just doing as I was told.”
His grip on her loosened. “Right. Your job. Yes.” He let go and rolled over, his back solid and dark. “You should go and get lunch.”
There was a coldness to his tone, but she didn’t press it. He let her go and fetch the food, not saying anything until the tray was beside him.
“I’m still not hungry,” he grumbled into his pillow.
“You need to eat a little of the soup, at least.”
“I said no, and apparently, you always do as you’re told!”
Adeline startled. “You’re angry.”
He turned his face away from her. “Perhaps. It’s probably unwarranted though. Not your fault.”
She seized his furry cheek and turned him to face her. “Talk to me.”
His face tensed with something other than pain, a different kind of discomfort. Just as real. “I... when you said that... you were just... just doing what you were told when you climbed into bed with me, I…”
“Yes?”
“I don’t like being your job.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t like the fact I can order you about. I don’t like it because it means I’ll never know what you’re doing because it’s your job, or because you actually... I mean, do you actually…”
