Page 18 of The Seducer
“It’s personal, but I’ll tell you this much: he saved me when we were boys.”
“In what way?”
Finn ran his tongue over his teeth but kept quiet.
“Did Magni save your life?”
Finn didn’t confirm it, but he didn’t deny it either.
“He did, didn’t he?” I probed, and the way his jaw tensed as if annoyed that I’d guessed his secret made me sure. “Now you have me curious. How did Magni save your life?”
Finn tugged at the ropes again with another annoyed huff of air. “I really don’t like being tied.”
“That’s too bad, because you’ll be tied again tomorrow night.”
His head whipped in my direction. “What the fuck! I only tied you down one night.”
“True, but your second night will be for the fear I endured.”
“You’re crazy if you think I’m going to let you tie me down two nights in a row.”
“Look at the bright side,” I suggested. “At least you know that in five days it’s all over, and you’ll never have to see me again. I didn’t have that comfort, did I?”
Finn groaned and perspiration showed on his forehead. “I told you,” he sneered. “I don’t fucking like to be tied.” Every word was spoken with an anger that unnerved me.
Stay strong, this is for his spiritual growth,I reminded myself.
“Good night, Finn.” Stretching my arms with a big yawn, I rolled over to position myself with my back to him, when he muttered:
“Good night, witch.”
CHAPTER 6
Bad Memories
Finn
Athena’s quiet breathing annoyed me. Being tied to the bed, I would be lucky if I got any sleep tonight. Whatever little revenge scheme the pretty witch was cooking up for me, I would deal with it.
I wished that it didn’t involve being tied to a bed. There were too many fucking bad memories in my past of being held down with physical punishment. Not that I would ever share those memories with her. If she learned how some of my cruel mentors had disciplined a smart-mouth like me as a child, she would probably go all soft and weepy on me. I shuddered at the thought.
This would be one of those nights where I didn’t sleep, and maybe it was better than suffering through the nightmares that these bloody ropes would surely provoke.
The familiar headache I associated from suppressing those memories was returning with a vengeance.Don’t. Fucking. Go. There!I ordered myself, but one clear picture was showing on my inner screen. A man on the floor, his body in an awkward position of self-protection, his face smeared with blood, and his eyes empty. Another kick to his body, but this time he didn’t move or blink.
“Stop it – it’s enough now, he’s already dead. You killed him!”
Squeezing my eyes shut, I tried to push the memory out, but from seventeen years of experience, I knew this memory had the power to haunt me and torture me. The best way to not think about it was to focus on something else. I would distract myself, but being tied to a bed in a dark room there wasn’t much I could use to distract myself. If I couldn’t hold back the memories, at least I would control what memories I would remember. I chose to think of the first day I met Magni.
There was a special excitement in the air that day. Rumors were spreading like wildfire; some said they had seen our ruler walk into the office to talk to Mentor Johnson and that he had a boy with him. Most of us didn’t believe it. There was no way our ruler would come to our school, and everybody knew his two sons were being homeschooled.
But it was true and before we knew it, all one hundred and thirty of us were lined up outside the school to greet our new student.
“It’s a proud day,” Mentor Johnson proclaimed, and although he held his chin high and his chest was puffed out, his rocking back and forth on his heals revealed that he was nervous.
“Our ruler, Lord Marcus Aurelius, is honoring us by letting his son become a student here at our fine school.”
While he spoke, we were all studying the unbelievable sight of our ruler in person. My first impression of him was that he looked mean, but maybe I was influenced by the fact that everybody knew he was quick to kill anyone who opposed him.
