Page 32 of Mushy Stuff
The servant says, “Come, follow me.” Then she leads me back to my room. Once we are there, she takes out a nightgown and robe and helps me get undressed. She asks me if I would like another bath. I just shake my head no. I just want her to leave. While I’m changing into the nightgown, I try to think about what I’m going to do. I have to find my way out of this horrible place as soon as Ican. My room has large windows that overlook the patio, hopefully I can slip out one of those during the night.
I vaguely notice that the servant is pouring something into her hand. She walks over to me and says, “I’m so sorry.” Then she blows a familiar powder in my face.
“Oh…shit…” I collapse into darkness.
Chapter 24
EarlierwhileLydiaisat dinner.
There are tunnels that lead from the servant’s quarters to the main house.
Nanni and Pampa lead me through the tunnels and show me where they lead into the house. It’s a corridor just outside of the kitchen. Pampa sneaks into the hallway and quietly runs down the corridor and takes a left at the end of it. Nanni has me stay just inside the tunnel with her. We shut the door and wait.
If everything goes according to plan, we will wait here while Pampa sneaks into Lydia’s room and unlocks one of the less conspicuous windows. Once that is done, Pampa will sneak back to the servant tunnels and meet us just inside. Then the three of us will head back down the tunnels to the servant quarters. From there, I will creep up to thehouse and slip into the unlocked window in Lydia’s room. I will hide away there and wait until the servants are gone. Once we are alone, I will get Lydia and escape through the unlocked window.
While we are waiting, Nanni looks at me and says, “I am so glad I’ve gotten to see you again tonight. It was so hard to leave you…” She puts her hand on my arm. “You are like a son to me. It broke my heart when your mother made me leave you and return here. Please know that I have missed you every day since then.”
I clasp my hand around hers, and say, “I always considered you my mother, and I’ve missed you very much. I wanted to make you proud of me and be the best Guardian I could be. But what my land demands of me, it took its toll. It made me feel like a monster…the monster that my birth mother always said I was. I hid away and lived like an animal. It wasn’t until Lydia showed up that I felt like a person again.”
Nanni gives me a sad look.
“I want Lydia to stay with me. She wants to stay with me. She thinks we are meant to be together. She has begged to stay with me, but I was going to send her home so that she would be safe. We went to the market to get supplies to do the spell that opens the barrier so that she could go back through. That’s where they kidnapped her.” I give Nannia hopeless look. “I tried to keep her safe as best as I could, but I couldn’t protect her. I still want her to stay with me, but a human isn’t safe in our world. Sending her home is going to break me, I can feel it. I will turn back into the monster again.”
Nanni pats my arm and says, “Maybe Lydia is right, and you are meant to be together. If you give her your mating bite, she will be bound to you.”
“They could still just take her again. She’s a human, the Elven will always want her.” I argue.
“Not if you give her your mating bite. The magic will bind your souls together and change her. She won’t be human anymore.” Nanni explains.
Hope begins to bloom in my chest, and I ask, “What do you mean she won’t be human? Will she be a Guardian?”
“No, not Guardian or Elven. With humans, the magic changes them into something different. Something human, but also fae,” Nanni explains. “I have seen a human that was mated to a Guardian once. She still looked a lot like a human, but she had fae magic and fae features. Her ears were pointed like yours and she carried some of the features of her mate. She had curved horns like his.”
“But how would that keep her safe if someone else wanted to take her as their plaything?” I ask.
“The bond. You would always be connected to each other. You would know exactly how to find her. It would keep her safe. No one is going to try to steal someone that has a mating bond. It’s a death wish.”
I don’t know what to say. We could have avoided all of this. I give Nanni a helpless look and I say, “I did not know…there is so much I do not know.”
She pats my arm again. “Oh Wold, I’m so sorry. There was so much I needed to teach you, and I had such little time to do it. I had to focus on what you needed to survive, and not on things like mating bonds.”
“I do not blame you.” I say. “You did the best you could with the time you had.”
We are quiet for a moment, and then I say, “Shouldn’t Pampa be back by now?”
Nanni has a worried look on her face. “Yes, I didn’t expect it would take this long. We will give her a little longer, and if she is not back, then I will try to slip over there and find out what is happening.”
Something must have gone wrong.
A few minutes later, we hear a commotion in the corridor leading up to the servant’s tunnel. It’s Pampa. I can hear her pleading with someone.
She’s saying, “I just wanted to see her. Everyone is talking about her, and I wanted to see what she looks like.Please don’t tell Nanni, she will be angry with me. I promise I won’t try to spy on her again.”
I give Nanni a look, then step back into the shadows of the tunnel. Nanni steps out of the tunnel and shuts the door. I hear her say in a scolding tone, “Pampa! There you are! I’ve been looking for you! What are you doing here? You know we aren’t supposed to be in the main house right now!”
Another female voice says, “It seems this little one got curious about the new woman that our lord brought home. I’ve already scolded her and told her to stay out of here. Fortunately, no harm was done. She should be glad it was me that found her and not Lord Varik.”
Pampa pleads, “I’m so sorry Nanni! I just wanted to see if she is as beautiful as everyone said. I’ve never seen a human. I promise I won’t do it again.”
