Page 37 of Mushy Stuff
Haemir and the other guards just stare at us and continue to stand there with their swords drawn. Their eyes look blank and glazed over as if they aren’t really seeinganything.
Osonia cries, “Haemir!” She still gets noresponse.
Lord Varik begins laughing at her and says, “Did you really think you would get away with this little plan?”
Osonia gasps and says, “My lord, what plan? There is no plan.”
Lord Varik laughs again. “Shut up, female. I know everything that happens here. I know of the plan to freeher.” He points to me as he says this.
He then directs his attention to me. “Andyou…you have quickly become more trouble than you are worth. You were supposed to just be a little bit of fun, someone new and interesting to fuck. I’ve never had a human woman before. I wanted to see what all the fuss is about.”
He looks to Haemir. “Guards, seize them. I’m sure I can find a fun way to put them to good use.”
When he says this, Faylen gasps and Osonia cries, “No!”
I push both of them behind me and glare at Lord Varik as I say, “What is wrong with you?! Stop this!”
He just laughs at me.
The guards come over and roughly grab each of us by the arm. They pull our hands behind us to bind them. As the guard holds my hands together, I begin to feel something cool and not quite liquid but also not quite solid slither its way around my wrists and over my hands, binding them tightly together.
I panic at the strange sensation and begin trying to yank my hands apart, but they are held tight. Now whatever it is that encases my hands feels solid and strong, like metal. I thrash and continue to yank, and then I notice that Lord Varik is laughing.
“Poor foolish girl. You truly are lost in a world that you don’t understand, aren’t you?”
I glare at him.
He smugly grins. “You didn’t really think that I was without magic, did you? I know you knew about my glamour because you found some way to protect yourself against it. But that’s all you thought I could do, isn’t it?” He’s laughing at me like there is some funny joke that I’m not a part of.
I don’t find any of this funny at all, so I yell at him. “What are you talking about?”
Faylen quietly whispers, “Lydia…” I turn to look at her. She gives me a sad look and then looks down. I follow her gaze and gasp at what I see.
Liquid gold is covering her feet and slowly creeping up her calves. I look over at Osonia, and the same thing is happening to her. Both of them have tears running down their cheeks as they watch the gold’s progression.
Horrified, I look to Lord Varik. He arches an eyebrow and smiles at me.
“You are doing this? You have to stop. You can’t just cover them in gold, they’ll die!”
He laughs again. “Oh…I can’t? And what do I care if a servant dies?”
The realization hits me, and it feels like it knocks all the air out of me. “The statues…all of the golden statues…oh gods…they were people, weren’t they?” I feel like vomiting. How many statues did I see around the estate? How many people has he killed?
He smiles at me, and says, “You see, some of my bedroom activities leave people…well…let’s say, worse for the wear. I can’t have injured lovers warning others away from my bed.”
My stomach drops, and my pulse starts pounding in my ears. This is a sex thing? What kind of depravity leads to something like this? Gods, all those people! What must they have gone through? Bile burns at the back of my throat, and I feel like I’m going to vomit. I take a few deep breaths and manage to hold it back.
I desperately look around the room for some way out of this, but it’s just us and the glamoured guards and Lord Varik. Once I see that there is nothing we can do, I begin to panic.
“Don’t do this. Please let us go.” I am begging, but I don’t care at this point. “We will just disappear. Please…no one will ever know this happened.”
He gives me a dark smile. “I know. Youwilljust disappear.” He gestures to Faylen and Osonia. “They already are. But I think I want to play with you a little bit first.”
My blood runs cold with fear, and I have the overwhelming urge to run. Lord Varik must be able to sense it because the guard behind me clamps his strong hands around my upper arms and holds me in place.
Lord Varik calmly starts walking toward me. He stops at the side of the bed and carefully removes his shirt, then folds it and lays it on bed. His chest is a shimmering gold, which would be beautiful if it didn’t house such a monstrous heart.
There’s a large knife strapped to his belt, and he removes that too. He sets it on the bed next to his shirt. Then he removes his boots, and next his pants.
