Goodbye Hello

"Let him?"

Like his mother, he wasn't one to answer questions directly. Or at all, if he didn't want to.

A graceful side-step with a small question was a good enough answer to the question for Marcus.

"We'll need to go down to the clothes stores once we've bathed. I wont have you walking around in my mothers clothing while you belong to me."

The return question only served to confuse him further, though he hadn't exactly expected and answer in the first place.

"Will I belong to you long?"

The way Marcus had worded that made it seem like a short term thing, though there was no way to tell.

He didn't object to being given new clothes, hopefully something that covered more of his body.

"Yes."

Miriel would belong to him for as long as the Elf was useful to him. If the boy knew what was good for him he would continue trying to be as useful as possible.

The Vampire dipped under the water, running his fingers through his long black hair.

"Are you decent with a blade?" he asked when he emerged from the water.

Miriel's shoulders slumped a little bit at the direct answer, he already wasn't fond of the Prince so the thought of serving him for a long time left a bad taste in his mouth.

"I'm not bad."

He replied, every Elf worth their weight knew how to handle a blade, they were creatures who looked favorably upon having a diverse range of skills, that's what made them good Slaves, regretfully.

"Fetch my blade."

He titled his head towards the pile of clothing and weaponry on the table.

"I've had quite enough with the length of my hair. It needs cutting." It was down to the Elf to do that for him.

He raised his brows in surprise, the man was letting him take a blade to his hair?

A brand new slave who had already expressed disdain toward him.

Still, he got up and waded out of the water, walking out of the bath and getting Marcus' dagger from his belongings.

"How much do you want off?"

He asked as he moved through the water slowly, slipping in behind the Vampire.

The Elf wouldn't dare take a blade to him maliciously.

Marcus pushed himself up and turned so he was facing the Elf.

"To its usual length."

The bulk of his hair was fine. It was his fringe that was annoying him.

"I usually cut hair with a cut throat razor."

He muttered as he reached up, smoothing out Marcus' fringe until it lay flat over his forehead so he could judge it's length and how much to remove to make it sit properly.

He didn't dare cut Marcus at the moment, not when there was a chance of seeing the Queen and going back to her.

Instead he did as he was told, carefully lifting small sections of his fringe and slicing off small amount until it sat how it was supposed to.

Miriel wasn't totally useless, he could cut hair well at least.

The Vampire gave a soft snort.

"You will make-do with the blade."

Marcus laid in a comfortable silence as Miriel cut his hair. The familiar feeling of hair brushing against his forehead comforted him, made his relax.

"When you're done, you can tend to yourself."

The blade was a bit bigger than he preferred, but he didn't complain any further.

After a few long moments he set the blade down on the edge of the bath and ran his fingers through the Prince's fringe, fluffing it out to make sure it was even and to dust away any cut offs.

When he was satisfied he stepped away.

"Done."

He muttered, making sure Marcus was satisfied before he made any move to fix his situation.

Marcus stood when he was pronounced done and left the bath.

He swiped his hand over a steamed up mirror that sat astride the table his belongings were on and gazed at his fringe.

"You've done a well enough of a job."

He returned to the bath. "Fix your problem."

He moved a small distance away to give himself some small feeling of privacy before gripping onto the side of the bath with one hand and tentatively bringing a hand to his backside.

His ring was sensitive and sore and the coarse toy inside of him was starting to hurt.

He winced as he gripped it and tried to ease it out, even for what she had trained him to take this toy was large and he had been wearing it for far longer than he was meant to.

With a few calming breaths and relaxing his body he managed to get it out, whimpering as his entrance finally relaxed, the skin stinging in the hot water.

"Thank you."

He murmured as he rested his head on the side of the bath, panting gently, his body recovering from the shock of removing it as he placed the toy on the side of it.

The large wooden toy was the size of a fist and had extended deep inside of him.

Marcus gave a soft hum in response.

"My mother is cruel," he murmured, eyes on the toy.

Even Sigil hadn't pushed him to suffer something like that for such a large amount of time. He wondered how it would feel to suffer it for as long as Miriel had.

Painful, he was sure.

Miriel couldn't argue that so he just allowed himself a few minutes to recover before he moved back toward Marcus.

Despite the stinging the hot water was definitely helping, just having the toy out of him was a huge relief.

The pain had outweighed the pleasure a long time ago, even now his body showed no signs of having enjoyed the treatment.

The Vampire stretched his body, arms stretching above his head as he rolled his shoulders.

A pleased groan sounded as his back and shoulders gave a series of pops. That felt good.

"You are brave to take what my mother does so readily. Tell me, has she broken the Elfling prince yet?" he asked curiously.

"I do as she tells me."

He had done from the very beginning, it was what he had to do to keep everyone safe, if he betrayed her, his whole tribe would be seen as traitors.

It was pact formed long ago and not even the other captured slaves understood why he was so devoted.

"I don't know much about the Prince, he's from the north, so he's no concern of mine."

"I would have thought she would have him around a lot. She seemed quite taken with him last I saw of him."

His lips kicked up. "Three weeks of constant play would break him, I'm sure."

Marcus scraped his long hair back, reaching for the band he used to keep it tied.

"Come, dry me then we can be off."

"She liked his companionship, but he isn't a Vampire."

The Queen was nothing if not racist, she wouldn't let someone who wasn't a vampire into her bed with her.

She didn't want half breed children after all.

Miriel climbed out of the water gingerly and went to grab a fresh towel, padding back over the Prince and slowly smoothing it over it skin, these little duties weren't so bad, at least he was allowed to soak in the bath for a little while and remove the toy.

Marcus' skin was littered with small scars from battle and recent bruises from the night he had shared with Sigil.

His backside, he was sure, was still a lovely red colour.

"I don't understand it. The best lover I have had wasn't a Vampire. I find Vampires dull in comparison to Elves and Lycan." Both were better lovers than Vampire in his opinion.

Miriel's brows rose a little at the mention of Lycans, they didn't keep any Lycan slaves here, Cierra found them distasteful and refused to import them.

"I don't think she is interested in a lover."

She never once let any of her bedroom slaves actually touch her, she was more interested in tormenting them and every man she had ever taken was for the sake of baring a stronger batch of children.

Marcus shook his head.

"I feel sorry for any man she does take as her lover. He would be far more tormented than any of her slaves."

Honestly, he wondered how she'd been able to get pregnant so many times. If men were smart, they would run form her as soon as she showed an interest in having them in her bed.

Miriel continued to towel off the man, drying his legs, arms, torso but pausing for a moment as he reached the man's upper thigh, unsure of whether to touch him or not.

"What's going to happen at dinner."

He asked nervously, not wanting to go there unprepared.

Marcus motioned for Miriel to continue drying him with a careless shake of his hand. He definitely wasn't shy. It needed drying so Miriel was going to dry it.

"You will sit at my feet as my mother and I chat."

That was all.

Miriel carefully began drying Marcus' more delicate areas, nodding softly as he was told what would happen.

He hoped he wouldn't be caught in the middle of a fight but he knew well enough what Cierra and Marcus were like in a room together.

"You're dry."

He muttered as he finished up, getting back onto his feet.

Marcus gave a half nod and moved to pull on his pants, tying the strings so his pants clung to his hips.

"Come. Bring my mothers gift to you and my blade."

He swept out of the room, leaving behind everything bar his pants.