My Kingdom Come book 1: The Saints We See

665 standard years after the signing of the Alliance

Mikhail opened his eyes to Dachvinder smiling down at him. He closed his eyes and lazily smiled back. Dachvinder flopped down next to Mikhail and laid daer head on Mikhail’s chest, content radiating through daem. Mikhail wrapped an arm loosely around Dachvinder.

“Good morning.” Dae said in daer soft voice.

Mikhail cleared his throat. “Good morning.”

“Are you still sleepy?” Dachvinder’s finger moved in a little circle on the front of Mikhail’s tunic over and over.

“Yes.” Mikhail answered.

“Your sponsor kept you up late last night.”

“Yes.”

Dachvinder raised dear head. “Don’t you have another sponsor coming today?”

Mikhail opened his eyes and looked up at Dachvinder. Daer lips were very close to his own. He swallowed. “Yes. They’ll be coming this evening.”

Dachvinder sighed. “I’ll miss you.”

Mikhail chuckled softly. “It will only be a couple hours at most and I’ll literally be down the hall or a floor away from you.”

Dachvinder frowned and started drawing dear circle on Mihail’s chest again. “I know. I miss you anyway. The others are very sweet, but they don’t make me feel the way you do.”

Mikhail swallowed.

“That worries you.” Dachvinder looked up at Mikhail.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Mikhail took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “You’ll only be here another week or so Dachvinder.”

“Well, my hive might let you go through training with me after that.”

“Yes.” Mikhail answered. But once Dachvinder was back in daer hive, dae wouldn’t need Mikhail any more. That’s a good thing. Mikhail reminded himself.

Mikhail began combing his fingers through Dachvinder’s short, soft hair. “Do you want to help me get ready for my sponsor later?”

Dachvinder’s eyes brightened, excitement swirling out of daem. “Oh yes! I loved helping you yesterday. It was so fun!”

“Alright. We’ll have to see if my sponsor left any instructions, but if they haven’t I’ll let you pick everything out.” He yawned.

Dachvinder let out a little giggle of excitement. “I’m going to dress you in that purple outfit then. I want to see you in it.”

Mikhail grinned. “I hate that outfit.”

Dachvinder’s face went serious. “I can see it does’t fit your personality, but you will look pretty in it. I supposed that’s a good thing- for your clients.”

“Yes.”

Dachvinder looked down and began run daer finger in that small circle on Mikhail’s chest again. “You’re not happy here, with the things you have to do.”

Mikhail swallowed. “Things could be much worse. I’m grateful for what I have. I just…I’m looking forward to being bonded to my master. Things will be easier then, I think.”

Dachvinder bit daer lip. “What are we eating for breakfast today?”

“I don’t know. You want to go find out?”

Dachvinder nodded.

Mikhail and Dachvinder got out of bed and made their way downstairs. Dachvinder hadn’t given Mikhail any nightmares, but Dachvinder was still very hesitant to sleep on the same floor as the rest of the slaves. Sometimes other people’s/sentient’s moods or dreams could influence daem into having a nightmare.

The kitchen was busy. House slaves were rushing around, working to get breakfast ready on time. Dachvinder marched into the chaos and quickly found jobs for daemself and Mikhail to help with. Things calmed quickly after Dachvinder walked into the kitchen, Mikhail knew it was because Dachvinder was putting out a sense of calm.

Dachvinder had shown a remarkable control over daer empathy after the first day Mikhail had met daem. Dae didn’t broadcast daer feelings, unless dae and Mikhail were alone. When dae and Mikhail were alone, as far as Mikhail could tell, Dachvinder didn’t mask daer feelings or broadcast emotions in an attempt to produce any effect. Dae was just daemself with him.

Breakfast was soon prepared and ready. The breakfast for master and his family was sent upstairs, breakfast was sent off to the guards that were off duty, and then the slaves table was laid. The slaves crowded around the table laughing and chattering, eating with gusto. In the midst of it all Dachvinder shone like a little jewel. Everyone loved daem. Dae was eager to hear everyone’s stories, dae laughed the loudest at the jokes and smiled the brightest.

Mikhail had always been more of a quiet observer in the excitement at mealtimes and sitting next to Dachvinder hadn’t changed that. Only now he found his attention completely taken up with Dachvinder. Any time Dachvinder glanced at him and gave him a shy smile, or reached out to touch Mikhail’s hand as if to reassure daemself that Mihail was still there beside daem, Mikhail’s heart soared. He tried to keep reminding himself that soon Dachvinder wouldn’t be there, wouldn’t even think of Mikhail anymore, but he couldn’t keep himself from being continuously drawn to Dachvinder like a moth to a flame.

* * *

“Good afternoon, sir. How may I serve you?” Mikhail greeted his sponsor, Illia as she walked in his door. She was Shoiga.

“Well, look at you, little turnip.” She drawled. She was clearly drunk and she was not in a good mood.

Mikhail forced himself to remain relaxed. She would be able to sense any tension in his body.

She came over to where he was kneeling and pushed his chin up. “Mm, look at how gorgeous you are today. I could just eat you.”

Dachvinder hadn’t gotten to choose Mikhail’s outfit, but dae had done a spectacular job on his makeup. “Thank you, sir.”

Illia slapped Mikhail hard. “You are to call me ma’am, do you understand?”

Mikhail took a deep breath to maintain his calm. “Yes ma’am, forgive me.” She had never said anything about that to him before. He bowed down touching the floor with his forehead, and held his hands out in supplication.

“Stay there, but put your hands behind your back.”

Mikhail obeyed.

She walked across the room and took the length of rope she had requested off his bed and returned. She tied his hands securely behind his back, a little too tightly. She liked to tie him up, so Mikhail wasn’t surprised, but she had never come to him drunk before. She was usually very careful about how tight the ropes were.

She got the chair from Mikhail’s vanity and dragged it over to the center of the room. “Come here, boy.”

Mikhail obeyed. He walked over to her taking careful, deep breaths, trying to calm the pounding of his heart. It wasn’t often that sponsors hurt him, but if they were in the mood to hurt him it usually meant they were in a very bad mood and it would be a miserable night for him.

She grabbed the end of the rope trailing on the floor behind him, and stepped up on the chair. Illia threaded the rope through the eye that was in the ceiling for that purpose. She stepped back down and roughly pulled the rope down, jerking Mikhail’s arms up behind him and forcing him up on his toes.

Mikhail let out a little whimper.

Illia chuckled. She passed the end of the rope through his wrists and tied the rope to itself, so that Mikhail was held in that position. She kicked the chair away, then walked behind Mikhail. “I know how much you hate this, boy.” There was a cruel smile in her voice. She reached around his waist, opened his shorts and pulled them down to his ankles.

Mikhail’s insides clenched and went cold. He was trembling uncontrollably. He swallowed down his tears. It was too early in the visit for him to start crying. She laid her hand on his back and ran it down across his rump down the back of his thigh. Mikhail’s body jerked. A strangled whimper clawed out of his throat.

Illia laughed. She leaned forward, grabbed a clump of his hair and yanked his face up. “Are you scared, boy? Answer honestly.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Good. I’ve had a very bad day and I want to see someone cry.” She unbuckled her belt and pulled it out of it’s loops.

Mikhail shut his eyes and tried to even out his breathing. Inside Mikhail, where Dachvinder’s powerful emotions manifested, fear was blooming. Mikhail let out a tiny gasp. How was he feeling Dachvinder’s emotions right now? Did that mean that dae could feel Mikhail’s emotions? Mikhail’s panic began to spiral into his fear, both emotions growing exponentially, which caused Dachvinder’s fear to grow as well. Mikhail’s breathing had gone ragged.

“Well, you’re in a fine state tonight, and I haven’t even started.”

Mikhail squeezed his fists tight. He hated the thought that he was causing Dachvinder to be afraid. He forced himself to calm his breathing and slipped inside his mind. In his mind’s eye, he imagined he was standing under the starlit sky in his mother’s meadow. Dachvinder’s emotions were coming from a smooth, powder blue stone that he wore over his heart. He laid both hands over the stone and projected the calmest feelings he could muster.

The belt snapped across Mikhail’s skin, his eyes flew open in shock. He let out a cry. Dachvinder’s fear spiked inside him. The tears in Mikhail’s eyes spilled down his cheeks.

“Are you trying to gain my sympathy, boy?” Illia asked angrily. “I barely touched you.”

Mikhail squeezed his eyes shut. He had to get ahold of himself, or he was going to displease Illia and Chentzo would have him punished after she was done. “I’m sorry, mistress.”

“You’re going to be sorry all right.”