"Now, Meres, can you tell me what it is you've done wrong?"
The weight of the slender man's legs as they crossed at the ankles and rested on Meres' shoulder was nothing compared to the intense pressure he felt under his master's cold gaze.
How long had it been since he'd been punished?
The moments where he found himself on his knees begging for forgiveness were few and far between in the last few years.
Since he was broken in, Meres had always been a good dog.
No matter what the order was, no matter how fraught his sleep was with the nightmares of things he'd been forced to do, he had done them without questioning.
"Meres." The slender man spat his name like an insult.
"F - forgive me, my lord, I -"
"I asked what you did wrong. I'm waiting for your answer."
"Ah, forgive me, I - I -" Meres hesitated, because the answer wasn't exactly as clear as he thought it was. Should he just apologise for everything all at once? Surely the punishment would be easier if he just got it all out and admitted his mistakes.
The slender man sighed, nudging his head with the side of a shoe.
"You've never been the brightest dog, but must I really repeat myself a third time? Don't you know you shouldn't do things you'll have to ask forgiveness for in the first place?"
"Y - yes, of course, my lord...I - I have been hesitant in following your orders. And - and I've been too familiar with your possessions. And - "
The slender man interrupted him with a kick to the face.
It was the shock of pain rather than the force of it that knocked him, unbalanced, onto his back. Hot blood streamed from his nose and he coughed on it.
With a heavy sigh, the slender man stood up, and put pressure against one of his legs with the flat of his shoe, straining the muscle. Meres grimaced against the pain, but dare not utter a sound.
"Usually I wouldn't care about a neutered dog playing with some wild bird, but it seems like that filthy thing is a bad influence on you."
"A - a bad -?" Meres coughed, "No, she - Iska isn't -"
"Don't you know how cunning a mage is, Meres?" The slender man's tone softened, "they will say and do anything for their own benefit. Did you suppose breaking the tether I have on you would win her over? That the two of you might run off to a happily ever after?"
Meres didn't dare meet the man's eyes.
It was true that he'd been trying to fight against the enchantment.
Iska had said only the weak-willed could be controlled. She...had believed in him, that he could fight it. The arcane mind control that sometimes blinded him and caused him to lose hours, days at a time in a haze -
He had thought if he could break it, maybe...maybe they could...together...
But the slender man knew, he always knew. There was no escaping him.
"Forgive me, my lord...it - it wasn't because of her, I - I get headaches...that's the only reason..."
Meres did his best, but the fear made his voice break. It felt impossible to craft any kind of lie in front of his master.
"You poor, sad beast..." the slender man sighed, "I can see that mage has truly gotten her talons into you."
"N - no, my lord, it isn't like that - I - I only - aagh!"
The slender man gripped Meres' face tightly, his palm flat against Meres' eyes and fingers pressing painfully against his temples.
"Listen to me well, Meres. Are you listening?" The slender man tightened his grasp and caused a shooting pain to rocket through Meres' head.
"Agh - y - yes, I - I'm listening my lord -"
"There is nothing for you in the world except serving me. What would you be without me? I gave you what pittance of magic you were able to absorb. I gave you a purpose. You were nothing when I found you, and you'll be nothing again if you ever were to leave."
The slender man's words rang and echoed strangely in his head, humming almost like a song, tolling low like a bell.
Meres clenched his teeth against it, but with his eyes forced closed there was nothing he could do to distract himself from it.
"That mage's very blood flows pure with mana, she is a mage the likes of which you could never begin to imagine. Even when I break her, she will still be more than a pathetic mutt like you."
The slender man was right. Meres was nothing. Not strong enough to defend himself. Not strong enough to break the mind control. Only as good as his strength. Nothing...nothing...
"A powerful mage..." Meres mumbled, feeling a strange numbness in his fingers, "Iska is..."
Iska...Iska...the name echoed again and again in his mind.
Somewhere, swimming in the fog, like a weak flickering light against a darkness, he found her face. The soft of her lips, the brush of her fingers, her sharp eyes and her voice like a melody when it called his name.
"Poor Meres," the slender man said gently, "so strong of body, yet so weak of mind..."
"Yes...I - I am weak. Forgive me, my lord...I never meant to..."
The slender man slowly pulled his hand away, but Meres kept his eyes closed. He wanted to keep the image of Iska in his mind for as long as he could.
The only light he had ever known in this cold, dark place.
"Retire to your room. I am busy now, your punishment will come later."
"Yes, my lord..."
Meres stood, his legs aching. He finally opened his eyes, wincing against the pale white light of day filtering in through the curtains.
He could feel the beat of his own heart, not racing, but drumming a steady march. Maybe...when he told Iska how he'd been fighting against the enchantment...
Maybe she would reach out to him, touch his face gently.
And if they could...somehow...leave this place...
Even if he became nothing, as long as he was by her side...
Then maybe some day he could see her smile at him.
And that would be enough.
