The Spoiled Prince, Part 14
The next morning, Alvard woke up to Evine quietly moving about the room dusting. He was dressed in new clothes for the first time since he’d been there: a cream shirt and loose grey pants, as well as soft black shoes. “Good morning, your Majesty.” He said with a smile.
“Good morning Evine. From now on, ‘sir’ will do fine. How long have you been up?” The king sat up in bed, the soft covers falling from his bare shoulders to his waist. Evine didn’t look up from his dusting, instead moving directly to the closet.
“Only a few minutes.” He lied. He’d been up since the wee hours of the morning, worrying about what he would be doing today. At least doing this he was in his element. “What would you like to wear today, sir?”
“Just whatever goes together.” When Evine came out of the closet carrying the clothes, Alvard was standing at the end of the bed facing away from him, using magic to make the bed. The magic is not what held Evine’s attention.
Evine was staring at the king’s lean, muscled back; a latticework of pinkish white scars covered almost every area of skin there was to be seen. Some wrapped around to his ribs, others over his shoulders. Many of them looked like the whip marks he’d seen on castle slaves back in Thileweld. These were accompanied by a fewer number of what looked like burns of varying sizes. Alvard turned around to face him.
The king’s front was almost as covered, most notably a large circular burn scar directly over his diaphragm. Evine didn’t meet the king’s gaze; his eyes were locked onto the scars.
“Quite something, isn’t it? Don’t worry, all this happened a long time ago.” Alvard walked up to Evine and held out his hand for the clothes. Evine continued to stare and said nothing. Eventually Alvard gently took the clothes from Evine and began to put them on.
“Wh-” Evine began but thought better of it, before changing his mind again. “What happened?”
“A lot of things happen during war time. I got captured once. Didn’t go too well for me.” He said nonchalantly as he pulled on his boots. “Like I said, it was a while ago.”
“I don’t want to talk any more about this, Evine.” He said sharply. “Can you hand me those?” He added, more gently this time. He pointed to his rings on his side table and Evine obeyed. “Thank you. You will stay in my quarters and clean today while I’m out. Please just do your best, nothing has to be perfect.” Evine nodded.
Alvard walked down the hall and into Callum’s cell. He caused the same setup as the day before to appear before taking the box off Callum’s head. “Hello, pet.”
“Hello, Master.” There was no sarcasm in his voice this time. Good. Alvard thought. Progress. He looked hungrily at the bowl of food sitting next to Alvard. “May I please have some, Master?”
“Very good, very polite. You’re learning quite well.” Callum smiled with the praise. “However, I’d like an apology for yesterday before we continue today.”
“Yes, Master. I’m sorry for talking back and refusing to eat yesterday. It will not happen again, I promise.” The reply was sincere, but robotic. Alvard sighed.
“That’s not what I want. It’s honest but there’s no submission.” He paused. “Do you understand what I mean?” Callum looked at him for a moment before tentatively shaking his head.
Alvard thought for a moment, then with an inhuman quickness punched Callum in the nose. There was a sharp crack as his nose broke, and blood began running down from his nostrils. His eyes watered, and before he could say anything, Alvard grabbed the broken part of his nose. Callum screeched and tried to pull away. “Stop.” Alvard said calmly. “Moving will only make it hurt worse.”
“Why?” Callum sobbed. “What… What do you… What do you want fr- from me? I did what you asked!” He was now trying to stay as still as possible.
“The point of this exercise is to make sure you understand how you’re supposed to act, not just know what to say. If I do this for example,” Alvard twisted Callum’s nose and Callum could feel the broken pieces of bone grinding against each other. Callum screamed. “What would you do to make it stop?”
“Anything, please Master! Pl-” He sobbed. “Please make it stop.”
“Now, I want to hear the apology again.” He squeezed the nose, causing more blood to spurt out.
“I’m sorry, please, I’m so sorry. It won’t happen again I swear!” He gasped with relief when the hand left his nose. Alvard waved a hand and the nose righted itself with a sickening crunch.
“Do you see now? Do you understand what I want? You have to remember: all good things come from me, but I can cause the bad too. Do not force me to punish you.”
Now, Callum did understand. He felt totally helpless when Master had hold of his broken nose. That’s what he was: helpless. No one was coming to save him from this. It is either obey or suffer. Master wanted him to always remember that suffering could follow any action he took. “I understand, Master. I think I understand.”
“Then tell me what I want. And remember what will happen if you get it wrong.” Callum glanced at the food, at the box’s cover, and then back to Master.
“You want me to know that your m- mercy is the only thing between m- me and suffering.” His voice still cracked, but he was no longer sobbing.
“Very good. Now-” Alvard picked up the food and began getting a spoonful ready. “I believe a reward is in order.”
Callum had never tasted something so good.
