Monthly writing events - day 2
Once more snowballing @ocdynamicsevent boss-employee / wild prompt with @monthlywritingchallenges taking a chance and even throwing in a bit of a journey for writerblr summerfest!
Using characters from my wip, The Teacher, this scene is the first time Master takes Leo to his home in the fae otherworld, so I'd say Leo is about 19 (he's 28-29 in the book).
Sacrificial lamb were the words that came to mind as Leo stood trembling one step inside the door. This wasn't the boss who played video games with him all night. It wasn't even the version of Master who darkly ordered Leo to teach someone a lesson. This was a fucking fae king, a wild, eldritch nightmare that flung terror before him on waves of magic, that glowed like moonlight in the dark room.
“M-master?” Leo had meant to sound cool, but a stutter crept in and his voice had come out high and breathy. All that time controlling his rage and he couldn’t face up to a little fear. Okay, a lot of fear. Not wetting his pants meant he probably was doing okay after all. He realized with a new fission of ice down his spine that his anger didn't eat at him. He was only afraid. It eroded his thoughts and his breath turned to gasps.
Magic traced Master’s skin like frost as his cold eyes turned to his minion. Leo’s hand scrabbled behind him, seeking the door knob. The fae held out one claw tipped hand, palm up, elegant fingers relaxed. Leo could run, he could get out, he could hide with the others. Taking a chance, he stepped forward. Once, twice. It took a long time to cross the cavernous room. Master remained statue-like, until Leo froze in front of him, unable to take the last step. His shaking hand half raised, he couldn’t do any more.
They remained still for a time that stretched endlessly for Leo. The silence broken only by his rapid breathing, his heartbeats pounding in his ears. Something softened, twilight falling upon an ice storm. Master got to his feet, flowing free of his throne and closing cold fingers around Leo’s, steadying his shaking.
Leo’s heart might explode. His vision went black. One rapid heartbeat and they’d journeyed somewhere new. It had been raining in Seattle. They'd been inside. This dry garden of decaying bramble and stone bathed in a gray twilight. Master released him. Leo sagged to his knees, unable to spare energy for embarrassment.
Icy wind keened through the statues and dust stung his eyes, but heat flickered through his mind as the artificial horror faded. Master sat on the ground next to him, crossed legged, and turned into just a guy somewhere around Leo’s age. A skinny, utterly gorgeous, half-dressed guy with pointed ears and magic laced skin a shade of white no human could ever be. But still, the change was a trip.
“Can we never to that again Master?” Leo asked.
The fae glanced at him from under long white bangs before drawing a pattern on a dusty flagstone with his finger. “Are you saying you don't appreciate my kingdom?”
Leo took a minute to stare at the statues, most with some expression of terror on their faces and found himself laughing. “I mean, no. But the whole lets give Leo a heart-attack thing.”
“You have two hearts,” the damn fae pointed out in a reasonable tone. He drew one leg up and wrapped a bare arm around the fabric draped limb, resting his cheek on his knee to look at Leo.
“And you're going to destroy them both.” The hearts in question were racing again. Fuck. That had sounded too much like a pick-up line, all soft and low. No chance the fae hasn't heard. Desperately late, Leo tacked on, “Master.”
A sigh whispered from perfectly shaped lips, and Leo shouldn'tve been able to hear it over the wind. Master said, “I hate it here, but sometimes I hate it there.”
“I hate it here too.”
The smallest twitch at the corner of Master’s lips made Leo’s pulse tick up again. He shifted so his body sheltered the fae from the scouring wind. His skin prickled in a way not due to bits of sand and rock being flung at his back and he wanted to go back to the damn mansion. Something wrong about the light, the dead garden, the wild wind. No one came out of the dark castle casting its shade upon them. Nothing moved but the air.
“Sometimes I want to silence your world.”
This time the cold clamping down on Leo’s chest didn't come from magic. “Is that why we're here? So you can remember not to destroy the world?”
“Mmm.”
The thought should be wild, but Leo couldn't find it in himself to doubt. “Yeah, I vote you don't fucking do that. We can visit home as much as you like if it stops more of this from happening.”
The wind died. The quiet went on and on and on. Not even a bug moved. An eternity later, Master held out his hand once more. Still cold, his fingers long and elegant next to Leo’s thick digits. Leo rubbed his thumb over a white scar and wondered if his skin burned the fae with its heat. Master stood and Leo had to go with him or else be at fault for anchoring the fae in place. He tilted his head back to look up at Master and asked, “You good?”
Blue-green eyes glittered, the way the depths of a glacier might when exposed to sunlight. “Never.”
But the world blinked and they were back in the room at the heart of the mansion, standing too close in the dark. Leo licked his lips. “Want to play the golf game where you can hit the crowd?”
“Yeah. Sure.” Master dropped his hand and turned, heading for his rooms. Leo followed, wondering if he'd just saved the world.
