The Legend of Eli Monpress(373)

“You’re making me feel this, aren’t you?” she whispered.

“Of course,” the Master said, stroking her hair. “You’re home now. It’s only right you should share in my happiness.” He ran his hand under her chin, tilting her head up until their eyes met. “You are mine again, every bit of you. My greatest weapon is back in my command, and she’ll never escape again. Is that not cause for joy?”

Nico ducked out of his grasp, or tried to, but her body would not move. The Master just smiled and kept petting her, stroking her hair like a huntsman petting his prize hound.

“Now, now,” he tsked. “You lost, Nico. You don’t get to play keep-away anymore. It’s over; take it gracefully. If this works out the way I expect, a new Dead Mountain will be born. I’ll be twice as powerful as I am now, and it’s all thanks to you. That’s why I’m being so generous, despite everything you’ve done. If you were any other seed, I would have crushed you and left you to die the moment you disobeyed me, but I didn’t. I stayed with you, despite your defiance. I never abandoned you.”

He slid his hand up to cup her cheek before stepping back.

“You should be grateful,” he said. “I have given you everything. Made you the ground for my greatest creation. Yet even now you stand there staring at me like you’re some kind of victim.” His smile grew impossibly cruel. “I have done nothing to you that you did not deserve. It is I who have suffered the most, suffered as you denied me over and over again, despite everything I’ve done for you. Have you nothing to say?”

“No, Master.” Nico lowered her head. “I am sorry, Master.”

The Master’s arms slid around her shoulders, pulling her against him as the sticky, alien joy flooded her mind. “There, there,” he said. “I forgive you. It’s over now. You’ve lost. You don’t have to think anymore. You don’t have to try. I’ll take care of everything. Just let it go. There’s a good girl.”

Nico let herself slump into his arms. She couldn’t even remember why she’d been fighting, only that she’d been trying so hard for so long. But the Master was here now, and he would take care of everything. All she had to do was be good, do as he said, and nothing would ever hurt again.

But as that thought circled round and round in her mind, a tiny, lingering doubt nagged at her. She felt like she was forgetting something terribly important.

“Wait,” she said. “Where’s Josef?”

“Gone,” the Master said. “Abandoned you, along with that no-account thief. Everyone has abandoned you, except me. They see you as a monster. They’re probably trying to kill you right now.”

“No!” Nico said, looking up at him. “Josef would never abandon me.”

The Master slapped her hard across the face. Nico stumbled and fell without a cry, landing hard on the cold stone floor.

“Never speak back to me,” he said, his voice colder than the stone. He walked to where she had fallen, his steps fading off into the endless nothing. Nico gasped as he grabbed her hair, yanking her up until her feet were a foot off the ground. He grabbed her chin with his other hand, pressing so hard she thought her jaw would break as he turned her face to his.

“Your body is my body now,” he said slowly. “Your soul, your power, everything. It is all mine. You are only here because I wish it.” He dropped her, and she crumpled. The moment she was down, he kicked her in the ribs, sending her tumbling across the floor. She slid to a stop several feet away, panting against the cold stone. When she looked up again, the Master was standing over her, looking down on her like she was a piece of trash in his way.

“Never defy me again,” he said. “I am your Master. You live by my generosity alone. Never, ever forget that.”

Nico pressed her head down onto the stone. Desperate, sobbing apologies and promises of obedience filled her mind. She wanted to shout that she would never disobey again, that she had no master but him, but for some reason her mouth would not open. She could not speak the words.

Pain exploded through her as the Master kicked her again, and she flew across the endless chamber, landing so hard she saw stars.

“Do you think you’re too good for this?” he shouted. “Or do you not understand the very simple words I am speaking? Has being a weak, pathetic, stupid creature for so long also made you mute?”

Nico began to hyperventilate. She moved her mouth desperately, but no sound came out. She could hear the Master coming toward her, and her body seized up in preparation for the kick she knew was coming. Why couldn’t she say it? Why couldn’t she swear that his will was the only will she knew?