The Pawn

Chapter 11

"He'll be fine," Genie declared as she moved to round her desk but was stopped by a strong grip on her arm. The mistress of Oasis Rouge first looks at the opposing hand then into the eyes of its hostess.

"He hardly eats" Monica hissed at her, crossing her arms when her grip was shaken off.

"He'll eat when he is hungry" Genie maintained, continuing her route to the back of her desk and gesturing for the rude intruder to take a seat before her. Monica refused, glaring at her employer as she stood her ground. Genie sighed.

"He knows hunger Genie!" The caretaker informed the stubborn woman. "He had been starved for years before he met you or I." She insisted. Knowing she shouldn't say more while remaining strong in her decision to fixe the problem that had occurred.

It had been a few short days since Gael saw Nathanael off. Since the duos, strange relations had been brought to light in the eyes of an overprotective Genie. 4 Days since she had been dismissed from the office, leaving the prince and the mistress to have a conversation neither will speak of. It didn't matter, they needn't say a word! She wasn't educated with letters and numbers as some of the others were, but nor was she a fool. She could guess what had been said behind closed doors.

How could she not when Gael returned to their room saddened and silent, when Nathanael had left him happy and giddy.

When Genie hesitated to be in the presence of her favorite, when before she was ever present. And when the prince, who had recently found his love for food began to push away half filled plates.

"We must protect him," Genie said. 

Monicas' thoughts exactly.

With a sigh, the caretaker lowers herself into the seat that was offered to her just earlier, gesturing the mistress to do the same while she reminded herself that they were both on the same team.

"You're overreacting" She began calmly. "Nathanael has not laid a hand on him, not in violence nor intimacy." She continues, holding Genie's gaze with her own. "It's a simple matter of the heart. Nothing will happen to him, he has a collar."

"Marking isn't the only danger." The mistress notified her employee. Shaking her head to warn off poisonous thoughts.

"He's too young" She declares. "He doesn't know of deception"

"He knows deception!" The caregiver counters, her tone losing some of the patience and calmness she had earlier acquired "He knows of pain and he knows of rejection, he's known of lost and hardship unlike yours or mines" She listed, offering a tight smile and a sigh as she states the obvious. "At the moment, he is happy at that mans side. You and I will be here when it ends"

Genie regards the caretaker, her eyes dragging up and down her form at a slow pace. Then, she leaned back in her seat and crossed her arm under her ample breast.

"You trust that man far too much" She declares.

"I put my trust in the hands of no man." Monica hissed, hate burning in her gaze. "And if they truly are made in the gods imagine then I shall sin for damnation!"

"Then why do you stand against me?" The mistress shouted, hand slamming unto her desk with a loud bang.

She was met with silence and avoidance of her gaze. Then, in a low tone, Monica spoke.

"I've been in love once" She pauses, unable to look Genie in the eyes as she spoke of her past, foolish self. "He as a pig like the rest of them. But at that moment the more I was told no, the more my heart said yes" She met the mistress's gaze then, her own filled with understanding and wisdom. "Let us be the ones to say 'yes' and allow him to come to 'no'  himself."