When Demons Are Redeemed: The Dominant's Muse

Eighty-Three - Stay Close

EIGHTY-THREE

Stay Close

 If it had been one of the women who’d broken a major rule, something would’ve been done immediately, of course, but since it was a man, the host remains untouched, Catherine continues to reflect upon, following her against-the-rules moment on stage, during a show. I wonder where that old fool who gave Tristan his blessing earlier on, that so-called “elder,” was, when I was being dragged up on stage. Why didn’t he speak up and defend his precious rules, in that most annoying voice of his? Pause. What if . . . what if Tristan’s just waiting to have another plate full of apricots in his hands, before he punishes me for not letting that woman in, when I was up there?

Keeping secrets from him is what . . .

Why do you remind me?

“Stay close,” her thoughts are interrupted by, a mere second after she herself cuts off healer.

She is surprised to hear Tristan say the words, and somewhat unsettled by the realization that his lips are now so very close to one of her ears, that the whole of his body, in fact, is ever so close to hers, while nevertheless respecting her art as well, while nonetheless respecting the space necessary to keep its design intact and true.

When she turns her face to look at him, he is looking back.

The nerve you have, after you . . . I will not stay close! She snaps at those eyes.

“Oh, just pay attention. Maybe someone wants to permanently separate you from me, and my reaction after you were forced on stage and while you were on it meant something to that someone’s plans,” he explains. She feels the warmth of his breath upon her ear and wishes that someone would turn up the thermostat in the grand room. “Or, maybe the host is just that stupid,” he adds. “But just in case, stay close.”

Since Tristan’s seriousness feels to Catherine as if it is on a different plane of existence than his usual severity, and since she is intelligent enough to know that it is likely that there is a bigger picture indeed, she allows herself to be drawn into this picture, despite her mood, and thus nods her head. She then wonders, however, just how much closer he means, since she has already been ultra-close to him all weekend.

Wait. Are you thinking that Vivian was taken? That my stage appearance and her disappearance are somehow linked? That I might disappear next? Since you’re friends with her master, that means that he has to be a whole lot of trouble, just like you are. So, is he connected to the Taliano family as well? Does he have troublesome enemies? Does he therefore attract trouble? I don’t even know which master he is, and there’s no way to figure it out now, since he’s certainly not still among us now, without a female. He must be out looking for Vivian, who escaped. She wasn’t kidnapped. But I can’t tell you that.