Their Wife

Ten

I batted his hand away with a huff. Smoothing my hair down, I headed for the exit. "If you're wrong, you owe me your toffee pudding," I said over my shoulder.

"Hey! Wait, I don't agree to these terms!"

I quietly laughed as I continued on like I didn't hear him. Hopefully, for both Timothy and me, he was right. Seeing as Axel only ever accompanied me on the walk to Ezra's door before going on his way, I guessed he wouldn't have enough time to wait around for me to show.

I looked down at my feet as I walked, avoiding the judgmental looks of others bustling down the hallways, busy completing their work. Besides Henry, Kai, and Timothy, most of the others hadn't shown any hint of wanting anything to do with me. I actually preferred that to those who did give me attention. Unlike those who sneered, glared or cowered at a distance at the sight of me, a few went out of their way to make my life worse.

Sometimes it was a cup of water being spilt over my shoulder, sometimes it was being shoved or tripped while passing. The worst was when they would decide to ruin the only chance late at night I got to bathe in private. The servants all shared a communal bath. It was a large natural bathing pool under the manor with some showers fixed to the rock walls of the cave-like area. The only time I could bathe in private was after everyone had gone to bed. I used to be able to relax in the warm waters as steam surrounded me, but they ruined it. Sometimes when I was settled in the water, they would barge in, sending me scrambling to get out and dressed. I stopped being able to relax and take my time, instead, I began rushing while keeping my eyes and ears open for any signs of others approaching.

I released a sigh of relief as I passed the stairs. No Axel to be found. I picked up my pace, no longer having a reason to drag my feet.

"If I didn't know better, I'd say you were trying to avoid me, little mouse, but you wouldn't do that to your dear husband, now would you?"

An embarring shriek of surprise left my lips as Axel's arm landed on my shoulders. I should have known it was too good to be true. Nothing ever happened in my favour.

"Of course not," I reply, trying and failing to remove his arm. "Why would I ever want to miss hearing about how important lube is?"

"Hmm, sorry to disappoint you, little mouse, but today's topic of conversation is restraints. We'll get to lube when I feel you're ready for the anal talk- actually maybe we should discuss lube. You can never be too wet, the wetter the better as they say."

"They?" I asked with a raised brow.

He waved his hand around aimlessly. "You know, they."

"Sure," I hummed.

He continued to tell me about the art of tying rope as we headed to Ezra's door. It surprised me how many different kinds of knots there were. It was also surprising how much he knew about tying up people.

"I could show you how fun knots can be if you let me," he said trailing a finger down my arm.

I shrugged him off of me as we reached the door. "No thank you, I'm good."

A hint of irritation crossed his face. He quickly covered it, replacing it with a smirk. "No worries, you'll crack soon."

He's turned and left down the hall. I couldn't help but notice his hands were trembling slightly. Now that I thought about it, he had dark circles under his eyes that weren't there the past few days and lacked the usual... charm he had. Maybe he was feeling under the weather. Or he was finally understanding the hints that were as subtle as an elephant that I wasn't interested.

Brushing aside thoughts of the sex maniac, I push open the door and walk in to find Ezra on the sliding ladder pulling a book from his bookshelf. I had stopped knocking after his insistence. I was reluctant to at first, feeling uncomfortable intruding. I quickly realized after interrupting him the first few times why it would be better not to knock. Apparently, some of the substances he worked with weren't the most stable and needed to be handled delicately. The sharp and sudden noise caused him to jump while deep in concentration and start a few fires.