Shadow Knight

Chapter Eight

For the first time in a very long time, Naiara nearly slept through the night. She only woke once, and it wasn't due to a  nightmare. Even more unusual, she managed to fall asleep again quickly after waking. But when she woke in the morning, she still felt tired and wanted to sleep some more. Since no one had told her that she had to get up, she remained where she was on the ground with her eyes closed and a blanket pulled tight around her, but no more sleep came.

Instead, Naiara simply lay there, waiting for Ivan to tell her what to do. At the same time, she worried that she should already know what he wanted, and the longer she waited, the more anxious she became. Eventually, she found herself crying, although she knew it would displease Ivan if he saw the tears.

When she heard footsteps approaching, she quickly wiped her tears away with the blanket and sat up quickly. "I'm sorry," she said before remembering he had ordered her not to apologize. She felt her body begin to tremble, anticipating punishment.

"I'm almost ready to leave," Ivan said as he crouched down next to her. He  slowly reached out a hand towards her, but then withdrew it. "Naiara. I'm not going to hurt you."

She desperately wanted to believe him but she simply couldn't. Every man she had encountered always ended up hurting her somehow, no matter how gentle they seemed at first. And she knew Ivan would be no different. Especially given his reputation.

"What do you wish for me to do, master?" she asked, hoping that he would simply give her orders and forget that she had cried and apologized, disobeying two of his orders.

Ivan sighed and shook his head. He hadn't expected her to believe him, but he still hoped she might have figured that out. In the long run, it didn't matter. She'd only be with him for a few more days, just until they arrived in Dem Feten. 

"You should get something to eat," Ivan said as he stood up. As he walked away, he realized that she wouldn't eat without him handing food to her, so instead of finishing the task of getting the horses ready, he went to the meat that he had Verni had smoked during the night. At first, he grabbed a large piece but then he decided to take two large pieces of meat. Naiara certainly needed it.

"Here," he said as he handed the meat to her. "Eat this."

As Ivan finished packing the rest of their supplies on the horses, he glanced over to make sure Naiara was eating. He was glad to see her consuming the meat and returned his attention to his task. Soon, everything was ready except for the blanket draped around Naiara's shoulders. As much as he would have liked to pack the blanket away, he thought it would be best to not disturb her while she ate, so he stood back and waited.

Naiara kept an eye on Ivan as he moved around.  She had learned to pay attention to what the people around her were doing. At first, while he was moving around, she was able to relax, but once he stopped, she started to get nervous. Once she noticed he seemed to be watching her, she really started to worry.

Because he had ordered her to, she continued trying to eat, but the more anxious she became, the harder it was to do so. To make things worse, she could feel tears forming in her eyes and she didn't need to do anything else to anger Ivan. She only wished she knew what she had already done to make him mad.

When he walked over to her, she managed to keep her tears from falling, but she couldn't help the trembling in her body. She closed her eyes when he was close, hoping that whatever he did, it would be quick. But he never touched her, and finally she opened her eyes and saw that he was sitting next to her.

"Do you mind if I take the blanket?" he asked softly. She nodded in response, but couldn't manage to speak. She flinched as his hand came towards her, but he only took the blanket and then walked away.