Rei

The condo was quiet when Rei and Sevastyan returned.

Rei dropped to his knees and took Sevastyan’s shoes off.

He dared to press kisses against the front of Sevastyan’s thighs, glancing up at Sevastyan as he did so.

His master chuckled and reached down, ruffling his hair.

“Come on, beautiful. Let’s get the food to the ’fridgerator.”

“Yes, master.” Rei stood, taking off his own shoes. “The refrigerator may be warmer than outside.”

“True.” Sevastyan gathered up the bags as Rei hung up their coats. “Lisa hasn’t come out.”

Rei met Sevastyan’s eyes.

Sevastyan glanced around the entrance area. There wasn’t anything out of place. He grimaced and reached for his gun, dropping the groceries. “Stay down.”

Rei knelt, making himself a small. Sevastyan went around the corner into the condo. A moment later Rei heard Sevastyan call his name. He scrambled to his feet and ran towards the sound. It led him to the bedroom and then the ensuite bathroom.

Lisa sat against the side of the large tub.

It was full of water, but Lisa was dressed.

All black. A silk shirt and a pair of Sevastyan’s casual slacks.

His hair was clumped and half starting to curl as if he’d been in heavy steam.

But the heat was gone from the room. One of the kitchen knives dangled from the ends of his fingers.

He flinched as Rei entered, hiding the knife behind his back, face turned away. Rei dropped to his knees in front of Lisa.

“I didn’t do it,” Lisa whispered.

Rei held out his hand. Lisa surrendered the knife. Rei pushed it away from both of them, sending it sliding across the floor.

He couldn’t feel anything, because he was feeling everything. And none of it was safe. It was a walking déjà-vu. Except this time the roles had changed. He glanced back at Sevastyan. His master’s face was pale and hard. They were remembering the same moment.

Rei fixed his eyes on his master’s face until Sevastyan looked at him. Their gazes met and stayed locked together for a long moment.

We can do this. We’ve done this. Rei pushed that belief through his chest as if Sevastyan could read his thoughts.

Sevastyan nodded, slowly, and looked away.

Rei turned back to Lisa. He reached out slowly, where Lisa could see his hand, and touched his fingers to the back of Lisa’s palm.

Lisa turned his hand over and curled his grip around Rei. He squeezed slowly. Rei squeezed back.

“I didn’t do it,” Lisa whispered, repeating himself. “I couldn’t. Every time . . . ” He flinched again and cut his eyes towards Sevastyan.

Whatever the reason that kept him from finishing the task he’d set was one that could be used against him, but it was already too late. And he seemed to realize it. His shoulders fell even further. “I thought of you coming back and finding me. And I couldn’t.”

Rei gripped Lisa’s hand with all his strength. A different master would use this confession against Lisa. There was a reason you never let yourself become attached to other slaves. It was leverage. And most masters were jealous. You were only allowed one love, your master.

Except Sevastyan wasn’t like the others. The confession sat on Rei’s tongue, yet he couldn’t bring himself to defy Sevastyan.

“Why?” Sevastyan asked. Rei looked back. His master was still in the doorway. He looked like he wasn’t certain if he should approach or not.

Lisa reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He held it up towards Sevastyan, not meeting his eyes. “Master Alexi called. He said he would talk to you about resetting the chip before it’s time.”

Sevastyan stepped into the room and took the phone. He glanced at the screen. “You miss him that much?”

Lisa tensed, his back pushing against the side of the tub. Everything in his limbs looked like he wanted to run, and then he collapsed in on himself again. “You shouldn’t be kind, Master Sevastyan. You make me want things I can’t have.”

Sevastyan’s body stilled. Rei closed his eyes, breathing in a breath, searching for strength, for words, for a magic spell that would untangle the web strangling all of them.

“I would free you, if I could.”

Lisa lifted his eyes to Sevastyan. They were red-rimmed and bloodshot and yet Rei doubted he’d been crying.

More like bleeding from the inside. The way pain could rise to the very edges of one’s body and just crest and stay there.

There was a particular kind of broken where tears no longer fell.

A kind of hopelessness that erased them.

Choosing to live today had done that to Lisa.

Rei dropped his eyes to where his hand joined with Lisa’s.

“Even if I believed you, you can’t make me forget,” Lisa whispered.

“No, I can’t.” Sevastyan picked the knife off the floor.

Lisa looked up towards Sevastyan. “Can there be freedom, at all, after a life like this?”

“Not until you end them,” Sevastyan said.

Lisa held Sevastyan’s eyes for a long time. “When you reset the chip, you’ll be just like them.”

“And if I don’t, you’ll die.”

Lisa closed his eyes. He squeezed Rei’s hand again. “Are you going to tell Master Alexi?”

“No.” Sevastyan’s voice was thick. “You didn’t do anything.”

“Then what happens now?”

Rei looked over his shoulder to his master. Sevastyan looked down at the knife and back to Rei. Lisa was carefully not looking at either of them, but his hand still gripped Rei’s.

“We bought food from the market. Cheese, breads, jam. Rei wants to watch a movie. We’re making a night of it.”

“And me?”

Rei squeezed Lisa’s hand again. He couldn’t speak, not without breaking his role. This was between Lisa and Sevastyan. Except that it wasn’t. Words swelled in his throat and died.

Training. So much training.

“I planned for you to be with us.” Sevastyan hesitated. “Rei’s earned a night off. I know he would like to spend it relaxing with you.”

Rei let out a small breath. If Sevastyan hadn’t included that last sentence, Lisa would have interpreted it as Sevastyan meaning for him to take Rei’s place. But Sevastyan knew how slaves thought.

He was one himself.

Tears burned behind Rei’s eyes. He was going to make them free. Somehow. Enduring wasn’t enough. They were all going to burn together if they waited. Anton had wasted years, but Anton was nothing more than an obstacle now. Something to be removed if it came to it.

Rei waited for the horror of that thought to fill him. But there was nothing. Anton might have not done the heinous things. But he’d stood by, he’d held his silence, he’d ordered others to do the same. He’d protected the semblance of it all.

Lisa at his worst was braver than Anton at his best.