Just a new segment since I wrote this but deleted it in the final edit of the chapter since idk where it would fit. Think of it like an extra or something lmao. I tend to write shit in my head and half the time it is just stupid, this is one of them.
Marcus and Evelyn stood outside the heavy wooden door, the faint murmuring of Seraphina and Callista's voices leaking through the cracks.
They were facing each other like two duelists waiting for the bell.
Neither moved. Neither blinked. After for some time, Evelyn spoke up,
"Hmmm. So, pretty boy… why you working for Callista?"
Marcus opened one eye. "No reason. She pays really well."
"But you know the kind of woman she is—"
"I do." Marcus interrupted, "That's why I try not to talk much during my job, you know? I want my breaks. Before I have to be drained at night."
Evelyn tilted her head, "Drained… how, exactly?"
Marcus' face didn't change, though a tiny muscle near his eye twitched.
"…Physically. Emotionally. Magically. Spiritually. Existentially. All the -ally."
"Huh."
She stepped a bit closer, peering up at him. "But that lady doesn't just hire anyone. Even if you've got a pretty face. What's the real reason? You're not powerless like Penelope."
Marcus let out a long breath, his eye closing again as though trying to erase existence.
"Em… I'd rather not say."
"Are you always this cagey?"
Marcus' mouth twitched as if he wanted to laugh but had lost the will,
"No. I'm only like this because of my employment situation. You try going home every night and getting your guts rearranged."
Evelyn folded her arms tighter. "Hmmm. With a face like yours and magical power, you could be working for the royal family. You'd get paid way more. Why waste yourself on Callista?"
Marcus cracked his eye open again. "Because the royal family makes you fill out seventy-two pages of paperwork for every shift change and disposes you if you can't show up for one day."
"…Huh."
Silence.
Then, Evelyn sighed, "So what does working for Callista involve for you exactly?"
Marcus stared at the ceiling. "Ever been…touched in places you didn't know you had?"
Evelyn frowned. "Like… emotionally?"
"No." Marcus said. He deadpan while looking at her as he continued,
"Like physically. Internally. In a very… deep way."
Evelyn blinked twice. "What the hell does that mean?"
Marcus sighed, looking utterly defeated. "Have you ever tried being fucked in the ass by a duchess who insists on using the phrase 'administrative audit' in the bedroom?"
Evelyn's mouth dropped open. "She calls it WHAT?"
"Everything's a business metaphor. Even the toys. 'Liquidation of assets' has ruined my brain forever."
Evelyn paused for a moment as her brain finally registered the phrase Marcus just said,
"Wait wait. You get...fucked in...there???"
"Yeah. I'm the one who has to endure her 'creative' ideas every night. Do you know how many times I've had to explain to healers that no, 'I didn't fall down a flight of stairs...I just uh, had something went inside there'"
Evelyn looked like she was wrestling between pity and horrified curiosity.
"And you… voluntarily stay?"
"My contract auto-renews every six months. And she never forgets the date. Last time I tried to resign, she said—"
He raised his voice a half-octave, mimicking Callista's sultry tone:
"'Why resign when you've barely scratched the surface of darling? Stay here and I'll even throw an extra 10% if you're extra good.'"
Evelyn looked like she might faint. "I… think I'm gonna be sick."
Marcus shrugged. "Eh. You get used to it. Mostly. Well, not mostly but..."
Evelyn cleared her throat, trying to reset the conversation.
"So… what's your schedule like working for her?"
Marcus stared into the middle distance, eyes blank. "Schedule…?"
"Yeah. Like, your daily routine."
Marcus tilted his head as though accessing a trauma file.
"Monday, surprise sword sparring at dawn. Midday foot massage for precisely twenty-one minutes. Afternoon is accounting lessons. She insists her employees know how to balance a ledger. And at night would be the night activities."
"Huh. That doesn't sound so bad."
Marcus raised a finger. "Tuesday. Random inspections of how I look in a velvet doublet. Then—practice acting as her 'husband' in case anyone's wife shows up unexpectedly. Also, I might have to handle her correspondence with the local brothel guild."
"Wait, what?"
Marcus went on in his same flat tone. "Wednesday. Mandatory poetry recitals. Thursday, forced meditation naked in a salt circle. Friday… depends how she's feeling."
Evelyn buried her face in her hands.
Marcus shrugged. "At least the pay's good. And… I get hazard pay."
Evelyn lowered her hands, peering at him. "I just… I don't get why anyone would work for that duchess. She's… intense."
"…She's actually less intense than she used to be."
"Less intense?!"
Marcus nodded solemnly. "Ever since meeting with Vayne or rather, this 'Aric', she's gotten… soft. Curious even. Less focused on me being her personal… uh… toy. I mean, I still need to eat honey every hour but comparing to before...this is rather tame."
Evelyn stared at him for a long moment. "Does she… do the… uh… the thing every night?"
Marcus let out the softest groan imaginable. "Not every night."
"Oh, that's not so bad."
"Yeah. Only on days ending in Y."
"Damn."
Evelyn slapped his arm. "You poor bastard, I feel sorry for you."
He blinked. "Thanks. That means a lot."