The dining table was set in the middle of the night for what looked like a casual tea party, but for one. Odette watched the absurd scene, leaning against a pillar. As the servant moved the table in front of the fireplace, the maid laid out the tablecloth and setting the food brought in on a serving trolley.
"Good job." Bastian said as Dora finished arranging the cutlery and stepped away from the table.
After washing his hands, Bastian casually took his seat at the table, as if there was nothing amiss at all. He was still neatly dressed in his uniform, which contrasted against Odette dishevelled nightgown.
"Please sit, ma'am." Bastian motioned for Odette to take her seat.
Reluctantly, Odette approached the seat across from Bastian, but did not sit. "You don't need to do this, just let me go back and rest." The servants flowed out the room like water and left it in silence, save for the gentle crackling of the fire. "Its almost midnight." Odette pointed out.
"Eat," Bastian commanded, helping himself to his share of the food.
"I've already had my dinner," Odette said.
"Really? The servants say otherwise. Are they lying?" Bastian said in a sardonic tone.
Odette looked at the food on the table. Bread sprinkled with granulated sugar on thick butter, roasted vegetables and pumpkin soup. All was Odette's favourite food and she had to commend Dora for preparing it for her, but her appetite just wasn't there.
"I suggest you eat now, before I finish my plate, otherwise I will be force to open your mouth and stuff the food in," Bastian said casually, as if commenting on the weather.
"Then do it, you always do what you want any way, so what's the point of doing anything else?" Odette said, her voice like ice. The pain returned and along with it, the resentment that had been building over the years. "Why the hell did you intervene in Tira's wedding?" Odette cried out, tears streaming down her cheeks. "You promised to leave her alone."
"What does the mercy I showed that miserable Becker couple have to do with the promise I made?" Bastian held a glass of water just shy of his lips.
"Since when did you have any concern for my sister?"
"I am simply repaying the favour, I'm not the kind of person that likes to pass himself off as a freeloader."
"What about the offer for me to attend the wedding, was that sincere too?"
"What do you think?" Bastian laughed casually and leaned back in his chair. Odette looked away, the tears hot in her eyes.
She had become much weaker than before and Bastian noticed. Even standing in front of a well stoked fire, Odette felt cold. The shawl wrapped around her scrawny shoulders felt like a burden, as if she couldn't even bare the weight of the moonlight. She was so pale, she was definitely in no condition to bare a child.
"If you're going to be so thorough in your calculations, than give me a salary too."
"Salary?" Bastian cocked an eyebrow at Odette.
"Considering you have been paying me for the last two years, it must be compensation for something else, something unrelated to my betrayal." Odette said calmly, clenching her hands together.
If Bastian was going to accompany Tira to the wedding, she was going to have to revise her plan. It was going to make things very difficult and she was going to need money. If, by chance, the worse case scenario was realised, money would be even more critical.
"Since I am going to be doing more work than before, its only fair that I receive a proper salary." Odette said, confidence returning to her voice.
Bastian wore a difficult expression to read, was he considering, calculating or just amused?
"If I give it to you, do you think you can make it worth it?"
"Yes, absolutely."
Odette sat at the table and took up a spoon, suddenly eager to tuck into the soup. Though her stomach churned and twisted at the thought of eating, she thought more on her desire to enjoy the food on the table. The bread had to be soaked in the soup, before it would even go into her mouth. She was able to eat a couple roasted vegetables and a few spoonfuls of soup.
When she judged she had eaten enough to avoid the humiliation of being force fed, Odette lifted her head to look at Bastian. His sunken eyes were intimidating, but on the other hand, she got a sense of satisfaction. She had at least one weapons he could use to fight back, it was the last shred of her dignity.
She was not going to let things just happen as he pleased. She was going to make things as hard for him as she could, force him to exert more effort than he intended.
In that moment of renewed determination, Bastian got up from the table. Odette closed her eyes, knowing what was to come next.
*.·:·.✧.·:·.*
The fierce kiss started at the dining table and ended when they got to her room. Bastian had passionately locked lips with Odette and wasted no time in removing her clothes. Odette had not resisted, not even a little, as if already deciding to give him what he had paid for.
Bastian had to respect her admirable effort. Odette opened her lips again, mixed their tongue, and swallowed it. She endured his pawing at her breasts and clumsy fondling between her legs. She would do anything for money.
Overcome with desire, Bastian did not even bother waiting until they were both correctly undressed and entangled himself into Odette, acting like beasts consumed by desire.
Bastian became rough with her, biting at her nipples and squeezing her hips hard. It felt like he was trying to break her. Odette gripped the sheets of the bed and did her best to hide her whimpers. Bastian went wild in his thrusting and her skin became incredibly sensitive, she couldn't bear to hold it in any more.
Odette tried to shut out reality, deny the sensations rippling through her, but deep down she knew that something was terribly wrong. She started to get premonitions of a tragedy that was inevitable. She couldn't accept it and did her best to ignore it.
Odette glared up at Bastian, who was thrusting wildly. His gaze, as always, was off somewhere in his own mind, barely focused on the air in front of him. He was oblivious to her plight, her endeavours and she hoped that she could get away before he realised she was already pregnant with his baby.
"Ah… … !" Odette let out a gasp as Bastian suddenly shifted, grabbing her around the waist and twisting her around to be sat on top of him. She reflexively gripped his chest for balance, digging her nails in.
"You have to do some of the work if you want to get paid," Bastian said in a low whisper.
Odette was suddenly flush with embarrassment, not sure what she should be doing, so she started bouncing on her knees. Their eyes met momentarily and Odette thought she saw a flash of emotion in Bastian's cold, blue eyes.
While she tried to make sense of the emotion she saw, Bastian closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he was as flat and taciturn as before. Their sex nothing more than a means to an end. Grabbing Odette's waist and pulling her down hard on his crotch, she could feel him swell inside her, quickly followed by his climax.
Exhausted, Bastian embraced her as she went limp and gasped for breath. He licked her neck and cheek and caressed her back, Odette's body convulsed in response to his unsettling touch, an oddly euphoric sensation overwhelming her.
When Bastian reached his limits, he unleashed his primal desire without a second though, Odette prayed in her mind
Please trample me more thoroughly,
erase this misfortune I now bare so that I don't have to commit to it.
Please…
In that moment, Bastian bit and sucked on her flesh and Odette could feel the mix of pain and ecstasy prickle her skin. It was her last memory of the night.