Chereads / The Cuckold's Seduction / Chapter 3 - Chapter 3

Chapter 3 - Chapter 3

so I had to sleep there with you. Your clothes are uncomfortable against my skin. I much prefer the feeling of your body against mine than those clothes. Especially your breeches."

"They're called jeans," I said, plucking at them.

"Well, they should be called garbage," she said. "Perhaps I can get someone to make you a new pair. No, that would be too risky. The elves will have to do it."

"Elves?" I shook my head and walked over to the table, the one with piles of magical objects on top. A chair sat next to it, so I pulled it out and sat on it. It was a bit too small, but otherwise reasonably comfortable. "Look, can you just explain exactly what's going on?"

"I can," she said. "But I'll warn you, I need to cast one more spell on you before I am completely certain that you're the one sent by the gods to save us. Although I have a feeling you'll enjoy it much more than the last."

I threw up my hands. "Silvy, you aren't making any sense."

She smiled. "Let me finish baking this loaf of bread and I'll tell you everything."

Roughly an hour later, I sat at a small wooden table next to Silvy. Several thick slices of fresh-baked bread covered with jam sat on a plate in front of me, with a glass of wine next to it. The wine had surprised me, but Silvy said the elves made so much they practically gave it away. 

"So, from the beginning," I said as I grabbed the pewter mug. The wine was a dry red, and every bit as delicious as I would have imagined. Elven wine. Never would have expected that one, but then again I never would have expected goblins either. Or, you know, surviving a black hole.

"I have been praying to the gods for decades, more than a century, for them to send someone to me," Silvy said after stuffing a small piece of bread and jam into her mouth. 

She chewed delicately and swallowed. Jesus, even the way she ate was adorable. I found myself more and more attracted to her every minute I was around her. The faint wrinkles around her eyes and mouth almost seemed to disappear. The green skin and large ears didn't bother me anymore; to be honest, I didn't even see them. I just saw a ridiculously beautiful woman.

"And you think I'm that person?" I asked. 

The bread was dark, not quite like pumpernickel but still darker than I was used to. I had no clue what kind of fruit the spread was made from, but it was easily one of the best jams I had ever eaten. 

She shrugged. "I certainly hope you're him. So far I believe you are, but there is still one more thing I have to check." Color infused her cheeks and she glanced at me, then smiled and looked away.

"What?" I asked.

"You'll see," she said. "Later. Anyways, I am going to send you to the elves to train. That is the one thing I simply cannot do, is train you with a sword. I will send you to them with a gift, and if they accept then you will join them every day. They will train you with weapons and without, and possibly in the ways of magic as well."

I blinked. "Elves are going to teach me to fight with a sword?" This just kept getting wilder and wilder by the minute.

Silvy nodded as if nothing were out of the ordinary. "The orcs are probably better fighters, to be honest, but they're further away and I don't care to deal with them. They're more likely to just beat you instead of actually teaching you how to fight. Maybe in the future you can train with them, but for now, it's the elves. Any questions?"

"A million," I said. "I'm assuming you'll show me the way out of here?"

She nodded. "Of course. As I have said, I live on the outskirts of our city, close to the entrance. You'll have to carefully sneak in and out each day so the guards don't see you."

I threw up my hands. "Well that sounds like a recipe for disaster. Have you forgotten what happened the last time one of the guards caught me?"

She shrugged as if nothing were wrong. "Well, I suppose you had better take this very seriously, then. Don't worry, I can help you stay hidden. Avoiding detection by the guards…. Well, we can just call that part of your training." She smiled as if she wasn't talking about me possibly getting killed.

"Silvy," I said after taking another bite. "I think you're as crazy as you are beautiful."

She flashed a smile at me. "Glad you noticed."

"You don't get much company here, do you?" I asked.

"What do you mean?" she replied.

I tried to think of how to phrase what I was trying to say. "Your demeanor has changed a good bit since I've been here. I'm saying you aren't used to having people in your home, are you?"

"Oh," she said, frowning prettily. "No, no one comes to see me. They haven't in a long time. As I told you, I am an outcast."

"Simply because of magic," I added.

She nodded. "Well, magic and because the previous king publicly beat me and shamed me. And our current king tried to break me in front of a crowd of people. I think some people assume I'm bad luck, even without the magic. But Ralcor doing his best to convince everyone that magic was evil certainly didn't help."

"But if they need magic, they'll still come see you," I said.

"Well, yeah," Silvy said. "I mean, you have to get spells from somewhere, right? Might as well go see the crazy woman on the edge of town." She huffed. "I do miss having people to talk with, though. It's nice having you here, even if you are strange." She looked me up and down. "Too tall, pink-skinned, tiny ears. Strange, indeed."

I looked down at the back of my hand, at the pale skin. "My skin isn't really pink. I mean, my mom was Swedish, so it's more…. I dunno, peach? Ivory? To be honest, I have no idea what this color is called."

"I'm green," Silvy said. "Nice and simple. And what color is your hair? It's like wet sand."

"Blonde," I said, running my fingers through it. "That's called blonde."

"At least your eyes are the right color," Silvy said. 

My eyes were blue, like hers, although hers looked more like shimmering sapphires, as they were notably larger than mine and caught the light like a gemstone would. Or perhaps that was just because they were large. Who knew, but they were absolutely gorgeous.

"Was the food alright? I have a tendency to eat the same thing every day." She almost seemed nervous while asking.

"It was great," I said. "And I'm not just saying that to be nice, it was really good."

"Don't get too spoiled with the elven food," she said as she took my plate. "You still need to eat my slop."

"So, how are we going to start that?" I asked. "Training with the elves, that is."

"Ah, yes," Silvy said, taking both of our plates over to a broad table. "I have something for that," she said. She turned and went through the doorway, into the room where all the magical items were. "Come here," she called out.

I pushed myself up from the small chair and went after her. She was rummaging through a case of brightly colored gemstones while muttering to herself. Finally selecting a dull green one the size of a chicken's egg, she turned back to me.

"So, how many fights have you been in?" she asked, bouncing the glimmering stone on her palm.

"Fights?" I asked. "Look, that doesn't happen very often back in my world. Before I ran into that asshole back in the tunnel, I think the last fight I had been in…. I dunno, middle school?"

"Middle school?" she asked, one eyebrow raised.

"I was about twelve years old," I said. "My point is that fighting isn't a regular thing back in my world."

"Well, time to change that," she said, looking down at the stone. "And I have just the thing that can help."

"You aren't going to hit me with that rock, are you?" I asked.

"Why would you think that?" Silvy replied.

I shrugged. "Well, you already paralyzed me and cut my arm open."

Silvy rolled her eyes. "Are you ready?"

She didn't wait for me to say yes before uttering an incantation. Lights began to flash inside the green stone, and it vibrated in her palm as if it were alive. Silvy continued speaking in the language of magic for a full minute, then abruptly stopped. Her shoulders sagged, but she smiled at me.

No, wait. That smile wasn't directed at me. She looked at someone behind me.

I turned just in time to see a thickly muscled goblin man standing there. His shoulders looked like he could press a horse over his head, and the look on his face said he might eat the animal after.

"What the fuck!" I barked, stumbling backwards. The goblin man raised his fists, but remained in his place. 

"Oh, relax, will you?" Silvy said, setting the green gem on the table. 

"Is that one of the guards?" I asked, keeping my eyes on the heavily muscled goblin man.

"Aaron, take a deep breath," Silvy said. "This is your new training partner. You can name him if you'd like."

"Name him?" I asked, bewildered. I turned and looked back at the goblin man.

He stood roughly five feet tall, with heavy muscle on his shoulders and arms. His fists were still raised, but he just stood in place, watching me with a blank expression. Of course with his sharp teeth and angular features, that blank expression was moderately terrifying. 

"Training partner?" I asked.

"Yes," Silvy said as if it were obvious. "I can't send a complete novice to the elves, so I wanted to make sure you at least knew how to fight."

I blinked and looked from Silvy to the magical goblin.

"You want me to fight him?" I asked.

Silvy spread her hands. "If you'd rather fight one of the guards, I can call them in here."

"No, no, that's fine," I said, turning back to the goblin man.

I raised my fists and took a step towards him. To be honest, I didn't really know how to fight. I had seen a few boxing matches and UFC fights, enough to know that I needed to keep my fists up so I didn't get punched in the face, and not to land a punch on my pinky knuckle or I'd break it. But not much beyond that.

I took another step towards him and he began moving, bouncing around on his toes. He launched a fist at me, taking me right in the stomach. His fist struck my flesh and sank in an inch, as if he weren't fully a physical being. It still hurt, but not like an actual punch to the gut would. I grit my teeth and slammed my fist right in his face.

"Wow, you're horrible," Silvy said. 

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," I said through clenched teeth.

The goblin man circled around me, feinting a few times and striking with his bony knuckles. I managed to catch most of the blows on my forearms. Thankfully, his slightly incorporeal fists didn't really hurt, but I definitely knew I had been hit.

"So, what am I going to name you?" I asked the goblin man. "How about Greg? I knew a Greg once, and he was a douchebag. Seems fitting."

"What's a douchebag?" Silvy asked.

"It's what Greg was," I replied. I sent a jab at Greg's chin, then pulled it back and struck him in the stomach. I was momentarily proud of myself for landing a hit, but then he followed it up with a punch square in the middle of my face.

I staggered back a few steps, clutching my nose. Fortunately, it wasn't broken. Had he been real, I would have been gushing blood.

"If you punch him in the face you'll probably break a knuckle," Silvy said idly, leaning on the table. "A real goblin, that is. Look at how thick his cheekbones are. Punch him in the stomach instead, unless he lets his guard down. Then punch him straight in the jaw. A solid hit square on the chin will knock him on his ass if you put some force behind it."

"You know a lot about fighting," I said, stepping closer to Greg again.

"When you've lived as long as I have, you pick up a few things," Silvy replied.

I feinted with a couple left jabs, then threw a right hook at Greg once he let his guard down. He brought his hand up, deflecting my punch, and followed up with a blow to my solar plexus. I staggered backwards, wheezing. 

"Could we start in easy mode first?" I asked Silvy as I tried to catch my breath.

"This is the easiest I can make it," she said. "Hopefully you'll take it seriously, now. Okay, enough fists. Let's try this with knives."