Now, Icarus had always known that some women should be held at an arm's length.
His mother, Irina, had been one of them.
But his father had still married her, and they had gotten him. Which was what he had been thinking when he had offered Mei his hand in marriage.
But now that he was thinking about it all…
"Help! Please, somebody, help! She'll spank me again!" his plan was genius in its simplicity. He was going to tell Lord Oswel exactly what his Little Mistress of a daughter did with her cookies.
Cookies which Ingrid had to bake all day long, or so the blonde Viking had told him more than once.
"Help! The Lady Mei is…" he heard footsteps. He made himself shrink into a corner.
As soon as the light of the torch shone on the kind middle-aged man before him, he knew that this was Lord Oswel himself!
"Aren't you the horselord?" The lord didn't introduce himself. Just like Mei, his image was all over the town of Oak's Rest.
"Yes, my lord! And your daughter is evil!" Icarus was unwilling to miss even a beat. He wanted for the Little Mistress to finally figure out that some things weren't done.
Such as molesting your fiancé.
"Evil? My daughter is a bit…" the lord let out a sigh. "Difficult. But I wouldn't call her evil. What did you do, my boy? Did you get one of her dresses or dolls dirty?"
Icarus blinked. Dolls? That Dominatrix still played with dolls? Well, that was interesting, but…
"I asked you a question. Hm, you must be tired and thirsty. Bring him to the guest quarters and feed him. I'll speak with him after he's taken a bath."
The lord patted Icarus on the back and was off.
The guards, the same ones who had dragged him to his cell, narrowed their eyes as one.
"Look here, you!" The captain placed his boot on Icarus' chest. Stepping down on it. The boy winced, but didn't let out a sound.
The show was for the lord. No guard was going to make fun of him and hear him scream!
"You won't be telling the lord anything about what happened between you and the Mistress! If you do, then it's your head!"
The guard kicked him. Hard.
Icarus coughed out blood, but didn't scream. He rolled from underneath the guard's foot, grinning at him.
"Just think," he began, blood trickling down his chin. He must have looked like a fright because a young guard made a step back. "When I marry Mei, I can do that, which you just did to me, to you! All day long!"
The captain let out an ugly laugh.
"Oh? And do you think you'll survive long enough? The Lady Mei needs you for just one night. And then, well, it won't matter whose child she brings forth in the world."
The guard kicked him again, making his way up the stairs afterward.
Icarus winced as two guards lifted him by the armpits and began to drag him.
Man, Mei was such a b…
Icarus shook his head. His mother hated him using that word.
Female dog, he corrected himself mentally.
Just in case.
0000
There was only one thing which Icarus could do now, that he was forced to bathe against his will.
Play the innocent lamb.
Which would have worked, had the Captain not remained behind.
"So, the Little Mistress… is she good in bed?" Icarus had to know if the man had slept with Mei or not.
Not that he was going to hold it against her, but he was going to search for another member for his harem somewhere else if that was the case.
"How am I supposed to know? And you! Wash yourself faster!" The captain snapped, as he took his sword out of its scabbard.
"Ok! I was in a dungeon! I need to soak!" Which was not the truth. The dungeon was uncharacteristically clean if Icarus had to be honest.
No, it was the dark and the moldy stench which had made him lose his cool.
"Well," the captain began to look Icarus up and down. "The Little Mistress is said to use dolls. If you know what I mean…"
The guard captain began to laugh lecherously.
Suddenly, it became clear to Icarus that while Mei was most definitely using the man, she was never going to share her bed with him.
He was about as smart as the animals which produced the region's main exports.
"I see," but if he told him that, the taller, stronger, man was sure to make him as ugly as him.
"It is a pity that you won't be needed afterward," the man began to eye what was above the bathwater.
Icarus decided that this was now
"I'm done bathing! Please, I need my clothes," Icarus didn't need to fake the outrage in his voice. This man was the worst!
"Sure, I'll bring you clothes," the man began to chuckle as he left the room.
Icarus sprang out of the water and went to the brazier. Soon, he was waving the drapes over it and making smoke signals.
He did that until he heard steps nearing the room once more.
Pride here or there, there was only one thing he could do now:
"Help! Rapist! Help!"
His cries were heard by a kitchen maid, who knew what the guard was capable of.
More than once, he had made advances at her!
But she was a brave one. As she saw him entering the room, and she heard that the screams became louder, she took her broom and attacked.
Lord Oswel found a guard on the ground, his daughter's naked fiancé and a maid with a broom beating him up, whimpering.
"I think there is something you are not telling me, boy," the lord walked pass the scene and took a hold of the drapes. He tore them off the windows and threw them at Icarus. "But you will."
And so, Icarus saw the man as the giant he was…