A Slave to Love, Broken Hearts, and Everything In Between

Chapter 6: Halloween

A Slave to Love, Chapter 33: Numb -- Ace POV

"You certainly took your time," Aros said, flipping through his papers. "Did you miss the part where it was important?"

"Well, I figured if it was that important, you would have told me yourself," I said, grinning at him despite how exhausting this game could be. Being late to a summons was hardly that rebellious, but I'd take any shot, no matter how cheap, to annoy him. It was a Saturday night, I had a date, and yet he insisted on requesting a meeting with me, probably for something completely stupid and useless, so he should have expected for me to be petty.

Being in his office always made me uncomfortable. It was where he tended to summon me to discipline me for my 'behaviour' and lecture me about my 'responsibilities' and my 'duty' to our family and our people and yadda yadda yadda snore. There were no warm and fuzzy memories to be had here and even the room was built to be imposing. It was dark and grand, windowless and claustrophobic, with bookcases lined with ancient tomes and files, an antique globe, an array of knick knacks picked up from across the globe on trips and across centuries. The lighting was warm in here, which should have lent some comfort to it, but somehow it just made it creepier, dimmer.

The worst bit for me, besides the lack of windows, was his desk. It was large and yet understated, but undeniably imposing. When you sat in the chair opposite as his audience, it was slightly lower than his, not enough to notice, just enough to make you feel unsettled without knowing why, underscoring just how unbalanced the power was. He was all about subtleties.

Aros always held all the cards, his word was absolute in our world. Seeing him sit behind his desk, scrutinizing me with dark eyes set deep into his lined and unsmiling face, fingers steepled, he reminded me of a principal about to serve me with expulsion for a crime I didn't commit. 

Admittedly, yes, on occasion I did deserve the punishment as he did catch me doing things I shouldn't have been doing, but sometimes it came out of nowhere and was out of my control.

He hummed something noncommittal. "I need you to run an errand."

Seriously? He had so many employees and yet he still felt the need to have me run around for him too. "Do I look like your assistant?"

"No, you look like my grandson and as my grandson, you should be jumping at the chance to do something for your elderly grandfather."

"You're right. Shall I book an appointment to tour funeral homes?"

His eyes narrowed a fraction, face cold and unamused. The face he never showed the public. It was reserved for criminals, people who crossed him, and occasionally me. I was special that way.

And just like that, the game was over.

It was almost a relief to drop the pretense.

"What do you want?" I asked, trying to keep the irritation out of my tone. He knew I had plans tonight so it only became more annoying that he wanted something that would most likely make me cancel. Two birds, one stone. He was efficient, I'd give him that.

"I need you to go see Kiana."

Kiana?

Try as I might, no face came to mind despite how the name tickled something familiar in my brain.

"I see you're having trouble remembering, so let me jog your memory. Or shall I give you a moment to find some paper and write it down?" Aros said.

I ignored the dig. "It's the twenty first century Aros, no one uses paper anymore."

"Honestly, I can't believe you've forgotten the name of your best friend's conduit. Or did it get lost in the shallow puddle that is your mind?" He sighed, exasperated. "She's a woman and usually that's more than enough for you to be interested, then again, I should have guessed that since you haven't slept with her yet that that would change things."