Part 3The Siren's Debt

It had been eight full days since that day.

In the pitch darkness, I fiddled with the chains on my wrists, smiling bitterly.

How much did he hate me to not even look at me?

The window was pushed open a crack by a servant, letting in a sliver of light. I grabbed his sleeve.

"Where is Caspian?"

"Don't rush," the servant, wearing pure white gloves, pried my fingers open one by one, his movements cold as a machine.

He served five dishes and a soup as usual.

"Eat first. Eat well, drink well, recover well. The King will see you."

"Is he letting me go?"

"He said he wants to humiliate you properly."

It wasn't until I was forced to kneel in the courtyard by the servant and heard the moans coming from inside...

That I suddenly realized.

The weeping was lingering and touching, like a kitten's claws gently scratching the heartstrings.

And Caspian coaxed someone in a low voice, his timbre hoarse and deep.

I knelt there, feeling dazed.

Was six years that long? In my memory, Caspian had a clear, bright voice.

He would whine and cling to me, rubbing my palm with his soft cheek.

When I tried to crawl away, he would hook my calf with his cool tail and gently pull me back into his arms.

"Professor, you look so beautiful when you cry, but I can't bear to make you cry."

The boy's eyes were bright, full of cherished love.

"Kiss me, and I'll let you go, okay?"

A shallow kiss could soothe his unbearable, manic heat cycle.

But six years later, my hands and feet were bound by cold chains, forced to kneel outside his room without dignity, listening to him being intimate with someone else.

The good little fish I raised had turned into a bastard roe.

He learned to be human.

He was spiting me.

I looked up.

Dark clouds rolled in the sky; the sun had sunk early.

Light rain fell pattering into my eyes.

Humans should be honest.

I admit.

I broke.

Taking a deep breath, I tore the iron chains apart and straightened up.

The servants looked panicked, pointing swords at me one by one, but none dared to advance.

I took a few steps forward and kicked the door open.

Caspian turned his head, covering the person beneath him with the quilt, his eyes full of naked provocation.

"What are you doing? Could it be..."

"Do you know what true humiliation is?"

I interrupted him directly.

I lifted my foot and stepped on his bare shoulder.

"Let me teach you. What you should be doing isn't him, it's me."