“I don’t know when I’ll see Tyler next, but I could ask him if I could go visit you.”
Connie raised her eyebrows at him. “I mean, you don’t need to ask his permission. Someone else can drive you, or lend you a bike. I can come pick you up, too.”
Roman flattened his expression. “Tyler’s my Dom, though. He was assigned to me.”
Connie continued to stare at him. “Okay? You can go wherever you want without asking him, though. Did you not know that?” Her expression turned suspicious, concerned, and Roman knew at once he’d misstepped.
“Oh. No, yes, of course. I just meant, to leave the main area…”
Connie’s face cleared a little, but there was still a small frown furrowing her eyebrows. “It’s cool, I promise. You can go where you want inside the coven.”
Roman nodded, not knowing what to do with that piece of information. Connie was probably trustworthy, despite this only being the second time he talked to her, but it felt strange that a Dom would be so permissive.
Still. This was a very different coven—maybe the rules were just different.
“Okay,” Roman agreed.
It seemed crazy, that he was allowed out of his room unsupervised, but maybe Tyler didn’t want so much responsibility over him.
It would be a relief—the less Tyler expected of him, the less of a disappointment he could be.
Connie must have seen Roman’s doubt because she pulled out her phone and, before Roman knew what was happening, was calling Tyler.
“Hello?” The Dom’s voice filtered through the speaker. Roman’s blood turned to sludge, lungs seizing.
“Hey,” Connie greeted carelessly. “You’re cool if Roman goes to the farm, right? He doesn’t need your permission to go where he wants.”
“Yeah, ’course. Long as he stays in Meliora. Why?”
“Just wondering. Thanks!” Connie hung up unceremoniously. Roman couldn’t move, even as she beamed at him. “See? No problem.”
Tyler had sounded genuine, and Roman doubted he’d lie to Connie—what would be the point of doing that?
“Okay,” Roman said, daring to hope.
**********
It took Roman a few days to gather enough courage to step outside the Main House by himself. He peered out of the window for a long while, trying to figure out when the best time to leave would be, and decided that the lull after lunch would be ideal, when everybody was full of food and back at work.
There was no reason for Connie to lie to him. Roman had met some malicious subs, but that wasn’t her—she had been kind to the dogs, her face lighting up when she talked about the horses she helped train. “We don’t break them,” she’d said. “You’ve got to understand them, meet them in the middle. It’s not about just asserting your control over another living thing. They have to agree to it.”
With a trembling hand, Roman opened his bedroom door. He took a breath.
Nothing happened. He peeked outside, but the hallway was empty.
This was the thing about his new life. Everybody from Imber’s inner circle had not only been incarcerated—they’d been stripped of their magic. The High Court didn’t often intervene, but when they did, their punishments were extreme and absolute.
This wasn’t a movie, or some adventure story—they weren’t going to escape and get him. They weren’t superhuman. They were just people, and now they’d been defeated.
So Roman had no reason to be scared—not really. Not like before. And yet his heart was still pounding as he closed the door behind him, expecting his father to walk around the corner and—
He took a deep breath. He wasn’t going to imagine that. He wasn’t there anymore.
Roman waited at the threshold of his room, but there was no prickle of wards or an alarm. For a long time, nothing happened. He closed the door behind him.
It was okay.
Noise filtered up from the bottom floor as he made his way down the stairs, but he managed to avoid being seen as he finally escaped the house.
With a gasp of breath, he stood underneath the overcast sky. It was chilly, the breeze cutting through his long T-shirt, but the sensation was lost in the wash and foam of elation.
He was outside, and nobody seemed to be spying over his shoulder.
Before Tyler could change his mind, he started walking. The Main House was tucked against the forest, a paved area for parking to the right, and a walking path leading to the small road on the left. Roman took to the pavement tentatively, gazing at everything Tyler had pointed out last time. All the buildings, squat as they were, had ample space, signs in the front hanging and swinging in the wind. A lady stepped out of a clothing shop and nodded at Roman with a friendly expression, causing him to look away.
She had no reason to tell Tyler she’d seen him. He’d given Roman permission. Connie had told him he was allowed outside. It’d be okay.
It was barely two minutes of walking when Roman was startled as someone called out his name. He whipped around, panic like a spear through his lungs, but it was just Cross sitting outside a small bakery, bundled up in a thick coat.
“Oh,” Roman startled, adrenaline still pulsing through him. “Cross. Hello.”
“Hey. Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you,” Cross said, lips twitching into a small smile.
“No, you—that’s okay. Uhm. How are you?”
“I’m okay. Do you want to join me? We can go inside—it’s a little cold out here,” Cross suggested, lifting an eyebrow at Roman’s lack of coat.
“Sorry,” Roman apologised quickly. “That’s okay, I don’t want to bother you.”
“No bother. Come on, the hot chocolate here is amazing.” Cross stood up, holding the cup he’d been drinking from in one hand and opening the door to the bakery with the other. He waited there pointedly, and Roman’s stomach sank as he followed the Dom inside.
Roman knew an order when he heard one.
It was, admittedly, much warmer inside, the smell of warm bread and pastry filling the air. Roman’s stomach cramped a little, but he pushed the feeling away—it was dinner time in a few hours. He’d get to eat something then.
There were a few people inside, sitting in clusters or working alone. Roman tilted his head down, not wanting to get in trouble with any of them, but he froze as the lady behind the large, glass counter tutted.
“I told you it’d be too cold out there.”
Roman relaxed slightly as he realised she wasn’t admonishing him, but Cross, who tilted his head in agreement.
She turned her attention to Roman. “Oh, and who’s this?”
Roman waited for the Dom to introduce him, but when nothing came forth, he did so himself, trying to keep his face flat and unassuming.
“Oh, of course. What do you fancy?” She pointed at the board hanging on the wall behind her, boasting different drinks and food.
“I…I don’t have money. I’m sorry.”
“That’s all right, honey. It’s all free till you get your feet under you. You like hot chocolate? I make the best moon-blessed chocolate you ever tasted.”
“Oh. I don’t know if I…” Tyler hadn’t given him permission to eat outside of dinner.