Castien straightened and stepped back. “I am never ‘angry,’ Eridan.”
Eridan yawned and sat up straighter, suppressing the urge to roll his eyes. “So you’re ‘displeased’ with me.”
“That would be correct. Master Tker spoke to me.”
Eridan scowled. “I’m not letting him inside my mind again.” He met Castien’s eyes. “If you keep insisting on it, you might as well send me away to the servicing department right now, Master. I’m not doing it again. Understood?”
Castien gave him a hard look. “You insolent brat,” he said, his voice deceptively soft. “It appears I was too lenient with you or you wouldn’t dare speak to me in that tone. Do you even know what will happen to you if you end up in the servicing department?”
Eridan frowned and crossed his arms over his chest. “There are professions I wouldn’t mind. Being a servant isn’t as bad as everyone makes it out to be.”
Castien’s lips twisted. “You are delusional if you think you will be given a choice. With your face, you will spend all your time on your knees or on your back, servicing Master after Master.”
Eridan flushed. There was something incredibly wrong about his Master speaking to him about sex. It felt obscene. Castien had never given any indication that he had noticed that Eridan wasn’t a sexless thing.
“Javier told me servants are given a choice,” Eridan said, lifting his chin.
“Javier,” Castien repeated, his brows drawing together. “And who is that?”
Eridan blinked in confusion. “Your servant?”
“Is that his name?”
Eridan gaped at him. “You don’t even know his name? You—you use him for pleasure, but you don’t even know his name? He’s been your servant longer than I have been your apprentice!”
His Master gave him a flat look. “He is a servant, Eridan. I do not need to know his name to use his services. As long as he performs adequately, I will not need his name to file a complaint.”
Eridan stared at him incredulously. “How did you even pick him if you don’t know his name?”
“I’m not sure how that is relevant to the subject at hand, but if you must know, I picked his picture. Which actually only proves my point: you do not want to be a servant, Eridan. Do you want to be treated like one?”
“Javier told me he chose his specialization. It can’t be true that I would not be given a choice.”
A humorless smile touched Castien’s lips. “Most unclaimed initiates do get a choice. But in your case, the Coordinator wouldn’t even ask what you want to do. Your ridiculous face would fetch too high a price for him to allow you to do less profitable work. You are very naive if you think otherwise.”
Eridan scowled, though he couldn’t deny that a part of him liked that his Master thought of him as special, even if it was because of something Eridan couldn’t take any credit for: his physical appearance.
“It doesn’t change anything, Master,” he said, looking at his hands. “I won’t let Master Tker inside my mind again. If you can’t accept it, you should cast me aside right now.” His lips curled into a bitter smile. “I’m not your real apprentice anyway. Tker made it abundantly clear today.”
Silence.
It stretched and stretched until Eridan couldn’t bear it anymore and looked up.
He found his Master eyeing him with a strange expression. He could sense a complicated mix of emotions through their bond. It was so rare for him to be able to actually sense Castien’s emotions that Eridan was completely unused to it and couldn’t even decipher what they were. The mere fact that he could sense them at all was bewildering.
Then Castien walked to his desk and opened one of the drawers. “Come here,” he said, his back to Eridan.
Eridan frowned but did as he was told.
When Castien turned around, he was holding something in his hands.
Eridan’s breath caught in his throat when he saw what it was.
The thaal was simple enough but beautiful in its simplicity. The blue ribbon held a single purple dethrenyte in the shape of a tear. The precious gem glowed dimly in the firelight, but it wasn’t its beauty that held Eridan’s attention. He could feel the telepathic energy the gemstone emanated—the energy as familiar to Eridan as his own after months of sharing a bond with its owner.
Swallowing, he lifted his eyes to Castien’s. He couldn’t speak.
The older man held his gaze steadily before saying, “Turn around and kneel.”