CHAPTER FIVE
“Would you like to be my pet?” she asked.
I looked up from my cushion on the floor. The fireplace lit her face from below, casting her fine features in ghoulish shadow. She stroked my hair.
“If it pleases you, Mistress.” The question confused me. I was naked and at her feet already. How much more docile could I get?
She placed a fingertip to my lips. “Shh! Until further notice, my pet does not speak. I expect total…”
Silence
The clap of my body shattering the faceted surface is cut short as my ears submerge. The sigh of the wind continues unheard above. A birdcall is cut off in mid phrase. The ledge I stepped from was higher than it appeared. Most of it is under water. I seem to plummet forever. The weight of water tightens against my skull until I kick off the bottom at
