Day 32: Come home to roost

At the sound of yet another knock at his door, Lucas put down his book and got to his feet, groaning as his muscles protested. As comfortable as his chair was, he'd been sitting there motionless for most of the day, and his body clearly did not approve. Not even half a cycle out of the army and he was already beginning to feel like an old man. The notion soured his mood by the time he reached his front door. He yanked it open.

He felt the blaze of her indignation almost before he saw her: Kythril. Despite the fact that he stood a head taller than her, she glared at him so fiercely that he had to stop himself from taking a step back.

"You **** me!" She said, her voice a furious hiss.

Lucas felt his blood run cold. "I did no such thing. You asked for what I gave you, and you loved every second of it."

"I did not! You hurt me! I... I still can't sit right because of you!"

She spoke louder now, and Lucas was beginning to worry. Any moment now a passerby would wonder what the noise was all about, and then he'd have some real trouble on his hands. And yet, something wasn't right here.

He took a threatening step towards her. "If I **** you, then what's to stop me from doing it again, right now?"

"You wouldn't dare."

Lucas knew a challenge when he heard one. The street was clear for the moment. It was now or never. His hand shot out and closed around her wrist. A wrenching pull and she was across the threshold. He slammed the door shut behind her.

"What are you doing?" She demanded, trying and failing to free her wrist. "Let go of me!"

"Not until you tell me what this is all about. What's your game?"

Kythril grinned maniacally. "Just to see you behind bars. Or on the gallows. My father is a baron, you're just a disgusting pervert. The guard will take my word over yours!"

"All right then," Lucas replied, releasing her wrist. "Go tell them."

A moment of doubt flickered across her features, so briefly he wasn't sure he'd seen it at all. Immediately, she retook herself. "You know it's true. The judge will take my side too. You'll never get away with it!"

"Yes, you're probably right. So go on, what are you waiting for?"

Her jaw moved up and down twice, but otherwise she did not move. Lucas did. In the blink of an eye, he was upon her again. A soft gurgle escaped from her throat as his hand wrapped tightly around it. Even now, she remained defiant, as if trying to bore twin holes in his head by her stare alone.

His voice was a low growl. "You expect me to believe you'd come back here, alone, to your supposed ****, to do what? Taunt me? Threaten me? Are you trying to piss me off?"

A light went on in his head. It must have shown in his expression, because she resumed her struggles, as if that would serve as a denial.

"That's it, isn't it?" he chuckled.

"What are you doing!?" she demanded, her face red with her feeble attempts to remove his fingers from her throat. "Leave me alone!"

"I don't think that's what you really want, deep down. So here's what we're going to do. You're going to say a word for me: gingerbread."

"W-what? I don't underst—"

"Just say it." Lucas ordered.

"G-gingerbread?"

"Again."

"Gingerbread. Now let—"

"Shut up. Now listen very carefully. If you really want this to stop, all you have to do is say it one more time and I'll let you go. I'm giving you a way out. If you don't take it, right now, then you're staying here until I choose to release you." He grinned maliciously. "And that might be a while."