When Lord Hall returned he brought many other mages with him, so Cass did not have an opportunity to speak to him alone at first. The mages were here to accelerate the process of applying the glyphs to the kids in the cell, her Master had said that the court and the Tower had been ecstatic with the results and wanted to have a field test as soon as possible, so extra mages had been dispatched.

Cass was still unsure what the Tower was, though she knew it was some sort of organization among the mages, but from what Lord Hall told her very few mages overall were part of it. Most nobles were affiliated with their houses and families rather than the Tower, which was an Imperial organization. Still, with the resources of the Imperial Court, the Tower had a lot of pull near the capitol, and the amount of mages experienced at applying glyphs that they had sent was proof of that.

Cass thought to fade into the background and talk to her Master later, but she did not give the chance. Lord Hall pulled her to the front to address the mages and explain how her theory worked, she stammered and stuttered her way through it and was sure that her face was more red than an apple.

Still, the mages did not seem to care, instead talking among themselves and preparing their materials. After that, Cass was pulled aside by Hall.

“M- master…” Cass was nearly in tears, she did not mind crowds but she was terrified of being the focus of a crowd's attention. In her experience, that often led to someone being torn apart. He patted her head and she was glad that she had already been blushing, at least that way he wouldn’t know that made her flushed as well!

“You did just fine,” Hall smiled. “I am a pragmatic man, and a mind like yours is meant to be used. I plan to use it well, but to do that you will need to get used to speaking.”

Cass did not want to tell him that she did not think she could ever do that… So she didn’t, technically, he had not asked a question after all… Instead she changed the subject, “I had some other glyphs that I designed modifications for that I wanted to show you.”

“Busy working on your free days?” Hall chuckled, “Well I certainly won’t punish you for being studious, especially if you truly found something else already.”

“It isn’t like the other one, the Absorption Glyph…” Cass was a bit nervous, “The modifications are… For me…”

Hall looked at her, he obviously had deduced what kind of modifications Cass had made based on that statement. After all, without modifying the glyphs so that she could use them, no other modification would matter. So Cass took a breath and forged ahead, “And… I would like you to apply them.”

The last sentence came out in a rush of air and Cass found herself unable to look Hall in the eyes. This was the first time she had so directly asked for something, especially something that would take so much of Hall’s time. She squared her shoulders, fully expecting to be punished for her presumption.

Hall stood quietly for a time, then laughed. “I already had a reward prepared for you, but why not? It will make you more useful to me after all, but first I want to see the designs.”

“Of course, Master.” Cass was excited and a little scarred, the tattoo process would hurt but there was a part of her that was anticipating being able to use their power… Other than her master, she would be safe from everyone, strong enough to keep herself safe. Of course, she was starting to come to terms with the fact she would never be safe from Hall, because deep down she did not want to be.

“Well, before anything else,” Hall had Cass follow him. “I should show you your reward.”

Cass excitedly followed Hall through the castle, taking several staircases to the upper floors. She was surprised to be here, from what Maurice had told her about the castle’s layout, these were mostly unused rooms for officers and lesser nobles.

Hall pushed a door open and gestured for her to go inside, as Cass thought, it was a suite of rooms for the nobility. However, rather than seem like it was unused, it was clear that someone had been through to dust and uncover the furniture. Cass wondered idly why anyone would need so much space, to her a bed and desk were a luxury and any more than that would just be confusing. This collection of rooms had an entrance hall and a parlour, and through a door she could see a gigantic bed in the bedroom. Cass had no idea what Hall had brought her here for and was shocked with what Hall said next.

“This is yours.”

“Master, I don’t deserve-”

Hall interrupted, “you do deserve this. I may own you, and for now there are things at play that stop me from training you properly. But one day you will be my apprentice and become a full fledged mage.”

Hall looked Cass in the eyes and she felt her rebuttal fall apart in her throat, “You might not be aware, but tradition dictates much of high society. I have already gotten approval from my teacher to be called a true mage. When the trouble in the south calms down, and my Year of Reflection is finished, we will begin.”

“Thank you.” Cass whispered, for all his cruelty, not even Maurice could be as generous and kind as him at times.

“Because I know you like that servant… I think her name was Maurice?” Hall was still talking, “I wanted to have her assigned to you, but that is not an option, so I will have to talk to one of the stewards to have a servant sent over here.”

Cass thought for a second, then hesitated and finally said, “Master, I know this is presumptuous, but would you allow me to choose?”

“Oh?” Hall seemed curious, “Who would you even know that would qualify?”

“I don’t think she qualifies by the standards of a servant,” Cass chewed her lip. “But you have taught me to reward people for doing good, and even if it was not intentional, she saved me.”

“Presumably she is one of the test subjects then?” Hall thought for a second, “Well you will be along for the testing, so it should be fine, but I cannot guarantee her survival.”

“That is fine,” Cass smiled widely. “Thank you very much Master.”

“You will have to wait to see her until after the glyphs are applied to her, but I don’t suppose you would be used to having a servant anyways so it should not be too much of a bother. I really do wish it could have been Maurice though, you should have someone who knows the job.”

Ah, that reminded Cass, but… Should she ask? Her Master had been so generous that she did not want to jeopardize it… But she was also desperate to know. In the end, she decided to risk it.

“Master… There was something else…” Cass told him about the stories she had heard, leaving Maurice out of it, but she did mention that Rat was Owen Rattan and as she spoke her Master’s cheerful face had turned darker and darker, until looking him in the eyes had started to make Cass shake slightly in fear.

After she finished, they were silent for a second. Hall had looked away, his gaze directed at the wall, and with how angry he seemed Cass was surprised he hadn’t blow it, or her, away. He spoke quietly, but his tone was quick and strained.

“Do you ever wonder,” Hall was basically hissing. “How someone learns to enjoy hurting people? What the life was like that made such a person who would revel in screams and blood and tears and begging?”

Hall turned to her again and Cass was transfixed by the anger she saw, though she felt she was looking into a hateful sun that could burn her up without a second thought.

“I won’t say any more about that part of things,” Hall looked away again. “Suffice to say that my father is not what those stories imply, he is worse. So much worse… There are reasons I cannot truly leave my family, but practically I have given that up and have joined the Tower wholeheartedly. The day he keels over and I can be rid of that legacy will be the happiest day of my life.”

“I am sorry,” Cass bowed her head. “I did not know this subject was so…”

“You couldn’t have,” Hall waved it away. “Still, I need a distraction so let’s go check out those designs you made.”

This turned out to be the last trip to her old room, she showed Hall the designs and he was quite impressed by her ingenuity, and the type of magic tool involved was not very complicated at all. Hall promised to personally apply the glyphs tomorrow night much to Cass’s joy.

He had work to attend to, as he was partially in charge of the whole experimental process, so he said his goodbyes to Cass and left her to explore her new rooms. Cass was not aware that by noble standards, these were cramped quarters, but to her it was palatial. Her parlour had a fireplace, couches and plump comfy chairs, and through the door was the bedroom, with a bed that felt like what Cass imagined clouds to feel like. Even more surprising is that there were two more doors in her room, one of them was to her closet, which to a girl used to wearing rags seemed an unbelievable concept. Needing a whole room for your clothes… She had trouble even having clothes at all on the streets. But the other door led to something even more unbelievable, a private bathroom. With plumbing even and a tap from the aquaduct!

Cass could hardly believe it, but was unable to resist leaping on to the bed and curling up in its softness. If months ago, someone had told her that she would have her own bed she would have laughed at them. If they had told her she would have had all this, she would have thought them mad and tried to run!

The next day passed excruciatingly slowly for Cass, as her anticipation grew waiting for the glyphs. Near to the time she would see Hall, she took advantage of her bathroom to clean herself, focusing especially on her arms and legs were the glyphs would be applied.

She did admit, she was annoyed that there were not really any type of clothes that she could wear to cover herself while leaving the areas she needed exposed. But her Master had already seen everything of her anyway and she knew that she was broken to the point where she would be happy if he did look. He wouldn’t though, Cass admonished herself, not like that. He was a noble and a mage, he would have much better women than Cass seeking him out. Even if she had filled out, she was only fourteen years old, much as she might wish otherwise, she doubted she could tempt him.

Cass stopped for a second and frowned, what was she thinking? She had been aware that her mind was bending to her Master for several weeks now, the very fact that she was mostly fine with that was proof. But this was further than she wanted to let it go, and she would have to watch herself from here on out.

Still… When Cass looked into his eyes, simply sitting on a chair with her arms outstretched and saw that mix of cruelty, excitement, and concern… It was hard for her to keep that promise to herself. And now, she noticed there was something else there as well, and after hearing him talk about his father, Cass knew what it was.

Self-loathing.

He had not restrained Cass, had not ordered her to be still with the collar. Merely prepared the tools and smiled at her. He was going to enjoy applying the glyphs and causing her pain, he was going to enjoy her struggle to remain still, and even her mental struggles to prevent herself from breaking even further still. And he hated himself for it.

Cass wished she could comfort him, but she could understand the feeling. She felt it herself whenever she realized that she had come to enjoy it. She was reminded of their discussion a while ago, about the difficulty of applying magic to humans because of the complexity of their systems. Whatever system was in play here was twisted to the point where just understanding it required a warped mind, and the more you understood the more warped you became.

Starting at her shoulders, Hall began the glyphs. The symbols and swirls curving over and around her bicep, spiraling down her arm to the inside of her wrist. To the untrained eye, it either looked like a single complete work of art, or dozens of unconnected symbols. But in reality it was four glyphs per arm, two on the upper arm and two on the lower, that would grant Cass strength and stamina. At fourteen years old, when she poured power into her glyphs, she would be able to outmuscle adult soldiers with ease and keep doing so for longer than any normal human could stand.

It took several hours to complete the arms, eight glyphs were completed. The next glyphs to be applied, Cass blushed… She had not really considered this when she had designed the glyphs, or when asking Hall to apply them… But having Hall’s hands on her inner thighs messed with her head in ways she had swore to herself she wouldn’t think of.

The glyphs actually started on the outside of her hip, but curved sharply inwards and then went down the inside of her thigh down to a point just above the knee. Unfortunately for Cass, most of the detail was higher on the leg than that, where the tattoo was far more painful and much more embarrassing.

Cass was panting by the end as she finally relaxed in the chair, she told herself that her breathing was only because of the pain and she would keep telling herself that until she believed it. Though that was hard as Hall was checking over his work and Cass could almost feel his eyes on her, even if she knew that was just her imagination.

He helped wash her off and get dressed and escorted her to her new room. Cass was still trembling from pain and her own embarrassment, but when her master told her that they would test her new glyphs tomorrow… Cass could not help but be excited.