Zagreus found Cinder in his room, standing in her bare, red, flesh with her wings out. He caught a glimpse of her stiffening her stance as the door opened. Her body was firm and muscular, typical for a red infernal. He tried his best to ignore it.

Ventilation on this level was functional but it always felt a little, stagnant. Scents tended to linger. His room smelled strongly of him. And Cinder had been standing nude in his scent, likely for hours. That was after getting worked up by his less than gentle knot-tying-massage. Her scent was thoroughly mixed in now.

This was going to be a test of stubbornness and he intended to win.

She trembled a little as she held the stiff pose.

“Relax.” He gestured vaguely.

Her body slumped and her wings curled around in front of her, then she pulled them back as she seemed to fight the instinct to cover herself.

Her new outfit was nowhere to be seen. Oh, yea. She can’t wear it in my room. “Sorry about this.”

She shook her head. “Thank you for trying. I should have known. I should have stopped you. It was my fault. I was too distracted to think.”

“Yea, that made two of us.” He scratched the back of his head. “You hungry?”

She nodded. “Yes Master.”

He shook his head at her response. More of the punishment? He ordered two meals then fell into his bed. He groaned into his pillow and waited. The pillow blocked any inconvenient sights and smells. He sat up as the food arrived.

Cinder stood in the exact same spot.

“Why are you still standing there?”

“While I am in your room I have to do what you say. I mean, I can only do what you say. I can only speak if you give me permission or to respond to you. You have only told me to relax.”

He scratched his head. This was like having a poorly programmed golem. “I’m giving you one blanket command for this. Talk when you need to talk, or want to talk. And do whatever you want unless I give you a specific order. I’m too tired to micromanage you.”

“Yes Master.” She went and sat at the table and stared at her plate.

Dammit. Lilithana, I’m gonna get you back for this shit one day. He joined Cinder at the table. He fed her while he ate. She did her best to not act like a massive winged infant. He did his best to stay angry and ignore all of his senses.

“Thank you, Master.”

They got in the shower.

He washed her quickly, thoroughly, roughly not giving her time to linger on the sensations or him time to linger on her responses. She made soft noises when he washed her wings and tail. He rinsed her off and guided her out of the shower. He pulled the shower door shut and held his head under cold water. I can do this. Don’t think. Don’t focus. Don’t linger. Just get it done like you do with the other test subjects. He bathed then stepped out to find Cinder still standing there. He said, “Problem?”

“Dry me.”

He stared at her for a second. The wording had no orders backing it. He was unsure if that was really part of the punishment or if she was making an excuse to be touched more. He didn’t dare ask the question. He didn’t want to deal with any of the possible answers. He treated it as part of the job and complied quickly, thoroughly, roughly.

“Thank you, Master.”

He sat wearing shorts and read some on a lesson. Cinder sat across from him and scrolled through a tablet. Like this was normal. You can only be uncomfortable, or awkward, or angry, or afraid, or on any kind of alert for so long. Your brain has a lot of important things to do. It’s a waste of brain energy to keep telling you there is a problem if you can’t/won’t fix it. The emergency becomes background noise. It becomes, normal.

Maybe this wouldn’t be so hard. He just had to ignore her presence, her intoxicating scent, her delicious flesh, her stiff nipples, the way her breasts moved with every breath, her deep, smoldering desire that he was become ever more aware of by the moment. A chill ran up his spine. He got to his feet and headed for the door. It wouldn’t open. “What the fuck?!”

“You can’t.” Cinder said, staring down and away from him.

“I can’t leave my room? I can’t go for a walk?”

“Yes…No…”

“Is this that last part of the punishment? Are we locked in here together?”

Cinder shook her head. “No.”

“Then what is it?”

Cinder seemed to draw up in a ball.

“Tell. Me. This is an order.” He felt like a complete ass, but dragging this out was only going to fuel his assholishness.

Cinder squirmed. “You can’t go, because you were going across the hall, to the empty bed.”

Death-by-resonance-cascade was a good motivation to temper his rage against Lilithana. But it was a close competition. “Would you rather I do it in front of you?” Why did I say that?! Cinder has no control over it.

“You can’t do it.”

“Can’t? Not at all? Chasity?! That’s the last part of the punishment? That makes no sense. Lili just encouraged me to use you.”

“We can’t…self-pleasure, until this punishment is over.”

That BITCH! Zagreus knew they were watching. He knew they would be laughing. He knew this was being recorded. He knew this would be played back for him one day, probably soon. He did the least insane thing he could manage to think up. He walked to the fridge, pulled out a pitcher of water carried it to the shower and poured the near frozen liquid over his head. Then he stood, in his shorts, under a cold shower until his skin was wrinkled and his bones ached.

Cinder was waiting with a towel when he got out. She pulled off his soaked shorts and dried him vigorously. The cold persisted. She helped him into bed and covered him in a blanket. The cold persisted. She crawled in behind him and pressed her warm flesh against his back. The cold persisted. He shivered and his teeth chattered. She said. “Are you ok?”

“I’m about to freeze my balls off, but other than that I’m fine.” He chattered.

She wedged her wings around him and pulled him tight against her. It felt so good in her cocoon of warmth. Eventually the shaking subsided as he got feeling back in his extremities. He squirmed and she let him stick his head out of the wing cocoon. There was frost on the walls and his breath was coming out it little clouds. Damn they are playing dirty.

“Lilithana.” He said.

“Yes?” came immediately.

“Give us some privacy.”

“No.”

“Dammit Lili!”

“You were told the rules. You must abide by them. If you want to adjust them offer something in exchange.”

He took several deep breaths. “Ok. Here is my offer. You are the calm one around here and getting you upset is a really bad idea correct.”

“Yes. But how is that an offer?”

“Wouldn’t you agree that I am difficult to get really upset? I am kind of calm myself, right?”

“Yes.”

“Well I am doing everything I can to play along with your stupid punishment game. I just want to be able to talk to Cinder without you three peeping. If I don’t get that, I feel I will completely lose my shit and fall into an incoherent rage. That would endanger the Eleventh. Don’t you think a little bit of privacy is a small price to pay for protecting the Eleventh? Retraining a new test subject is a big investment.”

Silence.

“You shouldn’t do this.” Cinder whispered into his ear.

In that moment, he wished it was just him and her together. It took a desperate effort to stop himself from rolling over and wrapping her in his arms. He wanted to hold her close and forget everything else. Do I really have feelings for her?

Cinder trembled. Had she sensed his feelings?

Before he could speak, Lilithana said, “I agree to your request. We will not monitor the audio of your conversations, while you are in bed together. But if you fall into an incoherent rage, for any reason, that privilege will end and there will be further punishment. Do you accept the deal?”

“Yea. That’s good.”

“Ok. Audio off in three…two…one.”

A second later, Zagreus shouted at the top of his lungs, “Lilithana is a stupid fucking cunt and she can suck my damned balls!”

Cinder giggled.

“Dammit.” He groaned. “I should have asked for the temperature to be normal too.”

“It’s warm enough for me.” She rubbed her wings against him.

“You make a nice blanket.”

She squirmed. Her soft flesh pressed into his back as her claws trailed soft tingly lines down his chest.

He swallowed. “I just noticed that you are touching me, a lot, and not threatening to kill me.”

“Of course.” She said like it was perfectly obvious. “I marked you. You responded with force and confidence. I accepted your gifts and your touch…your repeated touches, in my most intimate places. Infernal marriages are often arranged with nothing more than kisses. By the traditional standard we are engaged. It would be improper for me to attack you now.”

“I was ordered to wash you.”

“I was speaking only of what you did by choice, in Rezu’s workshop. The shower was nice, but it doesn’t matter.”

“So we are engaged over some ragged clothes?”

“You gave me dignity and respect. And you did it out of the purest intent. I could not ask for finer gifts. But I know a courtship ritual was not your intent. I will not force you to abide by it.” She bit firmly on his neck. Not enough to draw blood.

He wanted to melt into her arms, “Ple…please stop.”

“Am I hurting you?”

“No. Not at all.”

“Maybe we should make the best of this punishment.”

“Not like this. No offense to you, but I am so pissed at this whole situation. I want to do the opposite of their intentions, purely out of spite.”

“You will not win. It is best to focus on survival at this point.”

“I know. But I can’t. I’m a stubborn asshole.”

“Can I ask you something?”

“I am naked, and locked in a frozen room, with nothing but your warmth keeping me conscious. I will answer whatever you want.”

“What are your feelings towards me?”

“I think you are beautiful and your scent is delicious, but if something happens I want it to be on our terms, not theirs.”

“That does not answer my question.”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. This is the first time we have really talked or spent time together.”

Her claws scratched a little harder. She licked delicately on his neck.

“Please. Stop. I’m sorry. Can we not do this tonight?”

She let out a low growl in his ear, it sounded as dangerous as a shadowcat in heat.

“Cinderella. I know I suck at all of this, but I also know that whatever happens between us is really important to you. You get so upset because it is important. I know you don’t want this. Not like this.”

“I’m not sure if I should punish you for foolishly rejecting me or admiring your bravery for doing so while entirely at my mercy.”

“It’s nothing against you. After we have dealt with this punishment mess, I promise to have a real talk with you. But for the next few days I am probably going to be a bit of an asshole. This is shit is really pissing me off.”

“Your weakness, is pissing me off. I let you touch me and now you push me away. You have no spine.”

He reached up cupped her cheek in his hand.

She leaned into it. “You remembered.” She sounded like she was about to cry.

“The next few days are going to be rough, but if you need me just tell me ok?”

She nodded. “I am pissed at them too. I am pissed at myself for acting a fool. I am pissed at myself for accepting your gifts and allowing you to touch me, when I knew your intentions. But despite that I am still pissed that you are rejecting me as well. Tradition, cold and orders are the only things keeping me from going cascade right now.”

“I know. Get some sleep.”

She nodded.

Even with the swirl of feelings from both of them, he felt like things had permanently changed between them. He felt almost relaxed as he closed his eyes while wrapped in her wings. The goddesses were good at their manipulation games.

A minute or two later, “Zagreus…”

“Yes?”

“I want you to know, I am not upset about you cleaning me and giving me clothes. That is the kindest thing anyone has ever done for me. I am mad at myself for letting it happen like that. But, given the chance, I know, I would do it again.”

“Are you saying you want to be engaged?”

“What I want doesn’t matter at this point.”

“It matters to me.”

She curled up tighter to him. “You have treated me like an equal from the moment we met. I have enjoyed it. I have always been short with you, because I don’t trust myself to be near you. My actions today prove I was correct. I have no way left to resist you. I am at your mercy Shadowbane.”

He ran his hand up her hip, “If I think about that too long I’m going to do something I just told you I wouldn’t.”

She put her hand on his. “Choose your next moves carefully my betrothed. I am in a fragile state of mind right now. If you start, and don’t finish, I can’t be held responsible for what I do to your body. I can’t promise you will survive either.”

He removed his hand. “Point taken.”