Prince's Master (Calluvia's Royalty 4)

Eridan gave him a skeptical look. Mental compatibility was rare enough. In all his years in Hronthar, he had never met anyone else he reacted to in such a way. “You really think I might meet someone else I’ll be this compatible with?”

Idhron pinched the bridge of his nose. “Our compatibility is strong, but it is not perfect. One day you might meet a telepath who will be able to reduce you to such a state simply by looking you in the eye. Perfect compatibility is rare, but it can happen, and I can’t have you being a liability if it does. So you will need to stop being so pathetic and build tolerance to mental pleasure.”

“And how am I supposed to do that?” Eridan said, crossing his arms over his chest.

Idhron’s lips thinned in displeasure. “Controlled exposure. I will have to spend a limited amount of time inside your mind every day until it stops being so intense to you.”

Eridan blinked a few times, unsure how he felt about it. “I don’t get a say in this, I guess?”

Idhron looked at him steadily. “You do get a say. But unless you get this problem under control, you cannot become my real apprentice. I will never be able to trust you, just like I will never be able to trust any substance addict.”

Eridan bristled. He wasn’t an addict. “How come you aren’t affected by this compatibility?”

He couldn’t read the expression on Idhron’s face at all. “Because unlike you, I do not let my emotions control me. As I already told you, my capacity for emotion is very limited.”

Eridan narrowed his eyes suspiciously, not sure he was buying it. Pleasure centers weren’t located anywhere close to emotional centers in the brains of Calluvians. If that were the case, Idhron wouldn’t even want to have sex anymore, which clearly wasn’t the case, according to Javier.

Eridan shoved the thought to the back of his mind, his face warming. He hoped Idhron hadn’t caught it.

“All right, Master,” Eridan said, dropping his gaze to make it more difficult for Idhron to read his thoughts. Not that lack of eye contact would stop a Class 7 telepath if Idhron really wanted to know his thoughts.

“You are dismissed, then,” Idhron said.

Eridan stood and turned toward the door, but then paused. Since they weren’t parting for long, it wasn’t expected of him to kiss an item of his Master’s clothing. Most Masters seemed to like being bowed to. He should probably do that if he wanted to cultivate a good working relationship with Idhron, which he did want, regardless of his personal dislike. The truth was, he would get either Castien Idhron as his Master or no one. So pleasing him was the smart thing to do.

Too bad Eridan had never been good at doing the smart thing. Something about Castien Idhron made Eridan want to ruffle his feathers, unsettle him enough to crack his perfect exterior.

“Good night, Master,” Eridan said, darting forward to brush his lips against Idhron’s cheek.

When he pulled back, he almost laughed at Idhron’s expression.

Putting on his most innocent face, Eridan bowed slightly and hurried out of the study.

He allowed himself to laugh only in the privacy of his own room.

Chapter Five: Nameday

If Eridan had thought being preliminarily chosen by Master Idhron had been isolating, it was nothing compared to how isolated he felt as a probationary apprentice. He now didn’t fit anywhere: neither with the initiates nor with the apprentices. The few classes Eridan still shared with the initiates had become downright unbearable, the toxic jealousy of other initiates making it hard to breathe.

As for the apprentices, they tended to look down on him, since he still wasn’t good enough to join their ranks. But at the same time, they were wary of him, because he was apprenticing under the great and terrible Castien Idhron. That was the thing about being an apprentice: you were always judged not only on your own merits, but on who your Master was. An apprentice might be highly intelligent and powerful, but if their Master wasn’t, they weren’t as respected as they otherwise could have been, and vice versa.

It was all rather exhausting—and exhaustingly confusing. Eridan had quickly grown to dislike the convoluted mess that was the social hierarchy among the apprentices.

Truth be told, he much preferred spending time with his Master.

If seven months ago someone had told him that he would prefer Castien Idhron’s company to that of his peers, Eridan would have laughed in disbelief.

But he did like spending time with his Master, even though he wasn’t sure he even liked him.

Castien wasn’t a good man. Eridan had been right to suspect him of being a cold-hearted, manipulative bastard; he was that, and more. The better Eridan had come to know him, the more confirmation of Castien’s ruthlessness he had gotten. Castien was something of a sociopath. His utter disregard for other people’s feelings was startling. He didn’t seem to feel any guilt or remorse for mistreating others. To be entirely fair to his Master, Eridan was pretty sure Castien often didn’t even notice that his actions or cutting words might hurt others. Castien Idhron found people interesting only when he could use them to achieve his goals. If his Master had any feelings and emotions, they were so deeply hidden they might as well not exist.