Aidan woke up smiling. He could barely contain his excitement.
"Why are you so cheerful?" asked his tutor, Mercedes.
"I just have a good feeling," Aidan replied.
Around midday, guests started to leave and Aidan got nervous. Maybe Maddox had forgotten him. He prayed that he hadn't been abandoned.
After his reading lesson, there wasn't much for him to do. He was a slave intended purely for pleasure and had no chores to distract him from his thoughts. He tried to practice writing, but found himself daydreaming about Maddox.
The sun started to sink and Aidan knew that his fears had come true. Maddox had forgotten him. A messenger arrived informing him that Master was ready. Aidan cried for a while. He had wanted to be with Maddox so badly. He wiped his tears away quickly, knowing that he would not please his master that way. It would just be best to forget Maddox and accept his fate.
Master had instructed that Aidan have leather cuffs on his wrists and ankles. He prepared himself and waited for the servant to come fetch him.
The knock on his door came later than he expected and when Aidan opened the door, two large, rough looking men were waiting. They grabbed him and stuffed a gag into his mouth before covering his head with a hood. Aidan struggled for a moment, and then went limp. He didn't really care what they did to him. Maddox hadn't kept his promise. Aidan was worthless. He wished he could just die.
***
Maddox gazed intensely out the window of his room. He was getting anxious. The men he had hired were professionals that had been loyal to his father, but he was beginning to worry they had turned on him.
He saw three riders in the distance and rode out on his black stallion to meet them. Anger surged through him when he saw the small slave had been tied to a horse, his head covered with a dark hood. At least they had clothed him in a thin tunic.
Maddox paid them without saying a word and lifted Aidan onto his horse. When the kidnappers were gone, Maddox lifted the hood away from Aidan's face. The boy moaned into the cloth gag in his mouth. Maddox removed that too and kissed Aidan's cheek.
"You didn't forget," Aidan whispered, and then he groaned, clutching his side.
"I'm sorry for your discomfort, little one. Things didn't go as I'd planned. You're safe now though."
Maddox carried Aidan inside his fortress and ordered the servants to prepare a bath. He removed the leather cuffs from Aidan's wrists and ankles and stripped off his tunic. Maddox kissed the boy's stomach and Aidan whimpered. Maddox grinned with satisfaction as he removed the collar from Aidan's pale neck. He licked the warm flesh and Aidan started to grind his erection against Maddox.
"Are you going to bite me?" Aidan asked hopefully because he could feel sharp points against his skin.
"Not yet," Maddox said with a chuckle.