Page 5 of Behind the Mask

"If you move, I will kill him," Luther said calmly.

"What?"Minoru asked."If you kill me…"

Luther laughed and grabbed Kasumi by his wounded arm, squeezing hard enough that Kasumi nearly cried out.He collapsed into the chair into which he was thrown, wondering what was wrong with him.He'd taken worse than this and managed just fine.

Poison?

"If I kill you I will have no bargaining chip?"Luther asked, completing Minoru's unfinished question.He threw his head back and laughed.

Minoru's eyes widened."I am not the one you want."

"You are not the one I've been paid to capture," Luther replied."My captive is currently under sway of a nasty poison made from spider venom.He will not be further trouble, I think.It was tricky, finding a poison for you."Luther moved to grab his chin and tilt his head up, thumb stroking the painted lips of the mask thoughtfully."You protectors are apparently immune to so many.I had to search the ends of the earth, and then figure out how to get it into you.Food, I suspected, would never work.This whole thing worked out much better than I anticipated."

His chin was roughly released, and the world tilted alarmingly.He could feel his body working to counter the poison, but it would seem Luther had indeed worked hard to locate a poison his body could not fight.

He wondered if Luther knew that if Kasumi survived, this poison would never affect him again.Best to keep that secret close.Kasumi let his head fall to the table, unable to summon the strength to keep it up any longer, but he did resist the urge to pass out.

If all he could do was listen, then he would listen.

"Why did you kill the Captain?"

"He's not one of mine," Luther replied."Unfortunate, but sending him back alive would have risked our being captured.From what I was able to learn of him before we left port, the world will not miss him.You will soon see that we are all very good at playing the role of gentlemen sailor, but are ruffians to the last, mate."

Minoru said something, but Kasumi did not catch it, and he realized he was at last losing the battle to remain conscious.

Vowing silently the bastard would pay, he succumbed to the dark.

Two

"How do you intend to eat?"Luther asked idly.

One day ago they had switched ships from the one they'd boarded in port to a ship that looked as though it was going to war.Dark wood and dark sails, and Luther had ordered the other ship sunk once all hands were aboardthe Dreamer.

Kasumi said nothing, refusing to speak to this bastard who had tricked him like no one ever had.Minoru had been right—he had been so busy being offended by the man's seeming stupidity he had not looked closer.Decades of training and his own arrogance was his undoing.His teacher would be ashamed.Kasumi was ashamed of himself.

"I must say if you are attempting to thwart me by starving yourself to death, it would almost work—but there is the matter of Minoru."

Minoru.Technically he had ended his contract, a courtesy Kasumi did not deserve.It meant, however, that no one could remove his mask, and that meant he would keep the power it gave him.

Such as letting him go for several days without food or drink.

"We will not feed Minoru until you eat," Luther said, standing up and crossing the room, kneeling before him to grab Kasumi's hair and pull his head back.The blue-gray eyes watching him were cold, nothing like the friendly eyes of the bumbling idiot from before, and Kasumi felt the bitterness rise again as he realized he'd never looked closely at those eyes.He'd been too annoyed by the spectacles.Sloppy!Whoever this bastard was, he had somehow known all too well how to slip past Kasumi's guard."Still not going to cooperate?"

Kasumi said nothing.

He wished he knew where Minoru was, but upon boarding the new ship they'd been separated—Luther had ordered Kasumi taken to his own quarters, 'not trusting the protector to be put somewhere unsupervised.'Smart, because Kasumi would not waste time getting out and killing every last one of the bastards.

Luther let go of him to trace his mask, and Kasumi held still only because he had no choice tied up as he was—ankles secured to the floor, chains across his torso, arms stretched out and fastened to the wall.They'd prepared well for this little kidnapping.

What he really wanted to know was why someone wantedhim.No one cared about him or his clan.They were shadows—albeit powerful shadows, but shadows all the same.They were not considered citizens, they were not considered anything.Precious few persons even knew how to contact the clans.

That aside, why him specifically?Was he simply the only one in this area?It was true few traveled as far and frequently as Minoru.Threats to one of the most prestigious and controversial scholars in the world was not unheard of.Someone wanting to kidnap his bodyguard?

Kasumi was rapidly getting sick of surprises and mysteries.

Still those fingers traced his mask, and he bit back telling the bastard to stop touching him only with an effort.He would not give in to such a stupid provocation.Still, it chafed.The mask was his, for none but his master and teacher to touch.That this stranger, this deceiver, this pirate touched his mask in such fashion—it was intimate, and unwanted, and Kasumi would kill him for it.

"It's a beautiful piece of work," Luther said at last."Why will it not come off?What is the trick?Clever to pass it off as magic, but I would know the real reason."

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