Page 11 of Oh, Sacred Dark
There was an odd stretch of silence before Tyler answered. “Just showing him around.”
“A week after he gets here. Great timing,” Connie replied sarcastically, and that was one thing he definitely didn’t like about her—she was always needling Tyler for no reason. She was obviously a different type of sub than Roman—a good one, something very different than a Worm—so she wouldn’t be punished, but Roman couldn’t help but fear for himself if Tyler’s anger finally appeared.
“I’ve been busy,” Tyler retorted and then, to Roman’s shock, turned to him and said, “Sorry.”
Roman froze. A Dom had never apologised to him, not sincerely. Maybe a sarcastic, ‘Oh, sorry. Was that too much?’ but nothing more than that.
Roman kept his eyes glued to the ground, barely breathing. Fortunately, it only took a few beats for them to move on.
Connie nodded at Roman. “You like dogs?”
Roman twitched. If someone in his previous coven had known he liked animals, they would have…he didn’t even want to imagine. “They’re okay,” he settled for saying.
“Do you wanna help me walk them? You can take these two, they don’t pull at all.”
Roman was rendered thoughtless again. “I don’t…” he turned towards Tyler, who shrugged affably.
“I’ve pointed out most of the main stuff. You can go with Connie if you want to.”
Roman breathed out slowly. If this was a test… “Okay,” he agreed anyway. Anything to get him away from the Dom.
“All right,” Tyler agreed, and something loosened in Roman. He hadn’t picked wrongly. “Connie, walk him back, yeah?” He turned to Roman. “Unless you know the way.”
Connie waved him away. “I can do it. Here.” She handed two of the leashes over to Roman. The dogs on the other end of the leads were squat, chubby things, obviously old but well cared for.
Tyler said his goodbyes, shoving Connie playfully as he walked away, causing her to shout after him with a smile on her face.
“Idiot,” she muttered fondly. “Anyway. There’s a park nearby, have you been? It has a fenced-in area, we can let the dogs loose.”
Roman nodded and followed after her. He kept most of his attention on the dogs he was suddenly responsible for, making sure he didn’t walk too fast, letting them sniff the poles and garden walls they passed.
“You’re good with them,” Connie complimented as they made it to their destination. Roman let the praise glow through him, a bright light.
“Thank you. Are they all yours?” Roman dared to ask.
“Nah. There’s a program that helps the older people in the area who can’t always take their dogs out, and I volunteer sometimes—it’s mostly kids who do the job, but when I have a bad day I like coming here.” She shrugged.
“Oh.” Roman watched her unclip the leashes off the dogs. There were a few people at the park, some lying on blankets, some with their own dogs, but Connie didn’t approach them. “I’m sorry you had a bad day.”
Connie grinned at him. “That’s sweet, thanks. It’s fine. Honestly, I need some help at the farm—someone with Animal Magic, but it’s hard to find someone with the right skills, you know? There’s nobody at Meliora who really fits the bill.”
Roman nodded. He didn’t have Animal Magic, but he imagined it was a delicate skill—animals were complex beings, much more than the plants Roman was more used to dealing with.
“You can come to the farm sometime if you want, though. You like animals?” Connie offered.
Roman nodded now that Tyler wasn’t there to hear him. “Yes, I do. Don’t have a lot of experience with them, though. My old coven…”
“Right,” Connie was merciful enough to say. Everybody knew what role animals had in Chaos Magic.
“I don’t know when I’ll see Tyler next, but I could ask him if I could go visit you.”
Connie raised her eyebrows at him. “I mean, you don’t need to ask his permission. Someone else can drive you, or lend you a bike. I can come pick you up, too.”
Roman flattened his expression. “Tyler’s my Dom, though. He was assigned to me.”
Connie continued to stare at him. “Okay? You can go wherever you want without asking him, though. Did you not know that?” Her expression turned suspicious, concerned, and Roman knew at once he’d misstepped.
“Oh. No, yes, of course. I just meant, to leave the main area…”
