Page 71 of Upon Buried Embers
My hands hurt, the cuts stinging, but I go through the motions like he showed me.
Move to the right, twist, move to middle, twist. On it goes until I have a braid.
I drop my hands and massage them, stilling when he grabs and inspects them. “They hurt that much?” I nod.
I’m a baby when it comes to pain, which didn’t help with how Master treated me. He knew that too, loved it.
He gets up and comes back with a small, metal tin. Opening it, he pulls a white substance from inside. He grabs a hold of my hand and puts it over the cuts. I hiss, but he shushes me, doing the same with my other hand.
“It has been a while since I had to open this.” He nods to the tin.
“Sorry.”
He sighs.
I stare at my hands when he’s done, waiting while he wraps bandages around them slowly.
“Are you scared they will bite you?” He muses, and I glance up at him, seeing what I think is amusement in his eyes.
“I—no. I just. Thank you.”
He rubs some over the cut on my head. “How did you cut yourself so badly?”
“Well, the bucket is hard when you fall on it.”
He stills.
“Fall?”
I freeze.
“Y-yes.” I avert my eyes.
“You didn’t say you fell, you said you banged your head.”
“What?”
“You said you banged your head.”
I shift, hand going to my collar for a moment. “It must be a mistake.”
“Kaldar’s not one to make such simple mistakes.”
“The bucket was near, maybe that’s why.”
He pauses, then. “Maybe.”
Once my cut is covered, he sits back, legs spread.
A moment later, he grasps my waist and sits me down between them, his hands going to my hair as I stare at the papers in front of me.
“You’re slowly improving in your braiding, but you will need much more practice.” I nod my head, and he tugs on it. “Still,” he commands, and begins to braid my hair. It’s a little sore from when it was pulled earlier, but I make no objections. “You can do Serah’s tomorrow, and though they will not be up to Dragorie standard, it will help you become familiar with it.”
“Okay.”
Once he’s done braiding my hair, he turns me, and now my legs are over his, on either side of his hips.
My cheeks heat, and I make sure the tunic is covering my center. He glances down before shaking his head.
