Page 318 of Ashes of Sin and Stardust

I’d expected bratting or behavior issues after our surprisingly intimate conversation, but she seemed to still be mentally processing the truths she’d been faced with and coming out of her depression. She was quiet, withdrawn, and almost... mellow.

It freaked me out. Part of me worried she was depressed or hiding something. I tried to talk to her about it, but every time I asked her, she’d sigh sadly and say, “I’m fine, Sir,” and attempt to change the subject.

It was hard not to fall into my own bad mood since she was acting so off, and I was frustrated that she wouldn’t talk to me. One afternoon after I finished a call, I knocked on her bedroom door, hoping she was in there getting into trouble.

She was lying on her stomach on her bed wearing the chastity belt and cuffs, a black latex miniskirt, and one of her leather harnesses over a crop top. She had her hair pulled up into a high ponytail, her bangs falling over her eyes. She was listening to music with her headphones in her ears and was kicking her feet back and forth, wiggling her bottom slightly as she did, like she was trying to dance while lying down.

She was humming to herself, listening to music and coloring. I leaned against the doorframe and watched her, not wanting to scare her. But I was also enjoying watching her look at peace. She seemed less stressed today. I would have thought that I’d enjoy a break from her bratty, snarky self, but... I missed it.

Sad Alice was upsetting. She wasn’t meant to be sad. She was meant to be a supernova.

She eventually noticed me, and gave me a timid smile, wiggling her butt again. “Hi Sir.”

“Hi little fox. You okay?”

“Mh-hm. Look.” She showed me her coloring page. It was from a coloring book I’d gotten her in Asheville with planets and stars and rocket ships. “I need glittery gel pens, I think. And some stickers.”

“We’ll get some tomorrow, what do you think?”

“Yeah.”

I couldn’t resist petting her hair. She sighed and closed her eyes, making a happy little squeak.

“Are you ready to help me make dinner?”

“It’s that late already?”

“Yep. Come on.” I gave her a playful smack on her butt and headed for the door.

“Hey!”

I looked back at her, questioningly. She said, “that was a hell of a cop-out of a spanking.”

I stalked back over to her, and her eyes widened in anticipation. Instead of a spanking, I flipped up her skirt, grabbed her ass, and bit her cheek. She yelped and scrambled up.

After the past few months, she had become almost useful in the kitchen. She wasn’t great at prep, and she tended to be more annoying than helpful, but at least she kept me company and felt like she had a task and a role to fill.

Right now, she was on pasta duty. She stared at the pot, stirring it slowly. “Did you know that if you throw pasta at the wall and it sticks, it’s done?”

“That’s bullshit. Don’t throw pasta on my wall.”

“But it’s supposed to work.”

“Just because it sticks to the wall doesn’t mean it’s done. It means it’s sticky. And then you have to wash the wall.”

She extracted a single long noodle with the silicone tongs and stared at it thoughtfully.

“Alice.”

She looked up at me with a hint of rebellion in her eyes.

“Alice–”

She flung it at the wall. It stuck for a moment, and then slid down.

“Huh,” she shrugged. “Not done.”

I picked up the piece of pasta and wrestled Alice’s mouth open until I could put the dirty piece in her mouth. “That’s how you fucking test pasta, you troll. You taste that? That bite in the middle? That’s perfect pasta!” By the time I got her mouth shut to chew the piece, we were both laughing.

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