Hair to the Throne by Meredith Katz

Author:Meredith Katz [Katz, Meredith]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy, Lesbian, Transgender
Publisher: Less Than Three Press, LLC
Published: 2017-07-04T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

The demon led her back to Vehr's hall the same way she'd come—taking the lift up, going across to the other lift, then going back down again. Merle didn't want to talk to the guard, so she didn't say anything, and fortunately, the disinterest seemed mutual.

The situation in the hall was much the same as when Merle had first entered: a cluttered, parlor-like throne room, with Vehr in the center like a long, thin spider, what was left of her hair winding around the room. Other demons, Vehr's courtiers, were around too.

Now aware of how Vehr treated them, Merle glanced around with a curious eye. It was hard to read their body language—she'd never quite gotten used to the wide array of demon types, even spending her entire life around them, because they'd never deign to spend so much time with a mere human who existed only to serve them.

But there was a tension in the room that she'd noticed before, and she wondered how much of that was actually resentment. What had Vehr done to them? What little ways had she restricted their freedom for her own entertainment and control?

"Merle," Vehr said softly.

Merle's attention jumped back abruptly. She dropped into a curtsy at once. "Your highness," she said. "You called for me?"

"I wish for your service," Vehr agreed, tone, as before, almost impossible to read. Distant and almost curious. "I am glad you were easily found."

Merle thought briefly about what it might have been like if she had made Vehr wait for her to finish with Abeille's hair. If they'd been doing her hair in private instead of in their room, the soldier may not have found them, and she could have finished.

Vehr would have been bored. Whatever whim had crossed her mind would have been left to rot, and what sort of mood would Merle have been facing when she finally arrived?

I don't think that'd have gone well for me. Or for Abeille, either.

Merle was beginning to understand why the other humans mostly stuck to their rooms, rarely wandering the halls the way Merle tended to, pretty much only going out when they'd been in long enough to go a little stir crazy. It was far preferable to attracting attention.

Although Vehr hadn't asked a question, she seemed to be waiting for an answer. Merle said, a bit awkwardly with the effort to remain completely polite, "Your highness, this slave doesn't understand. The back of your hair can't have regrown to the point where you would need it cut."

"It has not," Vehr said. "But I would like you to do something interesting with what's left. Not a cut."

"Oh," Merle said. She curtsied deeper. "Then, if your highness wills it, I will style your hair. Do you have any preferences?"

"I'm sure you'll think of something," Vehr said.

Which wasn't an answer to the question, but wasn't an atypical way of responding either. Merle rose from her curtsy at the implicit permission, moving around behind Vehr again and starting to unwind the length of her hair's fishtail from the furniture in the room.

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