Chapter 94: Interlude: Nona - Part 2
Now she was even more scared of Maledict.
"I wasn’t sure what to make of you. Kids are hard to read. Like nasty, necessary little parasites," he chuckled. "But it seems you haven’t made yourself a nuisance, and you are remarkably free of... pre-arranged hatreds. For that, and because you have a contract with me, I am now willing to offer you a chance, provided you continue to act in any way that does not embarrass me."
Once more she felt him at the edge of her mind.
"I kept some memories from you, so you would not unknowingly warrant your own death... I now permit you to remember," he said, and suddenly Nona felt a pinch behind her forehead. More details of the angel who’d rescued her, like the fact he had horns and a tail, and a face like Maledict, returned to her. As did the knowledge that his name was Kir, and she owed him her life just as much as she owed Maledict, if not more.
He snapped his fingers and two separate pieces of parchment appeared in each of Nona’s hands. One had only a few lines of neat script, while the other had the entire page covered in it.
"Read them, while I watch this," he ordered.
"Umm... I can’t..." Nona admitted.
Maledict frowned and leaned back. "And here I thought Norneau was a learned city," he sighed.
Then he continued, "The basics are this. Sign the short one, and I’ll arrange lodging and training for you wherever my nation goes. You’ll learn mundane things. How to cook, clean, and whatever other domestic things Aytherians do. Once you’ve matured, in twenty years I’ll send you back to my son, contract in hand, and you can pay off your debt to him for however long he sees fit; however he sees fit."
Twenty years? She’d be an old woman by then! Nona was fourteen, she thought. Maybe thirteen. The idea of being thirty-something and a maid... wasn’t what she’d thought she’d do with her life at all.
"Um... what’s the second?" Nona asked.