In Which Evie Meets Ash's Angel

I blinked in surprise. She looked young, perhaps eighteen or nineteen, and she had beautiful honey-colored hair that fell in soft curls around an otherwise ordinary face. She was clad in a simple, sleeveless purple dress trimmed in white. He'd just summoned her, I realized, and I stared at her in fascination.

She didn't have even the slightest reaction to his nudity, as if showing up in his...whatever room this was, his art gallery? Rec room?...to find him nude and entertaining a naked woman in a blanket was an entirely commonplace thing for her. She looked at Ash questioningly, ignoring me entirely. Waiting for his orders. I felt sick to my stomach.

"Solange, this is Evie. My new student."

"Hey! I haven't agreed to anything!" I protested. Solange turned her blank brown eyes toward me, the faraway expression on her face suddenly turning apprehensive. She looked back at Ash quickly, and he made a placating gesture.

"Relax, Angel, I'm not replacing you yet. Evie simply wanted to meet you."

I hadn't, not really. "Um. Nice to meet you." Solange simply inclined her head a little in acknowledgment. There was no trace of emotion there now, not even pity at meeting Ash's latest victim.

"Be a dear and mend her clothing. I'm afraid I was a bit hasty in my eagerness."

I wanted to die of embarrassment, but Solange simply picked up the ripped blouse and skirt and vanished with them.

"She, um, doesn't talk much, does she?" I said lamely, in the uncomfortable silence that followed.

"No, she doesn't speak before strangers, not without permission."

I really wanted to throw up, and decided if I did, I would aim for his expensive couch. "Why the hell did you...Jesus, Ash, this is seriously fucked up!"

"Did she look abused, tormented, tortured?" he asked.

"No, Ash, she looked fucking dead!" I shot back. "How long have you been keeping that poor girl here?"

Ash did a mental calculation. "A hundred and eighty years, give or take," he replied.

"Take me home, Ash!" I ordered, unable to sit still any longer. This was unbearable! "I don't want to hear another word out of your mouth! God, how you can just sit there and pretend this isn't the vilest, cruelest thing you could do to somebody is just..."

"I'm not pretending it isn't," he said quietly. "I simply refuse to allow you any more illusions about who and what I am. And I will not let you leave before the appointed time, so sit down and stop shouting at me."

I did as he asked, silently fuming and absolutely furious at myself, him, and the entire fucking Ever After. I wanted to hit him, badly. I wanted him to put some stupid clothes on so I wouldn't have to deal with the unreasonable attraction I still felt.

"Poor Evie," he said mockingly. "So confused, so conflicted."

"So homicidal," I added.

He laughed. "That's my girl. Do we have a deal?"

"One day a week?" I muttered, hating him, but remembering that the alternative was naked abandonment, and not the good kind either. Stop that, Evie.

"Five."

"One, Ash," I insisted, determined to see just how much he really wanted this. There was something up, I just knew it, and I would be damned if I let him get away with anything else. "Two, if you do the appearance alteration thingie you mentioned."

"Three," he countered, and I crowed inwardly, even if I also felt queasier. Something was really, really, seriously up. He wanted this very badly indeed. This couldn't be good for me.

"Two. And you tell me why you want a student."

"You'll find out soon enough part of the reason, but the rest...? Not a chance in hell," he said with a wicked grin.

Shit. "OK, then...tell me what you did to my friends, for real this time." There. I'd finally voiced the bargain I had been aching to make since I was sixteen.

Ash's eyes blazed in triumph- he had me. "Give me three days a week, and I will let you speak to them."

My eyes widened in shock. "For how long?"

"As long as you wish, provided they do not have other duties to perform."

"Damn it!" I yelled. I punched the pillow, wishing it was his condescending smirk instead. "All right. Three days. I really can't bargain for shit, can I?"