Chapter 36

Dafne was right. Silvio was confused. But it certainly didn't help that the news wasn't broken to him gently. Basta had simply barged in, still towing Dafne along, and proclaimed their relationship.

"Silvio, Dafne and I are together now."

That was it, without explanation.

Silvio was sitting on the couch when they had come in. He smiled in puzzlement at the announcement as though it was some kind of joke he didn't understand.

"What do you mean?"

Basta answered quicker than Dafne.

"What do I mean? I mean we're together," he said, "Dafne's my lady."

He looped his arm around Dafne's waist to illustrate his point.

The humour receded from Silvio's face. All that was left was uncertainty.

He looked to Dafne for confirmation. She nodded somewhat sheepishly.

"It's true," she said to him.

Her words were met with silent astonishment from the boy.

Dafne smiled at him sympathetically. It was an understandable reaction. From the outside, it looked as though they had come together out of the blue.

This wasn't the case but how was Silvio to know.

She turned to Basta,

"We should really tell him why we're together."

"What's to tell?" Basta said unconcernedly, "You like me and I like you. Simple."

Simple? Dafne scoffed inwardly. Their relationship was far from simple.

Simple omitted the fact that she had initially rejected him on moral grounds. She had set him an ultimatum for the continuation of their relationship on these same moral grounds.

But Basta wasn't concerned about this at the moment. He was simply happy they were together.

He drew her closer to him and grinned.

She wondered if his mouth hurt from all the smiling he was doing. But it was infectious. She found a smile tugging at her own lips.

She chose not comment on the choice ahead of him. She had given him a month. Let him enjoy the moment. She wanted to enjoy the moment too. But she felt a little sorry for Silvio.

"Simple," she said to Basta, "Except that Silvio didn't know how we felt so he's obviously a little shocked."

Basta chose to misconstrue this.

"Why are you shocked?" he turned on Silvio, his voice darkening with accusation, "Are you shocked that Dafne would be with me?"

Silvio regarded Basta a little warily, shaking his head.

"No," he said, managing a reassuring smile, "I had a feeling she liked you."

Basta smiled, appeased by this answer. It was Dafne who questioned it.

"What do you mean 'a feeling'?" she asked Silvio.

Silvio shrugged,

"I don't know," he said cryptically, "Just a feeling."

Dafne sighed. Maybe he had just said it to pacify Basta.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Basta said with slight annoyance, "I would have appreciated it."

"I didn't know for sure," Silvio confessed.

"I suppose it doesn't matter," Basta said, "What matters is that we're together finally."

"You need to tell Silvio about Sara," Dafne said.

"Oh yes," Basta said as if remembering, "Hey Silvio, you know that pick-up job I left to do?"

Silvio seemed a little reluctant to reply. In likelihood he knew that 'pick-up' didn't equate to anything quite as innocent as it sounded.

"Um, yes."

"Well we were supposed to kidnap a girl for Capricorn..." Basta informed him a little too casually.

Silvio reacted with alarm and Basta hastened to tell the rest of the story,

"Let me finish," he said with a touch of annoyance, "We were supposed to kidnap the girl. But when we got there, she had left. Do you know why?"

Dafne sighed. Why the suspense, how was Silvio supposed to know?

"No," Silvio said in a small voice.

"Because I warned her beforehand," Basta announced, looking quite pleased with himself, "That's why."

Silvio looked more disbelieving than impressed.

"You did?" he said.

"Yes shocking I know," Basta drawled, "Basta did a good thing."

"Why?" Silvio asked almost forcefully. He very much wanted to know.

"Why do you think?" Basta said, cocking his head at Dafne, "This one of course."

"Dafne?" said Silvio, still perplexed.

"Yes Dafne," Basta said, "She found out about the kidnapping and needless to say she was mighty upset about it, weren't you little mouse."

Dafne nodded.

"And I didn't want her upset at me," Basta went on, "so I warned the girl and saved the day."

"Yes very heroic," Dafne said, her tone admiring and teasing at the same time.

"You seemed to think so," Basta said in a low voice.

He turned her around to face him front on, drawing both arms around her, bringing her more gently against him this time.

He was solemn for a moment as though he expected her to disengage but she was content there.

She smiled, causing him to smile,

"Yes I did," she said.

Somewhat shyly she put a hand to the side of his face.

She might have leaned in to kiss him but she heard Silvio clear his throat.

"Um..." he said.

They both turned to look at him. He was sitting up uncomfortably. He had accepted their relationship but watching them behave intimately seemed to embarrass him.

"What?" Basta said, irritated at the interruption.

Silvio shifted on the spot.

"I, er, was just thinking," he said, "Does this mean Dafne isn't your maid anymore."

Dafne and Basta looked at each other uncertainly. They hadn't discussed this. Dafne held back from speaking, curious to hear Basta's response.

"Well," he said after a moment, "Considering that little mouse here doesn't really seem to enjoy being my maid," he regarded her scoldingly, "You put up a fight each time I ask you to do something..."

He waited to see if Dafne would say something in retort but she didn't. He went on,

"And you aren't great at cleaning," another anticipatory pause, "So I can't see any reason why would I keep you as a maid. I'd much prefer you just to be my lady."

Dafne felt a rush of excitement. He was basically releasing her from servitude. She was free. She broke into an unbridled grin.

Basta watched her amusedly.

"Happy to hear that little mouse?"

Dafne nodded fervently.

"Yes," she said with a laugh, "Of course I am. It means I'm not a slave."

Basta rolled his eyes,

"You weren't a slave here. I never kept you in chains or beat you for giving me cheek."

"I know," Dafne said, "But I wasn't free. Not like I am now."

She beamed at him gratefully, ignoring the irony that this was the man who had delivered into slavery in the first place. This was a kind of redemption.

Basta frowned slightly,

"You might be free. But there are still conditions," he said, "I don't want you to wander around the village unsupervised. And you still have to obey Capricorn. He's still the boss around here. You're not free to disobey him."

"Yes yes I know," Dafne said impatiently. She didn't want to dwell on these restrictions. If they left the village, they would no longer matter.

"You still need to cook too," Basta added, "Just because you're my lady doesn't mean you don't have to pull your weight... even if it means you making a mess."

"That's fine with me," Dafne said, ignoring the latter comment.

She put her arms around his neck, the act startling him even though he was still holding her.

"Thank you," she said with her head resting in the crook of his neck.

He recovered from his surprise because he held her tighter.

"You're welcome dear heart."

Dafne heard a rustle of movement in the background. She peered over at Silvio. He was on his feet and starring pointedly at the floor.

"I think I have bridge duty," he said hastily, "I should really..."

"No you don't," Basta said without looking at him, "I should know. It's Fulvio's shift."

"Er, I swapped with him," Silvio said after a conspicuous pause, "Yeah, I did. I just forgot."

Dafne suspected Silvio was simply using this as a reason to excuse himself from their company.

Basta turned to him now.

"You're not supposed to do that," he reproached him, obviously believing the boy was speaking the truth. "If you're always the one on bridge duty, it's going to start looking suspicious."

"Suspicious?" Dafne said, pulling back a bit to look into his face. Silvio was also regarding him enquiringly.

Basta sighed,

"Yes suspicious. People will start talking. Why is Silvio always on bridge duty? Can't he do anything else? He doesn't light fires or go on raids. They will start thinking about the reason why."

Dafne realised what he was getting at. Silvio did too, his shoulders slumped.

But Basta wasn't finished.

"You think I don't know," he said to Silvio, "That you don't want to do those things? I'm not a fool. Why do you think I assign you bridge duty and make you wash cars?"

Dafne was taken aback by this revelation from Basta. She had believed him to be ignorant of Silvio's reluctance to follow in his footsteps. Looking back, she realised it must have been fairly obvious to him. Otherwise he would have taken the boy with him when he went somewhere.

Basta was shaking his head,

"I thought you might eventually toughen up. I thought I could influence you. But you even get queasy about the thought of skewering an itty bitty lizard," the disappointment was evident in Basta's voice and Silvio slumped even more despondently, "If you can't even do that, how can you do the kind of work I do?"

Dafne pressed back, trying to slip free of Basta's hold. Didn't he realise how much his opinion meant to the boy? How much his disapproval hurt him?

Basta became alert to her movement and shifted his gaze to her. She looked at him imploringly.

He sighed, understanding, and turned back to Silvio. The boy was starring miserably at his feet like a reprimanded child. Basta's face softened.

"I guess that's just the way you are though," he said. This made the boy look up. "You're like this one..."

He strengthened his hold around Dafne.

"You're a bleeding heart," he said to Silvio, "But it's not like you don't have guts. You took on Cockerell that one time," he chuckled, "You and Dafne also have that in common 'Vio."

Silvio smiled half-heartedly.

"I guess so."

"So you're not like me," Basta went on, shrugging as though it did not bother him anymore, "It's not the end of the world. You're still a good kid. I like you better than the other brats around here."

"Really?" Silvio said in a hopeful voice.

"Really," Basta growled with finality, "So stop acting like a kicked puppy and cheer up."

Silvio nodded obediently, smiling at the order. Dafne smiled too, it was nice to hear Basta express how he actually felt towards the boy.

"Softie," she murmured.

"What?" Basta said.

She shook her head,

"Nothing."

Basta eyed her suspiciously. She gave him an innocent look and moved to rest against him again. He made a noise of contentment.

"Good," he said.

"So I guess I'm staying here then," Silvio said in a slightly raised voice as if trying to draw their attention, "I'm just gonna be..."

He didn't finish, he simply plopped himself back down on the couch. Dafne heard him fidgeting.

"Are you two going to do that all night?" he said after a moment, sounding slightly on edge.

Dafne glanced at him somewhat embarrassedly.

"Why?" Basta said, "Do you have a problem with it?"

Silvio shrugged a little petulantly,

"Well what I am supposed to do?"

"Go play with your girlfriend's cat," Basta said dismissively, looking around, "Speaking of which where is the stupid..."

He gave a groan of frustration. Dafne followed the direction of his gaze and quickly discovered why.

"What is it doing on my chair," he complained.

Ignacio had been curled up asleep up until this point. Likely roused by Basta's outburst, he opened his eyes and raised his head, glaring at the man glaring at him.

Basta's hold on Dafne loosened in his distraction.

"You stupid cat," he said in a voice twitching with dislike.

Silvio jumped to his feet hurriedly,

"Don't hurt him," he said fretfully, "It's my fault. I wasn't watching him."

Dafne turned to him reassuringly,

"Don't worry. Basta won't hurt him. It's bad luck isn't it Basta."

"It's only bad luck to kill it," Basta said in a low voice, "Or to kick it. If you kick a cat, you'll get rheumatism in that leg."

Dafne held back the urge to scoff at him. It wouldn't help the situation.

"But there are other ways I can deal with it," Basta went on with a dangerous smile.

Dafne looked at him exasperatedly. She didn't believe he would actually harm the cat. But Silvio did.

"Basta, no!" he said in alarm, "I'll move him. I'll move him."

He raced past them and bundled the cat into his arms. Ignacio struggled, unhappy with his upheaval. But Silvio refused to let go.

"See," he said, "He's off now."

"His hairs aren't," Basta pointed out unhappily, "Look at all of them. That's where I sleep."

Balancing the still protesting cat with one arm, Silvio hastily wiped the seat of the armchair.

When he was done, he looked at Basta expectantly.

Basta narrowed his eyes critically,

"There's still some there."

Dafne rolled her eyes at him,

"For God's sake," she said, "You can have the bed if you're that concerned about it."

Basta turned to her,

"Then where are you going to sleep?"

"The armchair," Dafne replied, "I'm not finicky about a bunch of cat hairs."

Basta scowled at her,

"You're welcome to it," he said, "Though I wouldn't recommend it," he rolled his head to one side, wincing, "It's not as comfortable as the bed."

"Dafne can have the couch," Silvio said, looking down at his quarry guiltily, "I'll sleep in the armchair."

"If you're going to do that then I should take the couch," Basta said, "And Dafne can stay where she is."

"Just make up your mind," Dafne said with impatience, "And stop complaining about the cat. You said Silvio could have it here."

Basta's arms dropped away from her, freeing them to gesticulate,

"So what if I said he could. This is my house and I can complain all I like about it. Anyway it's not as if you never get to complain about anything yourself."

"My complaints are less trivial than cat hair," Dafne said, taking a step back from him.

"Oh yes because your opinions are so much more important than mine," Basta drawled.

"I've never said that!"

"But you think so!"

"No I don't!"

"Yes you do!"

"Will you guys stop arguing!" Silvio cut in forcefully. They both looked at him in surprise. He shook his head at them, "Geez, you've only been dating for what? A couple of hours?"

Not even that. It was rather humiliating to be lectured by someone so junior. Even Silvio seemed embarrassed and distracted himself by scratching Ignacio's ear. By now the cat had yielded to being in his arms, becoming languid.

"Just go back to hugging or whatever," he said, wandering over to settle back down on the couch.

Dafne and Basta turned to each other, both looking guilty and apologetic.

"Sorry," they said in more or less unison.

Basta opened his arms,

"Come here."

Dafne smiled, still feeling a touch rebellious.

"No you come here."

Basta shrugged,

"Alright."

She glimpsed the flash of his smile before he pounced on her, crushing his lips to hers. In her surprise she stumbled back but he latched his arms around her, holding her in place. She considered pushing him away for a split second, simply because he hadn't given her any warning. But then she gave in and kissed him back. The press of his lips became less urgent as though he had been expecting her to pull away, becoming gentler in the relief that she wasn't.

They broke apart some time later, smiling knowingly at each other like two children sharing a secret.

"I came over see," Basta said.

Dafne laughed and stroked his face,

"I like it when you do what I tell you," she replied.

Basta drew her closer to him,

"Well I like kissing you," he purred in her ear, "So we've both gotten what we want."

"I would say I've come off the better," Dafne said.

"Why is that?"

Dafne inclined her face closer to his,

"Because I like kissing you too," she said, blushing slightly at the admission.

Basta smiled,

"I knew it."

Their lips were moving towards each other when a sigh caused them to pause.

"Can you please do that in the bedroom?" Silvio pleaded.

To be continued...