dot.

15: Nimue's Fault

Tiro pov

  "How are you doing? Does it hurt?"

  Tiro wiped around the wounds on Felix's shoulders with a cotton swap dipped in antiseptic before bandaging them up properly and disposing of his bloodied shirt.

  Felix refused to respond to him, turning his face away and staring at the wall.

  "Dot did this, didn't he?"

  Silence.

  "Look, I know he's just a dumb beast, but-"

  "Don't call him that." Felix interrupted him harshly, keeping his eyes fixated on the wall. "He's not a dumb beast. If you hadn't messed up his leg, he never would have hurt me in the first place."

  Tiro sat down opposite the man and stared at him, sliding a hand under his shirt to relive a painful itch. "So you think it's my fault?"

  "Yes."

  "All of it?"

  "Yes."

  "You're wrong."

  "I'm not."

  "You are. It's Nimue's fault."

  "How so?" Felix blankly stared back at the man, utterly unimpressed. "She told me herself that she didn't approve of what you did to him."

  "It's her fault I did it."

  I n a sudden change of tone, Felix grabbed Tiro's face roughly and jerked it towards his own, delighting in how his expression filled with fear at the violent action. "Explain it to me, Tiro. Did Nimue tell you to do it? Did she approve it? Tell me, or you'll leave with more bruises than you walked in with."

  The straw-haired man stared up at Felix in terror, wanting to move away from him but not having the strength to remove the hand that was clasped securely around his jaw.

  Shifting slightly upwards so as to reveal his mouth, Tiro drew in a deep breath. "Nimue isn't what she seems."

  "I know that."

  "Yes, but you think she's just some weird sadist that puts up a pretty front, right?"

  Felix remained silent, keeping his hold on Tiro with narrowed eyes.

  "She's genuinely nice. Well, she used to be."

  "I don't believe you."

  "I'll explain it to you, but you have to let me go first."

  The man holding him captive raised an eyebrow before grudgingly releasing him and rubbing his aching shoulders. Tiro jerked his head away from the man and took a few seconds to recover, breathing deeply and fiddling with the fabric of his trousers.

  "Are you going to say anything?" Felix challenged him.

  "Um, yes, I..." He nervously clamped his hands around the bottom of his shirt and pulled it upwards and over his head in one swift motion, revealing the skin beneath.

  Felix stared at the skin on his chest, reaching a tentative hand out to stroke it- but falling back before he reached the man's body, deciding against the move. "Is it... real?"

  Tiro nodded.

  "You're like him?"

  Tiro shuffled his feet and kicked the ground a little, clenching his hands around the fabric of his shirt as he slowly shook his head. "No. I'm a failure."