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wouldn’t risk looking up, he was content with the fantasy he created in his mind.
    Soon that giggling went muffled and not long after Robin was moaning encouragement.  Nathan studied the floor.  He tried counting the specks in the stone but the flicker of candlelight, dancing on the polish, caught his eye just often enough to distract him.  And when Robin started crying out in pleasure he gave up all together, clenching his eyes shut and imagining himself as far from here as possible.
    The girls traded places enough times that he lost count, though a lot of that was because he knew better than to count.  If he could disappear from here he would have, for this was entirely incompatible with the reality he was just beginning to accept.
    Finally their movement calmed and their voices dropped to whispers.  Robin spoke more than Lily and it wasn’t long before the latter was snoring softly, though that didn’t deter Robin.  She continued to whisper and coo over the sleeping girl.  Nathan ached to know the content of that inaudible conversation, sure that it might shed some light on his own twisted feelings.

**
     
    Nathan drifted in and out of consciousness all night.  He thought the night might last forever, it seemed like it had already, but soon enough the two girls began to stir.  His spot on the floor had not treated him kindly.  He had been cold the entire time and he ached everywhere, in his shoulders and his knees especially.  The first chance he got he’d beg Robin to let him down, but then he remembered the box and decided again that this was better.
    Lily scampered off after a short flurry of kisses, of giggling, after Robin chased her away with firm words that sounded as though they might contain a smile.  But Nathan couldn’t imagine her smiling, not in any way that didn’t prelude some cruelty.
    Robin laid around in bed long after the girl left.  She was torturing him with her inattention this morning, when she must know he was bursting with questions that the silence of the room somehow prevented him from voicing.
    When she did finally rise it wasn’t to tend to him.  She ignored him as she moved around.  He heard the rustle of clothing and realized she was dressing, but no amount of temptation would bring his eyes from the floor, for as much as she denied his existence he knew she was keenly aware of it.
    Nathan realized he was anxious to begin.  He’d do anything.  He’d scream for her or cry for her, if only it might hasten a meal and release from this position.   He had never before wanted for food as he did now.  Starvation was an unpleasant mark of poverty and not one he had ever had to endure.
    R obin left him there, wanting, when she left the room.  It was cruel of her, but after a while, in her absence, Nathan found the strength and courage to look around.  His early observations held true, the wealth of this room was not to be understated.  Somehow this orphan gypsy girl had very nice things.
    He studied the metal loop on the ceiling and the other in the floor.   His bindings were anchored there.  There were others too, both high and low against the wall.  His chest tightened as he thought to all the ways she could tie him.  The one he was in now was tame next to his imagination.
    The rest of the room offered him no clues.  He had no idea who she was, how she acquired all this, or even where they were.  His mind began to wander and soon he found himself thinking of yesterday.  He resigned his curiosity at that and turned his attention back to the floor.  Better to study the stone than to think about yesterday.
    He kept his eyes down when she returned and off of her as she dragged a chair in front of him, only bringing them up when she finally took a seat and her boots shadowed his spot on the floor.
    Robin held a goblet in one hand and a platter balanced on her crossed legs.  She took a leisured sip and stared at him for a long time, until the pressure of her