Villain Boyfriend: Nectarios (special preview)

When I was young, the son of a nobleman became indebted to my family. The young man was named Nectarios, and I just remember him being tall and thin. His father had cut him off from the family fortune so he had borrowed a considerable amount of money from my mothers. He insisted he could them pay back, or at least, his father would. He had asked for the money in hopes of starting a business which he would then make my mothers partners in and they would earn their money back triple by the time the business took off. 

I think both my mothers knew that, at the time, they weren’t going to get paid back. This young nobleman had a sweet tongue, but there wasn’t much else about him that appeared to be trustworthy. On my mothers’ part, they had agreed to loan him the money as a sort of trap, so that when his business failed, he had no choice but to serve them until the debt was worked off.

For years, my mothers had him do their dirty work. They disguised him and gave him a false identity so that he could terrorize every corner of Pirlipat. They sent him into the homes of their enemies, having him hold the homes hostage until he got a large sum of money. He would blackmail others with information he gathered. He stole valuable secrets, and even more valuable treasures. He had become a villain in Pirlipat, a menace and, in a way, I think he enjoyed it.

There had been a ball I attended with my mothers when I was thirteen. They didn’t much care for some of the people attending, so since it was the Hollow Moon, they decided to play a prank. Using Nectarios in his Sugar Daddy persona, they had him attack the ball. He used his henchmen to round people up and tied people to chairs which he then placed into circles. 

I was hiding under a table, watching, knowing no harm was going to come to me or my mothers, but it was a sight to watch. Nectarios had a strut when he was Sugar Daddy, hiking his legs up at odd angles, sometimes crouching low and twisting his arms along his back. He wore a mask as a disguise, even wearing a wig to cover his snake hair. He had a crossbow he had loaded, shooting people with candy eggs filled with cream that dyed their skin fluorescent colors.

“On this night of Hollow Moon, you all thought you’d celebrate! Such a spooky night!” He cackled. “But all of you forget what it is about!” He shot a candy for no reason other than to splatter it against some man’s bald head. “You treat this evening like it’s another one of your holidays. And oh yes, Pirlipat loves its holidays, its sweets and syrupy delights.” He slipped his fingers through smeared cakes and confections, his long tongue then slithered from the mouth of the mask so he could lick his fingers. “But life is a lot like candy, don’t you know.” He loaded the crossbow with an actual arrow and aimed it at the lady of the house. “It may be sugar coated, but it’s sour at the core, and Pirlipat is the prime example of that.”

He lifted the crossbow away, flitting around for a moment with a giggle and a cackle. “Hollow Moon was the night where sugarcane farmers were beset by a horrible beast. Some say it was a Hare, others claim it was a monster from the soil. But really, it was rich business folk like you who wanted the wealth of the sugarcane all to yourselves.” He reached under the table and plucked me out from there. “You have until midnight to give me all the gold within this mansion and your pockets, or this little one gets it.” He shoved the crossbow to my temple.

“Ow!” I snapped.

“Sorry, Lady Dulcie, all an act, you know,” he giggled. He then carried me aside while the room was panicked. 

“They’re all tied down, how do you expect them to get that gold for you?” I snooted as he placed me away from the crowd. 

“Oh, I’m just having fun, my sweetness.” he pinched the tip of my nose. “Theatrics is so much more fun when the audience has no idea they’re part of play.” He turned and shot the arrow into the crowd, sending sparks and fireworks exploding all over. There was a panic and uproar and, during this, he lifted his mask to smile at me.

“You see, Lady Dulcie, the world is a candy dish, and no one is eating from it.” He loaded another explosive arrow.

“And what are you doing?” I asked.

He patted the top of my head. “I’m having a feast. Be right back, sweetness.” The rest of the night he terrorized that party, but by the end of the night, he had given my mothers a massive treasure trove.

“I also found something for you, Lady Dulcie.” He reached behind my ear then pulled back to show off a tiny golden spoon. “For your collection.”

I gasped and happily took it. “This one is so cute! Thank you, Tari.”

He pat the top of my head. “Your smile is reward enough. Now go on to bed, you’ve had a busy night after all.”

On my twentieth birthday, my mothers gave him to me as my present. They presented him, bound in ribbon, his arms tied with a big red bow. He now owed his debt to me, but he didn’t seem to care. In fact, Nectarios seemed to relish in the idea that he was handed over as a pet to me.