Sophia felt about as foolish as she ever had. She walked down the dirt road, wrapping her cloak around her tightly. She had been walking for some time now, but her destination was in sight: An old cottage, nestled in the valley between the twin mountains that rose over Thalyan. There were a number of small towns in the area that often traded with one another, but it was rare that the man who lived in this cottage made his way to them. Sophia had received word of his most recent visit to her hometown, Nebela, within fifteen minutes of his arrival. He was an incredibly talented mage who preferred to be left alone.

At least, he had preferred to be left alone.

Sophia approached the building with caution. She knew the man in passing, but had never actually held a conversation with him before. His personality was a mystery to her. His appearance, however, was etched into her mind. He was a striking man with golden eyes that seemed to pore over every single detail in the world around him. He had long dark hair, which he kept tied up often, and his wardrobe of robes and expensive formalwear turned heads wherever he went. Sophia was also sure that he was not a man she ever wanted to cross. She knew that he was very serious and didn't appreciate his time being wasted.

She slowly approached the building. Every step towards the cottage filled her with anxiety. It’s going to be fine. He’s probably normal. I’m sure of it. She drew closer, and soon enough she was face to face with the front door. She took a deep breath, steeling herself, trying to dispel as much anxiety as she could. A moment later, she knocked on the door.

Sophia heard movement inside the cottage and turned to a nearby window. She couldn’t tell what was going on inside from her angle, and she decided it would be best if she just waited here. No need to ruffle his feathers before we even get a chance to introduce ourselves. She almost wanted to run. She didn't know why she was chosen for this task. She barely knew what the task was.

Sophia had spent the last few years assisting her neighbors with various odds and ends. She was, for a young woman living on her own, fairly well read. She knew how to sew, a talent she'd inherited from her mother. Her father was a carpenter, and she spent her entire childhood begging him to let her learn from him until he finally gave in when she was ten. When her parents passed, she kept their home and became a handywoman. It was satisfying work, and she always had some new project to work on.

The day before, a friend of her father’s had approached her about taking on some kind of project for the mage. “He asked for you specifically,” he’d explained. “Said he needed someone with your skills to help him out at his home out there. Wouldn’t explain exactly what it meant either.”

“And… you told him that I would make my way out to his home. In the woods. Alone. Without asking me.” She had glared at Bernard as hard as she could manage, but the man shrugged in response.

“You’ve never turned down a job before. You telling me that you’re going to start now?”

“I guess not. But I’d appreciate if you gave me the opportunity next time instead of assuming,” Sophia sighed.

Bernard smiled back at her. “Of course. But you have to stop acting like you aren’t curious about why he asked for you.”

“I’m not–” She stopped and took a deep breath. “Okay. Fine. I will admit that I am curious about what he does out there. But that’s not the damn point and you know it.”

Bernard smiled. “Mhm. Understood.” He put a hand on her shoulder. “If it makes you feel better, I’ve gone ahead and packed a bag of supplies for you. The path to his cottage is a long walk, but it’s a fairly easy one. It’s flat land and the road through the forest is easy to follow. You’ll be just fine.”

The front door opened, revealing the handsome mage that lived inside. Sophia gulped. He was incredibly attractive. She couldn’t help but look up and down at him. His hair was messier than it normally was, falling down to his shoulders.

“Are you going to stare or are you going to speak?” His voice was deep and smooth, with a rumble that made Sophia’s chest tingle. He was clearly appraising her as well.

“Ah, sorry! I was told that you were in need of my assistance, sir?” Sophia reached out her hand. “Though, I wasn’t told what exactly you needed.”

He looked down at her hand and reluctantly shook it. His eyes met hers, and she immediately knew just how formidable the man was. She could feel his magical prowess radiating off of him. “Yes. My name is Miles. Follow me.” He let her hand go and turned back into the house. She took a deep breath and walked through the door.

The house was beautiful. It was immaculately decorated, not a single speck of dust on any of the shelves of tables. He had display cases full of sculptures and trinkets, more than Sophia could have possibly imagined before coming inside. In fact, the entire home seemed like it was larger than what she saw from the outside. There’s either some kind of illusion happening or he’s much more talented than I thought. There was a dining space she could see from the entryway, but Miles led her down a hallway on the other side of the room. She began to count every step she took to try and figure out what exactly was happening, but nothing she saw seemed fake. Perhaps the inside of the cottage truly was larger than the walls outside led her to believe. “Sir– Miles. I really would like to know what exactly you’ve asked me here for. Your home is beautiful, but I’m no magician. I work with normal tools. Surely there isn’t anything that I can do for you that you couldn’t take care of yourself?”

Miles didn’t turn to face her or acknowledge her question. They continued into a room with a table in its center, a sewing machine upon it. He gestured for her to look at it.

“Sir, please. I will turn around and leave if you don’t answer my questions.” Sophia glared at the man from behind. I don’t care how handsome he is. I need to know what he’s asking of me before I do anything else.

The man finally stopped and turned to face her, but he didn’t speak. She could swear there was a hint of a smile in his expression, no matter how much he tried to keep a straight face. They stared at each other in silence for another moment before Sophia spoke again. “Fine. If you want to be difficult, I’ll be on my way. I cannot help you if you don’t speak to me.” She turned to leave. A promise is a promise. She began to walk away.

“So impatient.” She could hear the smile in his voice. Anger began to rise in Sophia’s chest. She stopped dead in her tracks. “I asked you here because I have a number of garments that I would like you to mend. It’s possible for me to mend them with magic, but over the years I have found that the work of a skilled seamstress will always outdo magical manipulation, and it often lasts longer.”

She turned back to Miles. “And you needed me to walk all this way for that? You couldn’t have brought the garments to me, so that I could work on them with my own tools?”

“And you think I could carry an entire wardrobe’s worth of clothing to you?” His smile was gone. “I have everything you need here. You could at least look at what I have before refusing me.”

She looked back into the sewing room. The machine did look like it was in good condition, and there were a number of threads in different colors to go along with it. “Fine. My apologies.” She walked through the doorway and sat down at the workbench. This… Might actually be nicer than what I have at home. But he doesn’t need to know that. “I suppose this will do. But why do you have so many articles of clothing in need of repair? As far as I’ve heard, whenever you come to town you’re wearing something brand new that's in perfect condition.”

Miles raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t say they were my clothes.”

Sophia furrowed her brow. “Well– Wait, what? Whose clothes are they then?” She glanced at the corner of the room. There was a large oak wardrobe, much bigger than average.

Miles made his way to it and opened the door, revealing a number of dresses, skirts, blouses, and leggings. “Like I said, they aren't for me.”

She looked back and forth between the clothing, the wizard, and the sewing machine. What on Earth is all of this even for? “Are you secretly married, Miles? Are you hiding someone out here?” Sophia asked. Her right hand started to itch.

He chuckled to himself, as if the question she posed was absurd. “I can assure you that I am not hiding anyone, and that includes a wife.” He reached into the wardrobe, taking a dress that had been hanging inside and laying it on the table next to Sophia. She couldn't help but put a hand on the soft fabric. It was of a much higher quality than she was used to working with. It almost shone in the reflection of the candles that lit the room. “And I know I gave you my name before, but I would prefer you simply refer to me as sir.”

Sophia pursed her lips. She wasn't sure exactly what she had expected when she came out here, but it wasn't this. She scratched her hand. It wasn't as if there was a good reason for her to leave at this point. She would happily have done this kind of project for someone at home, and she was sure Miles knew it. He wasn't necessarily rude but he had been unpleasant so far…

She looked back up at him, shifting on the bench. “Okay, fine. I'm well capable of repairing these clothes, but the fact that you live out here in the middle of nowhere means that it's going to be incredibly inconvenient for me to come and go. Is the-”

He held up a hand, gesturing for her to stop talking. She went quiet. “I have my own carriage. I will pick you up in the mornings, and drop you off again when you finish with your work for the day. Don't fret about the logistics.”

Sophia raised an eyebrow at him. Not the answer I expected. “That’s very kind of you, Mi-”

He narrowed his eyes at her, and the intensity of his gaze made her pause.

“That’s very kind of you, sir.” She said, barely attempting to hide the annoyance in her voice. He really thinks highly of himself. “So why didn’t you use the carriage to come and fetch me, then?”

The man flashed his handsome smile at her. “I could have. But I wanted to see how dedicated you were, and you didn’t disappoint. Consider this a benefit of your new employment.” He reached out his gloved hand to Sophia. She swung her legs back over the bench to stand again, then took his hand. Miles pulled her to her feet. “I’ll let you go for tonight. You should leave now if you want to get back before the sun sets. In the future I will see about having a room set up for you to stay in, should the need arise.”

“I appreciate it, sir.” Sophia was still annoyed with how self assured the mage was, but there was something else there now as well. She rubbed her right hand with her left and nodded to the door. “I… I guess I’ll head home now?” For some reason she felt unsure. Why am I so flustered all of a sudden?

He nodded back at her. “It’s enchanted to drive itself. Just get inside and it will return you home.” As he opened the door, Sophia saw the carriage rolling towards the cottage from the treeline. “If I’ve got everything set up correctly– and I have– it should take you straight to your home and return here in the morning.”

She was halfway into the carriage before a realization struck her. “You know where my house is?”

“An address isn’t particularly difficult information to acquire, Ms. Reed.” He turned and walked back into his home, waving the back of his hand at her. The door closed behind him as he did, and the carriage lurched forward with Sophia still standing in the doorframe. She stumbled quickly inside and sat on one of the cushioned seats. What didn’t Bernard tell him?

***

Everything was cold. There wasn’t an inch of her that was covered, but for some reason, that didn’t worry Sophia at all.

She was sitting on an unfamiliar bed, but that didn’t worry her either. It was hard to worry about anything, really. Especially when she couldn’t move. There was nothing to worry about if she didn’t have control anyway, right?

There was no noise but some shuffling from somewhere off to her right, maybe a bit behind her. It made her think that there might have been a door behind her, but she couldn’t turn to check.

Sophia couldn’t remember when exactly she’d started smiling. Something about it just felt right.

More noise from somewhere beyond the room she was in now.

Sophia wished they would come and touch her already.

That thought surprised her. She spent most of her time alone, and that was okay with her. She didn’t need someone to be there for her all the time. She considered herself to be a very independent person, after all. After her parents passed, she’d managed to carve out a life out all on her own, and she was proud of herself for doing so. And she had enjoyed the company of a number of people before, but this… This was different.

She wanted to feel skin on her skin. As soon as she realized that’s what she wanted, she couldn’t stop thinking about it. She didn’t care who it was that was in here with her, as long as they were willing to touch her, to–

“Sophia.”

Her heart skipped a beat. She didn’t recognize the voice, but that didn’t inspire anything but desire in her. She didn’t need to know who had that beautiful voice as long as they were here to fuck her into the mattress. She wanted to turn and beg. She wanted to ask for them to push her down onto the bed, to part her legs and fill her cunt for as long as they wanted.

“Dolls don’t think, Sophia.”

Her mind went quiet, and something close to relaxation washed over her. She still couldn’t move, but it didn’t matter. She was content to listen, to absorb. She still had the same smile on her face.

“There you go,” the voice cooed. She felt the bed beneath her give under the weight of another person, and there was suddenly something soft over her eyes. Her expression didn’t change. “You have a lot to learn, and even more to forget.” She wanted to ask what they meant. Her tongue refused to form the words. A soft finger delicately ran down her spine, making goosebumps appear all over her. “Yes… You’re going to be perfect.”

The other person stood from the bed now that Sophia couldn’t see them. She felt hands on her right arm, gently raising it to be parallel to the floor, then unfurling her fingers, pointing her palm to the ceiling. The stranger ran the tip of their finger over every joint on the palm side of her hand. It felt strangely intimate to be studied like this, to be the recipient of such rapt attention. Sophia wanted to be disappointed that whoever it was didn’t seem to be interested in fucking her senseless, but there was something about being… posed like this that felt incredible.

After they had gone over each finger, the stranger turned her hand over and curled her hand back into a fist. She felt their finger tracing each joint on the back of her hand now. The smile remained fixed on her face. I feel so… delicate.

“Stand.”

Her body instantly moved to obey. It wasn’t a conscious choice– Whether or not she had wanted to was irrelevant. The stranger was in control right now, and she wasn’t supposed to think about it. She didn’t want to think about it when it felt so good to do as they instructed.

“That’s a good doll.”

Sophia’s breath caught, unprepared for the arousal that coursed through every nerve of her body. She felt the stranger come to stand in front of her. Even with the blindfold on, she could feel their eyes roaming over her body. After a few agonizing moments, she felt their hands on her breasts, and she couldn’t help but moan. She wanted to lean forward into their hands, she wanted them to give them even more. She wanted their fingers inside of her with their thumb on her clit. “Ple–”

***

Sophia woke abruptly. She was back at home, where she’d been dropped off the night before. She pulled her hand out from between her legs, her fingers wet with her own arousal. What kind of dream was that? She rolled out of bed and went to clean her hands. She looked outside, where the sun had only begun to rise. I suppose I should get myself put together. Miles didn’t seem to be the kind to tolerate tardiness.