He holds her while she sleeps.

He has long since stopped picking random people off the street and taking them home to play with. It terrifies everyone to a degree that's just not worth it in the long run. If he wants a new toy he can buy one like anybody else. But he owns her now, and he wants her, and - holding back is starting to feel uncomfortably like mercy.

A few hours later she yawns adorably and snuggles closer and opens her eyes and has a moment of startled stillness before her expression melts into one of sleepy affection.

...he hugs her, smiling softly.

"Thought you were my brother for a moment," she mumbles. "Don't think I've ever fallen asleep cuddling someone I wasn't related to before."

...giggle.

"--Shit. Speaking of my family--when do the public records of these things become available?"

"After a few days, usually. Sooner if you know where to look."

"Okay. Good. My family won't know where to look. I would really appreciate it if I could visit them before then and reassure them I'm okay and can visit them sometimes and ask them to please not look up who bought me. Probably I will have to make up an excuse as to why. But it would be very useful in preventing my brother from doing something stupid if none of them knew until I had a track record of being not traumatized."

"Okay."

"Thank you." Happy cuddles!

Snuggle.

"I don't think he'd be reckless enough to try to do anything stupid at you, but hunting down and assaulting father's ex-business partner who ran off with the money and left Dad holding the debts? Yeah."

...snort. "So that's what happened, mm?"

"Yeah."

He pets her hair.

"—I—when you said your father seemed stressed, I thought - 'I can almost certainly fix it, whatever it is, but I can't say that'..."

Snort. "Well, that would have been more convenient in every way possible. But I can see why you'd be reluctant." Snuggle.

"...if you want - more money for your family, or something... there's nothing stopping me from offering you Imperial help now."

Snuggle. "That would...probably be good."

"Though there's not a lot I can do without being, well, Imperially worrying - I assume they'd figure out something funny was going on if I threw your dad's ex-partner off a roof."

She laughs.

"Please don't do that. If he dies the money goes to his next of kin and we have no chance of getting it back."

He chuckles. "Okay, I won't."

"--Do you want to meet them? Without telling them who you are, at least to start, or ideally that you're the one who bought me--but I told them about flirting with a rich guy in the garden, I could say you--made sure I'd been placed somewhere tolerable, or something."

"Why not tell them I'm the one who bought you, if they know you were flirting with me already?"

"Because if we do my brother will draw the correct conclusion that you bought me because you'd been flirting with me and the incorrect conclusion that this meant you were taking advantage of me, and if he believed this without knowing who you really are he might punch you in the face."

He laughs. "And would they find it reassuring if he did that and didn't suffer for it?"