Page 8 of The Labyrinth

“I don’t care what you call me. As long as it’s notthatword.”

This time I did roll my eyes. “Master, then. Since you’re my owner, and I’m no better than a pet to you.”

His entire body tightened, every muscle going taut. I wanted to poke some more, discover what made him react to my words, but I was immediately distracted. Because right there in front of us, loomed the wall.

A flicker of excitement shot through my belly. I was going to walk through the gates that had haunted my dreams since I was a child. For the first time, I was going to see what lay beyond the walls. Would it be everything I had imagined? Somehow, not even being forced out of my home and beyond the gates tainted the sweet taste in my mouth, the moment of a dream being fulfilled. My curiosity would be sated soon. I stopped, taking a moment to admire its smooth, ivory finish. I had never been so close as I was currently. And now they were opening, the oversized doors parting to invite me inside.

Ten finally realized I wasn’t following, turning around to raise an eyebrow in my direction. “Haven’t we already had this conversation? You work, and your family gets money. I’ll carry you if I have to, but I’d rather this was more…dignified.”

He thought I had stopped out of fear. Out of defiance. He thought I had stopped because I didn’t want to go inside, when that couldn’t be further from the truth. Because once I stepped inside, everything would change. Everything that had constructed the life I thought I knew would be gone, and something entirely new would be in its place. Was I terrified? Absolutely. I didn’t exactly expect the camps to be a joyful place. But a bigger part of me couldn’t help but be excited for something new. Something outside of the mundane I trudged through day in and day out.

For the first time in my life, I was responsible for no one but myself. Yes, hopefully funds would be sent back to my family, but on a daily basis, I would be responsible for myself and myself alone. The concept was new. What would it even be like? So yes, I was scared about the newness of the life awaiting me on the other side. But not scared enough to turn around. I shook my head and put one foot in front of the other, passing Ten as I crossed the gates into my new reality—into a world I had never experienced before.

It was funny, really. I was a prisoner, and somehow, I had never felt so free.

Chapter4

Ten

Never before had I wanted to touch someone as badly as I wanted to put my hands on Rissa. Not necessarily because I wanted to fuck her, even though I did. Putting my biases aside, Rissa was quite beautiful. She was covered in dirt, every inch of her, and somehow her natural beauty shone through. Her dark hair tumbled in waves beneath the bandana she had wrapped around her head. Her lips were a full, deep red amongst her tanned skin. Her nose was absolutely perfect.

Delicate. That’s what she was. Although I had a feeling she wouldn’t like it if I called her that. But to me, it suited her. Fragile in my grip, like if I held too tightly she would crumble in my hands. Her attitude tried to scream anything otherwise, an attempt to prove her strength to the world, but I had felt the truth when I choked her soft neck. I had captured countless girls, but I had never been so excited to make them submit as I was for the dichotomy that was Rissa. Strong and fearless, yet oh so delicate. I found myself captivated by her as much as I was annoyed by her presence, the way she seemed desperate to knowmore. Couldn’t she understand that sometimes it was better not to know everything? For example, if she knew where she was headed—despite the offer of paying her family—she would run in the opposite direction as fast as she could.

Which would really be terrible, because I owned her now. I would be obliged to hunt her down and bring her back to the camps kicking and screaming. While sometimes fun to do, it was exhausting. It was so much easier this way, by leaving out important pieces of information. Now Rissa was coming with me willingly, a lamb to the slaughter. If only she knew what awaited her.

For the second time since taking her, an odd emotion flashed through my veins. I knew what the end game was. Had since the moment I realized my ring was missing. But now the ring was back on my finger, and Rissa was stepping inside the gates of the Labyrinth—likely the first and only time she would ever cross that barrier. I wasn’t sure what to think. It was the right thing to do, wasn’t it? It was payment for her wrongdoing.

But doubt lingered in my belly, cool and slick. I didn’t like this feeling. I didn’t like second guessing my choices. Even though I was the leader of the Labyrinth, I lived life by my moral code, and even if it wasn’t the kind of code everyone else abided by, it worked for me. Even now she stared at me, raising her brow as if to say “you coming?” I couldn’t categorize this woman like I normally could with humans, slotting them neatly into their labeled boxes. This one was fearful and timid. This one was broken. This one would do anything for a morsel of praise. But Rissa? I had only spent an afternoon in her presence and already I was stumped. She was everything, and yet none of it. She was more than any other human had been, and yet not enough.

I wanted to lay my hands on her shoulders and press her to her knees, forcing her to submit in front of me. I wanted to bring her to heel with nothing more than a word. I wanted to fuck her until she understood her place in this world. Except…where was her place? I was taking her to the camps, and once there she would no longer be “mine” per se. I knew how it worked. And up until this point, sharing my humans was more than okay. But the flicker of doubt resurfaced, taking root within my heart, blossoming into something I wanted to dig out. This emotion wasn’t growing like a rose, a beauty to admire and praise. No, this feeling was a poisonous weed, invasive, and latching on to every spare bit of ground it could. I needed to stop it before it spread further.

Rissa would go to the camps. I would leave her there, and not think another minute about the strong-willed girl who was more curious than fearful. The one who looked like she wanted to laugh when my hands were wrapped around her throat, but immediately conceded when she realized there was something to be gained for her family. Maybe this was all a part of her plan, to leave me questioning who she really was, giving me just a taste, enough to leave me curious. It didn’t matter.

She would go to the camps, and there, together, we would break her spirit.

We would breakher.

I couldn’t help but smile. How delicious it would be, breaking Rissa. I hadn’t yet gotten the opportunity to shatter one so strong. It would be a challenge, and one I eagerly looked forward to. I continued to walk, joining her just inside the gates as they closed behind us, shutting us into the city.

Rissa frowned, a small wrinkle appearing between her dark brows. “Are you that happy to be home?”

Was I happy to be home?She was the most peculiar captive I had ever taken, for sure. “No.” It was the honest answer, and like I had told her earlier, I didn’t condone lying. The Labyrinth brought a certain kind of comfort to me. I hated being in the village, risking being stared at, ogled, like I was nothing more than a piece of meat. Funnily enough though, it didn’t bother me when Rissa did this. It didn’t feel like her curious stares came with malice. But being home? No. The Labyrinth was where my house was. It was comfortable, but not exactly happy.

I regarded her out of the corner of my eye. She shrugged. “You just had a really big smile on your face, so I assumed it was because you were happy to be home.”

I nearly choked. If only she knew the smile was due to me imagining her worshiping me from her knees, begging for my mercy. If only I had some to give.

But her attention was already elsewhere, her head swinging back and forth as she took in the city around us. “Holy shit. It’s beautiful,” she whispered.

“Hmm?” Without thinking, I followed her gaze. But I only saw the same buildings I had seen for most of my life. The half-destroyed towers in the distance, crumbling from the top down. The smaller brick and stucco buildings in front of us, where most of us lived and worked. Everything was draped in ivy and moss. Messy, but there was nothing we could do about it unless we wanted to be working at it day in and day out. Where roads once separated the blocks, was now grass, rich and green thanks to the irrigation installed decades ago. Rissa had stopped again, staring at the grass beneath her feet. I guess I could see how some might find it pretty. But I had seen much more beautiful things in my life, and the city I had spent so much time living in wasn’t high on my list. “It’s going to be dark soon. We don’t have time for this.”

“I’ve never seen grass before.” Her voice was almost reverent as she stared down. “It’s so green.”

I didn’t know how to respond. I had taken her away from her family, told her she would work in a camp for the rest of her life. I had choked her nearly to the point of passing out. But the only thing shaking her was the grass I had always expected to be there. It had no reason not to be. But the way Rissa stared at it made me feel like I had taken it for granted.

Before I could reach out to stop her, she was kneeling, unlacing her worn boots from her feet.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I snapped. “We have to go.” I reached down to grab her arm, but she shook herself free from me with an angry glare.

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