Page 8 of Bought to Break
Lana realised that she knew this man. He had come to see her mother while she was ill once or twice. He didn’t recognise her, though, and she was glad of it. She didn’t want her new masters to know any more about her than they already did.
Thankfully, Viktor answered the question for her. ‘Just some stablemaster.’ He pushed her forward slightly. ‘I want you to examine her. Thoroughly.’
The apothecary nodded and his eyes roamed boldly over what little of her he could see.
‘Come to the back. Do you want to stay?’ he asked Viktor.
‘Yes. And my Brother will be here soon.’
They passed through a curtain and into some sort of examination room. There was a table and a chair and various tools and implements.
‘Take off your clothes and climb onto the table,’ the apothecary said to her with no hesitation.
Lana felt her face heat and she turned to Viktor, her eyes pleading. He shook his head, his expression shuttered. ‘Do as he says.’
She felt her eyes fill with tears as she fumbled with the clasp of the cloak and it fell to the floor. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and climbed onto the cold stone table, shivering.
She didn’t need to look to know both men were staring at her body appreciatively. Her arms were taken and manacled. She gave a small cry, which got her a rebuke. ‘Quiet, girl. I need silence to work.’
He did the same with her ankles, bending her legs at the knees and attaching each to a loop at opposite sides of the table until she was spread wide.
He ran his hands lightly up and down her body, checking her skin, eyes, ears, nose and mouth. ‘Hmm, not a very well-behaved slave, I see,’ he said when he saw the fresh bruises and wounds on her from Ather’s beating the day before.
She said nothing.
‘She looks healthy enough,’ he finally informed Viktor. ‘No maladies or rashes that I can see, though she’s had a fair few beatings recently with a switch or a crop.’
Lana winced at his words.A crop, she wanted to say. It was always a crop.
‘They shouldn’t scar, though, if you tend them properly and they don’t fester. I can give you a salve.’
‘No need. Sorin is refilling our supplies as we speak.’
The apothecary chuckled. ‘Of course. The Army’s got a cache in town now. Never far from one of those these days. Suppose it’s a necessity in your line of work, eh?’
‘Mmmmm.’
Ignoring Viktor’s lack of reply, the apothecary took her breasts in his hands and kneaded them slowly. This was not in the same way and with none of the excitement she had seen in Sorin’s eyes the evening before in the pool.
‘No growths that I can feel.’
He moved down and his fingers pulled her nether lips apart suddenly, and she lurched in surprise. He snickered.
He licked a finger and moved it up and down her slit, feeling her, his touch lingering here and there. She squirmed and gasped in unwanted pleasure as he applied pressure to certain areas, and then she flushed in embarrassment. How could her body be enjoying this when her mind was utterly revolted?
She vaguely heard the door open in the other room and his hands left her. Suddenly Viktor was by her side. He caressed her face, almost kindly. ‘Almost finished, Lana.’
She couldn’t help but turn her cheek into his hand, wishing he’d unfasten her and stop letting this strange man touch her. He looked as surprised by her actions as she was, though his mouth curved into a hint of a smile.
‘You’re just in time,’ the apothecary said, stepping through the curtain. He was followed by Sorin, whose eyes widened as he took in the scene before him.
‘Gods. So I am,’ he murmured.
Viktor gave him a questioning look.
‘I got her a dress, but the cache was closed. I’ll go back later,’ Sorin answered his Brothers’ unspoken question, his eyes not leaving her.
He made his way to her feet, watching what the apothecary was doing between her spread thighs. Something cold and thick nudged her entrance and she tried to move away, but she was too tightly bound. She felt it enter her shallowly and retreat. In and out, in and out, and then it went in a little further. She made a noise as it began to sting and it was removed immediately. Then the same was done to her back passage, though he coated the instrument with something slippery before he pushed it in. It still hurt, though, and she squirmed in discomfort until it was taken out.
