Page 131 of The King's Man
~ DIADRE ~
The words washed a chill down my spine like I’d been thrown into a snowmelt lake.
I knew it.I’d been waiting forsomething,and it was finally here. Some part of me had known from the moment I met him that there was an ugly, dark secret hidden under those invisible wings and—
“Dee? Please breathe.”
“You haveslaves?”
“I haveaslave.”
“A female?”
“Yes.”
I couldn’t look at him. I struggled to breathe and gripped the thighs of my leathers trying to ground myself. “What kind ofslave?”
I waited for that answer, a piece of my heart already broken. My mate had slaves? He heldownershipof people? Ofwomen?I could barely wait to hear his response. I prayed,pleadingsilently that this was not what I thought it was, and at the same time, the very idea repulsed me so completely, could there be any circumstance in which I didn’t want to vomit on him?
The bondscreamed.
Obviously aware of my churning feelings, Jann took some time to answer. His voice was deep and wary when he finally spoke.
“Is there anything that the titleslavedoesn’t make clear?” he said softly.
I turned my head to look at him, disgust and fear and sickness roiling within me. “You’ve had sex with her?”
“That wasn’t what I meant. But… yes. We’ve been close for years and sometimes we both—”
“You’re fucking sick.” My skin crawled as I pushed to my feet, my stomach heaving.
Jann was on his feet next to me in a blink, grabbing for me. “Dee, it’s not like that—”
“Don’t touch me.”
“You have to listen to me—”
I snapped my elbow from his grip. “I don’t have to listen to a fucking word—you keep a slave in your bed—”
“Absolutely fuckingnot.Our connection was entirely by her choice and had no bearing on her work—”
“She’s your slave!” I screamed, my heart tearing in two, my mindbrokenby the idea of some poor woman who’d been forced under his care and into his bed to save her own skin, and he called himselfhonorable?I lashed out to slap him, but the fucker caught my wrist right before I reached his face and gripped it, a manacle, stopping me getting my claws into him.
“No,” he growled, leaning down into my face. “She is no more my slave in that regard than you are.”
The words hit like a sucker-punch to my stomach. My breath whooshed out of me and I physically flinched.
Jann closed his eyes and shook his head, but didn’t let go of my wrist even when I bent forward, afraid I might actually vomit.
“No, no, no, Dee, please,” he murmured. “Those were the wrong words. I only meant that the choice was always hers. Always. I never… I never used my strength or power. I never threatened her. I never—”
“Slave… she is yourslave.”
“By my society’s terms, yes. She belongs to my household. She is viewed by others as my possession—but not by me.”
“And is that what I’ll be?” I asked him, my voice thin and rasping. “I’m an idiot, aren’t I? All this talk of vows and souls and Ones, but the moment we cross those mountains I become a horse for harness. A mare for breeding? A—”
“No.Fucking no, Diadre.”
