Page 30 of Commander's Slave
In truth, it wasn’t so terrible here on the mountain of this alien world. Her duties didn’t extend much beyond helping serve meals and overseeing Draken’s physical therapy, though she still made a point to perform at least a few household chores each day. But she was also sometimes allowed free time—usually at Draken’s insistence—which she used to roam the hills and take long, luxurious soaks in the hot spring.
The all-consuming loneliness no longer threatened to drown her. With each day that passed, she felt a little bit less lonely. Especially because Draken and Edek spoke to her often and seemed to care about what she had to say. She enjoyed their company. Yes, even Edek’s. She gave a wistful sigh. Especially Edek’s.
She’d spent her whole life surrounded by people, but she’d always felt desperately alone. Aside from Layla, she hadn’t had a single friend she could trust not to sell her out to a tabloid. Even worse, with cameras and eyes on her twenty-four seven, she’d always had to maintain a picture-perfect appearance and poise. It had been exhausting. The makeup and the hair and the designer clothing and shoes.
In this house she might be a slave, but she was freed from the shackles of her former life. She didn’t miss the panicky feeling she got while walking into a party, nor did she miss the stress of juggling her duties as First Daughter with her job.
A smile touched her lips when she recalled the servants’ treatment of her as of late. She’d endured no ugly stares or harsh whisperings in days. The cook no longer cursed in her presence, instead smiling each time she entered the kitchen.
Edek had obviously interceded once he learned of their behavior toward her. Even though she’d asked him not to interfere, she appreciated that he had, and she resolved to thank him for his kindness.
Kindness.
While he might seem imposing at times, Edek also possessed an unmistakable warmth, particularly when it came to those he cared about. She witnessed it each day when he watched his brother’s progress during therapy. She glimpsed the hope filling his eyes each time Draken put more weight on his wounded leg than the day before.
She also witnessed his compassion firsthand in his interactions with her. She saw no cruelty lurking behind his eyes, not even during the times he’d punished her.
His hatred had been a front, a mask he wore to hide the hurt caused by losing his family.
The mask had fallen off and she liked the man underneath.
She did the math in her head. Nineteen days. Nineteen days until his men returned from their leave to resume training.
The training grounds rested further down the mountain, a short walk from the town she never wished to set foot in again. She would miss him during the days, but he’d promised to be home before darkness fell most evenings. How very strange that he was making promises to her—a slave—and yet he was. He’d promised to be home by dinnertime on most nights, and he’d issued this promise with as much casualness as a husband informing his wife when to expect his return.
Swirling her hands through the water, she let her mind wander deeper into the uncharted territory of her feelings and desires for Edek. She wanted him. She couldn’t deny it. Would it be so wrong to surrender to the longing in her heart? To allow him to touch her and claim her?
Dinner had ended a short while ago, and she’d decided to take a bath before joining him in bed. A heated passion she couldn’t deny swelled within her as she anticipated the feel of his hard, muscular body next to hers under the covers.
She always remained tense and unsettled beside him until he drifted to sleep, but it was no longer for fear of receiving his intimate touches.
At some point during the last few days, her fears had been replaced by a deep soulful ache to experience his touch. To quiver as he kissed her and stroked her to bliss. To whimper with need as he sank his cock into her womanly core.
Water cascaded down her body in rivulets as she stood up. She ascended the steps that led out of the large spring. After drying off, she donned the new nightdress Edek had given her and crept through the house, listening for the sound of his voice.
She didn’t run into Edek or anyone else on her way to his room. She entered the bedroom and moved to the window, where she absorbed the beautiful nighttime landscape of planet Kall. Tonight, the moons didn’t bother her as much as usual.
Her gaze fell to the tree line, and she wondered if it was really dangerous to go walking in the woods after dark. Draken had warned her not to leave the house in the evenings, lest she run into a mountain beast, and after questioning him she’d learned that mountain beast was a collective term for over a dozen kinds of nocturnal wildcat and doglike creatures native to this planet.
And Edek… well, his warnings were much sterner. He had gone so far as to scold her and swat her bottom for sweeping the terrace at night, insisting that she remain completely inside after sunset, claiming that a wildcat or giant wolf might be tempted to scale the fence surrounding the property if it caught her sweet scent on the breeze.
Their concern, especially Edek’s, had touched her, and she’d promised to remain indoors during the night hours.
A flash of light and a movement on the tree line caught her attention, and she leaned forward on the windowsill to get a better look. A tall figure briefly appeared in the darkness, near the fence, but just as quickly backed into the tree line. It was unsettlingly close to the part of the forest where Edek had taken her for a walk just the other day.
Whatever it was moved back again; she blinked, and the image faded as it was swallowed up by the trees. She stood at the window for a few more minutes, waiting for the figure to reemerge from the woods, but it never did. Had she seen a mountain beast standing on its hind legs, perhaps? Well, whatever it was, it was gone now, and it was thankfully outside the safety of the fence.
She strode to the bed and pulled back the covers, flushing as the naughty thoughts she’d had about Edek in the hot springs resurfaced. The words he’d spoken several nights ago hit her.
Allowing me to take your body won’t make you a whore, Betsy. You belong to me and no one else. All others are forbidden to touch you. I promised not to sell you, and I promised to protect you.
The only intimacy she would ever know would be at Edek’s hands.
Of course, this wasn’t the reason she wanted to feel his naked body next to hers, and to feel his lips claiming her mouth.
In the short time she’d known him, he’d calmed nearly all the fears she’d experienced in the past several months. Even her shaking episodes—which she used to experience at least twice a day—came less and less frequently. And when they did, he would hold her close and murmur comforting phrases into her ear, his deep voice rumbling through her and anchoring her in the moment.
Being sold at auction in Sumlin District was supposed to have been a grave punishment, but it no longer felt like one. Being kept away from Earth and all that was once familiar still hurt, but she didn’t know misery as Commander Edek’s slave.
