Page 38 of Commander's Slave
Betsy Carson, First Daughter of the United States, you are sentenced to a lifetime of slavery in the Sumlin District on the Kall homeworld. Upon your arrival you will be sold at auction to the highest bidder, and I have no doubt you will spend the rest of your days in great suffering, regretting your heinous crimes with every pathetic breath you take.
She cried harder and eventually ended up on the floor. Her legs had given out again. She rested on her hands and knees and stilled when black boots entered her vision. Edek.
“Please, Master,” she begged. “I-I am terribly afraid of the baton. It hurts so very badly. Please have mercy. Please only hit me with it once, or twice if you must. I-I am so sorry I dropped the wine pitcher in front of your important guest and…” Then she stopped speaking, because she choked on her sobs.
To her surprise, Edek knelt in front of her and took her in his arms. He cradled her against his chest and stroked her hair. “Do you really think I plan to beat you with a baton, little human?” Then he withdrew slightly and grabbed her by the arms. His face was twisted with agony and he gave her a slight shake. “Do you really think I would hurt you like that, Betsy?”
Her lips quivered and fresh tears spilled down her face. “But you said you had your own baton and—”
“Appearances,” he cut her off. “The general isn’t part of our household. He’s my superior and I can’t have him know how tenderly I treat my only slave. I can’t have him know how I burn for you each day with everyfluxxingbreath. How you’re all I think about.” He gave her another shake.
“You-you’re not going to use a baton on me?”
He swore again in his native tongue and shook his head. “No, Betsy. Holy Fires, I would never use such a weapon on you.” He paused and gave her an anxious look. “How-how do you know the electrified batons hurt badly? You speak as though you’ve been beaten with one before.”
“I-I have been beaten with one before, Master,” she said, shuddering at the memory. “Many of the guards in the prison where I was held before my trial enjoyed using the batons on me. I don’t think a day passed while I was there that I didn’t get hit at least once. They-they laughed when they struck me.”
Shame heated her face and her tears kept falling, an endless stream of her sorrow.
“The first shock would always make me lose control of my bladder,” she continued. “They thought this was funny. I suppose being the First Daughter made me a target. None of the other prisoners got hit as much as me.” Her voice cracked. “Sometimes the guards would gather in a circle around me and take turns.”
Edek wiped the tears from her face and stared at her intently. His visage was drawn with lines of grief, as if he were sharing in her sorrow. Dare she hope that he understood what she’d been through? She didn’t like accepting pity from anyone, but if it spared her a brutal beating, she wasn’t too proud to take it.
“I am so sorry, Betsy,” he said, his voice a gentle but deep rumble. “I didn’t realize you had suffered so terribly at the guards’ hands in the prison. I am so sorry. I wish I could erase your pain.Fluxx, I wish I could kill every last guard who hurt you. I would cut off their heads and present them to you on spikes.” He spoke each word with conviction.
He meant it. Oh God, he meant it.
She leaned forward and sobbed into his chest, releasing all her pain, even though she knew the worst was yet to come. Because worse than enduring a savage beating from Edek would be watching him marry one of the general’s daughters. She swore she heard the abrupt shattering of her heart hitting the floor, as loud as the wine jug’s destruction in the dining room.
“I don’t plan to beat you with a baton, little human. That’s not why I brought you to my bedroom. I wanted to get you away from the general. I should have never allowed you to serve us this evening. Forgive me. I ought to have ordered another servant to take up the task.”
“Thank you, Master,” she said. “Thank you for your kindness.” She’d never felt more fragile than she did at this moment. If Edek released her from his arms, surely she would fall apart, never to reassemble herself again. She would be irrevocably broken.
“I don’t plan to punish you at all, Betsy. You did nothing wrong. I know it was an accident.”
Relief spread through her, even though she still felt fragile and on the verge of breaking. Why did she care so much if Edek got married? He was a powerful Kall warrior. Surely he couldn’t remain single for the rest of his life. If he didn’t pick one of General Amak’s daughters, other offers would probably soon come his way.
“Thank you for your understanding and your lenience, Master,” she finally said, her voice wavering with emotion. “Truly, I mean it. I-I can’t imagine enduring one more beating with a baton.”Especially such a beating from you.She swallowed past the burn in her throat.
Edek placed a gentle kiss to her forehead, allowing his lips to linger on her flesh.
“I wish I could stay here with you, Betsy,” he said, “but I must return to the general. Thank the ancient gods he is nearing retirement age and I will not have to suffer visits like this much longer, for I do not like him. The first time he looked at you, I almost jumped across the table and killed him with my bare hands.”
His words stunned her. She stared at him in awe, trying very hard not to fall even further for her master. She didn’t wish to harbor tenderness for him. Didn’t wish to feel warmth and longing and so many other emotions that whirled through her and often left her reeling and confused. Did he truly mean it? Had he actually wanted to kill his own superior, just for looking at her?
She gulped hard and lowered her head as a new wave of tears spilled from her eyes. Normally, she tried to be brave in front of Edek and hold her tears back, but there was no stopping them tonight.
“I-I understand that you must leave now, Master. It’s okay.”
He kissed her forehead again, and she reveled in the familiar masculine scent of him.
“Stay in this room and do not leave. I know you have not taken your evening meal yet, and I will bring you a tray as soon as I’m able to leave the general again. I hope to get rid of the foulslemmasoon.”
She nodded and was grateful when he assisted her in sitting on the bed. Her legs still felt weak. God, she’d been so afraid he’d actually intended to beat her with a baton that it had given her the shock of her life. Now that she realized he would do no such thing, she felt a bit guilty, but even the new certainty that he would never punish her so savagely didn’t help her regain feeling in her legs.
He tucked her under the covers and trailed a hand along her face, gently stroking her cheek before he finally departed the room.
Chapter 19
