Page 22 of Given to the Fae
‘At least twice a day until her anxieties begin to wane. I’d do it in the block if you can, to get her used to it, but if you don’t have one then holding her over a table would work. If she’s a nuisance, you can tie her hands to it easily enough. I’d suggest no discipline for a good few weeks. Let her begin to associate her masters with pleasure rather than pain, and her temperament will improve.’
My arms tighten over the human. I’ve been keeping my distance from them all since The Barrack, because, though I feel for their plights, I find the slaves to be false and deceptive creatures. They’ll hurt each other with no remorse if they think it’ll ingratiate them with their masters. They form alliances with each other only to turn on their friends when it benefits them. They’re not at all like the free humans we know.
I’d never turn my back on any of these ones out here, least of all this one. I saw how quickly she beat her friend. She didn’t even give her a chance, just hit her, knocking her out in seconds. It was easy to see from my vantage point in the trees, though I turned away as soon as I saw her do it, not wanting to see what Bere’s men did with the woman while she was unconscious in the dirt.
I hate this mission despite its importance. I hope we get what we need soon because I want nothing more than to return to my home and not venture to the Dark Realms again for a good, long while.
I pick up the slave’s dress and prop her up against my chest, draping it over her head and putting her arms throughas one would dress a tiny child. She doesn’t wake and I find myself cradling her. It’s the easiest way to hold the small, floppy creature.
I half listen to Locke ask a few more questions. Coin changes hands and the door is opened. As I go outside, the female against me nuzzles into my chest and I freeze mid-stride with a snarl.
If she assumes me to be her next mark for better treatment, she has another thing coming. But she doesn’t tense at my warning, just rests her head against my chest with a sigh and I frown. Is she still in her faint or is this some kind of trick to try to get my guard down?
‘It won’t work,’ I mutter.
Her eyes flutter and I put her on her feet as soon as they open. She looks up at me, confusion in her eyes and her brow furrowing. She looks around and then down at herself, swaying little and catching herself on my arm.
She gives a small gasp when she realizes what she’s done, and staggers back, her eyes lowered again.
‘I’m sorry, my lord.’
I merely grunt and let Locke pick up the end of the rope to lead her back through the streets. I look up at the sky. Judging from the sun, it's already mid-afternoon, and I wonder if that cunt, Bere, will make us watch the cargo again. He lets the ones who have been part of his group go off carousing but rarely allows me and Jak to do the same. I know it’s because we’re the most recent additions. I joined just three months ago, while Jak did about four weeks ago, all three of us at different times to give the illusion that we’re strangers to each other for this fucking mission. Gods, how I’ve loathed the last three months. Watching Bere and his men do whatever they want to the slaves, watching the slaves do whatever they want to each other. It’s enough to make even a fae like me, born in the Dark Realms, sick to mystomach. The one currently being led by Locke is just as bad as the others. I have to remember that.
I try not to think about the marks on her body, the casual way she said what was done to her as if she was describing her last meal, and not her own torturous punishments at the hands of her masters at The Barrack. Fuck, when I saw the conditions of that hellscape, it was all I could do not to brain that demon, Ogdan, and his sycophant, Sio, with my bare fists.
Growing up in a place like that, is it any wonder she’s the way she is?
No, I’ll give her that. But the why doesn’t really matter. The fact is a slave, especially one like her, can never, ever be trusted, and I know the others feel the same way.
On our first day out here, I watched a boy of no more than ten take a large stone and throw it at a woman’s skull for no other reason than he wanted the food she had. He waited until he thought no one was looking, but I saw him kill her for a piece of bread. I’ve seen the human males, the bulls, grab the most downtrodden of their females and rut them hard wherever they are with no thought to their distress, or their cries. Last night, I saw a strong female beat a smaller one in a fight for the pleasure of a group of fae around a fire for a warm place to sleep. No. I look away from the human girl. I’ll keep her alive so that she can be sold, as Bere wants, while we wait and see if Soreno and Tori are snapped up by the bigger fish. They should be. They’re both just the type that get sold straight to the top of the food chain. And the top is what we need to find.
When we get back to the stable, Bere is there overseeing the bulls being tested for their virility by an interested party. Having already seen what that entails, I don’t bother to investigate. I see Jak who hands me a tankard of ale and gratefully let him take the girl to the others while Locke explains to Bere what the healer told us.
I settle onto a bale of hay with my drink with a sigh only to be beckoned over by our inglorious leader as soon as I’ve sat down. I get up, stifling my sound of displeasure and force my face into a mask of indifference as I saunter over.
I nod at Bere and he tries to stare me down. He does this often though I’m at least a head taller than him and twice as broad. I hope I get to be the one who ends his miserable existence when we don’t need his little gang anymore.
‘Locke, Silve, Warrior, Derth, Jak, and Sickle are coming with me to speak to a couple of the buyers for the bulls tonight at the inn by the crossroads outside of town. Hari and Kings will be staying in the stable with the cargo until we return.’ He looks annoyed. ‘But as that pixie cunt of a healer has decided to take an interest in the welfare of the Breach Blet female, my hands are tied. I have to follow her advice in the slave’s care, or she’ll be taken and auctioned to the benefit of the Council’s coffers. She’s to have food and warmth, and no demands made of her body besides the pleasure of release.’
I nod, seeing where this is going with a sinking feeling in my gut.
‘I’ve noticed you don’t partake of the slaves, so you will be the one to stay with her in one of the rooms in the tavern. I can’t trust the others not to rut her or beat her bloody.’ Bere jabs me in the chest, and I look down at his finger. He hastily removes it with a cough, covering the movement with a scratch to his cheek. ‘If I entrust her to your care, can I rest easy?’
I let out a sigh as I notice Locke giving me a warning look.
For the mission.
‘Aye, Bere, I’ll keep her safe for selling.’
‘Good. I’ll leave her in your care until we reach the arenas she’s promised to then. Be sure to release her as the healer said. I won’t have her arriving anxious and flighty. I have a reputation for providing them with hearty slaves and good stock.’
I force out an ‘indeed’.
‘Take her inside. I’ll send one of the others in later to give you some respite.’
I nod and watch as Bere and the rest leave. Locke doesn’t grace me with even a glance in my direction.
His single mindedness was why we chose him to lead us in this long-term subterfuge, but sometimes I want to hit him for being such a cunt.
