“My master did the same. I suppose that’s a common sham.”
“Probably. Basically, I wasn’t a child sex slave, I was a child slave, but I was sold as a virgin more times than I can count. I think I was five or six the first time. I was still learning to speak. They alwayschangedme soon after, which meant one of my handlers had to rape me, too, except then, I had to enjoy it, which was...” She shook her head and shuddered. “I guesschangingme afterwards probably kept me as close to a virgin physically as possible.”
I’d never been forced to enjoy those childhood rapes. I couldn’t imagine how much that must’ve screwed with her psyche. I didn’t speak my thoughts out loud, though. It felt as if she’d feel better if I shared something, too. She’d given me a lot, and it couldn’t have been easy, so it was only fair I give her the same.
“I was taken from foster care. I believe I was in first grade, so I’d have been six, probably. The focus was on building muscles, so I worked on a variety of farms. I know how to raise cows and pigs, and I know how to grow corn, barley, and spinach. I was moved from farm to farm depending on the season — wherever they needed heavy lifting. The goal was to build muscles and endurance. Eventually, they sent me to an academy to learn martial arts, and then a school so I could learn the skills I’d need in order to be personal bodyguard to a Master Vampire.”
“And he controlled you.Completely. There was no danger of you turning on him. You’d have died before you let anything happen to him.”
“Yes. Gavin took him down when I’d been sent to another wing to be a plaything to one of his visiting guests. I wasn’t there to protect him. It took me a few months to get past that. At first, even though I had to respect Master Abbott and Gavin, I hatedthem both, all the way down in my guts. On Abbott’s orders, Gavin had killed the man I’d sworn allegiance to. Eventually, I came to respect Master Abbott as a good person. Honorable. I follow him now because I choose to, not because I’m forced. I mean, I know the blood bond is there, but I’d have this respect for him even if it wasn’t.”
“I wasn’t sure what to think of Queen Sophia, at first. She took over the Kingdom from her father. She was supposed to marry one man, but then she escaped, married another, and staged a coup. Or, that was the way it looked to the people who managed me, and I didn’t hear anyone else’s gossip or opinions.” She pushed a stray hair away from her face and behind an ear. “Her father had owned me, and now she did, but I knew nothing about her. Everything was out of whack. It was a scary time. Once I saw her, even from a distance, I felt like everything would be okay. I can’t really explain it. I never expected to meet her in person, but she spent a few minutes with every slave. Some of us got longer than a few minutes. She asked us what we wanted, and then told us she couldn’t make any promises, but that our wishes were noted, and she was putting people in charge who’d try to make it happen.”
“What did you tell her?”
“I told her I didn’t know what I wanted. I’d always been a slave, and I didn’t know how to be anything else. I’d like to be in service to someone kind, but I didn’t want to have to make decisions. She said it sounded like I knew what I wanted. I guess she was right.”
“I don’t think I’m always kind, Arabella.”
“That’s okay. I mean, the definition of a slave is someone who doesn’t get a say. Someone who’s there to be whatever their owner requires. Also, if you always get what you want, I don’t think that’s a slave. You have to be shown your place sometimes or it doesn’t feel right. I talked to the Dragon King about this.He understands. He said Abbott would be able to give me what I needed.”
“Then we’ll see if they think I can give that to you. It’s possible you need to go back to Abbott. That will make me sad, personally, but I want what’s best for you.”
“I hope I get to stay with the three of you.” She sat up. “There’s more. I didn’t think I wanted to tell anyone, but you should know. The people who worked the onion farm were put on a bus and taken to a brothel — we worked the fields three days, then the brothel one day. We weren’t sex slaves, though. It wasn’t that kind of brothel. We were blindfolded and gagged — bit gags with an extra piece to hold the tongue down, to make sure we couldn’t talk.”
She fiddled with her hair, clearly deciding how much to tell me. Again, I gave her time. She looked at the table between us, her eyes down to tell me the rest. “Some of us were bound leaned over a platform with our butts up in the air, others were tied into a swing thing, some were flat on our back with our legs out to the side and in the air, situated so people walked up to us to use our holes while they stood, others were in the same position on low platforms, so the customer laid on us or over us when they used us. Our arms were always bound, too. We spent four hours in each position, with ten minutes to drink a disgusting high calorie concoction and empty our bladder before we went to the next position. They cleaned us out with enemas the night before, so that wasn’t an issue. The brothel was open sixteen hours a day. A constant stream of customers. One after another, but we didn’t have to do anything. We weren’t sex slaves. We were objects. There was zero training for this. Anyone who caused a problem was severely beaten and then not fed for days, but they still had to work the fields if they didn’t want to be beaten again.”
“Come here.”
She stood and walked to me, and I pulled her into my lap. She let me cradle her and hold her. It seemed important I see her right then. The person. The swan.Her.
“Thank you for trusting me with your story. I will always seeyou, Arabella. You’ll never be a thing to me.”
“Sex toy training was so much harder, but it was fulfilling. Iwantyou to use me for your pleasure. We were allowed to orgasm at the brothel, and I did, sometimes. There were no rules about it. Our overseers didn’t care one way or another. I think some of the customers got off on knowing we did, but most probably didn’t care.” She sighed. “I’m not saying this right. During sex toy training — the part where you have to learn not to orgasm without permission — I learned how to control it and hold it back for everything except being objectified, and I had these mega-explosive orgasms for that. No way to hold them back. I don’t see objectification as a bad thing. You should use me however you want. Part of the training was supposed to identify triggers a future owner or employer should avoid, so they’d know before they paid for me. I don’t have any. There’s a list of things I need more training for, but nothing to avoid.”
“What do you need more training for?”
“Deep throating. I can do it okay, but they weren’t able to fully get rid of my gag reflex. We didn’t have to give blow jobs at the brothel. I guess that’s something you have to be taught, and we weren’t trained. Also, the thing about not being able to hold back an orgasm when I’m objectified or blindfolded. Oh, and I can’t be quiet when I’m flogged or spanked or whipped. I scream and I can’t help it. There’s more. I can’t remember everything. I suck at strip teases.”
She seemed ready to stop talking about it, so I asked, “Did you grow onions year-round? What did you do between planting and harvesting?”
“Spinach. Cauliflower. Carrots. Not as much acreage for those, but I guess they had the timing down so there wasalwayswork for us. During our busiest times they brought more people in, but they just worked the farm, they didn’t go to the brothel, so it was still every fourth day. Honestly? Sometimes it felt like a rest day.”
I held her while we talked, and she eventually fell asleep. I moved her to the other sofa and found a throw to put over her.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Kieran
My eyes opened to a strange room. I smelled Abbott, but Gwen was beside me. I sat up, looked around, and remembered we were in Abbott’s suite at the coterie house. Usually, I close my eyes and then open them as if no time has passed. I know where I am because I only closed my eyes a few seconds before. I supposed the difference on this day had to do with nearly dying the evening before.
My heart hadn’t beaten yet, but it galloped in my chest when Gwen stirred beside me. I’d been waking fifteen to twenty minutes before her for a while, and now I was waking less than a minute before her. Was this another artifact of almost dying?
No. It was because she’d gained power by initiating thepower of threeand helping heal me in such rapid fashion. I wasn’t less, she was more.
My lovely wife stretched and sat up. “Do we need to discuss anything before letting our wolf and swan in? Ajax needs sleep.”
“I’ve only been awake for about a minute.”
