Baellius snorted as the Captain grinned.
“You're very amusing,” Aras said. “I'm glad I've decided to sell you instead of killing you.” He stroked a hand over my head and into my hair, threading his fingers in my braid, and yanked my head forward. “Enjoy sucking cock, do you? Good. You'll have plenty of dicks to drain in Zaru. Maybe you'll be bought by a pleasure house. Then you'll have new cocks to gobble up every day.”
Another chill went down my spine. No. They could sell me, but that didn't mean I would obey. All this meant was that I got to live a little longer. I kept that thought in my head and used it to steel myself.
“No?” Captain Aras asked. “Still not talking?”
“No, Captain,” I said. Then I licked my lips and looked at his crotch. “But my offer still stands. I've never had a Hulfrin. Is it true that your dicks are more pointed than others?”
Aras made a rumbling sound in his chest and shoved me away. “Tie him to the foot of the bed.”
Baellius lifted his brows at that—the thick black stripes above his eyes going up with them. But he still said, “Yes, Captain.”
And oh, look at that, Baellius had come prepared. He went to one of the crates stacked against the wall and opened it.Out came a length of chain and a shackle. Not a rope this time. Oh, fuck.
I began to tremble. Ropes weren't a problem, but chains reminded me of the Gashi. At least there wasn't a collar, but the chains were worse. Without the chains, I could convince myself that a collar was merely a necklace, but the chains couldn't be denied. Chains meant no escape. They meant no freedom. They meant I was a slave.
I shot to my feet, then swayed and nearly fell. Baellius grabbed my arm and hauled me into the adjoining bedroom. He tossed me onto the floor near the gigantic bed, then, as I struggled to get up, smacked a shackle around my ankle. The chain attached to it got wound around the bedpost, then locked in place.
“No,” I whispered.
“What was that, Zixin?” Aras asked casually.
“No.” I yanked at the chain. “No!”
“Shut up!” Baellius hissed.
“Let me go!” I cried. “Let me go! Get it off me!” I lost my composure. All my precious calm gone. The mask destroyed. With strength I didn't know I had left in me, I pulled at the chain and knocked into the bed with my shoulder, trying to crack the wood. “Get it off! Take it off now, motherfuckers! Not again! Never again! I'll fucking kill you all! I'll kill you! Let me go now!”
“What the fuck?” Aras whispered.
“Shut up, pirate!” Baellius backhanded me.
I snarled at him and slashed out with my claws. Baellius jumped back.
“Fascinating,” Aras murmured as he watched me.
“Let me go!” I shrieked. Then it sank in that I was truly trapped, and I whimpered. “Please, take it off me. Please!”
Captain Aras crouched beside me again. “You know what you have to do to get free, Zixin. Give me the names.”
I made a broken sound and curled into a ball.
“What do you want me to do, Captain?” Baellius asked.
“Nothing.” Captain Aras said. “Leave him as he is. I think we've stumbled upon the perfect form of torture. But stay here with him. Make sure he doesn't chew off his own leg like a fucking animal. I have to meet with King Lyrandir.” His tone went grimmer, “And find a way to mollify him.”
“Yes, Captain.”
It was the last words I heard before I sank into the past, drowning in it. Pulled under by flashes of white teeth against dark skin. A raised fist. The pain of overworked muscles combined with fresh wounds. Knives sliced into me. Blood in the water. So much blood.
Chapter Ten
“Zixin,” someone called.
I whimpered. It was one of them. My captors. Would I be beaten again this morning? I covered my head with my arms and curled in to protect my organs.
“Zixin,” the voice went sharper.
