Page 154 of Uncrowned

“No. They have a Main Master, like me. His name is Elec Wexler. The president is a puppet. They come and go every few years. The entity as a whole, the government, is who is in control. But not the one that everyone sees. There are darker, secret departments that exist, and they’re the ones who brought in Elec Wexler for The Garden of the Gods.”

“So, all countries appoint a Main Master, except us.”

“Yes. You got it. The monarchy didn’t appoint me, which is why we’re different. We, The Order, are sovereign, but in partnership with the Collective High Council, which are the overseers of every place like this.”

Vaughn led me out of the Ritual Room.

“The first place I will take you are the slave quarters. There are numerous halls filled with those who will be auctioned, sacrificed, bred, and trained for staff. Each hall stands for something different.”

I slowed, not able to wrap my mind around his words.

“Bred?”

Vaughn’s face tightened as he nodded. “The menu calls for it. It was one of the first rules to go into effect. It’s there. I can’t change it. It just is. We accept. It is the only way.”

“Menu.” I nearly choked on the word. “People here eat babies?”

“It is a delicacy.”

“…Have you …eaten⁠—”

“No.” His jaw tightened. “Nor will I.”

I let out a deep breath. “I won’t have to⁠—”

“No.”

“Thank God.” I cut my eyes over. “And that law can’t be…” At his look, I nodded, pressing my hand firmly to my stomach so I wouldn’t be sick. “So, each hall is for a different kind of slave. Why do the Masters buy them? For sex? To kill? I’m sorry, maybe I was sheltered a little too much. I don’t quite understand, but I’m trying.”

“Anything.” Vaughn’s hand settled on my lower back as he led me to a hall off to the left. “They can do whatever they want with them. When they buy a slave, they own their life. They can use them for sex. They can murder or eat them. We once had a master who used the skin of his slaves for his own decorative wallpaper. We’ve since remodeled that apartment and opened it to everyone. We call it, The Flayed Suite. It’s popular to have drinks in there on auction night. It inspires the men.”

“Inspires?” Harder, I pressed into my stomach. “What else?”

“We have a Master who likes to make wigs from his slaves. He’ll scalp them, and if they survive, he befriends them until it’s time for the next auction. They rarely survive the first forty-eight hours. I think only one or two have, but it is known to happen.”

“Scalps them. …Okay. Right. What else?”

Vaughn slowed, coming to a stop as he turned me to face him. He didn’t appear upset or angry. More amused, if not a bit sad.

“You’re trying so hard. There’s everything you can think of, and a million things you can’t. It’s going to take time, Penelope.”

I bit my bottom lip, trying to keep the worry from my face. Time… How would I ever be able to accept the horrors The Order held? I was naïve to that amount of sadism—psychopathy. Truly clueless, and out of my element. That scared me. And I was smart to be afraid. How could I be prepared if I couldn’t even comprehend motives or desires that went that extreme?

“Vaughn, I don’t have time. I must know and understand this now.”

He looked around, making sure we were alone before he brushed his lips over mine.

“You are not them. How could you possibly understand something you don’t feel? There’s accepting it and controlling it. Sometimes, we can relate. It is not our place to try to empathize—there is no empathy for the abominable. There is only placement. That’s The Order.”

All I could do was stare up to him and nod. We headed through two large white doors with gold trim, and the hall seemed to grow darker with every step. Torches randomly lined the walls on each side of stone, and screams echoed. A door somewhere slammed shut, and more than one baby cried in the distance. I didn’t need to be told this was the breeding hall. The agonizing pleas spoke for themselves. How was I going to understand this? Live this?

The Order…

It was the home of the depraved, built on the unjustifiable. Vaughn kissed me like I was his world and then introduced me to hell. This underground kingdom defined evil, and I had chosen a man, a life, centered on ruling it. If I had known from the beginning that it was this bad, would I have said my vows? Would I have loved Vaughn any less… or understood him sooner?

I didn’t know.

What I did know was that I loved him now, and despite whether he ran this place or not, someone would. They were all over the world, being operated by the most powerful people on the planet.