Sold to Serve by Kyra Alessy
Chapter 8
The next morning she was awoken by Davas as usual. The older man enquired as to her lack of clothing and she spun him a tale of washing her dress but it not being dry enough to don as yet. He gave her an inquisitive look but went off, reappearing a few moments later with a replacement. He turned his back on her and she turned hers as well, doubting she’d get any more privacy than that this morning and finding that after the events of the past weeks, she didn’t much care anymore.
Her body was sore, but she couldn’t say whether most of the aches were from her daytime work or what Mace had done – except the tenderness between her legs. That was definitely from last night. She frowned as she thought back to what had happened. She wouldn’t have chosen it as her first experience with a man, but it hadn’t been altogether unpleasant, she supposed, and better him than Blackhale. But it had left her wanting something. It was as if she’d started down a path and not got to where she was going. She wished she had someone to talk to about it, but there were no other women here, and she couldn’t very well ask poor Davas.
At least one good thing had come out of it, though, and it gave her some measure of comfort. She no longer had her virtue. Perhaps if Blackhale ever did find her, that alone would make him consider finding a bride more suitable than she.
She let the blanket fall away and quickly pulled the dark-blue dress over her head. This one fit better than the sack before it and even had a bodice with lacings, though it showed off more of her chest than she’d like in her current circumstances. The cloth was still sturdy and coarse – she did miss her soft novice robes – but she supposed this thicker wool was better suited to her life for the moment.
She had to try to escape again. Sooner or later they would let down their guard. They had to. She wasn’t sure how she would do it, but with Lucian’s hostility towards her and what had happened last night, she couldn’t stay here. She wasn’t sure where she would go now, though, either. Uncle Royce might take her in, perhaps, but he spent much of his time at sea and she didn’t know where his ship usually berthed.
She turned back to Davas and found him facing her, eyes frozen on her now-covered thighs and looking disturbed.
‘Davas!’ she gasped.
He shifted his gaze at once. ‘I’m sorry, lass, I thought you were decent. I …’ He hesitated. ‘Are you alright, lass?’
Before she could answer, one of the soldiers sauntered through the side door of the kitchen. ‘Davas, where’s our fucking breakfast, man? We’re starving to death out here waiting.’
Davas swore and grabbed a basket of day-old sweet buns. ‘Take these and be thankful you have anything,’ he huffed.
The soldier took the proffered rolls absently, staring at Kora with a smirk on his face. ‘Yorn and Abos heard a girl in Mace’s room last night, moaning and screaming. Sounded like he was giving her a good, hard fuck, they said.’ He eyed her, his gaze lingering on the view of her figure that her new fitted clothes allowed him as he licked his lips meaningfully. ‘Let me know when it’s my turn, eh?’
Stupidly, she hadn’t realised everyone would know. With a shudder, Kora turned away from him to hide her pink cheeks, busying herself with stirring a pot of gruel over the hearth. She heard the man snicker and then leave them alone. She could feel Davas’s gaze on her back and wanted to melt into the floor.
‘Gods,’ she heard Davas sigh. ‘Kora?’
She turned to face him, a man she considered her friend, knowing that the judgement in his eyes would be worse than the other men’s whispers and lewd suggestions. But when she finally met them, she only saw his concern.
‘Did he … did he force himself on you, girl?’
Again, her answer was cut off by a new arrival as Lucian appeared. He scowled when he saw her dress, his lip curling in annoyance. ‘Gods, you’re never doing your work, are you, slave?’ He shook his head. ‘Take her to the barracks, Davas, and make sure she’s chained tightly for the men’s use.’
Kora gulped as her stomach clenched in dread. She glanced at Davas, who looked as shocked as she felt. He opened his mouth to answer when Lucian continued.
‘But then I suppose it’s early. The men won’t need you on your back until tonight.’ He turned to the cook. ‘We’re almost out of salve. She’ll spend the day on the hillside picking faerie flowers and you can make it tomorrow.’
His gaze bore into her and her skin began to prickle. Lucian’s anger was gone, but she knew that look. He had something up his sleeve. She looked at the floor, wondering what fresh trickeries he was going to subject her to today.
‘Riken can watch her.’ His fingers grabbed her chin and made her look at him. ‘And, mark me,’ he said, the tenderness in his tone belying the warning of his words, ‘if you try anything – anything at all – I will drag you up to that X, strip you naked, whip your flesh bloody and let the men have whatever’s left of you.’
She pulled away from him, not giving him the satisfaction of her fear, though she had no doubt that he’d do what he threatened. But if she had the chance, she knew she’d try to run while she was outside the keep’s walls. She couldn’t not. Gods only knew when she’d get another opportunity like this. So she nodded once with a demure ‘Yes, my lord,’ and that was that.
* * *
Mace woke late for once, relaxed and well-rested. The nightmares hadn’t woken him last night. He looked over, half-expecting the girl to still be curled up in his bed, making the most of having been bedded by a lord of the keep, but she was gone. Good riddance. So why was he feeling something that felt very much like disappointment? He frowned.
Someone pounded on the door and let themselves in. Mace didn’t bother to look. His Brothers would never knock and the men wouldn’t dare enter at all without his leave. Davas was probably bringing his morning meal, though if the noise was anything to go by, he was in a foul mood.
Hearing nothing more, Mace finally looked up and found Davas staring at him – no, not at him, at his bed.
‘Did you rape her, boy?’ he bellowed, clearly past minding who heard him. ‘I don’t care that I’ve been with you since you joined the Brothers nor that you’ve saved my life more times than I can count; if you did, I’ll beat you blue, I swear it!’
Mace let out a long breath, guessing what his old friend was talking about. ‘I don’t force women,’ he said in a bored tone. ‘She appeared in my room naked. She practically threw herself at me.’
Davas scratched at his greying auburn beard, looking agitated.
Mace stood, not bothering to cover his nakedness. ‘What is this?’ he asked, rapidly losing patience. ‘What’s this about?’
‘The girl. She’s good. Kind. Doesn’t deserve how you and Luc have been treating her.’ Davas paced the room, his boots thudding on the stone. He turned back, pinning Mace with an icy stare. ‘You took the girl’s maidenhead last night, so I ask you again – was she willing?’
‘Maidenhead?’ Mace chuckled. Kora had definitely got Davas wrapped around her deceitful little finger. ‘I don’t know what lies she’s been telling, but – ’
‘I saw the evidence for myself, boy,’ Davas interrupted. ‘She’s said nothing to me about it. But all the men know you bedded her, too, so you best let them know she’s yours before they get the idea that she’s anyone’s for the taking.’
His? Mace’s brow furrowed as he thought through the night’s events. She’d been afraid, but he’d thought it was just trepidation at seeing through whatever ridiculous plan she had decided to enact. He hadn’t been overly gentle with her in punishment for her machinations in trying to get into his bed, but he hadn’t actively been trying to hurt her either – though now he wondered: had she tensed in pain when he’d entered her?
‘No …’ he muttered incredulously as he drew back the counterpane. Blood. Not very much, but enough. He sat down on the bed and ran through everything he’d said and done, cringing inwardly. He was a bastard.
‘I didn’t know. She … she’s a slave,’ he said feebly. ‘She’s beautiful.’ He threw up his hands. ‘Gods, every house slave I’ve ever known … it’s practically part and parcel of their duties on most estates.’
Davas growled but didn’t say anything more in reply to Mace. Instead, he stomped back to the door. At the last moment he swore and turned back. ‘In case you care, Luc has her on the hillside this morning picking faerie flowers. Told her we have no gloves to spare and ordered me not to go finding any for her.’
Mace scowled. ‘But no one harvests those with their bare hands. The oils in the petals play with your mind.’
Davas fixed him with a hard stare. ‘Aye, we all know that but she don’t. He plays nasty tricks on that girl. Wouldn’t surprise me if he’s the reason she ended up in your room last night without her clothes. I left her bathing downstairs. This morning her dress is nowhere to be found.’ He sniffed, his voice hard. ‘Sure she was willing?’
No, Mace wasn’t sure. He shut his eyes as the door banged closed behind Davas. She hadn’t fought him, but …
He ran a hand through his short hair, remembering how he’d threatened her with the two guards. She’d have done anything to stop him from calling them back. The memory of the fear on her face … He clenched his fists. He had been a brute to her.
Why had he cared about the reasons she was being sold in the first place? Loyalty was important within their Brotherhood, but she wasn’t one of them. She hadn’t betrayed them. Yet somehow the slaver’s words had lit a fury in him where she was concerned. He’d been so angry with her for the way she’d made him feel. She’d stood on the dais regal as a queen even as the slaver’s fingers were tangled tightly in her hair and he hadn’t been able to take his eyes off her. Mace almost hadn’t bid on her. But then he’d seen the other bidder, a man he recognised. No matter what, no woman deserved what that madman would do to her. And so he had bought her. What were the odds of her being a maiden still? Things just didn’t add up where Kora was concerned. She had to be a house slave. Everything about her confirmed it. Almost everything.
He rubbed his face. He needed to find her before she began picking those fucking flowers. Fuck Lucian. By the time Mace was done with him, he’d be bedridden for weeks. He threw on his clothes, wondering how long before Kade heard about last night’s events. His Brother had made no secret of the fact that he liked Kora, and he was going to be furious when he learned what Mace had done.