by Dagny Aldan
The covers had been pulled away, the sheets bunched around her as if she had been tossing and turning. Her legs were parted and her arms raised level with her head. The opulence of Ahmed’s rooms gave it all the erotic sense of a Caravaggio painting. Luke put his hands behind his back and sauntered across the room, towards the bed as he said,
“Good morning Ahmed,”
“Good morning Luke,” Ahmed replied, lowering his book to his lap. Luke saw his eyes notice the headphones on Sander, then his eyes jumped to Isabel. “Would you like a private chat?”
“Indeed.” Luke motioned to Sander who moved to where another set of headphones were kept. Sander took them up and climbed onto the bed.
“Don’t wake her,” said Ahmed curtly. Sander nodded, and gently placed the headphones on Isabel’s ears, careful not to disturb her. Luke found himself enjoying the image of the two naked heirs together. Sander’s pale skin and long limbs contrasted prettily with Isabel’s darker, muscled arms and legs. Luke glanced at Ahmed wryly, and saw his friend seemed to be appreciating the scene as well.
“Lie next to her,” said Ahmed softly, rising to his feet. Sander obeyed, resting his head on her outstretched arm, his hand splaying over her stomach. Isabel hummed softly in her sleep, turning her head slightly and shifted her legs so one rubbed against Sander’s. This close, Luke could see the red marks on her thighs, the shine of her wet folds, and what looked like semen on her skin. Ahmed stepped around the bed and switched on Isabel’s headphones. “If she starts to wake up, suck her tits, and don’t stop, understand Sander?”
Sander nodded, he looked quite happy where he was, cuddled next to his friend. It was almost adorable. Luke reached out and switched Sander’s headphones on, so neither slave would hear their conversation.
“I look forward to seeing them together,” said Luke, turning away from the bed. Ahmed nodded, though he looked less interested. “Ahmed, I have had a report from one of the esquires and I’m honestly very concerned by it.”
Ahmed nodded, giving Luke his full attention. Luke inhaled deeply, trying to think of how he ought to phrase the issue.
“According to the esquire, when you gave them their briefing for Isabel you told them that they were to be tough on her, verbally and emotionally, as she’ll be too used to physical stress.”
“Yes, I did,” said Ahmed, looking slightly puzzled. “I made that decision based on Lena’s reports. Isabel has a high pain threshold, and such a deep willingness to please she might not get the point.”
“I can understand that, but my concern is that you told them to verbally put her down. Call her fat and ugly. I am concerned by this instruction, as her school evaluations showed that she was quite sensitive to such things.”
Ahmed inhaled softly, folding his arms across his chest,
“I never told them to call her those specific things, I simply said to deride her. I’d have expected them to be skilled in knowing what not to say.”
“Well this esquire is one of our best, and he also told me that you ordered them to not provide Isabel with aftercare.”
Ahmed stiffened and gave Luke a sharp look,
“I said that I would attend to her aftercare, that’s not the same thing! I would never deny a slave proper aftercare, and the idea that you would think I would-”
“I’m not, but I am concerned that such a dangerous miscommunication occurred. Perhaps you should have another conversation with the esquires this morning after breakfast to be sure that our newest acquisition and our long standing employees are equally safe.”
Ahmed nodded,
“Of course I will.”
Luke nodded in return, but something still confused him,
“Ahmed, why did you say you would attend to her aftercare at all? It sounds like you’re singling her out. That goes against the principles of our entire system.”
Ahmed opened his mouth to answer, but a soft noise made them both look around. Isabel was stirring and Sander had already shifted so he was half on top of her, sucking her nipples lazily. Luke smiled faintly at the scene, but when he glanced at Ahmed he saw a much darker look on his face. It vanished in a split second, but it was a look Luke had never seen on his friend’s face before. It gave him an uneasy feeling.
“What was your question?” asked Ahmed, looked away from the two slaves.
“Why did you single Isabel out?”
“I have not.”
“You’ve never claimed a slave’s introduction or their first taking before,” Luke pointed out. Ahmed huffed and shrugged his shoulders,
“It just seemed appropriate to do so with the last of the heirs. I did it with Adelardo when we brought him here.”
“That was somewhat different, I mean, he was our first slave, and we both took our turns with him.” Luke smiled faintly as he thought of Adelardo, the very first heir they had trained and brought to the Dukedom. Adelardo was a devout believer in their cause, and he was one of the best slaves they ever had. Adelardo was now King of his country with a wife and three children. Still, the last time Luke had spoken with him, Adelardo had sunk to his knees and sucked Luke’s cock as happily as he had when he had been a part of the Dukedom.
“So, you’re saying it’s just a bookend?” Luke prompted Ahmed when Ahmed did not reply.
“Exactly, that’s it,” said Ahmed. He seemed calm, but Luke found himself slightly dubious. Something was still odd about this to him, but his concerns had all been answered logically. Luke resolved to keep an eye out, but give his friend the benefit of the doubt. He had no reason not to.
“Mmmhm,” Isabel murmured, drawing Luke’s attention again. Isabel’s eyes were opening, but unfocused, one of her hands coming down to rest on Sander’s hair. Sander was lavishing attention on her breasts, leaving little shiny spots of spit on her skin. Isabel blinked up at Luke and Ahmed, not seeming to recognise them for a moment, then started in surprise, her hands going to her headphones.
“Ah-ah!” said Ahmed, raising a finger and shaking his head. Isabel hesitated, then lowered her hands, looking at Sander in obvious bewilderment. Tenderly she pushed his fringe out of his eyes and he looked up at her, mouth around her nipple. Isabel smiled at him sweetly, and Luke almost moaned at the innocence of the scene. He wanted to see them make love, watch them caress and pleasure each other, feel a part of their childhood connection. Luke cared for all his charges, but the two princes were his closest slaves.
“I’d like to see these two play together today, maybe even bring Adrian in too. Would you care to watch, or do you have other plans today?” He watched his friend’s face carefully and saw again the dark possessive look pass over Ahmed’s face and disappear.
“I’d be happy to watch it,” Ahmed said in a calm voice that belied his expression.
“Good, I’ll meet you in the Green Room,” said Luke, tapping Sander on the ankle to get his attention. Sander turned around, and when Luke beckoned him, he climbed off the bed and onto his knees on the floor. Isabel sat up, looking disappointed but then quickly did the same after a nervous look at Ahmed. Ahmed grabbed her arm and pulled her up, bending her over the bed.
“I shall see you later Luke,” he said curtly. Luke glanced at the alarmed expression on Isabel’s face and for a moment he considered asking what Ahmed intended to do to her. But he had no reason to think she was in danger and normally he would not even blink at such behaviour. It was just Boran’s words and his bad night’s sleep that made him feel uneasy.
“See you later, Ahmed.”
As they headed down the stairs, Luke touched Sander’s hair to make him pause. Luke reached down and removed the headphones.
“Sander, I want you to keep an eye on Isabel for me. If you see anything that worries you, you are to come to me at once.”
Sander looked puzzled, but nodded his understanding. Luke smiled at him and gestured for him to keep going. He had done the best thing he could, and in any case, it was surely nothing to be worried about.
Chapter Six
teen -Hans
Hans had read through the book on PTSD twice and was growing more anxious about his own behaviour regarding Isabel. But that could be dealt with once he was able to get his sentence overturned. His best chance was proving he wasn’t the one who had been recording Isabel’s every move. How he was going to do that, he had no idea, but he hoped his brother had been able to convince his old friend James to help him out.
“Mikaelsson!”
Hans looked up from the book, a Corrections Officer was looking at him from the door.
“Your lawyer’s here to see you.”
Perplexed, Hans stood up and followed the CO to a private room where a familiar face was waiting.
“Hello Hans.”
“James?” Hans held his hand out automatically to greet his friend, who was a sight for sore eyes after three months of no contact with the outside world. “You’re my lawyer?”
“I am now. Your brother asked me to take a look at your case and when I did I decided I at least had to talk to you.”
“You have no idea how glad I am to see you,” said Hans in relief, sinking into the chair opposite James and drinking him in. He and James had joined the military at the same time but had gone in different directions, with James preferring to become a part of the legal division.
“Well, I hope I should be glad to see you Hans, because this is some serious shit you’ve been convicted of.”
“I know! If it were a case of me just being locked up I’d be less worried, but James the people who put me here are still out there and they’re the ones who’ve been doing all this stuff to Isabel. I don’t know why they wanted her out of the military, or why they were recording her or any of it, but they’re obviously powerful and dangerous.”
“You think the threats are still legit?” asked James.
“I have no idea, but I don’t want to take the risk. I read those threats James, just thinking about them is driving me mad. I don’t want anything to happen to Isabel.”
“But why go to so much trouble? What are they looking to gain? If the threats are a front, then we need to figure out who would be behind it.”
“Well, you’ll need to be careful, because whoever it is clearly has far reaching tendrils. I barely got a trial and we’re supposed to have measures against that!”
“True, but the evidence is stacked against you. The hard drive was found in your room.”
“Why would I be so stupid as to have it in my room?” demanded Hans. “Did that not strike anyone as too convenient?”
“You could have gotten cocky,” said James with a shrug. “You’d gotten what you wanted and that was all you cared about.”
Hans had to take a deep, calming breath to keep his cool. He knew James was only asking because it’s what he was meant to do.
“James, I am telling you, I did not do this. All I wanted to do was keep Isabel safe. I let my emotions run away with me, I admit that. I fell in love with her, but I would never hurt her.”
“You realise all anyone has to do to refute that is point out that what you call love everyone else would call obsession and stalking? Not to mention the recordings showing what you and the princess got up to. I mean… fuck Hans, it’s pretty dark stuff!”
Hans stiffened and swallowed hard,
“Have… have you seen the footage?”
James cleared his throat and tapped the table nervously,
“No, if I’d tried to see it, that might have alerted the wrong people. But there’s a sort of… transcript of it. Descriptions and a few… stills.”
“Oh fucking hell,” groaned Hans, burying his face in his hands.
“Yeah…” sighed James. There a long moment of silence while Hans tried to get his humiliation under control.
“Ok,” he said, flattening his hands on the table, “I know it’s not exactly conventional, but it was all consensual.” ‘More or less,’ he did not add even though he knew it in his heart.
“Unconventional isn’t the word Hans, it’s pretty twisted,” said James, shaking his head. “Look I get a little kink but what you two got up to… I’m not going to lie, it makes me doubt your innocence. You tied her up and beat her.”
“I spanked her! I was a bit rough, but if Isabel had said stop I would have.”
“The problem is that we only have your word for it. Isabel was never interviewed, and even if she had been, the prosecution raised serious doubts about her ability to consent given the power dynamic. You may have been her bodyguard but you knew that she was in danger and she did not. Not to mention that you outrank her in the military.”
“But I’m retired!”
“But you still officially outrank her. Besides… the prosecution indicated that she might not have been… wholly competent.” James scratched his stubble beard uncomfortably as Hans tried to understand his meaning.
“What do you mean? You said Isabel was never interviewed.”
“No, but the prosecution made the case that since she was coming back from a war zone, she might been particularly vulnerable to being taken advantage of.”
Hans dragged a hand over his face,
“You know what, she was fucking vulnerable, because no one was willing to actually talk to her except for me. Her parents dragged her home after years without contact and gave no reason, and no one seems to have bothered to get her psychologically evaluated. I assumed someone had had the brains to check her for PTSD and cleared her, until a slamming door sent her into flashback and she thought she was back in the Caliphate!”
“So she does have PTSD?” asked James.
“It only happened once, but the fact is she only relaxed and smiled when we were together and I was giving her something to focus on.”
“By that you mean the… bondage.”
“Exactly.”
James did not look convinced. Hans knew it sounded ridiculous. He levelled James with his most pleading expression,
“James, forget about getting me out of here. Just please, look into this for the sake of Isabel. I have been going out of my mind thinking that she’s in trouble. Whatever else that’s happened I got to know her and she’s got a desperate need to please anyone who’ll give her affection. I could never get to the bottom of why, hell I didn’t really try to find out because I was so damn happy just to have her in my arms. I still don’t know why she joined up in the first place, or what she saw there, but she’s isolated. If she thinks I’ve betrayed her that’s one more person who’s hurt her.”
“And you think that whoever is behind your framing wants her that way?”
“I don’t know, maybe. Just please James, just tell me she’s ok. You must have checked in on her before you came here?”
James sighed,
“I did. She’s not in the country anymore.”
“What? Where is she?”
“I don’t know, I couldn’t find out,” said James, “All I could determine is that she went away with her PRO for some sort of… educational retreat.”
“But you don’t know where? Wouldn’t it be with some other royals if it’s an educational retreat?”
“That’s what I thought, so I went looking for information on other heirs and where they currently are.”
“And?”
“And… most of them are on ‘educational retreats’.”
“WHAT?” Hans almost jumped to his feet in disbelief.
“Sit down you idiot!” hissed James, eying the CO outside the door. “I don’t want anyone to come in here!”
“All the heirs are missing?”
“I didn’t say that, I just said most of them are on educational retreats.”
“So where are they?” asked Hans, clenching his hands into fists.
“I wasn’t able to find them. Granted I don’t have many connections that would let me find out what their secret service know, but when I started asking around it seemed to occur to the people I spoke to that they didn’t know where their charges were and that was probably not a good thing.”
“Are you serious? No one knows where the heirs to most of the planet are?”
“It sounds like the heirs comings and goings are handled by their Public Relations Officers. They keep the secret service appraised of any movements and are the ones who organised the educational retreats.”
Hans pushed himself back to sink into his chair, biting his thumbnail in thought. Then he looked at James as a realisation that had been brewing for weeks finally came to the surface.
“Lena.”
“Who?”
“Lena Kim, Isabel’s PRO. She had the same level of access I did, and she was definitely very interested in Isabel beyond usual appropriateness.”
“Are you sure you’re the one who’d be able to notice that?”
Hans glared at him,
“You need to look into Lena’s background, see if there’s any connection between her and other PROs for other heirs.”
“You think she’s the one who framed you?”
“It’s the only person I can think of who would stand to benefit from my dismissal. Lena and I were the only ones Isabel was able to spend any real time with. Plus, Lena always seemed to know about things she shouldn’t have.” Hans thought back to all the things Lena had said to him when he and Isabel had been snowed in in Lena’s cabin. “Lena has a house in the mountains, I can give you the coordinates. She has a whole room of BDSM toys and I bet there’s cameras in that house.”
“It could be a security measure,” said James, though he looked thoughtful rather than dismissive.
“If there’s cameras, there’s a server to save all the footage. Find it and see if the same footage from Isabel’s rooms is on it. I never had access to that server, it’s not something I could have planted.”
“I’d need to get a warrant,” said James.
“Do what you need to, but keep Lena from finding out. If she’s involved and this is going beyond Isabel, then you need to be careful. Lena’s a lot smarter than she lets on.”
James’ eyes scrutinised Hans carefully and Hans tried to keep his face open. He needed James to trust and believe him if there was any chance of protecting Isabel or getting out of here. At last James sighed and nodded,
