Sidney comes in, barely looks at anyone but Stacey, and holds out a hand.
Stacey’s grin widens, and she crosses the room towards him, amidst the huffs of the other women, all angry at the effort they are continually putting in, for nothing.
“Lauren, too.” Sidney looks my way finally. I feel my face colour, as the other women’s mouths drop open.
What must they think? That the Master is having sex with both of us at once? But as we leave the room I push away that thought. Who cares what they think. It’s what’s really happening that’s important.
We don’t go to Sidney’s rooms first, tonight. Instead we pass by his door, and continue to the end of the hallway, where he opens up a door into a room twice the size of the one we women share in our quarters.
It’s lavishly decorated, gold-tassel curtains at the windows, an enormous bed, covered with thick blankets, embroidered with shimmering material.
Through a door beside the bed there is a wardrobe the size of the small room I have, then another door, which leads to a bathroom, with its own running water and toilet.
Two fluffy towels rest on the vanity, and an array of creams and brushes can be seen.
“I don’t know what else a pregnant woman might need,” Sidney says, almost apologetically. “But if there is anything, you only need to ask.”
He’s talking to Stacey of course. I can’t help but wonder how many of these rooms he has. What if he gets everyone pregnant? Will we all have a room like this?
At the door he gives Stacey a kiss on the forehead.
“There’s a bell,” he nods towards a button by the door, “which will summon a servant for anything you need. And another,” this time he gestures to one by the bed, “which will call me. If you have any problems with anything. If any of the servants cause you problems, or I don’t know, anything. Don’t hesitate to use it.”
Stacey nods.
“I have a servant coming soon to help you with your bath, and they’ll bring you some food while it’s filling. Next door is a parlour, with plenty to read, and that also has a door out into the garden, though I suggest you wait until morning before you venture out. Wouldn’t want you to get a chill.” His smile when he looks at her is warm. “We’ve got to look after you now.”
Stacey beams, but I feel a surge of irritation. If I fall pregnant, he won’t be speaking to me like that. Pregnancy isn’t an illness, women have been birthing children for eternity, and often without the luxuries Stacey now has.
But he turns to me, and I have to wipe the expression from my face.
“Will you come with me, Lauren?”
I nod. I’m not sure exactly what else I might do.
In his rooms Sidney pours the obligatory glass of whiskey, though I refuse this time, when he offers one to me.
“I don’t want anyone to know for a while,” he says. “Not until she’s a little further along. Preferably when she’s showing. I need to keep her safe, until then.”
“Are you sure your servants can be trusted?”
Sidney nods. “They’ve been with me for decades, they’re trustworthy.”
I wonder how the loss of Sidney’s father, and the upheaval that’s brought, has changed things among the servants, but I don’t say anything. I just pray he’s right.
But then what of the servant who’s a spy.
I want to say something, but Sidney speaks first.
“I wanted to thank you, again, Lauren. Your skill is beyond compare. Absolutely marvellous.”
His gaze meets mine, and I’m sure I see a spark of attraction there. I lick my lips, move a little closer. Surely this is why he called me as well tonight. To have my ‘turn’. His pupils dilate, but he blinks and lifts his glass, draining it of alcohol.
“I was worried Frensen would ask for you at the ball the other night,” he says, crossing the room to perch on the bed. “He spent enough of the night looking at you.”
His words bring back the memory of Frensen’s parting words.
“I meant to talk to you about that,” I say, sitting on my usual seat.
“Yes.”
“He does want me. He knows that I’m a witch, he wants me to do spells for him.”
Sidney dismisses my concerns with a wave of his hand. “Frensen can’t get you now. He’s made his choice. The other’s will stand by me if need be. We all agreed to share around the women father paid for, and he took his pick. You don’t have anything to worry about.”
I shake my head. “He was quite insistent about it. He said he always gets what he wants. He said he enjoys the challenge of taking things other people don’t want to part with.”
Sidney laughs. “Lauren. Don’t stress. He’s made his choice. He can’t go back on that. Besides, even if he took you, you can only do spells for the person who holds your contract, right? So it doesn’t matter if he takes you, as long as I have it safe.”
“And do you have it safe?”
His gaze darts to the drawer by his bed, before returning to my face.
“Perfectly safe,” he says.
I close my eyes. If I couldn’t see a person’s energy, I could never tell whether they were lying or not, not for certain, anyway.
Sidney’s energy when he answered that question was a strange swirl of movement. He believes what he’s saying, mostly. But there’s a twinge of doubt there, too.
Does that mean my contract is just sitting in the top drawer of his room? Could someone just walk in and get it? Could I get it myself, if the opportunity arose?
Can I distract him enough, to get it right now?
“I examined your brothers’ energies the other night,” I start. “I can confirm that they are as infertile as you were.”
“You’re certain of this?” He frowns, but there’s hope there, too. And I nod.
“They won’t be fathering any children, any time soon.”
“That is marvellous, Lauren. Oh, you’ve made me so happy! I wish I could do more for you.”
“You could.”
My heart is pounding in my chest, but I ignore it, instead standing up, and walking towards him, in as sultry a way as I can manage.
His eyes widen, and I can tell I’ve turned him on.
“So,” I say, making my voice husky as I reach out to run a hand down the side of his whiskered cheek. “Shouldn’t you be trying to make more babies, as fast as you can?”
His eyes widen, and he licks his lips. I bend down, intending to press my lips against his, but he pulls back.
“Tomorrow night,” he says. “Tomorrow night I’ll try and make another baby. I’m still struggling to believe that I’ve successfully made one.”
There’s a sting in my chest, and I fight to keep my expression neutral. I can’t let him see how hurt that made me.
I turn to the door, blinking away the tears.
“I guess I’ll return to the quarters then.”
“Yes,” he says, his breathing heavy. “That’d be for the best.”
Why doesn’t he want me? Am I really that repulsive? Is he scared something will happen to him, if he has sex with me? That I’ll somehow be able to do something to him?
Perhaps he realises that I’m trying to get my contract, and that’s why he’s pushing me away. Because I know when a man is attracted to me, and he damn well is.
“Wait.”
I turn hope rising in my chest.
“You haven’t been here long enough. You have to stay.” He gestures to my usual chair. “Sit. Let’s talk. Tell me about yourself.”
I take a deep breath. All I want to do is leave, and have a damned good cry.
But I won’t let him see that.
I return to the chair.
“I’ll take that whiskey, now,” I say, and he moves to pour me a glass.
I take a good mouthful, savouring the burn as it travels down my throat, wishing I could scull the whole bottle and drown the heaviness in my chest.
“Tell me about yourself,” he repeats. “Wha
t were you before you were a slave?”
Why does he even want to know this? I want to tell him to mind his own business. I want to shout that living this life is hard enough, without dredging up memories of a time before, when I lived a normal life, and could expect a normal future. If I pretend life has always been this way it makes it much easier to bear.
Instead I shrug.
“There’s not much to tell. I lived with my family. My parents and siblings. I was the youngest, I had an older sister, she was married and had two children when the first lot of demons came through.”
“Was, had?” Sidney interrupts, his brow furrowed. “Were they killed?”
I push down the stab of pain in my chest, and force myself to meet Sidney’s gaze. “I honestly don’t know. When the shifters came in afterwards, ostensibly to save us from the demons, they forced me to give up my magic, to sign it over, on that contract you now have. They would have killed my family if I hadn’t, so I did. But then I was taken away. I don’t know what happened to them after that. I don’t know whether they were killed anyway, or whether they’re still out there somewhere.”
Sidney has the decency to look ashamed. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
I take another mouthful of whiskey, wondering if it would be rude to ask for another. I’m not going to talk about my family anymore. It hurts too much, the not knowing.
“What about your magic?”
I glance at him in surprise.
“My magic?”
He nods. “When did you first learn you were a witch?”
I shrug. “I don’t really remember learning. I just always knew. But I remember the first time I learned what it all really meant. What the consequences were of using my power.”
Sidney leans forward, his focus entirely on me, and I realise I like this feeling, that maybe I’m important to him. I just wish it wasn’t bittersweet as it is, tinged with the knowledge I’m not.
“Go on,” he says.
“I was, I don’t know, eleven, I guess. My best friend and I had a fight, and I was so angry with her. I wanted to hurt her, so I did a spell so she would be hurt, the same way she’d hurt me. I didn’t realise then that I could learn the consequences of spells through divination, I don’t think I was even fully aware of the consequences of other spells I’d done, which were all just small, tiny things.” I shake my head, trying to get back to the thread of the story. “Anyway, her cat died. She was absolutely devastated, cried for days afterwards.
“She rang me, for sympathy. She’d already completely forgotten our fight.” I take another sip of the whiskey, closing my eyes to relish the effect it has on my body, the way all the tension eases. “I refused to talk to her. I felt bad, of course, I hadn’t meant to kill her cat, but I was still angry that she’d said such hurtful things, and hadn’t even realised.”
I take another sip of my drink.
“The next night, my cat died, too. It was in a fight with another cat, and it came home all bloody and scratched. It didn’t make it through the night.”
My voice is sombre. “I realised then, I just knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, that my spell had caused my cats death, just as much as it had caused her cats death. That was an important lesson for me. There are always consequences. No matter what. Even for good things. Changing the course of the Universe always comes with a punishment.”
Sidney is frowning. “I don’t understand,” he says. “You took a life, and another life was taken in sacrifice. And yet I wanted to create life, and still had life taken in sacrifice.”
I shrug. “The universe has its own rules, and they make no sense to humans. But I think there is great energy required in taking a life before its time, and so another life must be taken to pay that price. Like I said, forcing change in the universe brings punishment. It’s the only way I can explain it, it’s the only explanation that makes any sense to me.” I shake my head.
Sidney doesn’t seem to notice. “I guess so,” he says. “There is more to this world than we understand, that’s for sure.”
I nod, thinking of the desire I can see in his eyes, and read in his energy, and how he does not want to act on it. Is he afraid of something? Will I ever know? Perhaps it is my punishment, for simply being a witch, that the first person I’ve ever felt a connection with is destined not to feel the same way about me.
“I’ll agree with you there,” I say, gulping down the last of my whiskey.
I glance over at the bottle, and he must sense the question I’m not brave enough to ask, because he waves towards it with his hand.
“Help yourself to another glass, if you wish,” he says. “You’ve done wonders for me, Lauren. I’ll repay you in whatever way I can.”
I pour another glass, gulp back another mouthful. The alcohol makes me braver than I ever thought possible. “By setting me free?” I look at him, knowing full well what his answer is going to be.
He frowns. “I can’t do that. What would happen to your power, to your contract? I couldn’t let just anyone get their hands on it, image if someone like Frensen had control of you, how terrible that could be.”
He shudders, and I grimace.
“Yes. Terrible.”
“And we have to continue with this charade for a while longer, you know, you prettying yourself up for me, me sometimes selecting you. Otherwise the other women will be certain you’re a witch, and that could cause all sorts of issues.”
I nod, rolling my eyes as I take another drink.
Excuses, excuses. There’s always some reason why slaves can’t be set free, usually twisted to show how it’s for their own good.
“Guess I’ll call it a night then,” I say, realising my voice is a little slurred.
Sidney stands, but does nothing to stop me leaving.
“All right then. Sleep well.”
I nod, giving a loose wave as I stroll out the door.
Could I run away now? I wonder? Just disappear? But then Sidney has that damned contract. How can I run away, while that even exists?
I ponder the possibility of loitering in the hallway, listening for when he goes to sleep, but as I stand there a servent emerges from the shadows.
“Everything alright, breeder?” He speaks with a sneer, and I just want to punch him in the nose.
“Fine,” I say, swaying back to my quarters.
Chapter 10
The days pass.
Somehow I manage to hide my drunken state from everyone, though that could be because I went straight to bed, in my own private room, and didn’t emerge until the alarm rings the next afternoon.
Nancy’s friend is quick to point out I was supposed to be on toilet cleaning duties, and if I missed my chores the Master is sure to be onto me. I sneer at her, my pounding head majorly reducing any cares I have about how these women see me.
If I hadn’t been so hung over, I might’ve pointed out that these chores are for our own comfort levels, and I highly doubt Sidney even considers who cleans our toilets. But I don’t think about that until she’s left the room.
Besides all that, I’m also sure that missing one day won’t hurt anyone.
Stacey does not return to the breeder quarters, but at the same time, there is no announcement about Stacey’s condition. No news as to what’s happened to her, she just never returns.
The women are left speculating, and all I can tell them is that I left her and Sidney together, and I don’t know what happened after that.
“Did he kill her? Did you sacrifice her, for some dark magic?”
I roll my eyes, and shake my head for the millionth time.
“She was alive and well, last I saw her,” I say.
Each night we dress up, and Sidney selects another one of us to spend the evening with him. He doesn’t ever select two women at once again, and I wonder if he realises how that looks from the outside.
It seems not.
“Guess he thought a threeway would be heaps fun,” one woman comments, loudly to the three wom
en who were here before us. “Guess he learnt it wasn’t so good after all.”
“I’d still like to know what happened to Stacey,” another woman comments.
I roll my eyes. “Wouldn’t we all.”
Each time the women return I scan their energy for any signs of pregnancy. There are none.
It doesn’t mean anything, of course. A woman has to be at the right point in her cycle to fall pregnant, it’s not going to happen just because the Master suddenly has fully functioning bits.
It’s five days after Stacey left us, and everyone is watching me, assuming I’ll be chosen that night, as each of the other four women have been chosen on previous nights.
Instead Sidney sends a message to Darla, he wants one of the three women from the group before us. He doesn’t mind which one. And for the next two nights, he wants the other two women, one at a time, of course.
The women in my group look at me suspiciously.
“What did you do?” Nancy’s friend asks. “He was up for a threesome, and you come back, and Stacey’s vanished. What happened?”
But I can’t answer. I can’t tell them anything.
Day six we wake up to flames reaching high in the sky, and shouting, so much shouting.
Darla rings the bell to summon someone to tell us what on earth is going on out there, and the servant who comes tells her news has got out that Sidney’s got a woman pregnant, and now his brothers are turning on him, and there’s riots in the streets outside his palace.
“Sidney’s got a woman pregnant?” Everyone is wide eyed in astonishment.
“Is it Stacey?”
I shrug, but Darla answers.
“It would seem so.”
“I thought you said he was infertile?”
This time it’s Darla who shrugs. “I guess I was wrong,” she says. “But I think the thing to focus on now, is keeping safe, and quiet, and praying that Sidney’s brothers don’t breach these walls.”
I feel ill, and judging by the pale faces of the women around me, so do they.
What does this mean? What’s going to happen now?
The servant says they’re trying to storm the palace, but Sidney has his full contingent of guards, as well as most of the servants, barricading the entrance.
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