"They're called 'families' outside of the Queendom." Danilisa smiled at his enthusiasm. "You spend too much time outside, though, your skin is changing color."
He chuckled. "If I think I was so scared of stepping outside... Now I never want to be locked in ever again!"
"And you won't," she promised. "I'm sure we'll manage to start a family soon."
He stared at her, puzzled.
"I got my period this morning," she explained with a sigh. "We'll have to keep trying."
"Of course." His disappointment vanished behind a bright smile. He held her closer. "I'll make love to you every night until you're pregnant," he whispered tenderly.
She giggled. "Why wait until night?" she teased. "We're all alone out here..."
He grinned and started covering her with butterfly kisses.
***
Chandra replied that Malianna could live without a slave, if the man could make Danilisa pregnant. There was no way of knowing if that was the case yet, although a month had gone by, so Malianna decided it was time to find out where her sister was hiding.
Malianna wasn't going to give up her favorite slave and she eventually found them. Not because Iona mentioned Yolanda – her lips were sealed and her mother didn't know Danilisa had come for help before seeking refuge with Yolanda – but because everybody in Fianna knew Yolanda, and bribes made some lower class women talk about the young Aristocrat who had founded her own community outside of the town.
Thus Malianna marched on Yolanda's land and demanded to have her slave back. Yolanda refused to surrender someone she considered free, and Malianna waged war on her. She commandeered the town's militia to add to her thirty soldiers and laid the siege to Yolanda's village. Alannah couldn't refuse, since it was against the Queen's laws to give men weapons like Yolanda had done.
The wooden palisade didn't hold against the burning arrows. The female soldiers met a strenuous resistance by the defenders of the village, but managed to capture Zaffiro, and Malianna retreated satisfied with a few prisoners. She had noticed a dark-haired young man fighting for the village and decided he would be a good addition to her Apartment, especially while she punished Zaffiro.
***
Zaffiro felt downhearted when he was taken back, tied up, to the mansion. He had shot all his arrows, but hadn't managed to avoid capture. He didn't know how to use a sword, and he'd been dragged away like an animal again. He was too worried for his own fate to bother with the other prisoners, all men, who would soon get to know Malianna. His mistress could be very cruel, and he had no idea of what awaited him.
Malianna's women welcomed him with an ovation and some banter, but then waited for Malianna to pronounce her verdict. The Aristocrat stopped in the courtyard and gestured to obtain silence.
"Zaffiro is back," she announced. "He's all yours until he can take it."
The women cheered while the young man shivered. Soon he was thrown to the ground and his clothes were ripped off – his hands still tied behind his back.
Hands and mouths were all over him, and he couldn't stop them. They took his breath away, but also hurt, and he wanted to scream to leave him alone. Except his mouth was as busy as the rest of his body with the hungry, lustful women.
It was dark when they finally left him alone. He had dozed off when he was shaken awake again. His eyes popped open and his heart jumped in his chest at the thought of another abusive woman. But it was Aliseo who signaled him to keep quiet. He helped him up, cut his ties and helped him to get dressed while other men guarded the surroundings.
Zaffiro was put up on a saddle and he almost lost consciousness against Aliseo. He allowed them to take him away and collapsed near Danilisa, not really aware of what was going on.
***
Guerriero was Yolanda's younger brother. He was twenty-two, and found himself locked in Malianna's Apartment, unable to find out what would happen to the rest of his people.
Malianna's servants washed the blood and sweat of the battle off of him, noticed his good looks and clothed him accordingly, so that the mistress could enjoy his muscles. Malianna grinned when they took him to her.
"What do they call you?" she asked him, knowing Yolanda must have given him a name.
"Guerriero," he answered proudly.
"Come here, Guerriero," she ordered.
He sat on the floor next to her triclinium – he'd never seen one in Yolanda's house – and endured her hands constantly exploring him, although he squirmed every time.
"You should be nicer to your new mistress," she chided. "We will sleep together during the next few months, so don't be so squeamish."
"I am not a slave," he replied. "My sister Yolanda always told us we are free."
"Your sister Yolanda lost half of her men today." Malianna snorted. "So much for refusing something to the Queen's cousin!"
"Danilisa is much nicer than you, and she's also the Queen's cousin."
She scoffed. "Are you judging me? Zaffiro is enough, and he will be punished for what he did! You are now a slave and will do what I tell you."
"I will not mate with you," he replied. "Your closeness sickens me and your arrogance fills me with disgust. I will choose if and when I'll want a lover, and won't bend to your will."
Malianna slapped him.
"How long do you think you can resist?" she asked, furious, pressing her generous bosom against him. "I have tamed Uncatchables, honey, so no need for so many words. You're just a country boy and I'll break you."
"My sister will save me," Guerriero replied.
"With what men?" Malianna pulled back and smirked. She signaled the servants who brought a covered pot of soup and put it down in front of her.
"Eat," she ordered, serving him a bowl of broth. Something floated to the surface of the bowl and Guerriero widened his eyes in silent shock.
"Soup of eyeballs," Malianna said, picking the thing with the spoon and trying to insert it in Guerriero's mouth. "Very special, done with rebel warriors. Your friends, and probably your father, are in there, honey!"
Guerriero jumped to his feet, pushing her arm away and throwing the bowl of soup to the ground. He panted, unable to speak.
Malianna rose too, with her cruel smile and her queenly demeanor. He stepped back.
"Should I restrain you?" she purred, stepping forward.
"Don't come near me!" he said through clenched teeth.
"Really?" She scoffed. "I guess I will have to restrain you after all. Colosso!"
Guerriero saw a big bulky man marching on him. He ran. Out of the living room, out of the mansion. He ran through fields and reached a forest, hoping he was headed towards the coast or at least towards Fianna.
Then he heard the hounds. He looked behind him and saw Colosso running after him with two big dogs. He climbed the closest tree as fast as he could before the hounds could get to him.
Colosso and the dogs stopped under the tree and the man looked up as the hounds barked angrily at the young man holding tight to the branches.
"Get down now," Colosso ordered. "Or it will be worse."
"I'd rather die," Guerriero answered with a shaky voice. He wasn't panting anymore, but he felt weak for the run and the horror he'd felt in Malianna's house. And he couldn't believe Colosso was so faithful to someone who treated him like an inferior being – a slave happy to be such.
"Don't you want to go back to your sister?" Colosso insisted. "Come on, there's still hope if you live. Someone took away Zaffiro during the night, I bet they'd come for you too."
Guerriero hesitated, then surrendered. Colosso tied the hounds to another tree and waited for him to come down. He shackled Guerriero's wrists behind his back and took him to the mansion.
Malianna waited for them in the courtyard, with her arms crossed on her bosom.
"Seen any trace of Zaffiro and the other bastards?" she asked Colosso.
"No, only him."
"Better than nothing." She huffed. "Take him inside. And tie him to the bed."
"I hate you, bitch!" He spat. "I'll kill you!"
"You can try," she replied sitting on the bed and leaning over him. She took his face in her hands and he tried in vain to avoid the kiss. He felt her tongue in his throat and her hands over his chest, sliding down towards his manhood. He'd never been forced to have sex before.
He endured Malianna's abuse with his eyes wide open. He could hear her moan in pleasure, but he didn't feel any. When she fell asleep over him, he remained still for a long time, staring at the ceiling without seeing it.
***
"How is Zaffiro?" Sole asked, stopping by Danilisa.
He was one of the few young men who didn't have a steady girlfriend. He was a good swordsman and had effectively protected her during the attack. He'd also joined the rescue party that had brought back Zaffiro and the other prisoners – except Guerriero, who had vanished in Malianna's Apartment.
Attacking Malianna's mansion was out of the question with the village half-destroyed and the community still mourning the losses.
"Not well," Danilisa answered gloomily. "He doesn't speak and won't let me touch him."
"He looked so smitten by you," he commented.
"He is, but he's also quite traumatized." She sighed. "I wish I could kill Malianna!" she muttered. "He was her favorite slave and she does this to him?"
"Not to mention the fact she's taken Guerriero," he said. "I hope she's treating him well."
She shrugged. "I don't know how she is with her men. Zaffiro told me she's very hard with Uncatchables, but cuddly with bed slaves."
"Guerriero is not an Uncatchable!" Sole protested.
"He is for her. There's no such a thing like a free man in her mind."
Sole sighed. "Let's hope Guerriero is fine, then," he said. "And if you feel lonely, call me."
She glared at the open invitation. He grinned and shrugged, leaving without insisting.
***
Guerriero was still tied to the bed when Colosso came into the room with a blond young man holding a tray who smiled at the prisoner.
"Hello! They call me Chiaro! I'm here to feed you, and then I'll shave you."
"I need to relieve myself," he muttered, uncomfortable.
Chiaro glanced puzzled at Colosso who raised his eyebrows. After a short hesitation, the bulky man came forward and untied Guerriero's wrists only to bind them again behind his back.
"Oh, please!" he grumbled. "Where would I go with your hounds on my heels?"
"Nowhere, and that's why I'm leaving your legs free," Colosso replied, untying his ankles. "But I don't want you to hit the mistress, so until she says so, your arms will be restrained."
Guerriero glared at him as Colosso helped him to his feet. He clenched his teeth as Chiaro led him to a chamberpot. His legs hurt, and his arms were a little numb.
When he was done, he sat back on the bed and Chiaro fed him, chatting about his boring life in the Apartment with the sole company of the other slaves. Guerriero was puzzled to hear him so content about his situation in spite of everything, but obviously Chiaro had never been free, so he didn't know what he was missing out.
"You shouldn't be happy of being considered an animal," he chided as Chiaro started shaving his stubble. "Zaffiro never liked being considered a stud."
"Zaffiro had plenty of work, I don't know what he complains about!" Chiaro snorted. "Me and the others? Not so much. Sometimes the Apartment is so boring, we touch each other."
"You what?" Guerriero couldn't believe his ears.
Chiaro shrugged. "Be still." He resumed shaving and talking. "One gets bored of always touching oneself. Sometimes it's good to touch someone else for a change. And if the mistress doesn't bother to call us to her bed, why shouldn't we comfort each other?"
This time Guerriero kept his mouth shut, since the razor was too close to his throat to risk moving.
"You'll get used to it," Chiaro continued. "Since Zaffiro is gone, she's now playing with you. But she might call us when she's tired of the novelty. Especially if you keep resisting her."
"She gives me the creeps," he said through clenched teeth. "And I hate being forced."
"You were lucky so far." Chiaro scoffed. "Welcome to the true heart of the Queendom of Maadre."
"Well, you haven't been served a soup of eyeballs, have you?" Guerriero grumbled.
Colosso scoffed. "It wasn't human eyeballs. We're not cannibals, Guerriero."
Guerriero glared at him. "You're as disgusting as her."
"And you haven't seen anything yet," Colosso retorted, leaning forward, nose to nose with him.
Guerriero shivered hearing Chiaro chuckle next to him.
***
Danilisa realized Zaffiro was having a nightmare from his ragged breathing. She gently shook him awake, but he jerked away from her touch, panting. He quietened realizing it was her, but still refused to be touched. And his voice didn't come out once. He turned his back on her and tried to go back to sleep.
Danilisa sighed. The women of Malianna's household had been hard on him, but it couldn't be only the abuse he had endured in Malianna's courtyard that gave him nightmares. In the morning she went to talk to Yolanda, who was worried for her brother's fate.
"Malianna won't give him back unless I give her Zaffiro," Yolanda said, frowning. "But Zaffiro is too sick to give him back to his tormentor. I don't know what to do, Danilisa. I hope Guerriero is fine."
"She gave Zaffiro to her women and now she wants him back?" Danilisa asked, incredulous. Her sister was really crazy.
"She said she wanted to punish him, but she'd have reinstated him in the Apartment the morning after if we hadn't taken him away," Yolanda muttered. "She's keeping Guerriero in his place."
"Oh, Goddess, I'm so sorry!" Danilisa snorted in frustration. "I wish I had more power over my elder sister!"
"What about the Queen? Would she listen to you?"
"I doubt it. She sent me here to get me out of her hair."
Yolanda nodded, thoughtful.
"Attacking her like she did with me makes no sense. Alannah wouldn't approve, or lend me the soldiers to do it." She sighed. "I guess we can only wait and see."
Danilisa left Yolanda's rooms, depressed. Her hut had been destroyed during the siege, so she and Zaffiro had moved inside the stone house. On her way to her new lodging, she met Sole.
Zaffiro didn't want to be touched and Sole was very sweet. She felt lonely and sad and worried, and he was strong and protective and made her feel secure. She didn't even realize he'd lured her into the inner garden, and when his lips found hers, she stiffened at first. But she missed Zaffiro's touch and Sole's hands were so tender...
***
Zaffiro had gone for a breath of fresh air on the terrace opening on the inner garden when he heard whispers and moans of pleasure. His heart sank when he saw Danilisa on a flowerbed, with Sole all over her.
He gulped but his voice refused to come out. He didn't know how to win her back. He felt like he couldn't give anything to anyone anymore and he observed them from a hidden spot with envy, falling deeper and deeper into his quiet desperation.
He ended up deciding to go back to Malianna – a suicide option that looked the only viable alternative to his life of misery. The next morning he left the village without saying good-bye and reached the mansion on foot, walking for hours in a trance without stopping. When he entered Malianna's land, the tenants working in the fields recognized him and a girl rushed to inform the mistress. Thus he found Malianna waiting for him.
"Glad to see you still remember who your mistress is," Malianna said haughtily. "You've been replaced as favorite slave, though. You are reassigned to the public room, where you have a lot of work to do, so get moving."
Zaffiro obeyed without uttering a sound and went to the public room where a long series of visits awaited him.
***
Guerri
ero woke up still sore from the previous night. The worst night of his life. His hands were still tied behind his back and his fingers had gone numb, but the humiliation he still felt was worse. He never thought a woman could be so hard on a man.
Malianna hadn't touched him, but she had ordered Colosso and Chiaro to tame him. He was still tied and alone against two, so he couldn't really stop them. Chiaro had gone down on his manhood first, then as he showed his tongue down Guerriero's throat, Colosso had opened Guerriero's legs and entered him.
Guerriero still wanted to scream at the memory – and he had screamed, although his scream had been muffled in Chiaro's mouth. Both men going at him had destroyed his self-esteem and now he barely moved, barely dared to breathe, hoping next visit would kill him so he wouldn't have to endure more abuse.
Malianna sauntered in the room and smiled at him. He gulped and didn't say anything. She sat on the bed and caressed his cheek.
"How are we feeling this morning? A little less rebellious?"
He closed his eyes and didn't answer. What would be next, the whip? More rape?
He heard her snort.
"You're not funny, Guerriero," she chided. "You know, Zaffiro is back, so when I finish punishing him, I will let you go back to your sister. You should start enjoying your stay."
He reopened his eyes to glare at her. How was he supposed to enjoy his stay if she ordered her men to hurt him in the worst way?
"I won't let Chiaro or Colosso in the room again if you behave," she said, guessing what he was thinking. "Show me you can be a real lover, and then I'll let you go."
He moved his numb wrists, wondering if she'd free his hands. He didn't want to touch her, though. He wanted to strangle her, beat her, hurt her as much as she had hurt him.
"Mm," she commented at his silence. "I don't think I can untie you." She patted his cheek. "Your sister did you wrong by telling you you were free. You'd make an excellent stud."
She turned his head so she could steal a long, passionate kiss and left, leaving him breathless with anger and more humiliation.
***
Malianna came to see Zaffiro a few days later, but he had no strength left to get out of bed. She stared at him with compassion.
Tales of the Queendom of Maadre Page 13