“We’ll reach Nassara soon,” Vahan says.
I stiffen as my heart thumps in my ears. A cold drop of moisture splashes against my forehead and I look up. Mauve and golden clouds layer the sky as a cold breeze brushes against my cheeks. More droplets settle on my head and a few on the back of my hand. They glitter like yellow gems. A snap of lightning crosses the sky and the rain grows in strength.
Vahan pulls my blanket up and covers my head as his arm encircles me and he draws me closer to him. His scent envelops me again, so wild and primal. Almost tempting to me.
He reaches to the back of the saddle with his hand and sticks an oval shape under my nose.
“Eat,” he growls.
I take it from his hand and put it into my mouth. It’s as sweet as a raisin. I swallow it and Vahan hands me another.
“It’s not the food for horses?” I explode.
Oh my God. I have no self-preservation instinct.
Vahan laughs and strokes my back, but says nothing.
The rumble of lightning makes me yelp and shudder.
“Tishy, dzie’ta,” Vahan says in a soft voice like he’s soothing a child who’s had a nightmare.
He bought me, but he’s holding me in his arms like I’m his lover, not his possession.
I’m so small. He’s so massive.
I’m like a bird. He’s like a wolf. It won’t have a happy ending.
Vahan
Her blanket and clothes are drenched as her body trembles against mine. She coughs and sniffles. Uneasiness sits on my chest. She is fragile. She is a foreigner and my planet is harsh on them. I should be careful with her or I’ll lose her like my neighbour, Grigor, lost his. I heard the rumours—his foreigner died five moon triads after he’d purchased her. Lung damage—they said.
The rain smacks us with fury as another snap of lightning crosses the sky and illuminates Nassara that profiles in front of us.
I kick my horse and it gallops towards the stables. I stop in front of the double door, slide from the saddle and scoop that trembling little thing into my arms. One of the stablemen hurries to take the horse over as I carry Alyssa to her new house. Her cheek rests against my chest and I feel it how hot her skin is. She has a fever.
Kohar, my oldest slave, greets me in front of the building made of stone.
“It’s raining, woman,” I say to her. “Go inside.”
Kohar’s wrinkled face lights up and she strokes my arm, looking at Alyssa. “Only one tiny foreigner? Where is our cleaner?”
“The other girl slit her own throat.”
Kohar’s eyes fill with sadness.
I walk into the house as Kohar guides me to Alyssa’s new bedroom.
“She’s not well,” I say.
“I can see,” Kohar says and unfolds the blanket spread on the bed.
I lay Alyssa on the mattress and tear the drenched blanket off her then I clutch her corset and rip it open, taking the gown off her. She starts shaking and crying as her gown lands on the floor with a puff.
“It’s all wet,” I growl, “and you have a fever.”
Kohar covers her with the blanket but I manage to notice how absolutely perfect her body is. I’ve never seen anything more beautiful than her. Her tits are large with pink areolas; her hips are deliciously generous, her waist is so slender I could brace it with my hands. She has perfect thighs and a perfect little mound covered with dark pubic hair. Her ass? It’s round and so tempting I stifle my urge to touch and kiss it.
Alyssa
Blood pumps in my ears. My throat is sore and my chest feels like I have glue inside of it. My mind whirls as my vision blurs.
A strong muscular arm lifts me to a sitting position.
“Drink,” Vahan says and tips a mug to my lips.
I take a sip and the bitter herbal taste of the hot fluid makes me retch.
“Drink it,” Vahan growls.
I take another sip and retch again as acid burns my throat.
“Alright,” Vahan says. “Later.”
I start shivering and he presses the back of his hand against my cheek.
“Kohar,” he says, “bring wet towels.”
I pull the blanket up, but Vahan tears it off me. My teeth start chattering together. I actually stop caring that I’m naked, but my hands seek something to cover my body and relieve that unbearable coldness that comes with a high fever.
There is more and more of a nauseating haze in my head. Every cell of my body is painful. Every atom of my body pulsates. I close my eyes, teetering between awareness and oblivion. A shocking coldness envelops me, and I whimper as a callused hand strokes my head.
Vahan
She is really sick.
I didn’t know they were that fragile.
She coughs up yellow phlegm and Kohar looks at her with concern.
“She will be fine,” I say. “Bring another wet towel.”
Alyssa wheezes and stops shivering. I allow her to roll on her side and she falls asleep. Kohar brings the dampened towel and I replace the one that’s dried out on Alyssa’s chest with it. Alyssa yelps in her dream and something jabs my chest like a needle.
I lean back in the chair and watch her face. Her cheeks are red and sweat beads her forehead. She’s breathing like something heavy is sitting on her chest.
“Hungry?” Kohar asks.
“What do you think, woman? I’m starving.”
She strokes my cheek and leaves the bedroom. Alyssa mumbles something in her dream and starts squalling like a child.
I perch on the bed and stroke her cheek. Her skin is clammy with sweat. I tear the towel off her and cover her with a fresh blanket.
Kohar walks in with a plate in her hand. The smell of roasted meat teases my nostrils. I take the plate from her and drop into the chair, wolfing down my meal. Then I watch Alyssa.
She deteriorates further as the night ends. Her fever spikes and she drifts off to oblivion. I pray to our gods until the day ends.
Then I kneel on the floor and kiss her shoulder. The salty taste of her sweat burns a memory into my head.
“Dzie’ta, don’t die,” I say into her ear. “I forbid you to die. You hear me? I forbid you.”
Alyssa
I open my eyes and see his face above mine, so close that his hot breath puffs on my cheek. The face of a monster. The face of my owner.
A scream of primal fear leaves my mouth.
“Alyssa,” Vahan rumbles as his arm squeezes my chest and he holds me against his body.
“Get off me,” I gasp.
“Calm down,” he says.
I scream again then my mind twirls like I’m on a carousel and I fall down into darkness. I return to reality like a force has kicked me out of the darkness, and he’s still close to me; my back is still pressed against his naked hairy chest. His arms are wrapped around me. I don’t know whether we’re sitting or lying. I know he’s too close and I want him far away from me.
“I want to go back home,” I gasp.
My body is all damp. Every breath feels like a battle.
“This is your home,” Vahan says.
“Fuck off, you fucking dick,” I growl and darkness swallows me again.
Vahan
Kohar drops her head to hide her smile.
I clear my throat. “She is recovering.”
“I’ll take care of her,” Kohar says. “Go have a good rest. It’s been five lunar triads since you returned from the auction.”
I separate myself from Alyssa, laying her gently on her side, then I rise to my feet and stretch my legs—they’re achy and stiff from the long watch over my foreigner.
“You’re always right, woman.” I glance at Alyssa. “Teach her how to behave or I’ll have to punish her.”
“I’ll teach her, Vahan.”
My eyes trail a path along Alyssa’s spine, and an image enters my head. My foreigner is on all fours and I’m fucking her from behind. As punishment.
My hard cock forms a bulge in my trousers.
More images enter my head. I’d punish her harder and harder. I’d smack her ass and she’d whimper. I’d drive my dick into her mouth and she’d gag.
Kohar flashes me a mysterious smile and tilts her head.
“What?” I growl.
“Nothing.”
I bow my head and exit the bedroom.
It’s early in the morning. Frost layers the ground and glitters like white diamentis. I pass the training ground where Arnau is exercising with my troop. As soon as he notices me, he gives a sharp order to his men and strides towards me.
“Good lunar triad, Vahan,” he greets me.
I greet him back and pat his shoulder. “I’m going to bed.”
He nods. “I’ll give all the orders to everyone.”
I know he wants to ask about Alyssa, but he hesitates.
He shouldn’t ask me about her. My precious little gem is none of his concern.
“Rush Yasen to deal with all the papers,” I say. “The tax year will end soon and that old git is reading poetry. Send Dardana to the Scarlet City.”
“What for?”
“Tell her to buy nice gowns for Alyssa. I want something elegant and expensive.”
His jaw muscles twitch. “Like for a free woman?”
“Like for a free woman.”
Arnau gives me a nod, but his eyes wander off to somewhere far from here for a moment. He glances back at me, his face stripped of emotions. We latch on each other’s elbow like we are equals and I go to my house.
I have a bath, eat something and lie down on my bed. My body feels tired as fuck, but my head pulsates of thoughts. I see her tits, her ass, and her lips.
Chapter 4
Alyssa
Whispers and giggles wake me. I open my eyes and regret that at once. My head starts throbbing. I feel sick.
“She’s so pretty,” a breathy female voice says.
“No wonder he paid so much money for her,” another female voice says—it’s a kind voice.
I see three girls by my bed. They all have curly golden hair adorned with red blossoms and blue wolf-like eyes, but each of them is unique.
“Kohar,” one of them shouts, the owner of the kind voice. Her face is round and she has freckles on her olive cheeks. “She’s awake.”
“Shut up, Vosgi, you’re scaring her,” a very skinny girl says. Her cheek is marked with a thin scar. She’s the owner of the breathy voice. “She’s still recovering. She needs silence.”
“You shut up, Kendy,” Vosgi snaps.
I sit up and my mind whirls. My stomach twists and I retch. One of the girls puts a bowl on my thighs and strokes my hair.
“Thank you,” I rasp and cough.
My lungs feel like I’ve drowned. I can’t breathe.
I tremble then nausea hits me like a rock, and I throw up into the bowl, but it’s only a tiny amount of bile mixed with my saliva. A wave of embarrassment goes up my chest. Kendy strokes my back and looks at me with concern.
“Don’t worry,” Kendy says.
My eyes fill up with tears and I throw up again—a few millilitres of bile. A bitter taste of it makes me wince. Then I retch and retch until I don’t.
An old woman walks in and looks at the girls sternly. “Get back to work all of you. Now.”
The girls disperse and the old woman perches on the bed. She takes the bowl from me and puts it on the floor.
“Where am I?” I ask, my voice thin like I’m a mouse.
“In Nassara.”
“In his house?”
The woman nods at me. “In our house, but everything in Nassara belongs to our lord Vahan.” She rises to her feet, picks the bowl up, and then exits the room.
She returns in what feels like two minutes.
“I don’t remember how I got here,” I say. “Everything is blurry from the moment I saw his house.”
“You’ve been very sick.” Her dry hand travels to my arm and she strokes me gently. “I’ll put you into the bathtub and feed you.”
I nod. I can smell myself and my skin is sticky to touch.
“My name is Alyssa,” I say.
“My name is Kohar.” Her pale green eyes glitter.
“Am I in hell?” My voice falters and I choke back tears.
“What is hell, dzie’ta?”
“It’s where bad people suffer after they die.”
“When people die on Zaria, they go to another dimension.”
Ice fills my veins. I’m so scared I don’t want to ask her more questions.
I drank four cups of coffee on that fatal night when I woke up on Zaria. The excess of caffeine must have killed me. I’d partied a lot and I had not enough time to study, so I just drank coffee after coffee and added two energy drinks on top.
Is Zaria my hell? Or maybe my purgatory? And what about my parents? I’m their only daughter. They love me so much. They must be devastated.
I return from my reverie in my mind and notice that Kohar has left the room. A screeching sound reaches my ears, and I see her walking in and pulling a metal portable bathtub behind her. I jump off the bed. My mind clouds. My vision narrows, and I collapse to the stone floor. A cold sweat pricks my back.
“Slowly,” Kohar mutters and helps me sit up. “Stay where you are.”
“Okay.”
“What is okay?”
I chuckle. “It means yes.” I grab my head in both my hands to calm the whirl inside my skull.
Kohar tilts her head then walks out. She returns with two buckets in her hands. Water splashes inside of them and steam rises from them. She pours the water into the bathtub and brings two more buckets full of hot water. After two more rounds, she gestures for me to step into the bathtub. I don’t hesitate. I sit with my knees bent, and Kohar starts washing my body with a sponge.
“Why did he buy me?” I ask.
I don’t want to hear the answer. And I want. It’s like my morbid curiosity and dread yank me in two opposite directions.
“You know why,” Kohar says in a dry voice.
“Will he hurt me?”
“No.” She kisses my head. “But you have to behave.”
“What if I don’t behave myself by accident?”
“He may whip you.”
My heart stops beating.
Kohar pours water over my head. “I’ll teach you to behave, dzie’ta.”
She helps me dry my body with a towel then rubs some oil on my skin and hair. I rinse my teeth then pull on a simple linen dress that reaches down to my ankles, and I eat at the table that stands by the window. The food is very simple—a piece of brown bread, some fruit I can’t recognise, a mug of herbal tea. I glance out the window and see what looks like a garden. Blossoms in rich colours mingle with low palm trees. Mosaic and patches of grass form the ground as low curbs encircle areas of greenery.
I walk out of my bedroom and stop in a narrow dark corridor. The smell of herbs and wood settles in my nostrils. I see buckets, jackets that hang on metal ornate hooks, and books on a side table. I take a shallow breath and sway. Kohar tells me to rest. I return to my bed and the mattress bends under my body. The delicate smell of seaweed and herbs envelops me as I roll on my side. I think I smell lavender. The mattress accommodates my body perfectly and I fall asleep at once.
The next morning, Kohar wakes me and leads to the kitchen where I see the three girls I met yesterday.
We eat breakfast comprising a piece of bread, some brown fruit, and herbal tea and Almast, the shortest girl, invites me to go for an educational walk.
I walk slowly, stop breathless every ten steps, my naked feet scratched by the uneven ground. Almast loops her arm through mine and guides me patiently.
I see stables, then a three-stories high building with a tiled roof where Vahan’s soldiers live. The path meanders among flower urns and pergolas that shelter couches and coffee tables and I notice a square area encircled by a low stone wall. Vahan’s soldiers are exercising there. Swords flash and clatter. Growls and shouts
waft through the air. Then I notice Arnau. He puts his sword into the scabbard hanging on his back and walks towards us. His lips curl into a smile.
“I’m still alive,” I say and drop a curtsy in front of him.
Arnau chuckles. “You are a fighter indeed.”
His rough compliment brings heat to my veins. The fire in his eyes makes my legs wobble. There’s something between us, something delicate yet hot.
“I’m learning about Nassara,” I say.
Arnau nods. “Go and learn then.”
My jaw drops and I cross my arms over my chest.
“Go Alyssa,” Arnau says. “My men must train and they can’t focus when you’re here.”
My eyes flick over the training ground and I see that all the eyes are fixed on me. The men are as tall as Arnau, well built. Dangerous and primal.
“I look like shit,” I say.
“You are beautiful,” Arnau says as delicate greyish broodiness fills his eyes. “Go.” He bows his head and walks off.
Almast grabs my hand and pulls me behind her. “Don’t encourage him.”
“What?”
“Don’t encourage Arnau. You belong to our master.”
“I don’t belong to anybody,” I hiss.
“Be quiet,” Almast growls. “He is patient, but he’ll punish you if you piss him off. You want to have your ass whipped? It hurts, believe me.”
“Did Vahan hit you?”
“Kohar did that for him. That was when I kissed one of his soldiers. He doesn’t hit women. But Kohar has no mercy.”
Rage simmers inside of me. “He can’t—“
“There are rules, Alyssa. Learn them fast.”
I nod. She’s right. I have to think with a cold detached mind. I have to be smart and observant. I have to stay as far away from Vahan as possible.
“Are his soldiers his slaves as well?” I ask.
“No, they’re all free men. Dardana is a free woman too.”
“Who is Dardana?”
“She lives in our house too. You’ll meet her soon. She’s Arnau’s second in command.” Almast leans towards me. “Stay away from her.”
I bob my head at her.
We walk slowly and I see a building that reminds me of the ancient Greece. It glows like it’s made of marble. Pillars hold arches with lacy ornamentation as stained glass glitters in narrow windows.
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