She’s on the way to getting her freedom. It might still be a long journey ahead of her, but she’s taken a step on that road.
I wonder who Sidney will impregnate next, and can’t help but feel a stab of jealousy at the thought that Nancy might be his next choice. Or any of his choices really.
Aside from that first night, he still hasn’t shown any interest in me. Perhaps he just wants to keep me on as his pet witch, to call upon when he needs. If only he’d tell me not to bother dressing up, but I suppose if he did that they’d be questioning why I’m even here.
I push away the bitterness that thought brings. If I have my own room, and a good friend in Darla, this life is far better than any other life I could have.
I should be grateful for it, and not resent the opportunities others are getting.
During the day, more women come to talk to me, to apologise for their lack of action in standing up to Nancy, and for her behaviour.
All this attention is making me feel uncomfortable, and I shrug it off.
“Can you tell us your secret?” they ask.
I shake my head. “I have no secret, not really. I think there’s been a change in the Master, I think things will be better from now on.”
We’re all used to the routine now, and long before the alarm rings women are off, picking dresses, or showering, preparing themselves for the night ahead. Since Stacey returned there’s a renewed hope amongst the women, and the chatter is more excited than it’s been in weeks.
But the afternoon passes, with no alarm, no call to ready ourselves, and I feel the sinking feeling that whoever it is who Sidney loves the most has died.
I’m ever so grateful it’s not one of the women in our quarters.
“What’s going on?” Nancy corners Darla. “Why hasn’t the bell rung? Why haven’t we been called to get ready?”
Before Darla can answer, a servant from the house appears.
“Master Sidney’s father was killed in a hunting accident this morning,” he says. “The family is in mourning. The women will not be required until the time of mourning has passed.”
“And how long will that take?” Nancy scowls.
Darla turns to the group, her expression serious.
“This isn’t good,” she says. “All the brothers will be vying for their father’s position now, Sidney will have to focus on protecting his estates.”
I’m still shocked that it’s Sidney’s father who’s died, given how angry Sidney is with him. Then again, perhaps that is the reason why he’s so angry, he loves his father, as any son would, all he would want is affection and respect in return, and yet if his father feels any of that, he obviously doesn’t show it.
I swallow back the lump in my throat. “Does Sidney have guards?”
Darla nods. “He has a whole army at his disposal. But he also has three other brothers, with armies of their own.”
“But he’s the third son, isn’t he? Surely it’s the oldest who gets the titles? Won’t the other brothers be focused there?”
Darla sighs. “Maybe. We can only pray that is how they will see it, and that we will be left to our own devices. But that depends on Sidney, too. If he puts himself forward to fill the role, then all attention will be on him.”
The group dissipates, the restless now the normal order of things has been changed.
Darla pulls me into the kitchen.
“Is this your doing?” She’s angry, but I can see from the swirl of her energies that it’s just fear, taking anger’s shape.
I shake my head. “I am the conduit, not the cause. Sidney knew exactly what the consequences would be.”
Darla looks at me. “And what is the reward? Does he become King? And at what cost to the rest of us? Will we be under attack because he changed the natural course of things?”
I look her in the eye. “He did not ask to become King, though that may well be the result of his actions. As for whether we will now be under attack from his brothers, I can’t say.”
“Can’t you see that sort of thing?”
I close my eyes, wishing my ability to see the cost of spells extended to seeing the future. That one skill could’ve saved me all these problems right from the beginning.
“No,” I whisper. “I desperately wish I could, but I can’t.”
Chapter 7
The women head to bed early. For the first time we’ve had an afternoon all our own, with no need to pretty ourselves for a fickle master. We’ve read, or played eightball, or strolled the gardens, or simply rested. I took the chance to have a long, hot shower, standing under the pressure of the water, wishing I could use it to wash away my memories and knowledge, in the same way it washes my skin.
I should feel such relief to head to a room all my own, to get away from everyone’s questions, but instead I feel a strange sense of guilt.
Stacey must have said something, the women can see the change in her, even though neither she nor they know what that change is, and they fawn around her, causing Nancy to fall into a grump.
She doesn’t like to be second to anyone, but especially not a girl over ten years younger than she is.
But when I enter my room I feel nothing but sick.
My stomach is churning, my chest tight.
To think there are even more consequences of magic, than I had ever considered. I don’t know why I cannot see beyond the price that must be paid to how that price might ripple out and affect others, but not for the first time do I hate my powers, and what it is they can do. What it is they allow me to do, and allow others to make me do.
Will Sidney’s brothers turn against him? Maybe not straight away, but as soon as word gets out that Stacey is pregnant, surely she and he will both be targets.
And what about the other women who will surely be pregnant by then?
Though I cannot see the future with any certainty, I still have the power of logic and reasoning. If a child born to Sidney is a threat to his brothers, then any woman who has fallen pregnant to him will be seen as a threat too. What will they do to her? Will they kill her?
It seems unlikely, given they all want to be fathers. Surely they wouldn’t end the life of a woman known to be fertile? But the other logical course of action would be to kidnap her, and kill her child, and attempt to impregnate her themselves.
I close my eyes, wishing I could see a brighter, happier future, where the announcement of Sidney’s impending offspring made everyone bow down and defer to him, and hand over the title of King without bloodshed.
But that’s not the world we live in. If it was, we’d never have fallen this low in the first place.
My sleep is restless, and when at breakfast the next morning it seems everyone else’s was the same. We all have bags under our eyes, and we’re all grumpy, snapping at each other over the slightest thing.
It’s funny. The one thing being a slave does is give you a routine. These are the rules, this is how things must be done, and if you venture beyond what must be done, or fail to do it properly, you will be punished. If you behave, then life will settle into something that becomes comfortable, even if you might not think so at the time.
When that routine is broken… well… uncertainty reins. And uncertainty breeds fear, which feeds into anger. And there’s plenty of that in our quarters this morning.
I want to escape into the gardens for the day.
They’re not huge, about the same size as the building we occupy, but the fresh air and blue skies and scented flowers help calm me.
I don’t get the chance.
A servant appears, and speaks to Darla.
She looks at me.
“Lauren. You’ve been summoned to the Master.”
I stand, a sinking feeling in my stomach.
“Do I need to change?”
“No,” she says. “You just need to go.”
“Told you she was a witch,” Nancy mutters to her friends as I go past. “And now she’s fucked something majorly, and she’s going to
be burned for it.”
I wish I could ignore Nancy’s words, but I can’t help but feel there’s a truth to them this time, that there wasn’t before. Even if she doesn’t realise it.
I follow the servant to the Master’s rooms, but this time it’s not his bedroom I’m taken to, but an office space.
“What did you do?”
He’s shouting at me, even before the servant has left.
All I want to do is curl up into a ball, but I know if I do that now he’ll see me as weak, and take all his anger out on me.
“I told you—”
“Bullshit!”
He picks up a potted plant from a desk and throws it against the wall, the pot smashing as dirt and debris flies everywhere.
“A loved one. My most loved person.” He points a finger at me, inches from my face. “You did this. You murdered him. Do you know what you’ve done? Do you know the turmoil this place is in now? It could have been one of my brothers. It could have been one of you blasted whores down there in that building, but no, it had to be my father. The one person who was holding all this chaos in balance.”
I take a deep breath, straightening my spine, and swallowing the lump in my throat. My whole body is shaking, but I pray he can’t see that.
“I told you the cost,” I say again. “And you agreed to pay it. You refused to acknowledge your feelings, and so now this has come as a surprise. You yourself asked if you should prepare for the worst. And I told you ‘yes’.”
I glance at him, narrowing my eyes as though to look on him disdainfully, though inside I’m quaking.
“If you’d been true to yourself you would have known this was going to be the outcome, and you could have refused, but you didn’t.”
Sidney takes a step back, and slumps into his chair. Somehow this image I’m projecting is working, and the quaking inside me eases a little.
“I didn’t realise it would be an actual person,” he says.
I frown. “What? But I told you—”
He shakes his head. “I thought the thing I loved most was my dragon self. My dragon shape. And that is a person too, in a way, even if it’s not a human person. I thought—” His face colours now, and he looks away. “I thought I’d lose the ability to shapeshift. That my dragon persona would die. Not an actual person.”
I blink, several times.
Not being a shifter myself, I obviously have never experienced the ability to change form into another creature. And not ever having had deep and meaningful conversations with anyone who could, I had no idea they considered themselves in this way.
“So, you feel like two people?” I say, trying to understand. “Like a human you, and a dragon you?”
He shrugs. “In a way, I suppose. Yes. I mean, it’s not super different, I think and feel like me, whatever form my body is in. But I just thought the universe might see it that way, I suppose.”
My mind is whirling. “You were willing to give up being a dragon shifter, in order to have children?”
He glances at me, and nods.
“The worst thing is,” he says. “That I never actually realised how much my father meant to me.” He slumps over the desk and buries his head in his hands. “I didn’t realise it would be him. I thought, if it isn’t my dragon form, if it has to be another human, I thought it would be one of you”
I close my eyes, releasing all the fear that had tightened my chest and stomach in a long exhale.
“You can’t undo the past,” I say, taking a step towards him to rest a hand on his shoulder. “You didn’t know what was going to happen. But even if you’d never cast that spell, your father must be getting old, you must have known he would die, sooner or later. Surely you’ve been preparing for that moment?”
Sidney sighs. “I wanted to present him with an heir, first. I wanted to see the pride in his eyes when he looked at me, to show him I could be the one to give him what he wanted.” He shakes his head.
“If my brothers and I have no children, then all my father’s lands will pass on to someone else, when we die. He never wanted that. He always hoped he could see his lands passed safely on to the next generation. And now he’s died not knowing whether or not there is hope.”
I give Sidney’s shoulder a squeeze. “Your father may not have lived to see that hope, but I can tell you, it’s there.”
“But how long before we know if it has worked?”
“I know now.”
He glances up at me, his eyes wide. “She’s pregnant?”
I nod.
There’s caution in his eyes. “But how can you tell?”
“I can see people’s energies. There’s a change in hers that can only mean one thing.”
Sidney stares out the window, his face one of amazement. “A child.” He breathes the word. “I’ve created a child.”
I nod. “And if there’s one, then there can be more.”
He glances at me, and I see his eyes are wet with tears. “We should celebrate. We should bring her here—”
I shake my head. “She doesn’t know yet. She won’t know for a couple of weeks, not until her bleeding is late. Even then she might not be sure.”
He frowns. “Why can’t you tell her?”
I snort. “If I tell her, then everyone will know that I’m a witch. You know what happens to witches. Some of those women I’m forced to live with are already convinced of it, they’ve already threatened to burn me at the stake. If I tell her that, they’ll know, and they’ll kill me.”
His eyes widen again, but this time in fear.
“We must protect you,” he says. “You’ve given me such a wonderful gift. I have to keep you safe.”
A rush of warmth spreads through my chest. I push it aside. I’m only precious to him because I can do magic, because my powers are his to control.
“I won’t tell a soul,” he promises, his gaze burning into mine.
I nod my thanks.
“You should go back,” he continues. “Keep your head down. I must stay in mourning for two weeks, but when that time is up I’ll continue with business as usual. I won’t let anyone know what we know. Not until that girl comes to me with her news.”
I almost laugh. “That girl’s name is Stacey, and she is the youngest, and most vulnerable of all those women. And now she’s pregnant with your child. She’s going to need to be cared for, properly. Not shacked up with a bunch of jealous women.”
“Stacey.” He nods. “All right. As soon as she confirms, I’ll have her moved. She’ll be safe. I’ll look after all the women who fall pregnant to me. I’ll look after them, because they’re growing my child.”
He glances at me again. “How long did you say, before she knows?”
I shrug. “It will be a few weeks. She won’t suspect anything until her bleeding is late, and even then she may not know for certain. Stress often makes our cycles change, or even stop for a while. It may be a month or more before she’s certain.”
“A month or more?” There’s a desperation in Sidney’s eyes. “I can’t wait that long.”
I shrug. “If you have access to pregnancy tests, then that will tell you in a week or two.”
“Pregnancy tests.” He nods. “Right. I’ll find out where to get pregnancy tests from.” He frowns. “I’ll have to do that somewhere else, too, so no one suspects anything.”
I nod, and turn to leave.
He reaches out to grab my hand, and give it a squeeze. “I’ll look after you, too, Lauren. You’re important, too.”
The look in his eyes of one of concern and care, and I feel a lump in my throat at the tenderness in his voice. But I’m not foolish. I know it’s my power that’s important to him. Not me. I can’t let myself believe otherwise.
As the days pass, the women become grumpier than ever.
Darla has confirmed the two week mourning period, and as the days pass, the boredom gets the better of everyone. We all wish for something to break the monotony of our days.
There’s
bickering over the slightest thing, who took the bowl someone else was about to pick up, how unfair it was that some people got served first at mealtimes—even though it’s first come, first served—and worst of all whose fault it is that we’re all trapped in these quarters together.
My own relief is that for once there is less attention on me, fewer snide comments directed my way, no one picking arguments with me, they’re all just cranky with each other. Even Nancy seems to have forgotten my existence, and has turned her attention to which ever other poor woman is unlucky enough to get in her way.
Stacey is the only one who seems happy out of everyone.
There is something serene about the way she moves around, some sort of inner joy that helps her glide, and keeps a soft smile on her face at all times.
“I don’t know what it is,” she admits, when one of the other women asks her why she’s so relaxed. “I just feel so complete. I’ve never felt like this before.” She lowers her voice. “Must be the amazing sex.” She giggles, and the other women look at her with envy.
“Nice for some,” one woman mutters.
One week in and a servant appears with more news for Darla. She gathers us all in the dining hall.
“Master Sidney’s brothers are concerned that the Master has more women than they do,” she says. “It seems that their father loaned Sidney money to pay for some of you, and so now the brothers are arguing that Sidney ought to share some of you out. They don’t want him to repay the money, they want women equal to their share instead.”
My heart plummets, and all around me I see everyones faces drop.
“What does that mean?” Nancy asks, fear evident in her tone.
“There are twelve of you, and Master Sidney’s father paid for eight. Conveniently there are four brothers, including Master Sidney, so you’ll be divided out, two per brother. That means six of you will leave her to go to another brother.”
“How are they going to decide that?” Stacey’s voice is a squeak, and I feel absolutely terrified for her. What if she’s taken, and her child is believed to be the child of the brother she ends up with? The spell would have been for nothing. And if the rumours are true, there’s no way Sidney’s brothers will care for her the way Sidney promised he would.
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