by Alta Hensley
“If I fuck you, and become your what… slave?”
“Maybe. If the brotherhood feels it so. But most likely you will be expected to have me dominate every inch of your body.” I took a sip of wine and then gave a tentative smile. “I do feel that I can make this entire process enjoyable for you.”
Her eyes widened. “So BDSM stuff? This sounds… crazy.”
“I know how it sounds. But this is my world. It’s not all galas, gowns and tiaras. My world is black, leather, chains, and danger. You need to know what you are getting yourself into if you truly want to be my bride.”
She sat there staring at me. Her emotionless face made it impossible to read her. I couldn’t tell if she was angry, offended, curious, or considering it all.
“The question is,” I said, “do you still want to marry me? Even if it means you going through this initiation to make that happen?”
The long pause had my heart beating so hard that I actually wondered if the room of diners could hear it. I wanted her desperately to say yes, but I also knew that the information I had just given her and the proposal of what would come next was enough to scare her right back to Costa Rica.
“Yes, I want to marry you,” she said softly. “But if I do this, will I be safe?”
I didn’t want to lie to her. I knew that the answer she wanted to hear was me to say of course she would be. But that was not the truth.
“You’ll be safe as long as you do as you are told. There is no backing down or changing your mind once you start. They’ll kill you before they let you go. But if you do everything asked of you, and you allow me to lead us toward the light, we will get out of the darkness. But you will have to have complete trust in me. I’ll get us through this as hard as it may be to believe it at times. I’m not going to lie to you and say this will be easy. I also wouldn’t ask you to do this if I didn’t think you were strong enough. Very few spouses can do what I’m asking of you. But I know you, Cheri. I know you wouldn’t want the same life most women in my circle live. You aren’t the type of woman who can simply sit on a board for some charity, attend fancy parties and smile. You’ll want more. You’ll want all of me and all of my life. You won’t want secrets. You don’t want to be the woman who has to be sent away when important business decisions are discussed.”
“That’s true,” she said. “I know that’s the life my mother led, and I don’t want that. She played dumb and just acted like she knew nothing. I’m assuming my father was a member of The Iron Colt Brotherhood since I had heard them mentioned when I maybe shouldn’t have. I had heard stories, saw some at parties with their hired guards, and even at dinner at my house. Though my mother never acted like she knew a thing. My father protected her, and now I know why. But look where that put her. She’s weak, penniless, and delusional that all will be fine and someone will take care of her. I promised myself I never would be like her in that regard. I won’t be a weak, helpless and kept woman no matter if I marry a prince or not. So, if doing this initiation means I can marry you but still retain my strength and not just be arm candy to a prince, then yes, I want to go through with this. No matter how scary and daunting this sounds.”
A sense of relief and fear attacked me at once. I would do everything within my power to keep her safe, but I also knew how the brotherhood operated.
“They will kill you, Cherise, if you agree to this and then get cold feet. Once you open this door, there is no turning back. They will consider it an act of betrayal.”
She nodded slowly. “But they won’t kill me or hurt me as long as I act submissive and do as I am told. I can do this… if it means I can marry you but not eventually lose myself in the royal life… it will be worth it.”
“But I really want you to understand. It will be sexual. It will be depraved in more ways than you can imagine. It will also tap into your most forbidden and taboo desires. You will feel pleasure and pain, fear and ecstasy all bundled together. Your mind will scream that everything happening to you is wrong, but your body will overrule by knowing it’s right. I will be there. I will guide you, but this journey is yours.”
She nodded again. “So what happens next? When does this initiation happen?”
“You’ll be picked up tomorrow by someone who works for the brotherhood. I’m not sure when, or where, but it will happen. We are going to tell everyone that you and I are on an engagement trip. I have no idea how long we’ll be away for this initiation, so we will not give a date of our return. The media, our families and friends, will all just assume we are on a romantic trip.”
“And when will I see you?” she asked.
“I’ll be there. I don’t know all the details either. I don’t know everything that will happen, or what will be asked of you. But I assure you, that I will be there.”
“Okay. I’ll do it.”
“Cheri…” I began. “You need to take this seriously. The men in charge of the initiation can be cruel and without mercy. I will do everything within my power to protect you, but I can’t if you get mouthy, fight back, or try to run. The minute I tell The Iron Colt Brotherhood that you have accepted to be initiated, you will have to completely comply.”
“I understand that,” she said softly. “I knew that marrying you would come with some hidden ties. I knew this.”
“I also need to warn you,” I said in an even tone. “I am not going to be the Prince Roman you grew up with when we are among the brotherhood. You will see the devil inside me emerge. I need you to be prepared.”
She nodded and locked eyes with mine. “I can do this, Roman. I will. If it means that we can live our lives together without this chain around our necks, then I will do it.”
And I would as well. I knew deep down that the initiation had to happen for us to ever be able to live a normal life. I didn’t want to have to fear for her life, or have to make deals to keep her safe. I had power in the brotherhood, and I wanted my wife to as well. It wouldn’t be easy, but I knew if any woman could pull through this, it would be my Cheri.
10
Cheri
I saw the black sedan waiting on the corner as I took a morning walk. I knew they would come, but that didn’t ease the fear I had. There was no way around the inevitable no matter how much I had hoped otherwise. If I wanted a life with Roman not cloaked in dark secrets, I needed to allow this initiation to happen. There was no escaping The Iron Colt Brotherhood in this new life of mine, so I might as well embrace all that it meant and required from me. But though my mind tried to be reasonable, my body, my heart, and my terrified soul screamed out against it.
I could run. Self-preservation kicked in as my eyes darted from side to side looking for an escape route. Yes, I could run… and I would be caught. Running from The Iron Colt Brotherhood only made things worse. I knew this.
Fuck. I knew this.
It was time for the initiation.
Lifting my chin, straightening my spine, and taking a deep breath to steady my nerves, I approached the vehicle. In order to survive, I would need to face the monster head on. Maybe if I showed no fear, I could mask my terror with bravado. Charm and grace had worked wonders for me in the past, and there was always hope that those same attributes, when utilized correctly, could work again.
As I approached the driver’s side of the car, the tinted window lowered to reveal a man with a rigid jaw, dark eyes, and about two days’ growth of facial hair. I didn’t recognize him, but I didn’t need to in order to know he worked for The Iron Colt Brotherhood. I assumed people who looked cold and emotionless all worked for The Iron Colt Brotherhood. All employees seemed to be the same. No friends or family really. Loners. A past that made them not care about the future. I had seen enough at parties, heard enough stories about what they did, but seeing someone up close and personal… for me… was a different experience.
“Get in the car,” he ordered. His tone was flat, firm, and just like his appearance, void of life.
For a split second, the thought of running attacke
d all my senses again, but I pushed it to the deepest depth of my being, opened the back door, and climbed in. Everything seemed to move in slow motion. I kept hearing the words of my mother when I was a child telling me to never get into the car of strangers. Never speak to strangers. Never do what I was doing.
Before I could fasten my seatbelt, the car took off. “Where are we going?” I asked. My voice sounded foreign to my own ears. It quivered and sounded weak and helpless. I swallowed hard and tried to chase that cowardly woman away. I wasn’t her. I was a fighter. A powerful woman. A motherfucking queen. I had battle scars to prove it. “Did The Iron Colt Brotherhood send you?” I asked, willing myself to sound much stronger this time.
The man didn’t answer, but I saw his eyes look back at me in the rearview mirror. He diverted eye contact quickly, and it was then that panic set in. No one wanted to connect with a dead man walking. No, Roman would never allow them to hurt me. But what if he didn’t have the control I thought he did? What if they were far more powerful than Prince Roman? It was possible… and I could be walking toward my own death.
Make wise choices, my mother used to say.
I clearly didn’t listen.
I should have said no when Roman told me about the initiation. I should have been fine not knowing what was ever really going on. Why did I agree to this? Why? Staring out the window at the passing scenery, I wondered what would have been better.
Bile formed in the back of my throat as I watched us drive into the abyss, further and further into the bayou—out in the middle of nowhere. Someplace that no one would be able to hear the bullet shot through my head, or my cries for mercy as they tortured me first if I didn’t do exactly what they said as Roman had instructed me to do. We were driving so far out of the city that my body would never be found. My fate would be sealed.
Would Roman even be able to find me for a proper burial?
The car turned down a narrow dirt road, and my heart stopped. This was it. This emotionless man driving, who didn’t say a single word, planned to escort me to... to what? God, what was about to happen?
It didn’t take long for me to see something unexpected. A large manor loomed in the distance. Dark, gray, ominous, and it appeared as if the devil himself resided within the walls. It was so large that I wondered if it maybe was once a boarding school, or owned by some wealthy oil tycoon who had more money than even The Iron Colt Brotherhood. Though I was certain the mansion had once been a testament to the opulence of yesteryear, the structure now looked nearly abandoned cast against the setting sun. If it weren’t for the cars parked in the massive circular driveway, I would have thought the house completely deserted and haunted by all the spirits of murdered souls.
I was about to join those forgotten souls myself if I didn’t obey every command and follow every rule. Roman had warned me. Yes, he had warned me, but I had no idea how daunting all of that was until I sat here about to face it head on.
It was as if the manor was lost in time—once magnificent, but now eerily haunting. Large windows with a faint light emerging through the stained glass of the second floor gave the cold structure some signs of warmth and life. But then the sharp-pitched roof with the crumbling brick chimneys reminded me of the deathlike aura. Would my body be tortured and killed inside those walls? Was I staring at my own coffin?
When the car pulled up to the front entrance, I saw a man waiting outside wearing a black suit with a crisp white shirt unbuttoned at the neck. He was at the bottom of the stairs, arms crossed, his huge figure looming in front of the manor. His hair was black, his eyes dark, and from the firmness of his expression, I was pretty sure that his inner being was even darker than his outer appearance.
The driver got out of the car, opened my door, and yanked me out of the vehicle. With a strong grip of my upper arm, my chauffeur half-dragged me to the waiting man since my feet could barely keep up with his speed and purpose. As we approached the steps, both men silently climbed their way to the front door and pulled me inside. Once we reached the foyer, I was shoved to the floor.
“Kneel,” the man who had been waiting for me said.
Too panicked to do anything else, I scrambled to my knees and did as he said while I quickly tried to scan my surroundings. A glorious staircase mastered the entire space with its intricately carved banister spiraling alongside the wooden steps. Original pocket doors concealed rooms on each side of me, and the scarred wooden floor beneath my knees countered the lavishness of the chandelier dangling over me.
“Cherise,” the man began as he stood in front of me with his arms remaining crossed at his chest. It was as if he was going to lecture me like a naughty schoolgirl rather than begin the initiation.
I didn’t respond, but looked up into his eyes instead. I swallowed hard and struggled to breathe. For a moment, I wondered if I would die of a heart attack before the man could do anything to me.
“I’m not one to fuck around. So, let’s just get to the point. You know why you are here, yes?”
I nodded and looked down at the floor. My nerves could no longer handle the severity that I saw in his eyes and on his face. I foolishly thought I could be brave and face this initiation head on, but the tears that fell and the need to beg to be let go and pretend none of this had ever happened almost erupted from the place I thought I had securely locked my fear away.
“The Iron Colt Brotherhood are not men to cross. Betrayal equals death. And in most cases, the most torturous, agonizing death you could imagine. They want to make their enemies pay with far more than just their lives.” He took one step toward me, and I flinched as if he had just punched me in the face. “But you know that. You know what could happen to you right now if you don’t listen and comply with every detail of this initiation.”
My mind ran rampant with all the ways this man and the brotherhood would make me pay if I did a single thing wrong. Every single horror movie I ever watched played back in my head. My ragged breath came out in gasps as my vision dimmed. My ears rang, and my body quivered.
The man reached for my chin and tilted my head back so I had to look up into his eyes. “I am one of the members of The Iron Colt Brotherhood.” He paused for a moment to give me time to absorb his words. “Your initiation has begun. There is no backing out no matter how much you plead for mercy.”
“Mercy?” There was a note of hysteria in my voice as I asked, “Are you going to kill me?”
“Death would be easy compared to what we plan to do to you.”
“Torture me?”
“In the most wicked of ways. Yes.”
I flinched when I heard the cries of a woman from another room in the manor. Staring up into this monster’s eyes, I asked, “Am I not the only one being initiated? How many are there?”
“The only person you should worry about, Cheri, is you. You will need all the strength and focus you can drum up in that shaking body of yours.”
The sob I had been struggling to hold back released. It was even louder as it was amplified by the barren walls of the entryway. My shoulders shook with the effort to hold back an even more desperate wail. I feared I’d no longer be able to wear the crown of the brave queen. I could already feel it breaking, chipping, being destroyed by my fear. I was so very scared, and all I could do was watch my tears fall to the floor before my knees.
“Don’t cry, sweet princess. Not yet.” The man bent down and caressed the back of my head, once again lifting my face so I was forced to look into his unforgettable eyes. He then took a handful of hair and yanked my head back hard. “Not until one of the brothers gives you something to cry about. And we will.” Tugging on my hair harder, he inched back and looked me square on, so close to my face that I could feel his breath on my lips. I could smell his manly scent of spice and control… if control had a scent. He was so close. I could almost feel him. I knew his touch wouldn’t be soft or gentle. There was nothing but raw power exuding from this man. “We most certainly will.”
11
; Cheri
I hadn’t noticed that the driver was still in the manor until the man nodded at him. “I’ll take it from here.” He looked down at me and gave a fiendish smile. “As soon as I go over the ground rules and have her broken in.”
When the front door closed, I adjusted my weight to relieve the pressure on my knees. The small movement was not a good idea, however. The man, who still had a handful of my hair in his grasp, jerked me up to a standing position. The sting on my scalp had me crying out, but I didn’t resist in any way.
“First rule in this manor,” he said between clenched teeth. “You do nothing without permission. Nothing at all. I don’t care if you are uncomfortable, in pain, or just in the mood to do something of your own free will. You won’t do anything without a direct order, or you will suffer the consequences.”
He paused and waited for some type of response from me. I couldn’t talk. I was so terrified all I could only stare and nod. What consequences? But I wasn’t about to ask that question out loud.
Still holding my hair, the man led me to the stairs. “You will be expected to pay your penance into our world. You will gain your freedom from this manor and officially be initiated into The Iron Colt Brotherhood by earning diamonds. The Iron Colt Brotherhood has sentenced you to one hundred diamonds owed. Once you pay those diamonds, you are free to go and will be an honorary member of The Iron Colt Brotherhood as long as you remain married to Prince Roman Cassian. Failure to earn them, or failure to earn them at a speed that The Iron Colt Brotherhood feels is appropriate will end in death. So, the choice really is up to you.”
“You want me to pay my membership with diamonds?” I tried to turn my head to look at the man in desperation but was rewarded with a sharp pull of my hair as he led me up the stairs. “I can do that. How much are the diamonds? I will pay you all whatever you feel is fair. Whatever you want, I will pay. I’ll find a way. I swear.”