Sakia raised her hand. Her purple ring glows and strikes Bar’uul with a beam of light. The brute is immobilised in place and he slides to the ground. Sakia lifts her hand again and I see an amber ring on her finger glow and fire a beam at Bar’uul who shudders uncontrollably.
“Want another taste of pain, brute?” says Sakia, curling her lip. “You will never have Jed. I know how you treat slaves. You monster! I know you turn the men into eunuchs.”
I am so glad that Bar’uul lost the auction! I never want him to make me into a eunuch.
The old man at the table speaks. “Clear out Bar’uul. You have no reason to disrupt a business meeting. Security will throw you out.”
I am lucky that Bar’uul has no authority here. He gets thrown out of the building instead of carrying me off.
----------------------------------------
00O00
There’s some kind of formal event afterwards. I’d call it a party, but it’s full of old men in ugly suits and weird robes. They stand around muttering to each other in the common tongue, or in Sperian, or even in some languages I don’t know about.
“This event will be a drag, but just pretend to be happy about it,” says Sakia. “Or don’t pretend. I’ll make you happy…” She reaches for my crotch and strokes my genitals. “Mm, feel that?”
I do. It actually feels quite pleasant. “How long will it take to make a sticky mess?” I wonder aloud.
She smirks, crinkling her nose and picks up a platter from a nearby table. “Nibbles? Nothing too spicy.” She feeds me a piece of salted beef with her fingers.
An old Sperian man with a long grey beard comes up to us.
“I’m taken,” says Sakia, clutching my arm. “Just imagine what our children are going to look like.”
“They probably won’t have even skin tone,” I add.
“Ah,” says the old man. “I just wanted to congratulate you on acquiring that oil field, young Mistress.”
“Oh, so you weren’t going to flirt,” says Sakia, rolling her eyes. “My mistake.”
There are little thimble sized cups of tarry black coffee on silver tables.
“Sperian coffee,” says Sakia. “Careful… it goes through the untrained stomach like a hot ballbearing. They say it causes super-sobriety. That it strips away the comforting pink fog that people surround themselves with.”
“I don’t want any then,” I decide.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
The reality is that I’m a slave. I don’t need to become super-sober and lose my comforting pink fog, whatever that means.
----------------------------------------
00O00
Back at the mansion, Sakia insists on supervising me while I take a shower.
“I like to watch you,” she tells me. “There are cameras everywhere. But only I get to look at the footage of you bathing or masturbating.”
“I won’t try anything shady,” I tell her.
“Of course not,” says Sakia. “Mind you, you’d really better not try running away. There are guards everywhere on patrol at all times. If they catch you trying to break out they don’t have to be gentle.” She grimaces.
“I’m trustworthy,” I tell her. The shower water batters me and makes me go erect. Sakia watches intently. I’m no longer so embarrassed, since I’ve had to do it with her a lot since I arrived.
“If you’re good, I’ll take you to me bed,” says Sakia.
“How can I show you I’m good?” I ask.
I want to gain her trust. I have to if I’m to escape.
“Help Chef cook a meal for me,” says Sakia. “If she gives me a good report, I’ll know that you’re good. She will of course be supervising you every moment.”
----------------------------------------
00O00
Chef turns out to be a muscular dark skinned woman. From the far south, I think.
“Just chop up these bright little fishies here,” she tells me.
I cut the little fish with iridescent scales, while Chef mixes spices.
“You know I saw the Diamond Sea monster?” says Chef.
“Oh?”
“I was on a little boat and this huge great snake towered above me, staring at me with its huge, glassy eyes. Its maw gaped open and it had teeth any elephant would be proud to call tusks. And you know what it said?”
“It spoke?”
“It said, ‘I need about one Pewt.’”
“What’s a Pewt?”
“A pewter piece of course. The price of a bottle of liquor.”
“It asked you for money?”
“I told it no. I work for my money. I cook and clean and earn every Pewt.”
Chef’s lucky that she gets paid. She’s not a slave, like me. I must be the lowest ranking member of Sakia’s household. Unless I can win her favour. I want Chef to give a good report, so I work hard in the kitchen and offer to do all the tedious jobs. I don’t even question her ridiculous story about the Diamond Sea monster begging her for change. Seriously, did she think I’d believe that some massive, serpentine monstrosity from the depths of the sea would have any use at all for our currency or our liquor?
The pots and pans boil and bubble.
“You did well,” says Chef. “You may not be the genius in the kitchen that I am, but you’re a great help.”
“Thank you,” I tell her.
We bring the food to Sakia. There are guards standing around the dining room.
“Sit!” Sakia orders me, pointing at the chair beside her.
I sit down.
“Ah, the handsome slave is favoured now,” says Chef. “I never get to eat at the same table as you, Ma’am.”
“Quite right, you don’t,” says Sakia. “And neither do the guards. Now Jed, let’s go over what to do when we’re eating together in public. I start, and then so do you, but only after I’ve eaten my first bite.”
Sakia nibbles at the rainbow fish. I copy her.
“Now pretend Chef is a waiter. Smile and show her how adorable you look,” says Sakia. “The point is for me to show you off. Everyone from my business partners to the catering staff will see that I’ve got the best eye candy.”
I smile at Chef who beams back at me and waves.
“Now this next part is important,” says Sakia. “When one of my seedy business partners looks at me funny or yells at me to smile, you have to lock lips with me. Like this…”
She grabs my face and kisses me forcibly, using her tongue.
----------------------------------------
00O00
In my room that night, I wonder how I can escape. I might be able to persuade Chef to help. Or perhaps my original idea to gain Sakia’s trust will work better? What can I do?