I’ll say.
“Do you sell them still?” I questioned. “I know you have a deal of sorts with the king, but overall, trafficking should be outlawed if slavery is.”
“It is, but things happen under the table a lot. Why d’ye ask … d’ye think I’ll sell you?”
“For the right number of credits, you would.”
The snippy reply earned me a solid smack across the face. I tried to rub the burning sting of it away with my hand, but I couldn’t rid myself of the throb that settled.
“Watch yer fuckin’ mouth.” Master grabbed hold of my hair, making me hiss with pain. My body throbbed all over. “Ye’ve been away from home too long. Remember yer place, bitch.”
“I will. I’m sorry, Master.”
He released me and switched his focus to Nicah and Asia, who was fussing noisily.
“Go to the bunkhouse and find a spot for you and the brat,” he ordered with a hint of venom in his tone. “There’s a cookery in there, a washin’ room, and a relief pod. Go wash up. We have standards here on New Farm. Terra isn’t Earth. Nay filth or stench will be tolerated.”
“Yes, Master.”
Nicah glanced my way before she adjusted her hold on Asia, turned, and walked down the long pathway towards the bunkhouse. I thought I would be ordered to follow her, but when Master grabbed my wrist and led me down the main cobbled pathway towards his house, I felt sick. He didn’t say a word to me until we were inside the home’s cookery.
It was large and looked unused.
“Pretty fancy, huh?”
I nodded because it was. Compared to the property on Earth, New Farm was stunning.
“It cost me a pretty hefty amount of credits, but I’m not at a loss. Thanks to you.”
Confused, I looked at him.
“The jewellery,” he said. “I weighed it on the journey here and got an estimated price from a trader in New Earth City when I contacted him.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I took the jewellery ye wore while ye were sleepin’.”
I realised then that my bracelets, hair clips, and chains were gone.
“They were solid gold, and the diamonds looked purely cut, which is incredibly rare,” Master said as he moved to the waterspout. “These elements aren’t native t’Terra like they were on Earth and are on Ealra, which means they’re worth a lot of credits. The ten clips I took from yer hair and the bracelets on yer wrists and chains from yer neck are set to accumulate so many credits, I’m no longer angry with ye for leavin’ with the aliens … or tryin’ to kill me.”
I was dumbfounded into silence.
“All of the slaves that were lost on Earth, the toll I paid t’get onto Terra, the price of New Farm, the price of upgradin’ me main vessel, and then the price of the smaller craft is all settled. The jewellery is estimated t’get me everythin’ back that I spent in credits and then some.”
So he abducted me, Asia, and Nicah, then stole my jewellery and sold it? The man was truly a piece of dirt.
“Are the slaves confined to the bunkhouse?” I quizzed. “I didn’t see any of them outside.”
“Yep, but mainly because of the tarragons.”
“The what?”
“The beasts on this planet are nothin’ compared to Earth.” He smirked. “They have a species similar to dragons here. They were fairy tales back on Earth. Huge, winged creatures that breathe fire is what the myth of dragons were. Here on Terra, tarragons are very like them, and trust me, they’re not a myth. They don’t normally venture far away from the mountains, but they sometimes do, so the slaves stay inside.”
Not for their safety, I knew, but to protect Master’s investment.
“Will I go to the bunkhouse and find a spot?”
“I don’t know.” Master turned, leaned against the countertop, and folded his arms across his chest. “Maybe I should just room ye here in the main house.”
I felt a sickening sense of dread curl up around me.
“Why?” I shifted. “I’m a slave, and slaves stay in the bunkhouse. That’s what you said.”
“Maybe I changed me mind.” He tilted his head. “Did he fuck ye?”
I could have vomited.
“He did.” Master’s blue eyes flashed with anger. “Your silence speaks.”
“I’m mated to him,” I said, unashamed. “That is their version of marriage.”
Master suddenly laughed.
“So Nicah spoke the truth. Ye wed an alien prince and became a princess.” He smacked his hand off his thigh like it was the funniest thing he had ever heard. “What a tale! A peasant slave from Earth turnin’ into a princess on a foreign world.”
Hearing Master speak of something I had feared in the back of my mind the entire time I lived in the palace was like him spitting in my face. I had been so scared of my new life being just that, a tale.
“I’m a slave once more.” I almost choked on the words. “But I cannot change the fact that I am mated.”