“I unmate ye. There, happy?” Master rolled his eyes. “Ealrian traditions dinna apply on Terra.”
He didn’t understand. My mating with Ezah wasn’t simply a legal commitment. It was a deep, heartfelt, biological bond. His essence flowed in my veins. I would live as long as he did. Centuries upon centuries. I would outlive Master, Nicah, Asia, and every living human on Terra. I wasn’t going to tell him that, though. If Ezah failed to rescue me, I would let Master be scared of me never aging while time caught up with him.
“As you say, Master.”
His eyes moved over my body, and the clothing style of the Maji haunted me at that moment because so much of my body was on display. Master didn’t look at me like I was his child, and the thought both repulsed and terrified me.
“Go t’the bunkhouse,” he said. “From tomorrow night, though, you sleep with me in my bed. Things are different here on New Farm, Levi. We’re all startin’ over. I think takin’ you as me woman is as good a start as any.”
The world may as well have fallen away from my feet. I couldn’t say a word in response. My tongue felt too thick to reply. Instead, I turned and hurried out of the main house with his amused sick laughter following me. I sprinted towards the bunkhouse the second my bare feet hit the cobblestone. I didn’t care that the underside of my feet hurt. I had to run. The fear of tarragons wasn’t what scared me either.
He was going to bed me. The man who sired me, my biological father was going to take me as his woman. A deep pain wrapped around my heart as how wrong it was, at how horrifying it was to think of, let alone to act upon. When I entered the bunkhouse, Nicah was there with Asia.
“What’s wrong?”
I hadn’t realised tears streamed my face.
“He’s going to bed me,” I choked. “He said … he said from tomorrow night on, I will sleep in his bed and be his woman.”
Nicah’s face paled. “No.”
I whimpered. “I’m his child. How can he do that … to his own child?”
Nicah began to cry too as she put her free arm around me and held me to her and a watchful Asia. Nicah knew better than anyone what it was like to be used and abused by Master, but she was not his blood child. I was. He had never shown paternal affection for me, but to disregard his blood connection to me entirely and want to do to my body what a father should never do to his child hurt me so deeply.
“I need Ezah,” I sobbed. “I need my mate, Nini.”
“He’s coming.” Nicah sniffled. “The Maji will come for us, Vi. We are Maji, remember? Ealrian females.”
“Ea-Ealrian females,” I echoed, sniffling. “He’s coming for me.”
“Come on.” Nicah took my hand. “Let’s get you bathed and into warm clothes. Your body is injured, and you’re tired. I can see it in you.”
I let Nicah lead me to the washroom.
“Where’re the others?”
“They’re upstairs.”
Nicah helped me remove my clothes, and while I washed, she stayed in the room with me and Asia, who was gnawing on her chubby fists and making the sweetest little sounds. I winced and whimpered when wash gel seeped into the cuts Master had inflicted on different parts of my body. I ached all over. I felt welts on my skin, and some patches of flesh were so tender that I could barely touch them. After long minutes, I was finally bathed, and when I stepped from the unit, Nicah handed me a large body cloth that I wrapped myself in.
“This is weird,” I said. “A bunkhouse, a cookery, a washroom, and a relief pod. Why is he letting us have these things? Back on Earth, we had to dig holes in the ground to relieve ourselves, and we slept in the dirt in the same flea-infested clothes that we wore every single day, and we never washed. Ever.”
“I don’t understand it either.” Nicah shook her head. “It’s like he wants us to be at our healthiest and best … Could it be because of his deal with the king he mentioned to you back on the craft?”
Realisation dawned on me.
“That’s it,” I said. “He said the king wants to use some of the slaves for entertainment. I imagine it would be as often as he likes, and as a king, he would have standards, so that means we have to be fit and healthy. A king is no mere trafficker who will buy anyone.”
“A king wants only the best.”
“The best to scream and cry,” I said bitterly. “I hate human men.”
“Me too.”
With Nicah’s help, I dried my body, and we conditioned and combed my hair out. That took the longest amount of time because of how thick my hair was and how tender my scalp was with the wounds I had sustained. Nicah braided my hair enough to keep it out of my face but not tight enough to hurt. I dressed in a white T-shirt and white trousers. The fabric was so fluffy and soft. I realised Nicah had the same set of clothing folded up next to her.