“That’s how it works. You may need to look it up in the library for more details. But one thing is certain-a full heat cannot end without multiple rounds of heat sex, and self-pleasure does not help.”
A marathon of heat sex? Mounted? Knotted? Release into my womb?
Emeriel’s knees gave out, and he collapsed into the nearest chair, his face pale.
It all sounded like something out of the terrifying stories told to scare children under the moonlight.
For a moment, he thought he saw pity in Livia’s eyes, but he couldn’t be sure. He wasn’t sure of anything anymore.
“Do you now understand why I said it would be nearly impossible to keep pretending to be male?” Madam Livia stood, gathering her herb bag. “While I feel for you, I do not play favorites. You will be treated like every other slave and expected to work just as hard.”
The older woman looked at him. “You may have hidden your gender, but your beauty cannot be concealed. These lustful masters will notice you sooner or later. What if one of them finds out your secret? Also, you will be required to bathe in the river like everyone else. What will you do then?”
Emeriel’s skin crawled with discomfort.
Of course, he had already known this; it was no different from all he knew about the lives of slaves and commoners. But hearing it so clearly now made his situation feel all the more real.
Tears welled in his eyes. He wanted Aekeira. He needed his sister.
A knock sounded at the door. “Mistress Livia? Your presence is requested in Blackstone,” a soldier announced loudly.
“I will come shortly. Thank you,” Madam Livia replied. The sound of footsteps faded.
“What is Blackstone?” Emeriel asked.
“It is the domain of Grand Lord Vladya. He rules the western wing of this estate, and his home is there,” Livia explained. Then, in a quieter tone, she added, “I wonder why he wants to see me.”
Emeriel wiped his eyes, swallowing tightly. “Do you think it’s about my sister?”
“You may go now. I have already told Slave Master Gaine that you will work in the cellar for now. The soldiers will come for you soon.”
A cellar slave? It was not ideal, but it could have been worse. “Thank you, Madam Livia, for everything,” Emeriel said softly, standing to leave.
“Emeriel?”
He turned back, looking at her. “Yes, Madam?”
Livia hesitated. “I would not hold out hope regarding Aekeira.”
When she said nothing more, tears once again sprang to Emeriel’s eyes, and he let out a quiet sob. He had dreaded the thought, refusing to entertain it. But deep down, he knew he had been fooling himself.
Emeriel walked unsteadily back to his chambers and locked the door. Falling to the floor, he wept bitterly.
PRINCE EMERIEL
Three days passed, and Emeriel was moved to the slave quarters in the southern wing.
The room he was given was small and bare, with only a tiny bed in one corner.
Thankfully, Madam Livia had managed to get him clothes that covered his whole body, sparing him from the revealing attire other slaves wore.
As the evening fell, marking his first day as a cellar slave, Emeriel tightened the chest-binds around his chest and put on his work clothes. He tied his hair into a ponytail. He hadn’t heard anything about Aekeira. He hadn’t seen his sister.
Whenever he tried to ask Madam Livia, she would change the subject.
Emeriel refused to believe his sister was dead and her body discarded-at least during the day.
But at night, he would curl up on his cold bed and cry himself to sleep. Every single time.
Emeriel had seen Grand Lord Vladya and Grand Lord Ottai, but not the one called Grand Lord Zaiper. Whenever his name was mentioned, the Urekai maids and human slaves would all look terrified. Every single one of them.
“He is the worst of all the grand lords,” the slave girl Amie had whispered to him the day before, her eyes wide as she looked around to make sure no one was listening and the hallway was empty. “Lord Ottai can be sweet when he wants to be, and Lord Vladya is very scary. But like Lord Ottai, he is fair and just in his leadership. But Lord Zaiper?”
Amie had glanced around again. “He is a monster. His slaves die every day. Some starve, others are tortured for fun, and some are even raped to death. His slave masters are the worst, and Lord Zaiper does not care. He does not even see us as human.”
Emeriel’s eyes had widened to the root of his hair. “This lord is worse than Lord Vladya?”
“Actually, Grand Lord Vladya is not that bad,” Amie had stated firmly. “When it comes to ruling and running the kingdom, he is as fair as you could hope for from a Urekai lord. He just hates humans. He never holds back when dealing with humans. Compared to Lord Zaiper, though, he is an angel.” The younger girl had paused. “Stay away from Lord Zaiper at all costs.”
A knock broke into Emeriel’s thoughts as Amie poked her head through the door, her smile bright.
“Are you ready to go?” she asked cheerfully. Emeriel nodded and followed her outside.
Later.
Boris, the Urekai slave master, watched Emeriel’s every move with the sharp gaze of a hawk stalking its prey in the deepest parts of an ancient forest.
Emeriel felt deeply uneasy as he placed bottles of wine into a wooden barrel. He was so uncomfortable that he almost dropped a bottle in a moment of panic.
Luckily, his reflexes saved him, and he caught it just in time.
A good thing too, because breaking a wine bottle would mean fifteen lashes from the burning whip-and two nights in the dungeon, according to Master Gaine, the second Urekai slave master.
Pull yourself together, Emeriel! Do not look at him. Stop glancing his way!
Picking up another bottle of red wine, Emeriel placed it carefully into the barrel with the others on the lower level.
“Two white wines and a perry for the twins at table four,” Amie said as she walked up to him. She was one of the slaves serving drinks to the many customers at the tavern.
“Coming right up,” Emeriel said quickly. He prepared the order and handed it to Amie, who took the bottles and rushed off.
Glancing at Master Boris again, Emeriel noticed his creepy eyes were now following Amie instead. Those watchful eyes were far too unsettling.
BLACKSTONE DOMAIN, RAVENSHADOW FORTRESS.
GRAND LORD VLADYA
“She is awake, my lord,” Livia had informed Vladya on the military grounds.
Now, he was on his way back to his quarters.
Three days had passed, and the girl had not regained consciousness. Grand Lord Vladya had started to doubt if she ever would.
He had considered ordering his soldiers to dispose of her body, but he refrained. Instead, he instructed his healer to care for her and had Livia watch closely.
The girl held answers to questions Vladya desperately needed-answers to the questions that disturbed his mind.
As he entered his quarters, the maids bowed to him, and the soldiers escorted him to the chamber where the girl was being kept. They opened the door, and Vladya stepped inside.
“Wait outside,” he ordered, and the soldiers closed the door behind him.
AEKEIRA
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