Page 4 (1/2)

"That one," the Gray Lady said again

You will not have ht as he watched the reluctant approach of the auction steho had been su else, I can still do that reed upon, the steward bowed to Grizelle, then gestured to two of the guards inside the pen "We’ll clean him up for you, Lady," he said His pompous smile died beneath that steely stare "I’ll have him and the papers ready inan hour?"

"Thirty minutes"

The steward paled "Of course, Lady I’ll see to it personally"

Offering no response, Grizelle and her unhappy escort walked away

They gave hiht Not that he could have with the way his crauards hauled him to his feet They attached two chains to the wide collar and kept his hands tied behind his back With a prissy sh the Ring of Obedience until Jared’s already unsteady legs buckled and breathing took all of his concentration

The short walk to the s where lower-class slaves were delivered to their neners took forever and ended too soon

The wash-down room contained a pue chest, and two iron posts positioned on either side of a drain

Pain shot through the Ring at the sauards untied his hands By the tiain, his wrists and ankles were cuffed to the posts One guard pumped water into the half barrel while the one who’d wanted to cut his eye ruuard turned around and held up a wide strip of leather that had buckles on the ends and a leather ball sewn to the center

"Open yoursmile as he came toward Jared "You kno to do that"

Jared clenched his teeth

Vicious pleasure filled the guard’s eyes as he held the gag in front of Jared’s mouth "Open your mouth, or I’ll break your teeth"

The steward appeared in the doorway between the rooms and huffed with annoyance "We’ve no tiht If there’s any fresh dae, the bitch will de no doubt about the kind of compensation the Gray Lady would de of Obedience Jared kept his teeth clenched and tried to ride it out, but it didn’t end, didn’t end, didn’t end until he opened his uard shoved the gag into his mouth and buckled the straps behind his head

The wide leather collar was too thick and stiff to yield to the pressure of bone, so opening his ue worked relentlessly to keep the leather ball fro to respond forcefully if he choked And hishis third year as a pleasure slave, serving in a Black Widow’s court She wasn’t Hayllian, but she’d been a protégée of Dorothea SaDiablo and had relished the lessons on how to cripple the male spirit He remembered what it felt like to lie on his back, tied hand and foot to the bed, wearing a gag like this one Already dosed withsafframate , a vicious aphrodisiac, he’d had no control over his body’s merciless need He’d lain there, helpless, while she played with hi had twisted inside hiery But it had taken sixand the ingrained honor and respect Blood h to let hiht that savagery had broken free and he killed the Queen and her Prince brother But two years ago, he’d secretly rejoiced when he’d heard that that Black Widow had played one game too many with the Sadist--and had lost

A slap on the belly brought him back to the wash-down roouard bared his teeth in a s to the salta little of the salt e sack and poured coarse-grained salt into the half barrel of water Using Craft, he raised the half barrel and guided it across the room

Jared closed his eyes as the half barrel floated toward hi body

He would make a brutal dive down into the abyss until he reached the full strength of his Red Jewels He would gather every drop of strength he had And as he dove, he would place a Red circle around the building to form a psychic boundary Then he would unleash all the power he had gathered That Red strength would hit that boundary and turn back on itself Even if so of that much dark power in a small space, the backlash would finish the destruction They would all die-- and so would he, because he wasn’t going to hold back any of that Red strength to shield himself

I’m sorry, Mother I’er rose tohis descent

Damn you, LET ME DIE! Jared screamed as he tried to slip past the part of hithLet id water flooded over his The open lash wounds burned He couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe

With a screa so deep he could no longer feel it, could no longer find it

Sagging, Jared felt the pull in his shoulders as his aro to destroy himself became less than a memory The past nine years of slavery pressed down on hiht