Page 7 (1/2)

"Yes, sir Shall I return to Raej and obtain the list?"

"Yes By the time you return, Lord Maryk will be here with the slaves We’ll keep any that h Priestess and send the others back to Raej to sell on the last auction day"

The guard saluted smartly and left

Krelis rubbed his hands over his face Maryk should be back by nightfall, the task coet sorowled and threatened to chew his backbone

Jared ignored it

His nored them, too

The fierce need to piss had his over the side of the narrow bed He pushed hi position and fuzzily tried to re sleep-crusted eyes, Jared looked blearily at the dark-eyed, dark-haired boy sitting cross-legged beside the bed

"Davin?" Jared said hoarsely, knowing itcouldn’t be even before the boy’s expression turned wary His youngest brother would be nineteen now, not the ten-year-old he’d cheerfully said good-bye to before he’d torn his life apart

"I’m Tomas," the boy said "There’s no Davin here"

Thank the Darkness for that

There was so peculiar and faint about the boy’s psychic scent, but Jared was too preoccupied to figure it out "Where--"

"We’re in the guest servants’ quarters"

Jared shook his head and tried again "Where--"

"Don’t knohat Territory--"

"Where’s the damn chamber pot?"

"Oh" Tomas pointed at a door in the wall "Over there"

Despite the urgency, Jared hesitated, finally awake enough to realize he was naked and only had a wadded sheet covering his groin

Torinned "They’re all outside, and Ladies don’t care if you show your dangle to other males" He scratched his head "Other males don’t care either"

"So confrontations between pleasure slaves that had turned bloody because desperation had pushed soe "Sorin faded His face paled He scrambled to his feet and bolted for the door The jerky movement and the fear that now filled his dark eyes told Jaredbruises on the boy’s bare ars that poked out of a pair of ragged short pants And he realized what the boy’s di too h to be Blood, half-Bloods were outcast bastards, wanted by neither society If the Blood sire thought the unclaiht be taken in and raised as a servant, e Most of the time, half-Bloods became the slaves that looked after, and were used by, Blood slaves

And sometimes there was no one cruder than so under his breath, Jared followed Tomas

The bathroom had two toilets, three sinks, and two bathtubs There were no partitions to give anyone the illusion of privacy, but at least the toilets were better than stinking privy holes

Sighing with relief, Jared took care of business and tried to ignore the boy standing next to hiht have learned fear in the slave quarters, but the boy was just too brash to have learned caution

"You ain’t wearing a Ring," Tomas said in a hushed voice

"It’s invisible," Jared replied curtly, hoping that would end it

"You sight shield a Ring so people don’t know you’re a slave, you’ll get your back whipped off for good"

Jared clenched his teeth at the honest concern in the boy’s voice and pulled the chain to flush the toilet "It’s not sight shielded, it’s invisible"