09:52 Tue, Nov 19 G GG
Chapter 38
Caleb brings me straight over the edge of bliss, as he so often, so expertly does. All the while, his words remain crass and ugly, but his motions are gentle and considerate. I only ever feels limited amount of pain.
He, too, brings himself to completion and then lowers my ass back down to the carpet before collapsing down beside me. Sweat clings delightfully to his forehead. I wish I could see the rest of him, but he’s still wearing all of his clothes.
For a long moment, neither of us says anything. We just sit in silence. Then, as if nothing happened, Caleb pushes himself up to his feet, tucks himself away, and disappears into one of the closest.
He returns with a blue velvet dress with a plunging neckline and a high slit up the leg.
It’s beautiful.
“This one will fit you without many alterations,” he says.
I can’t imagine how he can be so confident, but then… he has spent the past hour exploring every inch of my body. I guess if
would know, other than me, it would be him.
anyone
He hands the dress on a rack outside of the closet, then returns inside. This time he comes out with a much less formal dress that would come to my mid–thigh and tie in the front like a robe. He brings this one straight to me
Slowly, I push myself to sitting and then gradually, using a nearby chair, come to stand. Caleb hands me the dress and 1 marvel at the softness of the fabric. Quickly, I wrap it around myself.
It fits perfectly and is comfortable too.
“Wear that for now,” he says.
With the dress decided, Caleb starts for the door. “Come with me” Once he’s there, he stops and turns back to look at me, mischief in his eyes. “Or do you need me to hold you again?”
Heat rushes to my face. I give him an aggressive headshake and hurry toward him.
He smirks as I step past him into the hallway. There, I’m not sure where to go and wait for him.
When he walks past me. I’m surprised to find that he’s walking towards his room. The entire wing is dedicated to the harem. Theoretically, if he means to show me my own room, he would lead me deeper into the wing and not further out of it.
Unless that’s not what he intends at all.
At the door nearest his own, he stops. “This will be your room.”
My eyes go wide. This room surely is intended for his favorite?
Glancing at my face, he grumbles out, “I know you haven’t given up on your escape attempts. I have no intention of placing you somewhere where I cannot keep a close eye on you.”
Okay. That might be fair.
-Even know, I’m checking the windows and doors and thinking of possible escape attempts. Nina’s information set me up for mysell. failure. I’ll be smarter next time. I won’t trust anyone
but
He opens the door and steps inside. Immediately, I’m overwhelmed by the sheer lavishness of the space. This room puts both my attic space and my previous room in the bowels of the capital to shame. Vaulted ceilings. A four post bed with a fluttering drape over top. Silky sheets. Beautiful wood furniture
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Tue, Nov 19
Chapter 38
My eyes go so wide I’meertain they’ll fall right out of my head.
“This room…” It’s beautiful.
Oil paintings cover the walls, depicting beautiful sceneries I’ve never seen before. Fields of purple flowers. Mountains covered in drifting snow. A small woodland cabin with billows of smoke.
Caleb watches my reaction with a bemused reaction.
“I’m glad you approve,” he says. Then he turns toward the door. “Handmaident”
At once, a timid–looking young woman appeared at the door.
“This.” Caleb says, “will be your personal assistant. She will help prepare you for your new role.”
The handmaiden bows deeply to the King and then to me. It feels unnerving, to going from being a slave to suddenly having someone treat me like I’m someone important.
I really don’t like it. “What is your name?” I ask her.
Her face crumples in confusion. She looks up at me, then over to Caleb and back again.
“My lady?”
“Oh, gods, don’t call me that,” I say. “Please call me Harper.”
“L” The poor woman’s eyes go to Caleb again.
Caleb shrugs. To me,
he says, “This is your servant, you may treat her however you wish.”
“Please,” I say once more to the woman. “Call me Harper. I insist
“Yes… Harper..” She still sounds nervous about it.
“And your name?” I ask.
“Bethany,” she replies.
“Bethany. A fine name,” I tell her.
Bethany glances up at me, her eyes suddenly alight. Has she never received a compliment before?
“I have other duties,” Caleb says. His eyes fall onto me, looking the over heatedly. Then, with seeming hesitation, he turns and walks out of the room
Female voices immediately sound from the hallway.
“Oh, hello, my King..”
“An absolute pleasure to see you, King Caleb…”
“Do you like my new panties, my King?”
Each voice is flirtier than the last. It irritates me, the fakeness of it, but I try to keep those opinions to myself. I don’t know Bethany well enough by far to let my obvious annoyance show on my face.
Caleb, for his part, seems to entirely ignore the women in the hallway. His strong, proud footsteps disappear down the hallway.
Tue, Nov 19
Chapter 38
As soon as they were gone, the other women appeared in the doorway, peering in at us.
“So… you are the new one..” says one of the women.
“Aren’t you that slave?” says another.
“Must be,” says a third. “They gave her the worst handmaiden in the capital. What’s the deal, Bethany? Last I heard, you were headed for the coliseum for your incompetence.
Bethany lowers her chin to her chest, ashamed.
It strikes something unpleasant inside of me. These girls… they remind me of Leah. Before I was never in a position to stand
for myself or any of the people around me. Now, however, I have been elevated.
up
Bethany is my handmaiden. That makes it not just my right, but my duty to defend her.
With that confidence filling me, I take a strong step forward and say, “I’m going to need you to stop talking about my handmaiden that way.”
“Like handmaiden, like mistress, they say,” says the first woman with a sing–song voice.
“Good point,” says the second. “Didn’t you come from the arena? What was your name again? Harlot?”
That’s rich, coming from someone else in the harem. We are all mistresses to our King, at his whims whenever he wants us. For them to call me out like they are somehow better is hypocrisy at its finest.
My name is Harper,” I say.
The first woman hums. “Well, don’t get comfortable, Harlot. Our King will see the flaws in you soon enough, and then you’ll be right back where you came from
I’m sure she means the arena, but when I hear ‘where you came from,” I think of my pack. That’s where I want to be. I never great honor for me. asked for this. Being a member of the harem is no gre
The second woman smirks. Playing off the words of the first, she says snidely, “That is if Bethany doesn’t kill you first.”
SEND GIFT
