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Chapter Twenty-Four - Missions
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The Conqueror's Royal Slave Chapter Twenty-Five - Cassie
The young Princess was a born storyteller – not a liar, though, he was convinced of that – recounting details of her early life as if they had happened to someone else. If he were in the market, Xander reflected, she might have made a good queen. Where was another matter – that accent! – yet it was becoming easier to decipher as time went on.*It was the day of her first appearance in the royal court and King Rupert’s youngest daughter was nervous, excited and hiding a secret from everyone except her personal maid. Even so she sat patiently enough and upright on the carved wooden chair, staring at her reflected image in the mirror atop her dressing table, while Beatrice combed her long dark locks. The brocade gown was stiff and laced tightly at the back. It bore the faint aroma of the chest it had been stored in for so long, dense wood and something indefinable, like old perfume except more bitter.Had it really once belonged to her lady mother, the Queen?Cassie resisted the very re
The Conqueror's Royal Slave Chapter Twenty-Six - Contests
The sun was high in the sky when they began the entertainment in front of the royal court. In some ways Eithne was glad the girls weren’t permitted to watch, though news filtered through after each one-to-one battle. Marcus was yet to fight, and it was heartening to hear that Flavius had bested his opponent, Hadrian. Not that she had anything against the veritable giant. It spared Ava further indignity and no doubt she would regard it as a blessing. Unless she were still smarting about what Finn had done. It seemed to Eithne she’d had feelings for him. Had he done right by her? Only time would tell. And if he came looking for her in the future, would that be such a bad thing? She felt she was helping her subjects – some of them, anyway, given that Isabel hailed from the north and Ava from across the water – and tried to take pride in that. Brutus was up next, she understood, facing Nero. From what she had been told there was only one winner unless the latter threw the contest to spa
The Conqueror's Royal Slave Chapter Twenty-Seven - Cassie
Pandemonium reigned. If only there had been a king by that name. He certainly couldn’t have done a worse job than her father. Common sense told Cassie that tyrants only prospered as long as they had the upper hand and now his power was being called into question by all.Four long years had passed since that horrible day in the royal court and she was on her own, Isabel having finally left the kingdom not for the south but for the one closest to their lands. She’d heard it was a love match. Imagine that, her strait-laced sister becoming romantically involved with a usurper prince. Messages were sporadic yet they filled Cassie with hope.And maybe she would see Adam again one day.He’d bested Sir Purcell in that tourney and then escaped. She supposed he would be a man now, approaching his majority of twenty-one.Please don’t hate me.It was a daily litany, a superstition she dare not ignore since Will had seemingly deserted her.Fortunately, no-one had yet sought her hand in matrimony.
The Conqueror's Royal Slave Chapter Twenty-Eight - Paying the Price
The door was capable of being bolted as well as locked with a key. Had it once doubled as a dungeon? The gladiator made it clear to Hermione and Eithne that he was in charge, setting them the task of securing it. They’d been made to wait while he used the bathhouse. The female attendant was obviously to his liking given the moans which didn’t all come from her. She giggled as she passed them, putting a finger to her lips, and Eithne saw more than she would have liked of the woman’s ample chest which was just about spilling over her tight bodice. Feeling insulted yet relieved, she hugged the miller’s daughter. “We’ll come through this,” she said, casting her mind back to earlier and the strange behaviour of Flavius. When he saw them in the passage he started to grin and even winked. She couldn’t begin to understand why. Marcus emerged a short while later looking refreshed and un-gladiator like in his Ormondian shirt and puffed breeches. Who did he think he was, Clara’s new favourit
The Conqueror's Royal Slave Chapter Twenty-Nine - Indignities
“He subjected the Queen to that?”Drago was incensed, Xander less so.“If it were Clara …”He left the rest of it unsaid.“What are you waiting for?” Earl Adam queried, one booted foot carelessly sullying the fabric of a named nobleman’s carved seat. “Strip her.”Cassie shuddered, turning her face away. She expected a lust-crazed mob to surround her stepmother at any moment. Maybe she could find an excuse to visit the buttery.She became aware that the room had gone quiet, except for the Queen’s terrified pleas. “I beg you … no. For the love of – ”“Why so reluctant? She’s only flesh and blood, like us.” He gave a deep sigh. “Must I do everything myself?”“Leave her be.”Cassie could not believe she had dared to speak up on behalf of a woman who had merely tolerated her existence.Earl Adam stalked over to her, invading her personal space as if he had the right. He tilted her chin.“Know your place, slave,” he hissed, eliciting several gasps from the other women present. His eyes held
The Conqueror's Royal Slave Chapter Thirty - Ephron
The weathervane was unreliable at best, just like Ephron. Eithne couldn’t understand how someone could change so much and for the worse. The wind was coming from the north today and she drew her shawl more closely about her, regretting the fact that she had been forced to steal it. Marcus was in trouble, also. The incriminating piece of paper had been laid before Clara by none other than Megan. A week had passed since the night of her shame, which had seemed so much more sordid than what happened with Xander. Strangely, she didn’t blame the disgraced gladiator, no longer regarding him as a strutting cockerel, like the one atop the spinning weathervane. In her opinion, they should have removed it in favour of a witch on a broomstick. She shuddered. To her astonishment, Marcus had come to her rescue in a way, stating from the outset that he wouldn’t be able to perform with watchers. That hadn’t gone down well, unfortunately, so he’d proceeded to demonstrate his inadequacy. That must h
The Conqueror's Royal Slave Chapter Thirty-One - Boniface
“Wait,” Cassie cried out when the pace became too much. “You need to listen to me.”Earl Adam halted and marched back to where she was doubled over and panting.“Slaves do not initiate conversations with their masters. They serve a purpose, something you will start to understand very shortly.”“What about your men?”“Eager to share your services, are you, little bitch?”It was so hard to meet his eyes now. That knowing gaze was tearing her apart. “Don’t call them, please. I beg you.”“No tears?”Cassie thought he was taunting her at first, but there was something about the way he said it.“I don’t think you have it in you to hurt someone, truly hurt them,” she dared.“You know nothing about me.”“Yes, I do. I saw – I mean, I wasn’t laughing because of what happened.”“Don’t tell me, you were hysterical.”“Ask Izzy, my sister, if you don’t believe me.”“Maybe I will. At least she had the grace to look shocked. Well, you’re going to make it up to me.”“How?”Earl Adam jerked her close t
The Conqueror's Royal Slave Chapter Thirty-Two - Ava
Eithne really wished Ephron would make himself scarce, though he showed no signs of abandoning her. Did he too think, like Megan, that she would jump? She didn’t know whether to be relieved or irritated when she saw the small delegation in the form of the two other princesses making their way towards her. She sincerely doubted they were fawning over her brother, who had changed considerably in two years. “How are you both faring?” she greeted them, motioning with her hand for Ephron to move away. He didn’t take the hint, staring at Ava like a predator. As far as she could recall, her brother hadn’t lusted after females so openly, but perhaps someone she knew all too well had unleashed the beast. Isabel was the only one who smiled. She had been spending time tending to Flavius’ injuries and it seemed a firm friendship was forming. “Iain was telling me … ” she began, and paused as a bird of prey – probably a falcon – flew overhead. “Oh, isn’t it magnificent? Such speed.” “This one
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