Page 377 of The Life of Anna-Tenth Anniversary Edition: Act 1

On the way there, she passed by a small field where a group of women lay in the grass. As she got closer, she realized that they weren’t just lying there. They were dead. Their bodies were bruised and bloody. About twenty of them. Anna hurried past, looking away and covering her mouth. Nausea didn’t come as easily now that she wasn’t pregnant anymore.

Maggie greeted her when she arrived and took her into the back room. She drew a bath and Anna soaked in the warm water, staring at her legs in the clear water. It was Saturday around lunch time. Only four and a half more days until Alex was due home. Four and a half more days until Alex exacted revenge on Devin for taking their baby.

No. It wasn’t their baby.

She scrunched her face, trying to sort out the emotions flooding through her body. It wasn’t her baby. It wasn’t Ben’s baby. It was an Immortal baby Devin had her impregnated with. She bit her lip. It must have happened after he’d killed Ben and taken her to his room. That’s why Devin had looked so pleased before he let her go home.

And Devin had allowed her to believe it was Ben’s baby the whole time.

Her jaw trembled and her fist clenched as anger rushed through her body. Her vision started to tunnel and gold sparkles filled her vision. But then she slumped back against the tub. There was no point in fighting against Devin. He would always do as he wanted with her.

But Alex. Alex would fight for her.

Only a few more days. She could make it a few more days. Then Alex would sweep her up into his arms and hold her and kiss her and tell her that everything would be alright. She rubbed the backs of her fingers where her wedding rings belonged. If only she could rub away the pain in her heart.

When she was cleaned and dressed, she returned to Devin. She did her best to walk tall and gracefully, as Alex would want her to do. She was an Elder-Mistress and worthy of respect.

Devin took her to the lodge as soon as she returned to his pavilion. The president wanted her. Wanted to hurt her and Devin approved. She spent the afternoon in his room being brutalized. He used a stun gun, though not as thoroughly as he had before. He fisted her pussy and made her scream. He pinched her nipples with clamps so hard they bled. He dropped hot oil onto her clit and burned it.

When he was finished with her—after she stopped reacting—many hours later, Kaveh healed her so she could take part in the hunt, as Devin wanted. Ian’s words to her from the Summer Gathering flitted through her mind: Find a place to hide and stay there until the sun comes up.

The girls were herded out into the woods as the evening speeches ended. Anna ran, searching all around for a hiding place. After about twenty minutes, she spotted a clump of bushes and dove behind them just as she heard the men approaching.

The screams began a short time later. Slaves and men ran past her. One man had brought a whip and caught one of the girls around the ankle as she ran, and she fell hard on the ground. Another girl tripped and two men pounced on her and her screams were so terrible, Anna covered her ears and curled into a ball, burying her face in her knees.

The night grew silent, except for the occasional scream that pierced the air. She sat up and looked around, then breathed a sigh of relief that she was alone.

But suddenly a light shone on her face and men shouted. She screamed and jumped to her feet to run away. The full moon illuminated the night, but the dense forest canopy cast deep shadows. Anna’s heart pounded as she raced through the woods, her breath coming in ragged gasps. More than once, her footing failed her and she tumbled face first to the forest floor. A beam of light landed on her and she froze, but the shouts of her pursuers reached her ears and panic fueled her to run once more. But without shoes, she couldn’t maintain her speed. She stumbled and fell again, and a man grabbed hold of her arm.

The light shined in her face. “Isn’t that the Mistress?”

“I think it is.”

“Nice.”

She was thrown to the ground. She fought back, but the men were too powerful for her. Her legs were spread and the assault began. One man after another after another used her. After the second man, she stopped screaming and stared at the single star that shone through the branches above her. Slowly, it moved out of sight, and yet the men kept coming.

By dawn, when the men finally left her alone, she closed her eyes and prayed for death that would never come.

The room seemed to be waiting for someone.

It was rectangular, just deep enough for a bed and a narrow doorway along one of its short walls. The walls were polished wood; the floor was covered in worn, green carpet. In front of her, a tall, narrow window sat in the far end of the long wall, with tiny snowflakes drifting lazily by outside. A slim wooden chair sat next to the window.

She wondered who would live in such a sparsely furnished place and shivered in the chilly air.

The door opened and someone was shoved inside, but before she could see his face, a bright light blinded her and pulled her away.

Anna covered her face against the light and rolled to her side. Slowly, she opened her eyes, blinking in the bright sunlight.

The room. Something about that room haunted her. She shook her head and then winced at the pain. She moved and gasped in pain deep inside her body. She hadn’t slept long enough to heal.

Her legs and arms trembled as she crawled to her feet and looked around. In the distance, naked women walked in her direction. Several lay on the ground, unmoving, their limbs bent into unnatural angles. She looked away, not wanting to imagine what might have happened to them. What she’d seen—what she’d experienced—last night was terrible enough to remember.

The tree in front of her had a paper sign nailed to it with an arrow pointing to her right. Was that the way back to the field? Since other women were walking in that direction, she assumed so, and joined the crowd.

The trees filtered the sun’s warmth onto her chilled skin, but reached no further. Her heart, her emotions, were numb. And she didn’t mind. It was a welcome respite from the agony of the previous days.

Within half an hour, she’d walked out of the trees. Ian approached her as she stumbled across the grassy field toward Devin’s pavilion. The soft, cool grass soothed her cut feet. “Devin wants you to clean up and see him in the pavilion.”

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