Page 76 of Cruel Master
She gives me a fleeting smile. “It’s not always this chaotic in here. Promise.”
Hadrian cuts in. “Eve works with Jacob, who you just met. She’s a biochemist.”
Jacob who I just met? Wait. Surely not. “The big guy? You’re not telling me he’s a fucking scientist? I thought he must be security.”
Eve snorts. “I’ll tell him that.”
A wave of unreality sweeps over me. At least in Saldar’s dungeon, things made a twisted sort of sense. Out here, I’m having a pleasant conversation with another captive slave. A biochemist who works with a giant. And why the hell not? If flying monkeys came swooping past, at this point, I don’t think I’d even blink.
Hadrian doesn’t seem inclined to stop this conversation, so I make the most of my chance. “Eve. Is what…he…” I can’t bring myself to call Hadrian master in front of Eve. “Is it true? All the women here are captives. All the men are…” I stumble over how to describe it, and finish up with, “Owners?”
It doesn’t feel quite right, but Eve nods. “Yes. I know it’s hard to accept at first.”
You can fucking say that again.
My brain still refuses to tick the box. “So, someone kidnapped you and brought you here? You can’t leave. And you’re walking around here like…like nothing is wrong?”
As I talk, heat rises in my chest. Hard to accept, my ass. Why should I accept it? Why the hell should she?
Eve must sense my mood, because she lays a hand on my arm. “I know it’s a lot to take in.” She glances at Hadrian, then focuses back on me. “Once you’re settled in, maybe we can get together, just the girls. You can ask us whatever you want.”
That sounds so good. I want to grab her by the hand and run off with her right now. Conversation. Information. Exactly what I’ve been craving. “Yes. That sounds amazing. When?”
My heart sinks when Eve looks to Hadrian for an answer. She looks to him because he’s the boss. He decides when and if I can go. Because he owns me.
Only now, out of the cell, surrounded by people, does that word begin to have real meaning. He owns me. Hadrian owns me. It still sounds so, so wrong in my head, but a tiny part of me, deep in my lower belly, twinges at the thought.
Wasn’t this just what you always wanted?
It’s hard to force myself to face Hadrian and ask, “Can I go?”
I should saypleaseandmaster.It’s just too much, though, with Eve standing right there. Hadrian raises a brow. “Not when you ask like that, you can’t.”
Eve looks away politely from us, and the angle of her neck draws my attention to the necklace circling her throat. With everything else going on, I didn’t register it before. It has to be a collar. She’s a collared slave, just like me, and I’m sure whoever owns her has made her do embarrassing things before. She won’t care.
Fuck it. Just do it.
“Please, may I spend time with Eve and her friends, Master.”
My stomach clenches as my skin heats. Addressing Hadrian like that in public is doing something to my insides. If he were still in his Saldar costume, it wouldn’t have been so difficult. This is real, and that makes it much worse.
And yet, forcing the words out has my clit throbbing.
He touches my chin and studies me closely. I tilt my face up without conscious thought and part my lips. Maybe he’ll kiss me. Maybe he’ll bend me over right here in the crowded street and fuck me. I have no idea what is acceptable here. And no concept of what he’s capable of.
“When I think you’re ready, yes. I’ll be in touch, Eve.”
He drops his hand, and I take a deep breath, turning to Eve, whose eyes have gone wide, watching us. She clears her throat and traces the line of her collar with the tip of her finger in what I take for a nervous gesture. “Lovely to meet you. See you soon.”
She turns to leave, but Hadrian calls her back. “Eve?”
She spins back face us. “Yes?”
“How is Quinn doing, really?”
His voice sounds more like his old self, laced with genuine concern. Eve sighs, then glances at me before answering.
“Not good. It took me a little while to figure it out, but Quinn really struggled being here... you know? I went to work doing what I love. Ophelia is studying medicine. Quinn had nothing."
