Page 26 of Given to the Fae (The Dark Realms #3)

The demon takes the rope from Warrior’s grasp. ‘If you would allow me?’

At Warrior’s nod, he raises a hand, using it to delicately beckon someone from the side of the room. There, belatedly, I see at least ten bulls in a line. They’re all tall, broad, and muscled. Naked. Their cocks are all hard and standing proud. All of them are staring at me.

‘Roderik, Black, and Arc. You know what to do. The rest, go about your duties.’

I watch most of them leave, but the three who stay are the biggest in every way. I can’t breathe.

‘Quickly, she’s panicking.’

I’m surrounded. I cringe as one of them takes the collar from my neck while the other unlaces my dress and the third draws it off my shoulders slowly. My body shakes and tears leak from my clenched eyes.

I’m grabbed by my arm, and I strike out with a cry, catching one of them and scratching them deeply. I hear a hiss, but there’s no retaliation, which means there’s no punishment for them. I try again, but my wrist is taken and held in place without hurting me.

‘He’s lying to you!’ I say loudly, looking at the demon as best I can.

I think he’s amused by the silly human female’s antics.

‘I’m telling the truth! Whatever he’s told you, it’s not true. He doesn’t have the coin to pay for this.’

The bulls’ motions freeze as they look to their master.

The demon surveys Warrior. ‘That’s quite the accusation, little one.’

Warrior’s face gives the genuine appearance of shock, and I’m sure I’ve stopped them, but then he tuts and pulls out a bag that jingles menacingly. He upturns it, dumping at least thirty gold coins onto the table, more than I’ve ever seen.

‘That should more than cover it. I’d urge you not to listen to the slave. You know the untruths they’re known to spin, especially the females.’

The demon nods. ‘Continue.’

I’m pulled and pushed toward the block. When I dig my heels in, I’m picked up easily, my arms and legs held. Even when I kick one of them in the stomach, they do nothing back.

I’m bent forcibly at the waist and my neck and wrists are pinned in the three half circles while one of them swings down the bar. It closes, imprisoning me. I hear the latch vaguely, and then one whispers in my ear where the masters can’t hear.

‘You’re making it so much worse for yourself, you spoiled little bitch. They’ll leave in a moment to take refreshment while we breed you. And, take it from me, your master won’t give a fuck what else we do to you so long as you’re full of our seed by the time you leave.’

Another chuckles. ‘I’m going to fuck her throat as soon as they’re gone.’

I stifle a sob.

‘I’m Fate Touched!’ I hiss in one last ditch effort to get them to stop this.

‘Never heard of you.’

They snigger low, so they can’t be heard.

‘She has a good, firm arse,’ one of them says, slapping me too lightly for it to hurt.

I kick back at him, catching him on the shin, and he yelps.

‘She’s still trying to get out of the block,’ I hear the demon remark. ‘She is a feisty one.’

‘Aye, she is at that,’ Warrior laments.

‘You wouldn’t consider selling her, would you?’

Warrior laughs. ‘I’m afraid not. Despite her intractable nature, I’m quite attached to her.’

‘Of course. Would you have any objections to the bulls giving her some discipline to subdue her struggles, then? She could hurt herself quite badly if not corrected soon.’

‘No, though her skin is thick. As you can see from the scars, a few slaps across the arse with a palm doesn’t do much. I usually start with the cane.’

‘No!’ I wail, struggling more, pulling my wrists until they pop, but it’s fruitless.

‘I’ll release her with a phallus afterward,’ the demon says. ‘She’ll be more than malleable after that, and it’ll stretch her cunt enough to take my bulls’ cocks easily.’

My head hangs and I start to sob quietly.

I hear the cane whistle through the air before I feel it crack across my cheeks.

I jump and squeal loudly at the flare of agony, and the bull is quick. He gets two more lashes in on the same spot, making my stomach roll before fate intervenes. I don’t see it, but there’s a crash and a loud thud as he falls to the floor.

‘Master, Black was hit by one of the mallets. It fell off the wall. He’s breathing, but he ent awake.’

‘Gods,’ Warrior exclaims, ‘your bull. Perhaps this was a mistake.’ I hear him gathering the gold he spilt over the table. ‘I’ll take my coin elsewhere.’

‘No!’ the demon says. ‘There’s no need. I have plenty of bulls, as you saw. Continue, Roderik. Arc, move Black out of the way.

The cane hits me again, harder this time and I scream loudly. The fifth swing hits me low on the thighs.

Then there’s silence followed by a crash. Something hot splatters my legs. There’s a pregnant pause before I hear another of the bulls swear softly.

‘Gods, he’s fallen on the jug. The shard’s gone right through his chest. He’s dead, master.’

‘What is going on here?’ Warrior snarls, his tone thick with accusation. ‘Your bulls are nothing but clumsy oafs!’

‘That’s not... This has never happened before!’

‘I’m Kismet!’ I cry.

The demon is silent, and then I hear an incredulous laugh, which turns into a loud guffaw.

‘The things they say!’ he chuckles.

And then he’s next to me, patting my shoulder almost lazily. ‘You’ll do anything not to be rutted, but this is best for you. You’ll thank your master in the end.’

He takes a smooth stone phallus off the wall. Its shaft is thick and the head bulbous, and I shake my head vigorously.

‘Please! I’m telling the truth,’ I cry. ‘If you do this, fate will kill you!’

He pauses, clearly looking back at Warrior who laughs. ‘Hush, female. You’ll be bred well today, and that’s the end of it. You have my permission to gag her if she speaks again.’

The phallus is lined up, the cold head pushed against my entrance, and I whimper, my body sagging in defeat.

I hear a loud bang that reverberates through the building, and at first, I assume fate has intervened, but then I hear the demon exclaim loudly.

‘Who the fuck are you? You can’t just come in here and?—’

I hear a commotion but all I can do is hang in the block, my legs no longer able to support me as I stare at the floor.

When will these horrors end? With my death in the pits under some brutal fighter?

My mind and body blessedly begin to go numb and my sobs quiet. My death will be welcome when it comes.

But then the block is opened. Hands try to help me out of it, but I slap them away viciously and scramble to the wall, huddling against it.

Locke, Morgan, and Jak are here. They’re staring at the scene before them. The demon has a dagger embedded in his back, and so does the remaining bull.

Warrior is being held by Morgan by the scuff of the neck like an errant kitten.

He struggles. He’s still smiling. He looks so small and insignificant next to the giant.

I look away and close my eyes, waiting for Warrior to convince them all that I deserved this, or worse, an excuse I’ve heard many times before to explain away the things the masters do, that, as a human female, I needed it.

‘I did this for us,’ Warrior begins. ‘She’ll be worth more in the pits if she is breeding when we get her there. Babes are valued in those dark caverns. They’re trained as soon as they can walk to be great warriors.’

None of the others speak.

‘This is the finest breeding establishment in the city! They only take gold! The bulls here are strong and virile and always seed the females brought to them well. If you’d have let them finish, the slave would be on her way to being released and happily subdued with a bull rutting a babe into her belly, not sobbing on the floor!

’ He scoffs loudly. ‘She isn’t even hurt.

That blood isn’t hers. You know how hysterical the females can get when they aren’t released regularly.

Let me release her now and I’ll show you. ’

I cringe at the words, hugging my knees tightly and trying to hide my body from their eyes, even though they’ve all seen it before.

‘Morgan,’ Locke’s low, rough voice rings out in the quiet room and I steel myself for the next words he utters, the ones that will congratulate Warrior’s foresight and make me out to be the deceitful villain.

..or the foolish girl who doesn’t know what’s best for herself.

The ones that will have me back in the block to be tormented by the bulls and the masters until they understand what I am.

‘Do it.’

Morgan

‘No! I?—’

The snap of the evil cunt’s neck might be the most gratifying sound I’ve ever heard.

Bryn’s dull eyes, which were on Locke, snap to mine and widen. Her face is blank, as if she doesn’t know what to think.

She’s huddled in the corner, naked. There’s blood on her. There are lash marks on her arse and the backs of the thighs.

Locke approaches, and she scrambles closer to the wall with a low cry.

I let Warrior’s body fall just as a human male enters the room. His eyes widen when he sees us, and he turns to run.

I grab him with a snarl, wanting him dead as well, but I settle for hitting him on the back of his skull with the pommel of my short sword, and letting his limp body slide to the floor like the sack of shit he is.

I remind myself that he would have been ordered to rut the females in the block, that if he didn’t, he would have been punished for it harshly. But it’s not a comfort when I look at the broken girl in the corner who’s pressing herself into the cold stone wall so that Locke doesn’t touch her.

‘We need to go,’ Jak says, edging toward Bryn as well.

She begins to cry again.

‘Gods,’ I mutter.

I stride forward and pull Jak away. ‘Does this place have another door?’

Locke nods. ‘At the back.’

‘Start a fire. Burn this fucking place to the ground,’ I snarl. ‘Any slaves left will escape the flames through there.’

Locke nods at Jak and turns back to the girl who hasn’t moved.

‘We won’t hurt you,’ he tries, and then I see his fingers moving as he begins a conjure.

I shove him so hard that he topples over from his crouch.