Chained To Him [Editing]

Chapter Nineteen

Each morning Jayde awoke with a sense of dread. Any day, she might be called to attend someone. Any day, it could be Aragon. And yet nothing came, no word from Maigi that she had been summoned and would have to now act the part of willing, docile concubine. Aylah said that this was normal, that often women were selected by name among the higher officers. She hadn't performed yet in the palace, so she was not well known. And then there was Aragon – perhaps Chev was right and no one would take her anyway for fear of him.

This morning, as Jayde pulled on her gown in front of Chev's sated gaze, he told her that Aragon had been in the capital, and he wouldn't be back for several weeks yet. She smiled and thanked him, and a strange, quiet relief entered her. She could manage her occasional liaisons with Chev, manage her looming appointment with Lord Greywood, as long as Aragon was still far away. Chev kissed her hard, and she ran her fingers across his bare shoulders and hard chest, a body that had become familiar to her now.

Aylah had agreed to help her meet with Chev, and Jayde was genuinely surprised given the risk this exposed her to. Now that her training had passed, they met in quiet corners of the palace – unused bedrooms, old storage rooms, abandoned quarters that were empty save for a few scattered chairs, a torn curtain. Chev didn't seem to mind the secrecy or the accommodations. In fact, the the difficulty of the situation only seemed to make him more determined to see her. Revealing Aylah's part in their meetings was unavoidable, but he didn't seem suspicious of Aylah's willingness to help; he couldn't know their true connection to each other or to what end Aylah hoped he might serve.

Chev had quickly grown more valuable than he would ever realize; with each visit he brought news of the outside, rumors of small rebellions suppressed throughout the countryside, a hopeless search for the mysterious figure that led the rebels. Jayde had the utmost faith in her soldiers to keep their secrets, even when tortured, but she didn't fully believe that none of them had caved. How could they not, with such a massive force against them, with such wicked people as the likes of Aragon riding their heels. But even if someone had said her name, there were yet few people who could link that name to the person she was now, and all but Aragon would never hear more than rumors regarding the name. Perhaps he'd known all along and preferred to keep her secret until he grew tired of her, or perhaps he just didn't think her capable. Regardless, he'd always held the means to destroy her, and that wouldn't change whether he knew her secret or not.

"Next week?" Chev's tongue ran across the skin below her ear as he kissed and sucked along her neck.

"No marks," she whispered, pushing him gently back. And he listened, a slight smirk quirking the corner of his lips. He always listened now, even when he was rough with her. One word from her and he'd pause or shift positions or be gentler. She didn't have to come back, if she didn't want to. If he told anyone of their affair, they would of course both be punished, and so would Aylah. The prospect was more terrifying to her than she could let him know. In the end it wouldn't be Maigi or Blane or John who punished her – it would be Aragon. But Chev would receive far worse, both for the power his position gave him and for the understanding that he had secretly taken something that belonged not to him, but to Aragon.

Chev left first, and Jayde waited in the darkness of the empty room for the light tap on the door that would signal Aylah's arrival. In these moments of limbo, when she was both free and hopelessly trapped, Jayde's heart pounded inside her chest as every possibility the moment presented raced through her mind. And then came Aylah's gentle knock and Jayde straightened, stepping from the shadows to meet her friend.

They walked in silence back to the quarters of the slave girls, and Jayde could still feel the stickiness from where Chev wiped his seed away from her stomach. It was evening, and when they arrived back to their quarters the other girls were eating dinner and lounging about the room, some dancing, some playing music, others laughing. Samira and Wren were seated alone as they ate, but they both glanced up briefly as she and Aylah entered the room.