Jem's Slave

A guard cleared his throat, uncomfortable. "On the way back to his room last night...um...Lord Rayth stopped and...um...covered your slave, Sir.

Jem sighed, staring at the ceiling and blinking in disbelief. "Rayth. That fucking pussy." He chuckled and shook his head. "What is with him and his thing for slaves?"

Everyone laughed, seemingly in on a private joke, and all moved in unison as Jem progressed forward. "Let her go," he called, "she needs to fucking clean herself up."

******

Hobbling back in shame to the dormitory for the second day in a row, I was grateful that most of the girls had already bathed and left the bathhouse. Taking some soaps and scents, I settled into a small pool, and laid in to soak. My muscles were so stiff from sleeping with my hands tied; the hot water felt lovely. Slowly, I washed the stickiness from my thighs, then leaned my head back and closed my eyes.

"Enjoy your night, Saryn?" a giggling voice taunted from the doorway. My eyes shot open. Her. The "other girl." I didn't even know her name. I glared at her as she came into the room with several other girls...other body slaves, all smug.

"Not able to keep our little Jem happy are you?" another girl taunted. "You're lucky if he doesn't sell you."

I looked at the water, tears welling. "I'd be lucky if he DID sell me."

Another girl slapped the water of the pool I was in. "How DARE you say that! So disrespectful to our Master. How about I go tell him what you just said and see what he does to you then?"

The "winner" from last night stretched seductively. "How about I go tell him? I'm sure he'd be happy to see me again."

The girls giggled as my body tensed. They were terrible! How dare they gloat at my misfortune?

One girl jumped into the water with me and started caressing my breasts. "Doesn't Jem like yours? They usually always make him happy, you must be terrible." I pushed her away, and she pushed back. Another girl from the top slapped me. "Don't be angry at us just because we know how to please our Master!"

"Yes, because none of you have ever fallen victim to his whip before, right?" A new voice sarcastically called from the doorway, seemingly defending me. The voice's owner strolled into the room carrying a large tray.

All the girls stopped and backed away with me, looking at this detractor with more contempt than they did me.

"Why Alenya," one spat, "so lovely of you to descend from on high to mingle with we lowly she-goats."

"The pleasure is all yours, I assure you," Alenya countered kneeling beside the pool I was in, setting the tray down. Whatever was inside smelled wonderful. "You girls seem to forget how fast Jem's moods shift, and for all you know he likes this girl. For all you know, he'd be angry if he found her abused by someone other than him."

"And I think you forget, Alenya, how much his whip loves the taste of YOUR flesh! Wouldn't he love to know you've come down here to stir up trouble with us?!" one of the girls gloated.

Alenya's eyes narrowed on her. "Oh yes," she said sarcastically again, "you go right up to Jem, uninvited, and try speaking to him. See where it gets you, or should I say, what he does to you. In the mean time, I'll go tell MY Master you're threatening me again, and we'll see what HE does to you! Now let me think," she turned her head cockily, "which of our Masters cares more about us?"

"Alenya!" Called the head slave into the bathhouse. "What have I told you about flaunting your influence over Lord Rayth?"

"Forgive me!" she called in return, half-sincere. "I didn't mean to, but they provoke me!"

"Girls! Out of there!" the head slave called. "Leave Saryn and Alenya alone!"

The other girls reluctantly made their way out, casting glares of contempt at both of us. Alenya looked at me, half-smirked, and shrugged. "In case you couldn't tell, we haven't gotten along from the day I came here too."

I looked up at her, eyes tear-filled with gratitude. "You seem to handle yourself better than I."

She laughed, "I didn't at first, that takes time. You have to realize that they're all full of shit; none of the body slaves are better than another."

I giggled, "You curse?"

"Sure, when no one else is listening. Only in front of the Masters do we need to be," she assumed a dramatic pose of mock humility, "quiet, sweet, and humbly obedient." She went back to her normal self and winked at me. "We also call our Masters by their shortened names around each other. But never...EVER...slip up in front of a free person."

I shook my head, "No...I never want to be in their bad graces again."

Alenya looked down at me sympathetically. "I have so much to teach you," she shook her head, "but later. First, you must be famished." She opened the tray to reveal a mountain of breakfast foods. "My Master told me he found you in a rough way last night."

I sat upright and looked at her wide eyed. "Your Master is..." I went blank for words to describe the angel that found me!

She laughed and finished, "Possibly the most gorgeous human being who's ever graced the world? Yes, that's him. Lord Rayth." She stroked my hair, "Eat something, please."

I didn't argue with her, and began shoveling the delicious food into my mouth. Between mouthfuls I asked,

"Your Master is kind to you?"

She sighed, and looked serious. "Yes, he is. Too kind."

I asked excitedly, trying not to spit food, "Could you...could you ask him to buy me? Can I be his slave instead?"

She somewhat laughed, "He wouldn't do it. I'm the only slave he's ever had of his own. That's why," she waved her hand towards the door, "the other slaves and I don't get along so well. They're terribly jealous. Rayth was everyone's favorite, but he has me do everything he requires now."

"Why?

She blushed. "He...he thinks he loves me."

"Do you love him?" I asked, trying not to spit food, incredulous to consider how ownership and love go together.

She looked pensive, almost sad. "He's my Master...I'm required to be the best for him, do whatever he asks of me, regardless of how I feel. Even if I were to admit that I love him, it doesn't change anything; he owns me."

Understanding there was enormous complexity between Alenya and her Master, Lord Rayth, I decided to move on. "Does Jem love any of his slaves?"

A snorting laugh broke her from her state. "HA! No...no, Jem doesn't love anyone not born of royal, noble, or militant blood."

"You don't like my Master very much, do you?"

I got an "are you kidding me?" side glare. "Um...no. He has nothing but contempt for all slaves, but Jem and I seem to have special disdain for one another."

I looked down and almost whispered, "Is that because he enjoys causing pain?"

"Well, there's that, but mostly it involves my Master and Jem being very close since they were young." She smiled, picked up a brush and worked it through my hair, "This is all too much for you to absorb your second day here. You'll get used to it, see how things go, and see how the story evolved. You'll get used to the regular visitors, the family, who to stay away from, and who to go to if you need help."

She looked sad again, still brushing my hair. "I'm sorry to say, but life isn't always fun for body slaves. When you're not serving, life is easy. But Jem's just so...unpredictable...the only thing you can trust about him is you can't trust him." She stopped to give me a hug. "I'm sorry for what happened to you last night, but just know it's not your fault, you can't always escape pain, even when you're a good slave...and it will happen again."

I shook a bit and held onto her. "Thank you for everything. I can consider you a friend?"

"Oh my," she jokingly said, pulling me back a bit, "one of Jem's slaves friends with me? How scandalous." She kissed my forehead, "I'm with Rayth most of my days, but if you need help and I can do it for you, I will."

"And I'll stand up for you down here to these other girls," I offered in return.

She sort of laughed again, "Hush now, they'll hate you for it, and life is going to be hard enough as it is. We'll just have a special understanding at a distance, that if we need something from the other, we can ask."

"Thank you, Alenya."

She stood up gracefully to leave. "It's nothing. I'm sure I'll see you around." My friend turned and left.

******

The head slave had gathered about seven of us up to prepare for a special guest coming that evening. We wouldn't have to cook, clean, decorate, or anything of that nature, but Prince Jaimeth was highly on edge, and the head slave thought it best to keep him calm as early as possible. However no one was yet in the lounge; Jem and his friends were fencing to blow off some steam. Only after a long while passed did we hear people approaching; many of them, storming our way.

The guards (ever present with royalty) were the first to burst through the door, laughing, sweating, smelling terribly shirtless, as all of the men did. Next followed a Prince Jaimeth, walking side by side with a Lord Rayth, and following them was a man slightly older than my Master carrying Jem's brother. All slaves fell to the floor, hair flung forward, heads on the ground. The entourage didn't know we existed, but were too busy laughing and talking boisterously, settling their sweaty, dirty backs into painfully clean chairs and couches. The other girls with me knew what to do (I was the only new girl in the bunch). We got basins of warm water and soft clean towels, and began wiping the sweat off of them, none of them really paying us any attention. They were too engrossed in conversation. I was, however, excited to see Alenya come into the room, and Lord Rayth's face momentarily etched in delight when she entered.

"How's my boy, Nav?" Jem called.

The older man picked up the boy slightly on his lap and looked over him. "He's not bleeding, Sir, he'll be fine."

"Way to go, Benny, I'm proud of you for sticking it out like that," Rayth laughed, then grabbed a towel from Alenya and threw it at Jem. "Your brother's a jerk, though, huh?"

Prince Benito giggled a bit, "Nah, he was just playing like he always does. Besides, he's no match for Captain Navin who was on my side, so I was safe anyway."

Everyone laughed as Benny snuggled into Navin and Jem leaned his head back, exhausted. I stayed on my knees in front of one of the guards, wiping grass, dirt, and sweat from his legs. Surprised, the guard reached down and put his hand under my chin, thrusting my face towards his. I kept my eyes down, but I could sense his blue eyes smiling. "Hello, love," he whispered, "you missed me, didn't you?"

I was shocked; it was the guard who shared his bed with me the first night I was here! Somehow, I WAS happy to see him!

I went to say something to him, but a silent command in his eyes told me to keep quiet: slaves were not to speak in this company uninvited. "Sir!" he called across the room, and pushed me towards him into the middle of the room, "Did you try this one out yet? She's a lovely little thing. A good girl, try to be nice to her."

"She bewitched you with her cunt now did she?" Jem laughed at his guard.

Prince Benito's face twisted, "What on earth does that mean?"

"Uh-oh," came the refrain from the room. Jem laughed and shook his head, pointing at me, "I'll show you tonight after dinner, Benny, using her. I guess it's time my little brother learn the birds and the bees." He looked more closely at me, then recalled who I was. "That reminds me..." he balled up the towel Rayth had thrown at him, and threw it back at him, "...what's with you, dick head, and playing 'good shepard' to the slaves all the time?"

"The question for you is why do you have to be an asshole to your slaves all the time?" I was stunned; I haven't yet heard anyone speak so to Prince Jaimeth!

"I'm just trying to strike a balance," Jem retorted. "If it were left to you, they'd all be spoiled. Speaking of which, I haven't seen Alenya around in a while...hey Alenya! I've missed you!"

Rayth's face turned dark, his voice cold as he snapped, "Alenya! Go to the kitchen and get me a drink."

She hurried out of the room without question as the guards laughed, and Jem feigned hurt. "Awww! You're never any fun anymore!"

"Fuck you, how about I mess with Princess Isabella tonight when she gets here?"

The guards stifled snickers as Jem's face sobered fast. Navin rolled his eyes, "Aw, Rayth, he was finally in a good mood, did you have to bring that up?"

Still on the floor in front of Jaimeth, I could sense his tension. What was it that Rayth just said? Princess Isabella? Who on earth was that, and why did she make Jem so tense?"

"Fuck," Jem whispered under his breath rolling his neck on the back of the couch. Then he sat up and looked down at me once more. "Girl, I'm getting...thirsty. I need a drink, go fetch one."

Remembering the previous night, I was scared to do anything for him, but hiding my trembling, I managed a "Yes Master, right away," before scurrying out of the room.

Now, unbeknownst to me, the euphemism "I'm thirsty" meant he wanted a stiff alcoholic drink to relax him. To me, he was dirty, sweaty, and had just been outside fencing, so water was the optimal choice. I ran into the kitchen to fetch the water jug when I ran into Alenya.

"Hi!" I said to her happily. She smiled, somewhat subdued, "Hi, Saryn...will you take a drink to Rayth? I know he doesn't want me back out there yet."

"Sure," I said, pouring a tall glass of water for Jem, she not paying attention to what I was doing. "Who is this Princess Isabella? Jem seems all worked up over her coming here."

Alenya's face lit up. "She's coming here? Oh thank heavens...it'll be a good night then. Jem's always on his best behavior around her. He won't admit it to anyone, but he's entirely in love with her! That's why he gets so tense; she's the only person who's ever made him try to be a better person. Everyone else he barks orders at and demands they comply. He can't do that with her, and he barely knows how to take it!" She laughed, clapping her hands.

I wanted to be happy, but I remembered what he'd said to Prince Benito: he was going to show "Benny" the birds and the bees with me after dinner. I didn't care who was coming, I knew what my fate for the evening was. I smiled, though, for Alenya's sake. I wanted her to be happy and relaxed. "I'd better take these drinks out to our Masters," and turned to go.

As the door closed, I saw Alenya's face, she seemed to realize something and try to tell me, but I had to hurry.

I gave the drink Alenya made to another slave and whispered, "that belongs to Master Lord Rayth." I on the other hand had to serve Prince Jaimeth himself; he had asked for the drink from me. I remembered my drink serves from slave school, and was determined to impress him somehow, perhaps so he would be easier on me in the future. I knelt humbly in front of him, kissed the middle of the glass, then raised the glass to him, putting my head down through my arms. He didn't lean forward to take it, so I extended it further. He still didn't take it right away, which frightened me. Oh heavens, what was wrong? Finally he did take it slowly, but instead of drinking, he turned it, inspecting it, then smelled it.

The silence was killing me. Looking up through his eye lashes, I saw his head turn, face etched with incredulous confusion, looking at Rayth and his guards for a silent explanation. My chest heaved: what the devil could be wrong?

He looked down at me, face twisted. "What the hell is this?" His words fell on me as a whip might have.

My skin still stung from the previous night, and my eyes welled with tears. Please don't let him hurt me again, I begged some unnamed entity. "Mas...master, I...you said you were thirsty...I brought you some water..." I feebly explained.

Jem's expression must have been routine for these gentlemen, because the guard who I had spent my first night with stood up, whip drawn, ready to do it if Prince Jaimeth wanted it. No! I cried silently, not another beating, and not from him! Why him? Why is this happening again?

But Jem took a sip and laughed. "It's water!" Jem lightly kicked me then waved the standing guard away. My head was swimming. "I did say I was thirsty didn't I, girl? Thank you, heh, for the drink, slave. It's...um...refreshing." He chuckled as did a few people around him before rapidly chugging the rest of the glass. Then after wiping his mouth on his arm, he leaned down very low, putting his head close enough that my nose was buried in short-tussled coffee hair, feeling the sweet heat of his skin as he quietly explained into my ear, "I wanted some alcohol. Strong and straight. Go back to the kitchen and bring me some."

My feeble voice shook, "do you have a preference, Master?"

I felt his lips smile against my ear, "Cognac."

I don't know what came over me, but I was filled with highly emotional gratitude that he explained that to me. While his head was still grazing mine, I grabbed his hand, pressed a kiss onto it, then pressed my tear-stained cheek hard onto it, hugging his hand. I was so grateful to him, and kept turning my head to lay another kiss on him, crying and trembling. "Thank you Master" I murmured crying, "Thank you so much."

He ripped his hand away and laughed, "Oh, just go." I stood up and scrambled to the kitchen, looking at the shocked faces of the other slaves. They couldn't believe I didn't get a beating for that. Unpredictable. Jem was simply unpredictable. Just like Alenya said.

******

The rest of the night was very funny to me. We girls were allowed more modest attire as to not offend Jem's precious Princess, although I had the impression she didn't care one way or the other. The way she looked at us throughout dinner and while they were all in the lounge...she just had this look as if to say, "I understand, it's alright." Some women are very jealous of the slaves; she wasn't. If anything, jealousy took a distant third to sympathy, which came in second to appreciation.

But it wasn't the Princess that made the night funny. It was Jem. The hard, controlled, self-centered, arrogant hedonist I had spent the previous night with was replaced with a hard on the surface, obviously fragile underneath, stuttering, blushing, self-conscious amateur every time he said anything to her! He's never had to do this with a woman, I realized, smiling, enjoying watching him suffer. Other women he simply told, "crawl into my bed, spread your legs," and they did it. With her, he couldn't MAKE her like him! She could at any moment walk out and leave, say he bored her. She could tell him he wasn't attractive enough, smart enough, whatever she wanted. She could stomp on the pulse of his pride. Perhaps it was wrong of me, as my Master's slave, to dream up these scenarios, but it was too much fun. We all thought so. Usually slaves try to do the least amount of work they have to. Tonight, we were practically fighting over who "got" to serve coffee, just so we could see more of the action.

But part of it stung, too. Watching him with her...he adored her. There was much to adore: she was pretty but simple, spoke well but easy to understand, funny but not boisterous, very intelligent but widely reserved. I saw in her all the things I could be...but couldn't. Was she so different from me, other than she was sitting on the couch next to Jem, and I was crawling on the floor praying he wouldn't hit me? Why? Does having royal blood really make that much of a difference? I could have been her...but here I am instead.

The night was winding down. The cleaning slaves were already at work, and we body slaves helping where we could. Jem still had his arm around Princess Isabella, who was still laughingly talking to Lord Rayth. He flexed his arm a bit to get her attention. "Are you staying here tonight?" trying to speak low enough that few could hear him, but our ears were all perked up.