Chapter Marian
Marian
Three days. I had been in this hell for three damn days.
Sure, I slept through the first one, but yesterday when I’d expected to be taken to see Penny and The Unavowed, I wasn’t.
Another guard whispered something to David, and the moment I was finished with my medical appointment, they silently rushed me back to my room.
I hadn’t even gotten branded, not that I was complaining about that.
But David had never returned. Aside from a metal cup of water that was empty by that night, I wasn’t even brought lunch, dinner, or breakfast this morning.
Was it morning? I was just here… starving…
thirsty… waiting. Was anyone even coming back?
What about the other guard? Surely, with the size of this place, they’d have more people dedicated to these rooms. The halls were endless, the doors… uncountable.
“Hello?”
My voice echoed around my cold room. I hugged the itchy blanket around my shoulders walking the length of the damp floor with my bare feet, avoiding the constant dripping that was driving me mad. The occasional screams would sound, but if anyone could hear me call out, they weren’t answering.
“Hello? David?”
But David didn’t come. Not after what felt like an hour.
Not after two. My stomach growled. I collapsed to the cot, feeling my eyes grow heavy.
I wasn’t even sure what time it was anymore.
I slept off and on. I never truly got more than an hour or two at a time.
I felt disoriented. My mind was changing and something darkly twisted scraped my sanity.
A deep-seeded torment was eating away at my calm.
At my control. Each minute that was getting me closer to being sold left me feeling even more desperate for escape.
I went to stand so I could check the door again, but I knew it was locked. I was trapped. Maybe even forgotten.
More time.
A heavier darkness edged in as I dozed off, and I felt myself floating through restlessness.
Drip.
Drip.
Drip.
“You’re not just anyone, Marian. You’re special, but I can make you so much more than that.”
“I don’t want to be special, Momma, I just want Drayton.”
“Stupid girl. So stupid. You have so much to learn. Do you know how important your future is? A marriage can make you or break you, Marian. Our world is nothing like what you think.”
My mother’s voice came wisping through like a cold draft, here and gone, but not without making an impact. I shivered at her words, falling deeper into sleep. Had she known about this? The Unavowed hinted as much. My mother was one of them. My mother would have probably loved this place.
“Someday, you’re going to see that everything I’ve done was for us. For our family. And when you have your own, you’ll do the same.”
Evil.
Cold.
I’d never sink this low. I’d never support a place like this.
I wasn’t like my mother… yet, hadn’t I used her persuasion on Drayton when we first met?
Hadn’t I used the same trick to hook David?
I softened him and used the sway to mess with his mind.
She would have done that. She would have done everything in her power to flip her role, and she would have succeeded.
Hell, she would probably have already been free.
As much as I hated my mother, I envied her.
I wanted to be her right now. I wanted her tricks if it meant I’d get free.
“Don’t look at me like that, Marian. I told you to stay away from Drayton. That’s what you get for not listening. Hate me if you want. You’ll get over this, and when you walk down that aisle to someone deserving of you, you’ll be thanking me.”
“I do hate you. I hate you!”
“For now… Wait until you need me. You’ll love me again.”
Keys jingled and metal creaked and groaned as my door opened.
I blinked through the blurriness, sitting up as a man I’d never seen before headed inside the room.
He had sandy brown hair with freckles on his face.
He looked younger than me at almost-thirty, and he was lean and tall.
He was dressed in the typical dark blue uniform, and he held a tray of food.
I stood, watching as he headed inside. When he got halfway in the room, he stopped, letting his eyes rake over my body.
“Clothes off like a good girl and you’ll get to eat.”
My lips parted, and my head shook.
“I… uh, no.”
“I was told you haven’t eaten in days. You want to starve?”
“I’m not taking off my clothes.”
He shrugged, turning.
“Wait!” I couldn’t deny how much my mouth was watering. It had been so long since I had had food. I could smell the aroma, and my stomach growled because of it. “Where’s David?”
A smile tugged at the man’s mouth as he came back to face me.
“He’ll be here in a minute. You ready to drop the dress?
” He looked down, lifting the lid free, intoxicating the room even more with the aroma.
I shifted on my feet, glancing at the door.
Would David have done this? I didn’t think so.
He was rough, but he’d let me have the food without humiliating me for it.
“Do you know where he’s been? He didn’t come back last night.”
I reached for the tray, but the guard kept hold with a death grip.
“You’ll find out soon enough. Dress off.”
“I don’t see a drink. Do I get more water? I’m really thirsty.”
His free hand came out to point. “I said clothes off. If I have to tell you again, I’ll drop this tray and rip that dress off you, myself. Then you can eat this food off the floor. It’s what you deserve anyway.”
Again, I looked to the door. “Maybe if we get David—”
The door opened and two men I’d never seen before entered.
Both had darker skin, but where one had almost black eyes, the other guard’s were a pale blue.
The contrast had my lips parting. Had I not been terrified at his menacing glare, I might have lingered on thinking how beautiful he was.
It was the chair he was holding that stole every thought I had.
The door opened a little more, and David limped slowly into the room.
Bruising painted the side of his cheek and jaw, and one of his eyes was swollen shut.
I went to step towards him, jolting to a stop at the pure malice oozing through his expression.
This was not the man I had won over with my mother’s expression. Any sway I might have had was gone, no doubt beaten from him, and probably because of me.
“David?”
He hobbled to the chair, easing to sit. His face drew in, and he cringed the slightest amount, but he never stopped glaring at me.
The pure hatred had me swallowing hard past the need to run.
I was right there. Right on the verge and might have given into it had a guard not been in my path to the door.
“Is that because—David, please—”
Laughter. It came from the taller man holding the tray as he looked between the men.
“There’s just something about rich women that are… different. Wouldn’t you say so, Martin? Joel?” He gestured his head, first to the man with darker eyes, then the other, moving his gaze back to me. “What do you think it is? Is it her healthy, glowing skin? That pretty, long hair?”
Martin, the one with the dark eyes, shook his head. “Nothing clean or soft about her right now.”
I shifted on my feet, grabbing to hold the dress at my thighs.
The younger guard turned to the other. “What do you think, Joel? What sets this elite woman apart down here? Do you think she’s different than the others? God, I just can’t put my finger on what it could be.”
“She looks like any other slave to me.”
“Really?”
“She has a mouth to scream. Hair to pull. A cunt to fuck.” The guard’s head tilted, and his gaze narrowed. I stepped back as his distinctive stare tore from me to the taller guard holding my food. “Why is she still wearing clothes?”
The man with the freckles laughed, flicking his finger in the direction of the chair.
“She’s waiting for David to rescue her.” He paused. “David, would you like to save the rich damsel in distress… or do you want to fuck her first? You said she was real good and tight. Maybe you want another round.”
Panic had my eyes going back and forth. Another round?
David leaned back in the chair, unbuckling his belt and pulling it free from his pants. As he handed it to Joel, he began tugging at the button.
“Put this around her neck. If she fights, we fight.”
Joel was standing between me and the door.
If I ran the other way, Martin would surely catch me before I made ground.
Before I could even process the best route, color blurred.
The tray fell in my peripheral and food went flying out as plastic bounced against the stone.
The loud sound was like a gunshot, throwing me into motion as I lunged and tried racing for the door.
Fingers scraped down my neck and arm, easily catching in my long hair to jerk me back.
I screamed, feeling myself lifted as Joel spun me back towards the chair.
I was placed down, and fingers pushed down the front of my dress, ripping it open to expose my chest. So many hands came out, groping and grabbing at me.
Pinching pain flared through my breasts and ass.
All three men’s hands were rough as they pushed their weight into me from all directions.
“Help! Someone help!
A loud scream tore from me. I swung and tried twisting in their grasp. Pressure came from all sides as they held me between them. My nails tore into Martin’s neck, and light flashed as his hand slapped into my already injured cheek.