Marian
Iwasn’t usually vocal. I didn’t sing in boredom or resort to audible stimulation when I was anxious.
Silence was usually where my comfort rested.
I preferred to watch. To be alert and attentive.
Sound was usually the first hint on what was to come.
I liked the quiet and still. If I could hear, I could prepare.
And didn’t I need to? I should be ready.
I should… hide. Or… go? No, I had to be quiet.
Instinct told me that. But if that were the case, and subconsciously I knew I should not draw attention to myself, why was I humming?
“Dray, do you think we’ll always feel this way about each other?”
I turned to face him, easing his hand free and clasping it in both of mine as I held it level with my chest.
“She’ll never let us marry. You don’t know my mother. If she finds out about us—”
“We’ll marry anyway. No one is keeping us apart.
I know the timing is… fast, but it’s not faster than her pushing you to find some foreign husband.
You love me. I love you. The right thing would be to marry.
To hell with anyone else. Besides, the sooner we marry, the faster I can get you away from her. ”
“What if she doesn’t let you.”
A darkness crept into his stare as he kept eye contact. “She can try. Maybe she’ll succeed for a little while. She can’t keep us apart forever.”
Metal.
Jingling.
I blinked through the blurry colors.
“Listen to that humming. Is someone happy?”
David made a grunting sound at the tall, younger guard with the freckles. “I’m about to be.”
“Me too. Look at her. She’s already in position. Did you miss us, rich girl? I bet you couldn’t wait for us to come back.
Harder, I blinked, watching Drayton disappear as reflex had me scrambling the few feet to place me against the wall. My breaths were coming out so heavy, the ache in my lungs had my entire chest cramping.
“Please. N-No more.”
“No more?” David sneered. “You knew the rules. You broke them. Now, we break you.”
“Please. I wish to speak to The Unavowed. He w-wanted to see me. I-I’d like—”
Laughter echoed off the walls of the cell from David and the younger guard.
“The Unavowed is busy. You get to meet the next best thing. The Reeve is coming all the way down here just for you.” David walked the chair to the far side of the room, taking a seat. “They’re all coming… or will be.”
Tears raced down my face, and I tried to hold it together so I wouldn’t break even more in front of them. “A-All?”
“Oh, yes. You’ve made quite the impression. So many of us want to meet you.”
All. All. All. More… more men. More pain.
Pushing from the wall, I didn’t think. I couldn’t. To stay would kill me. Even through the pain, even with weakness from not eating, I gave my race to the door everything I had. David stood from the chair, and the tall, younger guard was ready, but both were too far for my speed.
I broke through the door, turning right. I had made a mental note on the entrance that would take me back to the large hall where I’d seen Penny. It wasn’t safe going there, but it was the only route that I knew that wouldn’t trap me.
“Get her!”
Feet were pounding up from behind, and I slowed, grabbing the handle and throwing the door open as I shot through the new hall. Terror left me sprinting. My feet slapped against stone, and the hall curved as I headed for the white and gold doors in the near distance.
“Bitch, you better not—”
My skin tightened at the voice that seemed to be just behind. It’d been the younger guard, but I knew it was more than him. The pounding was too loud to be one person.
Grabbing the golden handle, I threw open one of the doors.
Pressure locked around my waist, and the air gushed from me as the guard’s arm tightened, crushingly, pulling me roughly towards him.
Heads from the rich men turned my way, and I let out the loudest scream I could manage as I twisted in the young guard’s arms, slamming my palm right into his nose.
His arms immediately dropped to go to his face, but another guard was already grabbing me, and more were right behind him.
So many hands were pulling me in all directions.
I kept screaming. I kept clawing and swinging.
The connections were solid, but so was their crushing hold as two guards I’d never seen before carted me back towards my cell.
“Let go! Let me go! Help!”
More screams. More fighting. I expected them to start beating me, but I knew if not now, it would come eventually. I couldn’t do this again.
“Someone, please!”
I was carried into the main hall holding my cell, fighting even harder as we approached a large man standing just outside the opening of my door.
My gaze cut to the large contraption and group of men behind him, but it went back to the tall dark-haired man as my brain scrambled to figure out what was…
off. It wasn’t just the authority that he emanated.
Different… Different. The closer we got, I felt my eyes pull down.
Yes, this man was higher in status. Even though he wore a blue uniform identical to theirs, his was special.
Different. It was the white embroidery on the tips of his collars.
They were the size of a dime. Yes… White upside-down crowns.
It was what David had branded on his chest. It was what rested above my door—all doors—on both sides.
And hadn’t David mentioned something else?
Some… title… or thing? … The Reeve. Was that him?
Was it that odd machine behind him? Was it the group of men, waiting?
“Please!” My mind raced. Manipulations weaved with desperation. “Sir, I beg you. Sir!”
“Center of the room.”
His order had me fighting even more as the men obeyed, taking me right back into the dimness of my cell. Just smelling the moldy scent had my body momentarily going limp as I sobbed.
“Please. I can’t—I—”
Agony had me gasping as one of the men crowding in shoved their fingers hard into my already bruised side. It pulled me out of fear, and anger ruled me as I began to fight once again.
“Let me down! Stop… touching me. Let go!”
“Stand her up.”
My legs were dropped, but hands held tightly to my biceps as I tried twisting against the hold.
“Sir, please. Sir.”
My voice was stronger than I felt. It had the man’s eyes lifting from a clipboard, but he didn’t speak as squeaking sounded.
A large device was wheeled inside, and I felt my blood go cold as I took it in.
It reminded me of a… person—of the childhood game, hangman.
The metal neck had a noose dangling from it, and there was a backing that branched off to flat areas for arms and legs.
Thick leather cuffs were attached to the ends of each one and I could feel myself pushing back into the guards who held me.
“Sir,” I repeated. “Reeve? Is that you? Are you The Reeve?”
“I am.”
“I would like to have my meeting with The Unavowed. He’s expecting me.”
“He is not.”
My lips parted as he continued to stare down. “I heard him, myself.”
“Then he changed his mind. I have access to his appointments. You don’t have one.”
More squeaking sounded as the guards pulled me back and led the contraption to the center of the room.
“May I request one?”
“You may not.”
A strangled sound came from me as the guards’ hands on my arms dug in.
“What is that thing?”
The Reeve didn’t answer. He finished writing something on the paper, lifting his head as he straightened. “Severance.”
My eyes darted to the large frame. “Clarify. What do you mean?”
“This is the final measure. Once you finish, you will be ready for auction if that is your path.”
“It’s not.” Even as I said it, my head shook. “Why severance? Why give me that answer when I asked what this thing is?”
A few seconds passed, and I could see some sort of emotion flicker, but it died just as fast.
“Perhaps you haven’t realized yet who you are. What… you are. That’s okay. Some don’t. Severance,” he said, gesturing, “will show you.”
I was pulled forward, but I threw my weight back, pushing from my tiptoes.
“Wait! What do you mean? What are you going to do?”
He didn’t answer. I was quickly let go and my dress was pulled up over my head before I could even process pressure disappearing from my arms. They latched back on, and I was drug forward, lifted and pushed against the straight back.
“Please! I’m not going to be auctioned. I can’t be—”
I started thrashing again, using all of my strength as multiple guards stepped forward, locking my hands and feet into the leather cuffs. The more I fought, the harder they held on. My screams were a mix of pain and madness.
“M-Money! I-I have money. Please!”
Laughter. They didn’t seem to care for my bribery as the noose was settled around my throat and tightened.
The moment it was snug, the rope was jerked up.
My head tilted back at the force, and my neck craned through the choking pull.
I was trapped. Creaking groaned louder, and my eyes flew open wide as the section that held my arms and legs were extended even more.
I could barely find enough air to speak through the shock.
Every part of me was being stretched to the max.
I had no control over the burning and tearing of my muscles as they wiggled the placement out even more.
“Enough, it hurts! Stop!”
“Left arm.”
A guard stepped forward with a measuring tape, first calculating the segment from my wrist to elbow.
“Twenty-point-five centimeters.”
The Reeve wrote it down, and the guard immediately went higher, calling out the numbers from my elbow to shoulder before he moved to my next arm.
He treated me like I was food getting ready for slaughter.
And maybe I was. I said I wasn’t going to be auctioned, but from the looks of it, I was starting to believe I was doomed to be bought.
For what… I was too scared to think about.
“Left leg.”
The guard measured from my ankle to the base of my knee.
“Twenty-nine centimeters.”
“Sir?” The rope was so tight against my jaw, I could barely speak. My words were gritted through clenched teeth. “Reeve, please. I can stand. I won’t fight.”
“Right leg.”
The torturous pain flaring from every inch had me trying to shift. Anything to ease the throbbing burn.
“I promise. No fighting. You have my word.”
“Waist.”
My body was pulled forward, and I screamed out at the stress against my already torn muscles in my arms and legs.
It didn’t matter. The Reeve didn’t care as he moved to my chest, the size of my breasts, my neck, my thigh, biceps.
The further we got along, the more impatient the men became.
They shuffled around me as if they were awaiting a meal they’d been desperate for their entire life.
I saw the hunger behind the predatory stares.
They watched… and they waited.
“Prepare the spreader.”
Spreader?”
I tried to rotate my head as a guard was already walking forward with a device that looked too familiar. Too terrifying.
“N-No. No, please!”
Footsteps got closer as I fought with every ounce of energy I had. When cold metal began gliding inside of my most intimate area, I only screamed louder. The gel the guard had used for some reason surprised me, but the invasion stole the realization as it pinched and increased its depth.
“Get it out. Get it out!”
Popping had me stiffening through the clicks as it began stretching my channel open. I wasn’t crying anymore; I was sobbing so hard I couldn’t breathe. I was breaking again, just in a different way this time.
Severance. Sever. To be separated from what ‘is’. Dissection. Detachment. Dehumanized. I wasn’t even a slave; I was a body meant to be sold. I was nothing but stock that could scream, and I was doing plenty of that as I felt my insides tear.
Click.
Click.
“Please! P-Please!”
Drip.
Drip.
Time.
Laughter.
Snickering.
The room wavered, and footsteps headed forward as a cuff came undone.
Blood. It fell from me, dripping in that all too familiar pitter-patter-drip-drip.
The room seemed to darken as I felt my weight sink down into the rope.
Pressure from the hemp burned across the front of my throat and for the first time, I gave myself to it.
To the finality of what my life could be if I just pushed down a little more…
a little longer. It might be a better alternative.
If I was sold, I was a dead woman anyway.
With how the men were crowding in, some already reaching for their belts… I already was.