Chapter 9
My gaze drops to the proposed term.
Two years.
The words beneath it begin to blur together. Residence upon the estate. Containment. Training. Discipline. A collar. The preservation of my virginity and the loss of everything else. There are sections on hand-feeding, grooming and supervised walks.
Two years spent under their complete control.
I close the folder and take a deep breath.
“Read it first,” Arrek growls.
“I don’t need to read any more. Two years under you three? No. I’m going to take my chances. At least in prison, I’ll be treated like a person.”
I look towards the Commissioner. “Could you please get the pretrial detention clothes for me, so I can change?”
The Commissioner closes the formal complaint and rises. His chair scrapes against the limestone.
“I’ll be right back with the clothes.”
“Wait,” Mero says.
The Commissioner stops.
“My best guess is you do five years. Do you really want to lose five years of your life?” Mero’s eyes are intent on me, looking for any sign of weakness.
I stare at him.
“You want to put me in jail for five years for an accident. Is that who you are?”
The silence stretches.
I point towards the cage. “You made this before I broke the bloom. You built it for me.”
Mero’s jaw tightens.
“I know what you want. You want control. You want me to be your toy. I don’t know what sick game this is or why there have been no women here. Maybe the three of you enjoy torturing yourselves, but I’m not spending two years under your command.”
The Commissioner remains standing, watching all four of us.
“Six months.” Mero’s voice is dark. There is a tightness around his eyes, and he stares at me too intensely.
Talarin and Arrek turn towards him, a flash of shock crossing their faces before their expressions become blank again. Aurelians do not like to show emotion, but their surprise showed through.
They heard his offer at the same moment I did, meaning he did not consult them through the Bond.
“Six months,” Mero repeats. “And then you’re free.”
I consider the offer. “Is there a place I can look at this privately?”
“You have that right,” the Commissioner says.
“The study,” Mero says, rising to lead me there.
“I can find it.” I’ve seen them through the tiny window when I perched high on the hill. They drink whisky and read books, sometimes talking late into the night while cigar smoke curls above them.
I gather the oversized robe around my legs, take the paired copies of the contract from the table and walk towards the broad heartwood door of the study alone.
My bare feet move silently over the cool limestone as I pass the washroom and the three closed doors of their bedrooms. The study stands at the end of the corridor.
I shift the contract beneath one arm and reach for the heartwood handle. The door is broad enough for an Aurelian, but it moves beneath my hand with perfect balance, opening so softly that I barely hear it.
A smaller hearth sits cold in one wall. Pale morning light falls across rough limestone walls, dark heartwood shelves and three immense leather chairs gathered around a low table.
The room is warm without being grand, every surface made from stone, wood or leather.
It is masculine without being boorish or becoming a caricature, unlike the men I see boasting at the village bar, each trying to outdo the others.
Their scents remain in the room, faint beneath the leather, old cigar smoke and whisky. Three distinct traces. Arrek’s hot, sweaty musk. Talarin’s subtle woody scent. Mero’s cleaner scent, touched by something faintly salty and oceanic.
It feels strange to stand inside. I am completely out of place here, yet a trembling shiver rushes up and down my spine as a vivid image begins to form.
I have only ever seen the study in fractions through the narrow window. Firelight shifting across the walls. One of the aliens sprawled in a chair with a glass held between his fingers. The three of them talking late into the night while cigar smoke curled above their heads.
Now I cannot stop picturing myself leashed and sitting obediently at Mero’s feet while he leans back in his chair, occasionally running one huge hand through my hair.
A shameful rush of heat floods me, my body finding pleasure in an image that should make me recoil, until I force it down.
Books fill much of two walls. Many are bound in cracked leather, their spines softened and faded with age. Ornate High Aurelian script covers every title. I can barely read a word of it.
I move closer, tracing the lettering without touching it. One title appears to contain the word Shifting, but it is the only word I recognize.
A heartwood box rests beside the bottles upon the whisky cart. I glance once towards the closed study door before lifting its lid. Rows of thick cigars lie inside, arranged precisely beneath a rich scent of leaf and spice.
The Commissioner gave me the room. None of the three can enter until I open that door.
I lower the lid and make certain it rests exactly as it did before, leaving no sign that I touched it.
One of the leather chairs bears a deeper impression than the others. Arrek’s chair. I have seen his vast body filling it through the window, a glass appearing tiny in his hand.
The writing desk draws my attention. Hand-drawn military maps lie across it beneath a three-dimensional globe made from pale light.
An unfamiliar planet turns slowly at its centre. The view is from high above, making the houses in its settlements look like toys. Some of the settlements have what appear to be domes over them that flicker, fade and brighten again.
I cannot make head or tail of it. This is no planet in our system or any system nearby.
Why is this the world they choose to keep displayed?
I find no answer among the maps.
I carry the contract to Mero’s chair and lower myself into it. The leather nearly swallows me. I sink into its deep cushions, drawing my bare feet onto the seat and gathering the oversized robe around my legs.
PRIVATE RESTITUTION AGREEMENT
Purpose: Private settlement of the Owners’ property claim in exchange for the withdrawal of related criminal proceedings upon successful completion.
Pet: Nell
Owners: Mero, Arrek and Talarin
Proposed Term: Two calendar years
This agreement exists in identical Common and Aurelian versions. The Pet may ask the supervising Commissioner to explain any provision before accepting it.
1. Status and Term
For the duration of this agreement, Nell will possess the legal status of Pet to Mero, Arrek and Talarin and will obey all lawful commands issued under the authority granted below.
The Term will be deemed successfully completed upon expiration, regardless of any disobedience, disciplinary offence or other breach by the Pet.
Successful completion will satisfy the Owners’ property claim and end the related criminal proceedings.
Upon expiration, the Owners’ authority will end, the collar will be removed and the Pet’s property returned.
The Term may not be extended, renewed or restarted without the written consent of the Pet and the supervising Commissioner.
I pause there, take the pen and write neatly, “As well, it will release...”
I almost write Nell.
“...the Pet from any and all claims or offences against the Owners or their estate committed prior to signing, whether known or unknown.”
If they find my other three food stores, I’m not going to let them call the Commissioner again and tack on some bullshit charge.
I glance up at the two-year term, considering crossing it out and writing my counteroffer, but I get another idea. My pen pauses above it, then hovers over the page as I read the rest.
2. Exclusive Authority and Supervision
Only Mero, Arrek and Talarin may exercise authority over the Pet. They may not sell, lend, trade, transfer or assign her to another person.
No outsider may command, touch, feed, leash, groom or discipline the Pet. A medical officer may touch her only when medically necessary.
At least one Owner must remain within ordinary hearing distance of the Pet at all times.
I pause, running my tongue over my teeth.
So I won’t be stuck below and ignored...
But I’m not going to have any privacy.
I continue reading.
3. Collar, Enclosure and Assigned Place
The Pet will wear a registered collar throughout the Term. Only an Owner, the supervising Commissioner or a medical officer acting from necessity may remove it.
The Owners will determine the Pet’s primary living enclosure and sleeping place and will control every entrance and exit. The enclosure must allow her to stand, stretch, pace and sleep safely.
The Owners may assign the Pet to her enclosure, a cushion, the foot of a chair or bed, a place within reach of an Owner or another safe location within the household. She must remain there until released, except to report an urgent bodily, medical or safety need.
The enclosure must contain clean water, safe bedding and sufficient warmth. These necessities cannot be removed as punishment.
I think of the dark-heartwood cage.
It meets every requirement exactly. Tall enough for me to stand. Wide enough to turn and pace a handful of steps. The little door and external lock completely under their control.
A low, bitter chuckle escapes under my breath. They didn’t just make that to hold me for a night.
They’d planned this. Imagined it. For months.
4. Movement, Leash and Outdoor Exercise
The Pet is entitled to two thirty-minute periods of meaningful outdoor movement each day at times chosen by the Owners.
The Owners will determine the permitted areas, route, leash length and whether the Pet walks, is carried or remains ahead, beside, behind or at heel. The Pet must return when called and may not approach the boundary wall or attempt escape.
Outdoor time may be delayed when conditions are unsafe but must be restored when the danger has passed.