Chapter 14: Veins with Wings

The honey jar had the seal that was signature to the farmers market. The one nearest to my town that Locky and I would go to get ingredients for the bakery. I had tried not to let the surge of hope show through my features and begged my heartbeat to stay calm. I didn't even want the chance for him to hear its fastening rhythm.

Because little did he know that the small jar he gave me was more than honey. It gave off the area we were in. And wherever I was, I was close to home. Home!

After washing off the honey residue on our fingers from a wash basin, he took me down and we parted ways when I told him I wished to eat in the slave quarters. I needed space away from the constant thrumming pressure that took over me whenever he was near. The way he made me question how close I was going to cut my morals inn an effort to follow through on my plan for making him fall in love with me.

I passed Egerton on my way into the slave house and kept my head down. He had a rigidity to him that reminded me of a gecko always alert, paying attention to its surroundings. Knowing exactly when to flea and when to hope no one would see him. He had a face of frustration on him now and I wondered what had caused it.

As I entered the slave house, I noticed an unnerving commotion that surrounded the kitchen entrance. It looked like people were bustling in and out, I saw the cooks hurry into the kitchen with silverware that was meant for the main dining hall for the masters and mistresses. I frowned and tried seeing past the people who were in a hush of whispers.

I slid past the masses and slipped into the dining hall, coming face to face with the object of Egerton's irritation.

Finn Waitstill was sitting drinking broth with Brinley. He sat in front of him, with his eyes fixed on his and Brin's eyes fixed on his own meal. They were both in heavy conversation and a startled shock creeped up my bloodstream as I saw him sitting in a place meant for slaves and drinking rationed soup made for slaves all to talk to a slave.

Brinley looked up from his bowl and immediately noticed me, he waved me over. I shrugged my shoulders and focused on moving my feet forward. When I got near the benched table, I chose to go to Brinley's side and sit next to him. Brinley pushed his bread roll toward me and I took it willingly. Finn had been speaking about something to do with shallow waters when he raised his head and saw me. He blinked after stopping his speech and a bright smile plastered on his mouth.

"Oh hello" he said looking like we were children in school meeting for the first time. Already friends and planning adventures. I just looked at him with a slight frown and finally understood why it was easy for Brin. Finn Waitstill was nothing like his older brother. Nothing like my master. Where he oozed kindness and charm, Micah was something you would tell your children to lock the doors against. In the two words Finn spoke to me, everything clicked into place with how it was easy for Brinley. No matter how hard his enslavement was, he got kindness rather than maliciousness. He was met with a young boy who said hello to slaves as if they were his equal. He was serving a master that sat in the slaves quarters and infuriated the Keeper if it meant he could eat with Brinley.

After the branch of silence I offered up to him, he scratched his neck nervously and bit his lip. "I'm Finn Waitstill by the way."

"Congratulations" Brinley snickered bringing a spoonful of soup to his mouth before turning to me. He could see that I wasn't about to tell his master my name so instead he shifted the topic to something I wouldn't mind conversing in. I kept quiet on the sarcastic yet warm tone Brinley spoke to his Master to, because it didn't actually seem like he was serving him. In fact, I was confused who served who in the whole relationship.

"There's been a hinderance and Belly can't join us this evening." I knew from the look on Brin's face that meant that Theo and Elle were involved. I learned over the weeks I had been there that Belly began to be quite comfortable around the manor, making friends with the cooking staff and the doorkeepers.

It seemed near everyone that had been captured was an outcast of some sort. Either no family or nothing really to go back to if they escaped, making it easier for them to adapt to their new surroundings. Belly once told me that he used to go his winters wondering if he would be able to afford rations of rice once a fortnight. So having a full meal here every day, thrice a day seemed like an okay exchange for his cock.

Except it wasn't. It never would be, not in my eyes. I started to see that I was the odd one. I had had a family, little money but enough to keep happiness. I had a lot to go back to, so it made me wonder why I had been captured. If I had been chosen, save for the impossibility of that. Because that would mean I was here for a reason and my kidnapping was purposive. And, I refused to even nurture that thought for a second.

Finn kept on talking and Brinley answered as if they were long lost soulmates. Almost like they knew each other from before Brin's abduction. A spattering of warmth filled me when I saw the little spark that caged in Finn's eyes whenever he made Brinley laugh and I smiled knowing that maybe in another life, they had a chance. Maybe in another life, so did I .

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The next morning when I woke, I woke to an empty room

The next morning when I woke, I woke to an empty room. Micah usually left in the early rise of dawn. Never staying long enough for me to wake and see his face. I always wondered why he left so early and I reminded myself that I would venture someday into asking him. Now that I knew that I was close to home, a new swell of aspiration filled my every waking moment.

I stretched my body, grateful I didn't have the shackles on anymore. But laughed when I knelt down to lick water off my bowl from the ground. When did that become a thing to be thankful for?

Once I finished, I got up and got out from the room to head for the bath houses. When I reached, I undressed and got into the small bath in the corner of the house. I poured the warm water over my naked body with a bowl and sighed at the relief it gave. Neither Brinley or Belly were in the bath house. In fact, only a handful of slaves and pets were currently bathing. Some slaves in the corner of the steam rooms where rutting against each other in groups but I knew I was never going to adapt to be that comfortable around here.

I stood on my feet and placed my legs against the rim of the bath before reaching for the razor and sliding it up my legs. Brinley had taught me how to get closer to part in between my legs without nipping myself and causing myself to bleed. That made me aware me how close I was to bleeding this month and I made a mental note reminding myself to stop by the sanitary storeroom and take some menstrual sponges and absorbing rags for when I started.

I sunk down into the bath and washed away the soap that I coated my skin with. Embarrassment flushed me when I realized I would have to empty myself in the chamber pot when I was menstruating and Master would see. I soon shook the feeling off of me because no woman should feel ashamed over something natural.

This was the line I was repeating to myself when I rose from the bath and reached out for a towel that I laid on the wooden rack nearby. A movement caught my eye from the far side of the room at the entrance that was closest to the bath I had taken. I looked to where the shift came from and a small gasp escaped my lips when I saw a retreating shadow in the doorway. I reached for the towel and wrapped it around my body with shaking hands.

Someone had been watching me.