Chapter 5

Ari

T wo days later, I got my chance to present the appeal of Salas’s case in front of the Royal Council.

Lady Etah, the Head Councilor, lifted her eyebrows when I recited the details of the case. She peered at me over her reading glasses perched low on the tip of her nose.

“Do I understand you correctly, Your Highness? You’re appealing the verdict to reduce the punishment by two lashes?”

The tone of her voice suggested my endeavor was pitiful. But it wasn’t about how I felt or what the head councilor thought. The only thing that mattered was how Salas felt about it, and despite his reluctance to speak up for himself, I believed he’d rather not have these two extra lashes delivered to his back if given a choice.

Out of the twenty-four councilors, two chose to debate me about the case. That wasn’t new or unexpected.

“Truth is often born in a debate,” Mother liked to say.

Exploring many sides of any problem was necessary to make a proper decision based on facts and logic.

In Salas’s case, the fact remained that several witnesses described other men harassing him before the fight. The reports held no mention of him shouting back at them. He stoically bore the insults in silence until the moment he struck one of the men.

The reports held no information about what exactly the insults were or which particular one had finally provoked him into the attack. I wished I knew, but it proved not necessary to eventually convince the council to reduce the verdict to the lashes already served.

The satisfaction from the victory coursed through my veins with excitement as I exited the council meeting room shortly before lunch.

Gem immediately accosted me on the other side of the door.

“It’s been arranged,” she informed me in the discreet fashion of a seasoned courtier, keeping with my pace down the corridor.

“What has been arranged?” Lifting my glasses, I rubbed my eyes. Winning the long, intense debate left me elated, but also mentally drained. “What are you talking about?”

“You’ll have that slave tonight.”

Gem had kept her voice down. But to me, it came like a slam of a hammer against a church bell.

I looked around to make sure no one was close enough to hear us. However, Gem had been a member of the royal court long before I came to Rorrim. She knew how to act and when to speak. The corridor was empty, with only two guards standing at the doors to the council meeting room, both too far to hear us.

“Tonight?” I exhaled.

I didn’t forget our conversation about Gem making the arrangements. But the memory of it had shifted into the background with my daily duties taking the front seat. Subconsciously, I must’ve been hoping for more time, which proved impossible with my super-efficient cousin.

“Yes, tonight.” She grabbed me under my arm, walking with me to my rooms.

“Does it have to be tonight?”

“Why wait?” She paused. “The sooner the better, is it not?”

“Yes. Of course. It’s just that...”

My heart slammed into my ribs, pumping blood so hard that a swishing sound pulsed in my ears. All that blood must’ve run away from my face because Gem patted my hand sympathetically.

“Oh Ari, you’re nervous. That’s understandable. Most people are nervous the first time, but that’s why it’s best to do it when at least one of the couple has done it before. Since you’re attracted to him—"

“Am I?” I couldn’t exactly name this unsettling feeling I experienced for Salas. I just knew I’d never had it before for anyone else.

Gem tilted her head, searching my eyes. “Don’t you want him? How do you feel about spending a night with him?”

“’I... Well, I’m curious about him.”

“Curious?” She pondered my answer. “Curious is good. I was curious about sex too. That was probably the strongest emotion I had before my first time. Whatever it is, we should use it. Who knows when you may feel even remotely ‘curious’ about a man again?”

My stomach fluttered like an empty plastic bag trapped in a hurricane. My palms felt sweaty, and my heart was doing somersaults.

Was that how attraction felt?

Until now, I imagined it’d be a warm, cozy feeling, like sunshine and fluffy puppies, not whatever wretched mess had been happening inside me.

We came to my private sitting room located next to my bedroom. Gem poured herself a glass of chilled water from the carafe by the unlit fireplace, then stretched in a chair by the open patio doors.

“Once you do it once, sex will stop being such a big thing,” she said. “You’ll even feel silly for stressing over it so much.”

“I hope so.” Too restless to sit down, I remained standing in front of Gem.

“If this slave is really good, you may even like sex enough to start visiting the gladiators regularly afterwards,” she teased. “All is good, by the way. He’s healthy and fixed.”

“Fixed?” I echoed.

The procedure was often performed on unmarried men, especially if there was a reason to believe they engaged in sexual activities with women. It prevented them from fathering children out of wedlock. I’d never seen the procedure done, but I’d been told it was common, safe, and reversible if needed, usually performed by skilled healing witches.

“Yes, fixed,” Gem took a drink of water. “A sound decision for a single man his age.”

“How old is Salas?”

“He’s over thirty already, way past the age to hope for a wife.”

“Did you speak to him? What did he say?”

She shook her head. “I talked to his owner and sent a healing witch to treat his back and to assess his overall health. The owner agreed to give him time off work, just like you wanted, in exchange for compensation for the time lost, of course.”

“Are we going to pay her?”

“Well, she owns his time and has to be compensated for it being spent elsewhere. She thinks I’m getting him for my own use, by the way.”

“But does Salas know he’s going to be with me? Did he agree?”

With her elbows on the armrests of her chair, Gem spread her hands aside. “It’s safe to assume he’d rather be with you than hauling those bricks out there.”

“So, you didn’t actually talk to him?”

“It’s unnecessary,” she dismissed, then gave me a long, penetrating look. “Ari, like I said, it’s normal to feel nervous. But I made sure you’ll be safe. I’ve talked to his owner. He’s been with her for three years now. She vouched for his character. The fight this week was the only one he’s ever been involved in, and according to the reports, he was provoked, as you know. Men are primitive creatures.” She shook her head with a roll of her eyes. “They always compete for dominance, even in the groups where they are on the same level of hierarchy. They bully each other, even when they should feel camaraderie while being in the same situation.”

I paced the room. Moving often helped me think. Right now, it helped my nerves to settle somewhat too.

“What did Salas do three years ago, before he became a slave?” I asked.

“He had a different contract with someone else.”

I adjusted my glasses. “So, he’s been a slave for more than three years?”

“Yes. At least twice as long.”

“How long does he still have on his contract before he’s free?”

“Three more years, but the generous compensation offered by your mother for his services would reduce that to two.”

That added up to at least nine years of all his contracts combined. Salas had given up his freedom for over nine years—almost a decade or even more of not belonging to oneself. It must be terrible.

What compelled him to do something like that?

“If I go through with it, he’d be free a year sooner,” I reiterated.

“Yes. A win-win situation for everyone.” Gem lifted both hands with a smile.

I poured a glass of water for myself and guzzled it at once. My hand trembled either from nerves or anticipation, most likely from some crazy explosive mix of both.

Gem noticed it but misunderstood the reasons.

“Ari,” she said softly, “the guards will spend the night by your bedroom door. If he so much as raises his voice, let alone raises a finger to you, he’ll die. I’ll make sure he knows it—”

“No.” I slammed my empty glass down on the stand by the fireplace. “Promise me no matter what happens tonight, Salas won’t be punished.”

“Are you insane?” She stared at me in shock. “If he dares defy you—”

“Even if he does,” I insisted.

“Ari. Any assault on the princess is a crime punishable by death. That’s the law of our land.”

“Not in this case, Gem. Salas won’t be coming here by choice. He’ll be brought to my rooms because I ordered it.”

“So?”

Did she really not understand?

I knew way too well the emotions a situation like this might cause.

“We’re putting him into a situation that’s outside of his control, and he’ll feel it. He may feel uncomfortable. Pressured. Helpless. If at any point he’s triggered by it, if he loses his calm, I...” I heaved a sigh. “I don’t want him to be held accountable for his reaction. Please, promise me there will be no consequence for him, no matter what he may or may not do tonight.”

Gem gripped the armrests, flexing her jaw. “I’m responsible for your safety here. I’ll take any precaution possible, but what if something goes wrong anyway? He’d need to be punished.”

I thought about Salas’s large, calloused hands cradling my tiny puppy ever so gently. There was something about him that made me believe he was safe, despite the fight he’d had, or his size, or his temper that the bricklayer was talking about. But I also understood I couldn’t rely solely on my feelings while being alone with a man I hardly knew and who was about twice my size too.

“If something goes wrong, we’ll stop it,” I said. “You said there will be guards just outside of my door. I believe I’ll be able to read the situation, too, and not let it escalate to the point of it becoming dangerous. Believe me, I will send him away the moment I don’t feel completely safe.” I was the princess, after all. Salas was just a slave. The power was entirely on my side with not a drop of it left on his. “But regardless of what happens—if he loses his temper, if he refuses to go ahead with it—I don’t want him to be punished.”

Gem pursed her lips, not looking convinced at all. But I held her gaze, waiting for her to confirm that my condition would be met.

“Fine,” she finally conceded. “Weird, but fine. He won’t be executed.”

“Not executed, or flogged, or reprimanded in any way. His owner won’t be notified of his behavior, whatever his behavior might be. His working conditions won’t get worse. His life will not be affected in any negative way by my barging into it uninvited. Do you understand? That’s the only way I’ll do it.”

Gem arched an eyebrow, looking baffled. I rarely spoke this categorically. Usually, I was open to discussions and negotiations as Mother had taught me. But I felt strongly about it. In this case, there was no room for negotiations.

“Ari, you’re looking at it all wrong,” Gem said. “Any man in Rorrim and beyond would be flattered if you invited him to your bedroom. This is a huge honor for a slave.”

“Maybe. But even a slave should have a say in a matter like this. And so far, Salas has had no say whatsoever. You can’t hold him responsible for his reaction to the situation he hasn’t agreed to or might not have felt free to decline.”

The last time we spoke, Salas hadn’t looked like he even wished to be in my company. Maybe the setting had made him uneasy, not me. The bricklayers had been there. He was supposed to be working, not chasing spoiled little puppies around the gardens. But if it was me who made him uncomfortable, if he wished to have nothing to do with me, I wanted him to have a clean exit from this whole thing.

“It’d be as if nothing ever happened,” I insisted. “No negative consequences to his life, whatsoever.”

Gem dropped her head between her shoulders, worn out by my persistence. “All right. As you wish, Your Highness. The slave won’t be punished. But he’d be an idiot if he spoiled this chance for himself.”

“Well, that is entirely up to him now, isn’t it?”