Nasir. Think of Nasir
. She closed her eyes. Breathed hard and fast through her nose.
“Slave,” Zayd barked. “Come here.”
She sensed Hana move close. Braced herself for the girl’s small hand, relieved it would be her checking for the confirmation Zayd so desperately sought, instead of him.
“Well?” Zayd asked, his voice strained with excitement, his hands continuing to cup and fondle her breast in a way that made her want to vomit.
Hana’s hand pulled away, and she pushed to her feet on a sigh. “She is still a virgin, master.”
For several seconds, nothing happened. No sound. No reaction at all from Zayd. And then she felt the heat of his body, so close Kavin sucked in a sharp breath and dragged open her eyes.
A fury she’d never seen coated his features. A malicious look that sent ice to the pit of Kavin’s stomach.
“Still you fail me,” he growled. “Perhaps the problem is you just don’t know what’s expected of you.”
No, no, no… He can’t. He wouldn’t
…
He jerked his gaze away from her and nodded toward the guards.
Footfalls echoed across the marble floor. Terror pushed a cry up Kavin’s throat. But hands didn’t close over her as she expected. The guards didn’t touch her. Instead, they grasped Hana at her side and jerked the slave girl around until she was standing in front of Kavin, her eyes wide with fear, her chest rising and falling with her own shallow breaths.
Zayd moved behind Kavin and breathed hot against her ear. “Maybe what you require,
jarriah
, is a demonstration.”
Oh, Allah…no
…. Servants were not to be used like that. There were class systems, even amongst slaves.
His hair brushed her neck as he nodded at the guards over her shoulder, and Kavin stared in shocked fury as the guard on the right grasped the neckline of the slave girl’s dress and ripped it right down the front, as if it were made of paper.
Hana cried out. Her dress fell open. The guard’s meaty hands grasped her small breasts in their bruising grip. Hana whimpered, jerked against the other guard, but he was too big, his hold too tight. Sickened, Kavin slammed her eyes shut and tried to look away, but Zayd growled in her ear, “Watch.”
“Please don’t do this to her…”
“You do this to her,
jarriah
. By your repeated failure. You are responsible.” His fingers closed around her jaw, turned her back to look. “Open your eyes.”
She did as he said, not because she was afraid for herself, but because it was the only thing she could do to help Hana. “Take me instead. I’ll do whatever you want.”
Hana whimpered as the guard continued to maul her. Tears streamed down her face as she struggled.
“Whatever I want?” Zayd asked with interest.
“Y-yes.”
Zayd didn’t answer. And as the seconds ticked by with nothing but the sound of the guards’ heavy breaths and Hana’s muffled sobs, Kavin was afraid to wonder what he was planning next.
Finally, he said, “You’ll stop fighting the
sahad
. Tonight.”
“Yes,” she whispered. He didn’t need to know she didn’t have to fight Nasir. Unlike Zayd, Nasir would never lay a hand on her in anger. But sickness brewed in her belly at the knowledge that after Nasir did take her, she’d be right back here where Zayd could do anything he wanted to her.
“Stop.”
Relief whipped through Kavin as the guards dropped their hands from Hana’s body. The girl fell to her knees on the floor, her body shaking, her face flushed and lined with tears.
This will be me
…
“You’ll let him fuck you tonight,
jarriah
, or I’ll give this girl to the guards permanently.”
Hana whimpered, but Kavin couldn’t read her expression because Zayd’s fingers tightened until pain shot through her jaw. She twisted his way to alleviate the pressure, until his enraged face and eyes brimming with retribution filled her vision and nearly stopped her heart.
“And you,
jarriah
,” he said in that menacing, vile voice. “If you fail me again, I’ll toss you into the arena with the other
sahad
s and let them gang rape you.”
Hana gasped, and terror raced down Kavin’s spine as she swallowed hard beneath his hand. He’d do it. She didn’t doubt that for one minute. He’d find the most perverse and humiliating way to punish her, and he’d get off not only by ordering it but by watching too.
“After, that is…” He eased his grip and brushed his knuckles against her sore and aching jaw. “I’ve had my fill of you.”
He leaned close to her ear. So close she couldn’t see him anymore. But she felt him. Everywhere. And her heart rate skyrocketed at the promise she heard in his voice when he whispered, “And when they’re done desecrating your body, then I’ll kill you myself, just for the fun of it.”
Chapter Eleven
Nasir paced the confines of his cell.
Yesterday, the new room had felt airy and light, and a thousand times bigger than the dank cage he’d been locked in before. But today, it was too small, too tight and—he paused and looked up at the fading rays of sunlight filtering through the barred window high on the wall—too empty.
Where the hell was she?
He scrubbed his hands through his hair, tried to stay calm. Failed miserably. When he’d left Kavin to begin the days’ training, she’d been with the slave girl. The one who’d come to check her each morning. Hours had passed since then. He’d expected her to be here when he returned. Wanted to tell her what was happening tomorrow. Needed to start working on developing their gifts as Malik had done. It was their only hope of breaking free of this place once and for all.
But if the highborn took her already…
His feet stilled. And a trail of fury burned straight through his gut. But it was quickly doused with reality. No, she was still a virgin. She hadn’t completed her “test.” Highborns were nothing if not predictable. They followed their own twisted rules and rarely shied from them. She had at least two more days before her time was up—two more nights. Which meant she’d been taken somewhere else. By some
one
else.
A wave of unease swept through him as his gaze snapped to the door, and he thought of the guards on the other side. Two new guards who hadn’t stood watch over him before.
He hadn’t seen the guard who’d attacked Kavin last night. Didn’t know where he’d gone or if he was coming back. But if he’d touched her again… If he’d so much as looked at her—
The heavy door swung open. And a wave of red hair and black silk filled the space. Relief was swift and consuming. So overwhelming he didn’t even care that someone had pushed her into the room, that she was stumbling forward. Instinctively, he caught her around the waist, dragged her close as the cell door clanged closed behind her. Drew in her sweet scent as if it were his last breath.
“
Rouhi
…”
She trembled. Gripped his arms. Then turned her face into his bare chest and held on tight.
He closed his eyes and reveled in the softness of her skin, the silkiness of her hair, and the warmth of her body, reminding him he was alive. Even in hell. But when warm wetness trickled across his chest, he realized she was crying.
“
Rouhi
?” He pushed her back so he could see her face. Tear tracks lined her cheeks, sending his anxiety up all over again. “What happened?”
“No-nothing. I’m f-fine.”
She wasn’t fine. She was scared to death. He ground his teeth to keep from frightening her more. But if that guard had come back and touched her… “What did they do?”
“Nothing. They didn’t do anything…to me.” Her eyes welled with tears, then she collapsed against him in a fit of sobs that squeezed his chest like a vise. “Oh, Nasir.”
Questions revolved in his brain. Emotions closed his throat. Without knowing what had happened, how could he help her? He didn’t know what to say, what to do. Only knew…this was the first time in his entire life he’d ever felt utterly and completely helpless.
His eyes slid closed. He held her tight. He couldn’t lose her. Not her too…
When her trembling eased, he swallowed hard. He was afraid to hear the answer but knew he had to ask. “Tell me what happened.”
She sniffled, drew in a deep breath. Seemed to gather herself as she eased back and looked up. Her green eyes sparkled with unshed tears when she said, “The servant girl—Hana. She saw my bruises…from that guard. She must have thought you’d…” She swiped at the tears on her cheeks. “I’m sure Zayd told her if there was any sign I’d been hurt to bring me back. So she did. Took me to the harem. To him.”
Rage welled inside Nasir, the bitter urge to decimate that had kept him alive in the pits this long, but he forced it back and waited, knowing he needed to give her time to tell him. That he couldn’t force it out of her. But his stomach pitched and rolled at the thought of the highborn looking at her. Touching her. And when she pushed out of his arms as if she couldn’t stand the thought of him holding her while she relayed the horror, he knew that was exactly what the son of a bitch had done.
“He was elated by my bruises. But when he found out I was still a virgin, well, let’s just say he was
not
happy. Irate, actually.”
She brushed the hair back from her face, and he caught sight of the purplish marks against the soft skin of her throat. Marks that asshole took pride in.
“I thought he was going to hurt me. When I saw his eyes, I thought he was going to kill me. But he didn’t. He knows my weaknesses better than I do.”
She looked up, and in her eyes there was pain…and a whole lot of anger he hadn’t seen from her before. “So he had his guards hurt Hana.”
“The slave girl?”
“I tried to stop them, but he wouldn’t let me. They ripped off her dress, then put their hands on her. And she was so scared.” Her voice hitched, and a soul-deep sadness replaced the anger. “I tried to look away, but he—Zayd—he made me watch.”
He caught her just as another sob racked through her. One he felt through every cell in his body. Holy Allah… He’d known the highborn was depraved, but this…
“I…I couldn’t let them rape her.”
A chill spread over his spine. “What did you do?”
“I…I promised him…” She rested her cheek against his chest, drew in a breath, let it out as her fingers splayed across his pec. “That by tomorrow I’d have completed my test.”
Tomorrow
…
Shock rippled through Nasir’s body. No, tomorrow wouldn’t work. It didn’t give him enough time to teach her to harness what few powers the highborns hadn’t bound. It didn’t give them time to plan an escape. It was too soon. He needed more time. Needed more of
her
warming and bringing him back to life in a way no one ever had.
“No.” He swallowed the growing lump in his throat. Forced back the panic. “No,” he said louder. “You have two more days. Two more nights. The rule with the test is five days. Malik said its tradition. That it doesn’t change.”
She pulled back and looked up. “Don’t you see? If I hadn’t agreed, he wouldn’t have let me come back to you. He’d have broken the rules and sent me to another
sahad
, or worse, he’d have taken me himself. I read it in his eyes. He doesn’t care if I live or die anymore. He just wants to humiliate and use me however he can, and hurting Hana was simply part of that.”
Her lashes dropped as she looked back down at his chest. “At least this way we get to say good-bye. At least this way, I can always remember—for however short the rest of my life may be—that you were the first.” She looked up again and whispered, “The only one I’ve ever wanted. If, that is, you still want me too.”
Emotions stole through him, overwhelmed him, consumed every part of him. Then pushed out all rational thought until there was only need. And heat. And a desire like nothing he’d ever felt before.
He lowered his head and took her lips, then groaned when she opened instantly to let him in. Her mouth was wet and inviting, her skin dewy and so damn soft. Her arms circled around his neck. And her body—her lush, curvy, incredible body—pressed up against his, igniting an arousal he couldn’t fight back. Not anymore.
“
Rouhi
.” He changed the angle of the kiss, cupped her jaw, and slid his tongue over hers again and again and again until her taste made him light-headed. “I want you. Allah, I’ve wanted you since the first moment I laid eyes on you. So much I can barely breathe from the need.”
She groaned, and her lips turned greedy against his. Hard, tight nipples covered by the thin fabric of her dress abraded his skin. And the heat from her pelvis so close to his sent stars firing off behind his eyelids.
“Nasir…” She threaded her fingers into his hair, continued to drive him mad with her mouth. “Please… Please… I need you…inside me.”
Yes. Yes. Yes… Why had they waited? That was what he wanted too.
He growled his agreement, trailed his hands down her slim back, and cupped her ass, lifting her easily. Her legs slid around his waist, her arms more fully around his shoulders. And her mouth, her soft and succulent mouth, never left his as he turned and carried her toward the bed.
This wasn’t about fulfilling some command or doing what either of them had been
ordered
. It was about need—primal, voracious, all-consuming erotic need. The kind that couldn’t be denied. Not anymore.
He lowered her to the bed, braced a hand against the blanket, and swallowed her moan of excitement when he eased on top of her. She kissed him deeper, spread her legs, lifted them around his hips. Arched into him so he could rub against her.
Oh, but the sounds she made…
It was all he could do not to lift her skirt, free himself, and thrust deep inside her. But he didn’t want that for her this first time. He wanted to tease her. To arouse her to never before known heights of pleasure. To make her remember this wherever she went from here.
Emotions tightened his throat, but he pushed them aside, focused on her. He licked into her mouth, nipped at her bottom lip, then trailed kisses across her jaw to her ear, where he blew hot, then nibbled at the tender flesh until she groaned.