Manumission

Chapter 11

"You changed your hair."

Eva shivered as Michail twisted a lock of golden-brown between his fingers.

"This must be your natural color, hmm?"

She didn't answer. Couldn't answer.

"You know I love you more as a blonde. It reminds me of when you were little. When we first met. Do you remember?"

"A gift. For your trouble. You can keep her for the night."

In the three months since being brought to this house, she'd lost count of how many men she'd been given to in a similar manner. Olga told her she should be used to it by now. But each night as she lay half covered by a snoring man, slick with her blood and his fluids, she couldn't keep the silent tears from slipping down her cheeks. She was beginning to feel cold inside, but she didn't know if she could ever be "used to it."

"Vot tak tak...da nu!"

The tall man approached her, his patent leather brogues clicking across the hardwood floor. She couldn't help but flinch as his hand came to her hair, rolling a white-blonde wave between his fingers. His other hand came to her chin and raised her head until her seascape eyes met his icicle blue ones.

"I don't think I've seen a more perfect child, Boris. Certainly not in your den of whores."

"She's...imported."

"Russkaya?" he asked.

"Nyet. Slovak."

"Slovak..." he whispered, running his thumb gently over her downy cheek. "What's her name?"

"We call her Emília."

"Emília. Worker." he murmured. "No, little one." He smiled at her, eyes crinkling at their corners. "I'm going to call you Katya."

His eyes were the same color as her mother's. As they squinted at her kindly, a fear shot down her spine, deeper than any she had yet felt.

"Do you know what that means? Hmm?"

She swayed in chilled terror.

"No? It means 'pure'."

Boris snorted.

"She might look pure, but she's been fucked by half the men in this city and barely makes a sound. She's probably been doing this sort of work her whole life."

She wondered vaguely why the blue had disappeared from the man's eyes. The black part, the pupils, she remembered from her science book, had grown so large that the blue had shrunken down to a thin, cold ring.

"Is that so, Katinka?" His lips fought a smile. "Well. Don't worry, malen'kiy. You'll make some beautiful sounds for me."

"You look the same, you know."

When she didn't answer him, he chuckled.

"Same defiance, too. I never quite broke you of that, did I? Then again," he trailed a finger down her quivering shoulder, "that's why I bought you in the first place. No matter how I hurt you, inside, you're untouchable. The same little girl you were."

Eva reeled from exhaustion and fought to remain upright. Her world had collapsed to the nerve fibers firing underneath Michail's soft touch.

"I looked for you. Since the moment you disappeared. Six years and I never stopped looking."

The back of his fingers caressed her cheek and dropped down her neck.

"For an ignorant slut, you sure covered your tracks well. But you slipped up, didn't you?"