Captive: Hopeless

Chapter 9 - Present

The light spilled into the darkness, and Daniella woke from her reverie. Adrenaline spiked in her veins, but she did not move, waiting as Nero and Barker drew nearer.

Nero quickly taught him to hate her. He was an evil bastard with designs on her body but did not compare to his mistress, his spite not measuring up to Azera.

He unclasped her manacle, wrenching her wrist, but she made no sound.

"Come on, honey, give it up. We all know you'll be screaming that sweet melody for our lady soon enough. She has your number and knows how to dial it," he mocked, pushing her forward while keeping his hold on her injured hand while copping a feel of her arse.

Her lack of response annoyed him.

"One of these days, Nero, you'll go too far with this one, and Azera will string you up in her stead," Barker warned.

They were night and day. One was a blond-haired Adonis with no moral compass, and the other an ebony carving of pure muscle and bone, who looked about as warm as ice, but there was more to him than met the eye. Yet they were both Azera's puppets and did anything she ordered without question.

The light in the corridor made her eyes water, but she blinked the moisture away. She could not afford to be blinded for even a second. Nero enjoyed walking into doors with her, tripping her over lintels, and pushing her down the stone steps.

She would soon have pain enough. There was no need to give him the satisfaction.

If he could get away with it, he would do anything he wanted, blaming her clumsiness, but Azera knew full well he was lying. Yet she would take it out on Daniella, although it was not her name anymore, even that they had stolen from her.

Azera named her Kay the day she arrived, derived from Kay-ha-an, which in their weird language meant slut, but if anyone was one, it was their mistress.

The woman had no moral compass, liked sex, and usually got off on whatever she did to Kay or whichever unfortunate crossed her path.

Azera liked having orgies on her bed of furs in the dungeons like an animal in heat with any available man except for the guards and servants, which included these two. Nero was jealous, and Baker was relieved to be spared such a fate.

***

As they approached the dungeons through the wide stone passages with their artificial lights, her heart beat louder, and the pit in her stomach became a crevasse. Why couldn't she control this reaction? Why could she not get used to the pain and the fear and just take it?

When they entered the dungeons, her gaze landed on Azera dressed in a leather outfit that covered her flesh in strips, exposing more than it covered, and she stood way too close to The Rack for Kay's liking.

Stomach churning, she fought her instinct to turn and try to claw her way clear of Nero. Bitter experience taught her she had no chance against him and Barker, nor was it worth the pain and humiliation.

Azera turned when they reached her. Her dark hair glinted in the low light, the expression in her blue eyes the only thing about her that betrayed that she was more than a thousand years old.

Something wild and untamed under the surface of that placid expression, drawing men to her side in droves. A terrifying darkness hid beneath the enticing exterior, eventually consuming even those she favored.

"Beloved Kay," Azera said as if speaking to a daughter but invaded her space and kissed Kay like a man kisses a woman.

Kay knew better than to resist, waiting for it to end while Azera plundered her mouth.