Athenian Slave (Book 2)

Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Charmion waited by the entrance to the villa. Looking out over the land before her. She knew there was beauty to be seen. Yet, at that very moment everything to her seemed grey. Her world had turned monochrome in the space of one night. While her mind had been hazy the colours had been too bright for her to focus upon. Or want to look at for any period of time.

One night.

And all that colour drained to nothing…

Unless he was there.

She shook her head. Swallowing hard against the image of that first night within this villa. The very building and its surrounding countryside was peace and tranquillity made physical. Even with all the males around, she could not help but take in the very emotion, which was held within the stone and soil itself. But there was nothing she could find to hold her attention, or give her any light unless he was there. And the fear that came to here because of that was terrifying in the extreme. She could not become dependent upon him.

Not only was he the one who was allowed to hurt her in any way he wished. And she could not argue with him. But he affected her in ways she did not want to think on. He had been considerate of her situation, tried his best to make her comfortable, and she had to keep reminding herself that it was only guilt that he had not stopped the attack. His pride and ego had been wounded by it, and the only way he could soothe it was by treating his property as well as he could for a short time, until she became useful to him once more.

Cosmas had been trying to be as helpful as possible as well. Though she could not work out his motivation. Her brow furrowed as she recalled some of the interactions she had had with him over the last few weeks. Though he had been around less and less in recent days. Making her wonder if he had finally realised she was of no use to him at all. That he could not ever see her as a true person, and only as the property of his commander. And distance was the only thing he could now take as that realisation hit with her being in the presence of her master at this villa, while in Athens the master had seemed removed from the situation.

Waiting for that said master to find her and ‘escort’ her outside. She was not allowed out upon her own. She wondered if she was under guard for he feared he would lose some property before she became valuable once again. Though whenever she tried to become useful, he stopped her, made her collect one of her fellow slave to complete the task she was well enough to complete. Though he was probably worried that she would injure herself further leading to her being out of action for longer than he wanted.

Her nights were still filled with visions of pain, choking silence, and the face of a demon come to life. His eyes seemed to follow her wherever she moved. Day and night he haunted her movements. Meeting her whenever she let her guard down. Silent screams echoed in her head, and she could not voice them. No matter how hard she tried, no sound more than a barely audible moan or groan would escape her lips.