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I hear the first crack echo through the room, and she gasps as her body lurches forward on the table. Grey lets out a breath and hits the other cheek.
Dane and I watch in silence as he delivers the smacks, alternating sides so that her whole arse reddens. Her body jerks with them, but she doesn’t utter a sound, though she’s gripping the sides of the table hard.
He finishes them quite quickly and looks at us in askance. ‘It looks as red as Gwennie’s, doesn’t it?’
Dane gives a quick perusal of her rosy cheeks and nods. ‘The same. Anyway, we’re out of time.’
Grey eases her up to standing, freezing when she turns, and he sees her tear-filled eyes. ‘Harbinger, I …’
I move in front of him with a sound of impatience, cupping her face and using my thumbs to wipe her cheeks where the tears have spilled over.
‘It’s finished,’ I whisper, taking her hand, ‘and soon we’ll be gone from this place.’
She grips my arms hard and nods jerkily.
‘Let’s go,’ Dane says, opening the door.
We make sure we have all of our possessions, and we leave the room that's been our home for almost two weeks. Outside, the rain has let up, but the day is still dark and grey. We walk up to the main street to where the council building is, noting that the door is already ajar.
We go inside.
I go in first, and Dane follows, staying close to the Harbinger. He whispers something in her ear, and she nods, looking down and hunching her shoulders a bit. Her face is as red as her arse, and her eyes are still glassy. It will be clear what’s just been done, and I quickly think up a reason for why our slave had to be disciplined this morning in case they ask.
Inside, the council office is sparse, with wood paneling and matching wooden floors in a herringbone pattern. There are several chairs on a dais in front of the back wall.
A female pixie, with silver hair and dressed in long purple robes greets us at the door and ushers us into an anti-chamber without delay.
There, we find four council members in black robes, and I'm happy to see that Healer Reyn is not one of them. Two are tall, slight goblins like Reyn. One’s old with white hair and a wizened face, and the other is a bit younger, his hair only just going grey. There’s a middle-aged dwarf as well, who hasn’t moved from his chair and is looking bored. I watch him stifle a yawn.
The final council member is a female who looks human, but I can tell quickly that she’s not at all. She’s a magick user of some kind. Her green eyes are hard and piercing as she looks the Harbinger over.
My eyes take in the rest of the small room, noting the long polished table in the middle of the floor and a block like the one in Reyn’s home in the corner.
The Harbinger’s eyes fill with trepidation when she sees it, and she seems to curl into herself, placing her body as close to Dane as possible.
I hide my smirk, now knowing what he was telling her to do on the way in. She's pretending that he's her favorite and that she feels most comfortable with him, so that, hopefully, he’s not chosen to prove to the council that we can take care of our human properly.
The older goblin steps forward and gives us a nod. ‘Thank you for attending this meeting,’ he begins. ‘I am Councilor Merrick. These are Councilors Frey, Gorgon, and, finally,’ he gestures to the female whose eyes haven’t left us, ‘Verbena.’ He opens a scroll. ‘So, this is your human female. Have you given her a name?’
‘Lia,’ Dane says, patting her shoulder in a show of affection that she pretends to preen under.
‘Let’s begin then, shall we? It says here that you arrived a few days ago, and your slave had severe Breach Blet. Is that correct?’
‘Yes, Councilor,’ Dane says, looking slightly embarrassed. ‘The band of nomads we bought her from in the ninth ring must have been traveling the Breach with her. We didn’t know.’ He gives her head a stroke. ‘She’s recovered well, thanks to Healer Reyn and, of course, her new masters.’
‘Indeed, indeed.’ Merrick nods, ‘Well, she certainly looks healthy. Healer Reyn did express some concerns that you three might be too inexperienced to take care of a breeding-age human properly.’
‘Well,’ Dane murmurs with a smile, ‘I hope we can allay his fears here this morning. We care greatly for Lia and only wish her to be content with us.’
Merrick seems to relax a little. ‘And do you plan to breed her?’
‘We do,’ Dane says. ‘Though we’ve decided to give her a bit of time to settle in with us before we begin looking for a strong bull to mount her. After all, a happy human is a hearty human.’
I see the other council members nodding.
‘Very well then, let’s have a look at her, then. Come forward, Lia.’
Lia looks up at Dane, her face shuttered as she plays the meek human. He nods, and she moves towards them.
