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She folds her arms. “What if I do?”
I can’t stop looking at her, at the fine creased lines on her forehead as she raises a brow at me in defiance, at her top lip that quirks up at the thought of winning an argument, and at her breasts which rise and fall with every fast breath.
I need to stop looking.
Grumbling, I turn around and start walking again.
But after a while, she opens her mouth again. “I wanna know what it is.”
“What?”
“That thing around your waist.”
I close my eyes and sigh. “No.”
“You were trying to hurt yourself … because of that thing,” she says.
I glance at her over my shoulder. “Because of you.”
Our eyes connect briefly, and she gulps, visibly undone by my comment.
“I’m sorry,” she says, looking down at her feet.
So I focus on the path in front of me again even though her words do weigh on me.
“It exists to protect me,” I say.
When I glance at her again, her eyes have lit up. Like she’s so happy to have this new information.
“And you,” I add.
Her cheeks flush with heat, and it stirs something deep inside me once again, but I force it back down and try not to look at her so much.
“Is that why you put it on?” she asks.
I look down at my own body, at the metal peeking up from underneath my pants. The only relief I have is when I enter a cold bath … or, in this case, a cold stream. The water reduces the pain and allows me to wash it thoroughly through the bars. But it cannot take away the desire growing whenever I look at her.
And that is what’s bothering me so much.
Because it makes me want to rip it off.
But I can’t. This metal is the only thing reminding me of my duty. My only job on this earth.
Serve.
Honor.
Control.
So I respond, “I didn’t … Someone else did.”
Age 16
The fire rages as the people dance around it, coaxing it to grow bigger and bigger. Three men kneel in front of it. One of them is me. We stare up at the flames licking our skin, but I try not to feel the burning heat. One of the three Elders holds up the metallic cage that shines in the light of the fire.
“These three have completed their training!” the Elder roars.
The crowd bursts into cheers.
“Now, let’s celebrate by giving them the greatest honor of all,” she says.
I lower my head as she steps toward me. “Stand.”
I do what she asks.
This is the day that I’ve been waiting for. All that I’ve trained for. The only reason I exist.
But there is still a part of me, deep inside, that wants to fight when my eyes land on the contraption.
As she stands in front of me, she says, “Take it off.”
I lower my pants while everyone watches.
It doesn’t faze me.
Everyone is used to it, even I am.
But as the metal comes closer to my skin, every fiber of my being wants to shake it off and run. Instead, I stay put, as that is what is required of me. This is who I’m supposed to become, who I was destined to be.
When the contraption ensnares my waist, it hooks into place … and traps my cock inside a metal case with bars. The Elder holds up the key and smiles.
“The greatest honor alive … to serve a maiden,” she says, clenching the key tight. “But first, you must uphold the tradition and honor our people.”
Uphold the tradition by becoming a fighter, killer, mercenary … whatever the friends of our people need … with this cage confining me to that oath until they have deemed it completed.
She grabs the metal rod lying in the fire and burns a mark into the metal that entraps me.
The crowd bursts out into chants again.
The Elder places her hand on my shoulder. “Make us proud.”
April
The story he tells me has me shook.
I didn’t know he didn’t even come from here, let alone the fact that it sounds like another cult.
Someone else actually forced him to wear that. But why? To remain abstinent until they’re done with him? Who would do that to a person?
I shake the shivers, but it doesn’t work.
Communities like that only remind me of what I’ve been through, of the cult that I once belonged to, before I was sent to the House. All of it is connected, and it makes me wonder just how many others there are. Maybe I’ve only scratched the surface. And I’m just a pawn in their wicked games.
As we walk, Soren suddenly comes to a stop, and I almost bump into him again.
In front of us is a tiny wooden cabin with what looks like two or three rooms. Does someone live out here?
“We rest here,” he says, pointing at the cabin.
