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“Bybehave, do you mean allow them to keep me prisoner? You think I should let them hurt me?”
“I mean, being what they need.”
“What they need?” I question, reminded of what Konrad had threatened. What they appear to need is someone to torture, to command, to hunt, to be their sex slave. They want me toobey.“You can’t be serious?”
“Just be what they need and everything will be okay. I promise.”
My fingers curl into my hands and I shake my head. “You’re young, so maybe you don’t understand how things work, but I will never willingly give them what they want. It isn’t right! Youmustsee that.”
Her lips press into a thin line, her eyes hardening. “Come on. You must bathe. Change,” she urges, reaching for my hand and pulling me to my feet. “You need to prepare yourself for Leon and Jakub. Make a good impression.”
“I’ve already met Konrad, and I don’t like him,” I snap, forcing away the feeling of sympathy I’d felt for him and concentrating on his true ugliness instead. “Why should I bother to make a good impression on the other two?”
“Konrad is the kindest of the three,” she murmurs, looking up at me from beneath thick eyelashes. “He cares for the Numbers. They adore him.”
“He’sthe kindest,” I say with disbelief.
“Yes.” Squeezing my hand, Nala pulls me back into the bathroom. “Better him that you met first than Leon or Jakub. If you’d given them this much sass they’d have made you pay for it.”
“Fantastic,” I mutter, yanking my hand out of her hold and refusing to follow her further into the bathroom. “If Konrad’s the kindest, there really is no hope for me.”
“You must wash. It will be worse if you don’t. Please. If not for you, then for me.”
“For you? What difference would me washing or putting on that cotton nightdress make to you?”
“I am to be your personal maid. If you don’t do it, it reflects badly on me. I don’t want to upset them.”
“Because they will punish you?” I ask, feeling simultaneously guilty for putting her at risk and angry at how cruel these men are.
“No, becauseIwill disappointthem. This is my home. This is my grandfather’s home. We don’t want to lose our jobs. I like living here.”
“Lose your jobs?” I ask incredulously. “Before you said that they would kill you if they found out you brought me food and water. They don’t sound like men anyone should be working for, let alone living under the same roof. Or were you lying?”
“I wasn’t lying. Theywouldkill us both, and I wouldn’t blame them. There are rules and I broke one of them today by helping you. Iwon’tdo that again.” She reaches for the zipper of my hoodie, her fingers shaking as she slides it downwards. “I’m sorry.” Tears well in her eyes and I instantly feel guilt, remorse at pushing her. She’s just a child after all.
“I can do it,” I retort with a sigh, gently pushing her hands away and pulling off my hoodie.
She nods, turning back to the water and dipping her hand beneath the surface. “It’s lukewarm. I’ll add some more hot water.”
“No!” I snap, then blow out a breath when she gives me a startled look. “I mean, it’s fine.”
“Then let me take your things,” she says, holding her hands out to me.
“I’d prefer to bathe alone.”
“Ihaveto make sure you’re clean,” she adds, her eyes telling me what her words do not. If she doesn’t, she’ll be punished.
“Okay,” I say, slowly stripping off my clothes until I’m standing before her naked. I’ve never been naked in front of anyone, and I feel heat rising up my chest and neck as I hand her my clothes. Nala, sensing my embarrassment, averts her eyes, and turns her back on me so that I can climb into the bath and lower myself under the milky water. The scent wraps around me as I disturb the water, and I momentarily breathe in a deep lungful. It smells sogood.
“I will make sure these are washed—” I hear her gasp, and I know she’s looking at my ravaged back and the horrific scars left by the burns I endured as a child. “Your back…”
“I was burnt in a fire when I was eight. I nearly died.”
“Did it hurt very badly?” she asks as I lay back. The coolness of the water, a welcome relief despite the situation I’m in.
“It did, yes.”
“Was anyone else hurt?”
