AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I shake my head. “No. I can’t wear this.”
One raises her brow, her long dark hair falling over her shoulder as she cocks her head and narrows her eyes at me.“You will wear what I tell you to wear.”
“You don’t understand. Ican’twear that,” I insist. It’s bad enough that I have to be in the show, let alone wearing a dress that will do little to cover up the scars on my back.
One steps closer, dropping her lips to my ears and lowering her voice to no more than a whisper. “You will do as I say, Zero, or I shall make your life here very, very difficult. I am the matriarch, the founder of this show. Jakub and I have a special bond. If you refuse myrequest,” she says, punctuating the word with sarcasm, “Then I will make sure that you suffer injuries far worse than those inflicted on Twelve.”
Spinning on her feet, One sashays towards Five who has been quietly watching our exchange the whole time. She gives me a terse nod of her head, her dark eyes not giving anything away. Yesterday she had treated me kindly, or as kindly as she could given the circumstances. Today, she’s closed off.
No matter.
Forcing steel into my spine, I take the dress and stride over to Thirteen who’s still religiously applying ointment to Twelve’s ravaged back. “Here,” I say, holding my hand out so Thirteen can take the key. She smiles at me, screwing the lid back onto the ointment and handing it to Twelve before securing the necklace safely around her neck. I can’t help but glance at Twelve’s injuries, my stomach roiling. Some slashes are deeper than others. In the worst parts, the skin is split, scabs forming. Those will scar.
“Don’t look at me like that,” she hisses, glaring at me over her shoulder as she pulls on her shirt, wincing as the material slides over her skin.
“I apologise,” I mumble, understanding what it feels like to be gawked at.
“Why? Iearnedthese stripes. Can you say the same?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I say, aware that Six is approaching me.
Pressing her cool hands on my arm, she draws me away from Twelve, towards a non-hostile corner of the room where Three and Seven are standing. Her eyes are kind, concerned, as she lowers her voice and says, “Don’t engage. Twelve is hurting right now. When she gets like this she’s spiteful. She doesn’t like to play second fiddle to The Masks’ attention.”
“But I don’twanttheir attention,” I reply tightly. “I was kidnapped, for crying out loud!”
“Regardless, they’ve claimed you in a way they’ve never claimed any of us. Twelve doesn’t like it,” Seven says, his arm wrapping around Three as he hugs her into his side.
“What do you mean?”
Six pushes her auburn hair behind her ear and folds her arms across her chest, pushing up her already ample cleavage barely covered by the blue corset she’s wearing. “I can tell by the look in your eyes that you think The Masks indulge their…needswith us.” Her voice trails off as she waits for my reaction.
“Well, don’t they?”
“No. They don’t seek sexual pleasures from any of us outside of the first time,” Three explains.
“First time? So youhavebeen used by them?” I ask, confused now.
“When a Number first arrives here one of The Masks is tasked to—”
“Let me guess, torture then fuck you?” I interrupt.
“It isn’t like that,” Six insists. “After the initial welcome, they don’t indulge again.”
“Twelve was the last Number to have any sexual contact with one of The Masks, and that was two years ago when she first arrived here,” Seven says, his gaze flicking over to Twelve who’s watching us all with narrowed eyes. “She was assigned to Konrad, and grew attached to him. Up until a few months ago he was taking her into his dungeons regularly.”
“Tofuck,” I point out.
“No, forpunishment. She’s been trying to get him to fuck her ever since her first time with him. But he won’t indulge her. Then when she realised he wasn’t going to give in, she’s been doing everything in her power to piss him off so he’ll keep punishing her. That’s kind of her thing. Only he stopped doing that too a few months ago.”
“A few months ago?”
“Yes,” Six says with a heavy sigh. “You don’t know this, but you’ve been a thorn in Twelve’s side since before you even got here. Six months ago when The Masks finally found you, Konrad cut all ties with Twelve. It broke her. She’s in love with him.”
“Do you…Lovehim, any of them?” I ask, dumbfounded.
“I thought I loved Leon once,” she says with a soft smile and wistful look on her face.
“Leon?”
