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Chapter One
Paigelynn
* * *
I am nothing but a body.
I exist purely for purposes known to men who will decide my fate. These men cannot hurt me. They will never torture me. Under no circumstances will I ever be harmed.
I have a purpose.
I am unique in the world. I have been told that there are no more than six of us alive at the same time.
Someday I hope to meet one of my sisters.
I am a princess, a queen, a goddess. To the outside world I am a myth of legend, a fairytale, a silly story that ancient cultures told themselves to explain the world they did not understand.
They were wrong about so much.
They were right about one thing: I am real.
“Paigelynn,” he says, walking out of the bedroom and down the hall of our home.
“Rudy?” I reply with a gentle head bow.
“Are you ready?” he asks, looking out the picture window, the neighbors across the street waving. He smiles broadly, as if a director gave him a cue.
I lean in, as I’ve been programmed, and wave, too.
With gentle precision, Rudy tucks a stray curl of long blond hair behind my ear that has escaped from the thick French braid that traps my locks. The neighbors across the street, Brooke and Taylor, watch us. They often watch us. And why wouldn’t they?
We are the perfect couple.
Rudy stands six feet four with broad, wide shoulders and a firmness to his jaw that makes people follow his command. I’m a foot shorter, petite and in peak health, told my exact weight and measurements by my keepers, which I meet with precision, like Rudy’s affectionate gesture.
Designed to be perfect. Noticed. Seen.
Catalogued.
My body is not mine.
It is a temple for the ages.
We live on this cul-de-sac, a small neighborhood of ten homes, a horseshoe ring with the houses at the end of the semi-circle the smallest. In the center at the top, there are two that dominate, ours and Brooke and Taylor’s.
Subtle forms of competition make it clear they’re watching us, comparing, competing. Rudy gets our car detailed - Taylor buys new, shiny tires. We add three Honeycrisp apple trees to the side yard - Taylor plants two pear trees. We upgrade our outdoor grill - Taylor puts in a beehive fireplace.
And when we acquired our Teacup Chihuahua, Winnie, suddenly Brooke and Taylor had a Havanese puppy in their yard, complete with three months of daily training sessions from a professional dog handler.
Oh, yes, we are watched. They watch me and Rudy.
And I am watched by Rudy.
They don’t know why they watch me.
I do.
And the men who control me most certainly do. I’m deeply grateful. Without them, I would not know who I truly am, and without them, I would waste my gift.
