Born of Silence (29 page)

Darling sighed. “We’re a pair, aren’t we?”

“Through thick and thin, brothers to the bitter end.” Maris tucked his hand into the crook of Darling’s elbow before he leaned over and whispered in Darling’s ear. “And you did offer yourself to me last night. I’m just too much of a lady to take advantage of you when you’re drunk.”

Darling smiled at Maris’s old joke. Then he sobered as his thoughts turned to a more somber topic, and a new fear. “Did you, um… did you bring Zarya in through the front last night?”

Maris scoffed. “I am not
that
stupid. My goal was to get you laid, not bitch-slapped. I daresay had she seen your little tribute to all the failed assassination attempts, especially from the Resistance
members she might recognize, she would have probably run screaming straight into traffic.”

Darling was extremely grateful for Mari’s common sense. “Would you mind having the groundskeepers disassemble my… tribute, as you call it?”

“Oh thank the gods. I’m really sick of seeing and smelling that.”

Yeah, it was pretty grisly. But it had made the point Darling wanted to make with his enemies.

Mess with him and it would be the last mistake of your life. “Have them return the bodies to their families.”

“And your uncle?”

“Burn whatever’s left. There’s no one to mourn him. I sent my aunt and cousins to the Summer Palace to stay with my mother. Drake said that they’re happy now that they finally believe I have no intention of killing them or selling them off. I don’t want to do anything to taint that for them. They deserve to be happy after all they’ve been through.”

Maris squeezed his arm affectionately. “I’ll take care of it.”

Good.

Feeling calmer than he had in a long time, Darling headed down the stairs. “Is Syn at home?”

“Should be. Why?”

Darling wasn’t completely sure if he wanted to go through with what he knew he should. Thanks to his mother’s mutated genes, he’d never tolerated anesthesia very well. It left him sick and out of it much longer than it did most people.

And he ran a much higher risk of death anytime he went under.

Still…

His reflection in the wall screamed at him. For the last few months, vengeance had reigned supreme and driven out everything else in his life.

Maybe now that his anger was spent and the ones who’d hurt him most were gone, maybe it was time to start healing.

It had nothing to do with Zarya. It didn’t. He was doing this for him. Like moving out of his old room.

If he removed himself from the reminders, it was easier to let go of the past.

Arturo was dead now.

And this was the reign of Darling Cruel—the 139th governor of the Caronese. It was his empire now, and he was the one his people would look to for protection and leadership. That cloak of responsibility was heavy, but it was one that had been worn by generations of his family.

The only way to serve his people was to be whole again. They would accept nothing less. And they deserved only his best.

He paused at the foot of the stairs. “Do you remember how many more surgeries Syn said he’d need to finish me?”

“Three or four, depending on how well your body accepts the procedures.”

Inwardly, he cringed at the number. But he’d never been a coward.

And he couldn’t keep living this way anymore. It was time he made some changes for the better.

Time he took control of his life.

Checking his watch, he realized that he had no reprieve. Syn would still be up for a few more hours. “I need to talk to him.”

“He’s even more sadistic than his uncle.” Senna looked around nervously as she sent her text over the secured line to her superiors. One could never be too careful, especially with an aristo as paranoid and skilled as the current governor. He had cut his teeth on technology and knew it better than anyone.

The last thing she wanted was to be added to the bodies that
had been hung in front of the palace as a warning to those who opposed the new governor.

She typed her next message. “You should have seen Zarya. She was so scared of him, she wouldn’t even speak against him when he was out of the room.”

Hector responded immediately. “Believe me, we know. He’s all but destroyed us.”

It was true. There were barely a handful of Resistance members left. Governor Cruel had been merciless with his slaughter.

And damn the bastard, he was good at hunting people down. Now he had their beloved leader in custody, and had brainwashed her.

“What do you want me to do?” she typed back to Hector.

“Keep sending reports. We have a plan in formation. Within two weeks, we’ll be able to assassinate him.”

That thrilled her to no end. “Are you sure?”

“Yes. We have agents already in place. It’s just a matter of finding the right opportunity.”

And then Darling Cruel would join the rest of his sick family in hell.

10

By the time Zarya was through with her “prep,” she was ready to hunt Darling down and make him pay with blood. A herd of so-called grooming women had descended on her like locusts. They had plucked, shaved, and “honed” areas of her body that no one other than Darling, her, and one other boyfriend had ever touched.

It was absolutely awful.

One woman had even rouged and flavored her nipples, and Zarya was trying real hard to forget what they’d done to another part of her.

Gah, was that ever going to itch when it grew back…

If that wasn’t bad enough, she was going to be “schooled” on how to pleasure Darling, and how to perform erotic dances for him.

Her classes would start tomorrow.

Could they offend me any more?
Probably. But she hoped to not find out for sure anytime soon.

At least they’d finally left her alone in the bathroom with Gera. Now she sat at the ornately carved vanity table while the older
woman brought over a mirrored tray littered with beautiful bottles, and set it in front of her.

Zarya frowned at the collection. The perfume bottles strangely reminded her of jewels, and some of them were encrusted with stones she was pretty sure were real. “What’s all of this?”

“Scents the governor has approved.”

Oh no, Gera didn’t say that…

Did she?

“Excuse me?”

Gera held up a tiny blue bottle and removed the glass stopper. “This one should blend well with your natural scent. Care to smell it?” She waved the stopper near Zarya’s nose.

Zarya started to protest until she caught a whiff of it. Yeah, okay, it did smell great. She couldn’t even begin to describe it. While she’d smelled perfumes before, none of them could compare to this one. “What is that?”

“It’s called Kiss.”

Well that explained it. “The really expensive perfume?”

“Yes.”

No wonder they charged so much. Normally, Zarya despised perfumes of any kind. They made her sneeze and gave her headaches. But this one was very subtle and…

Yummy.

Gera smiled in satisfaction. “The trick to wearing perfume correctly is to only apply enough that if someone else can smell it, they’d better be intimate with you. A fragrance should never linger without you in an area after you’ve left it. Rather it should be a subtle reminder that only stays on your pillow or clothes, and only when your lover’s face is buried in them.”

That was an interesting philosophy and one Zarya could agree with. Nothing bothered her more than to step into a room and be assaulted by oversprayed scents.

Gera dabbed the stopper on Zarya’s neck and then her wrists and elbows. When Gera went to put it between her breasts, Zarya protested again. She was a little tired of being groped by other women.

Tsking, Gera gave Zarya a chiding, but patient stare. “Mistress, please, we’ve already gone through this. Either you allow me to prep you or I’ll be forced to have the guards hold you down for it. Either way, you will submit to this.”

They’d be bloody and blue from it if they tried… While she might not be able to expertly groom herself to Gera’s satisfaction, she did know how to fight.

Zarya started to tell the older woman that she wasn’t Darling’s property, but legally she was. Something the slave collar around her neck testified to.

Damn you, Maris.

Couldn’t someone have removed the stupid thing?

No doubt Darling intentionally kept it there to remind her of her new position in his world. No longer the love of his life…

She was now his piece of property to do with as he wished, regardless of her own thoughts.

A knot formed in her stomach as she remembered his words from last night. The words he’d growled to her downstairs after they’d made love.

“This changes nothing between us…”

He hated her.

Her stomach cramped with pain. “Fine,” she said irritably. After all, none of this was Gera’s fault. The older woman was just following orders and the last thing Zarya wanted was to get her into trouble.

But…

Darling had better duck when he came in the door.

Gera slid the stopper down Zarya’s chest, then underneath her breasts.

She tried not to cringe. “I don’t think you’re paid enough for your job.”

Gera smiled. “It’s not so bad. The other mistresses I’ve tended haven’t minded my attention. Most enjoyed it immensely.”

The thought of Darling having a mistress really stung, even more so if he’d had one while he was seeing her. “How many have you served?”

“Between the four rulers I’ve worked under, it’s probably somewhere around seventy total.”

That was a lot of women cycling through this room, especially for only four men. “Why so many?”

Gera returned the bottle to the tray. “There were fourteen under Governor Ehrun Cruel.”

Ehrun… That would have been Darling’s grandfather.

“He was very kind and giving to his mistresses, but he never kept one for more than three years.”

A bad feeling went through her as she remembered what Senna had accused Darling of. Could his grandfather have been that twisted?

“Why not?”

Gera picked up a brush to style her hair. “He would choose women from the stews who were already selling themselves, and then have us educate them. After two or three years, their choice not his, he’d set them up with a new home and a stipend for them so that they could move on with their lives. They were allowed to take all of their clothes and any gifts or jewelry he purchased for them while they were here. He considered it an even exchange. They would provide him with temporary companionship and he would take care of them for the rest of their lives. Many of their children and grandchildren still live on the trusts he set up for them.”

While that was extremely generous of him, she couldn’t help but wonder about Darling’s grandmother. ’Cause she knew what
she’d do to her husband if he set a woman up in this room and she found out about it. “His wife didn’t mind?”

Curling Zarya’s hair around her face, Gera shook her head. “It wasn’t for her to say. But no, she didn’t mind. She never spent much time with him. Rather, she stayed with her family on her home planet and only visited a few times a year until she birthed Lord Drux. Then she didn’t come back at all.”