King of Slaves (Jenna's Story) (The Slave Series Book 5) (4 page)

If Miranda thought a bit of male chauvinism was all Jenna would meet, she was wrong. These people would never accept working with a woman – and honestly, she didn’t want to be here either. “I just want to go home,” she muttered and wiped a tear from her cheek. 

CHAPTER 3

Convince Me

Mensau, Spirima

Never had Jenna felt so hungry. Her gut was noisily reminding her that she hadn’t eaten anything substantial for more than sixteen hours. The guards had brought a soup that was so spicy she couldn’t eat it. She was fantasizing about burgers, sandwiches, or just a bowl of cornflakes that would be crunchy in her mouth and take away the pain in her stomach.

How long are they going to keep me here?

Did they let Nick go or have they detained him too?

Her mind was running in circles and so was her mood. She went from anger to sadness and back again. She was furious at the king for treating her this way. Only a dictator would strike downward because of such a small insult, and it was completely ridiculous, as he had to know she had no idea he was the king when she called him a baboon.

After two days of isolation in the cell, the door finally opened and Nick and Erin came rushing in. They both hugged her, and Erin had tears in her eyes.

“Oh, honey, what have they done to you?”

The warmth of Erin’s motherly care made Jenna swallow hard.
I will not cry. I will not cry.

“I apologize for the smell in here. My bathroom is, as you can see, that bucket in the corner and the small sink over there. I haven’t been able to shower since we left Chicago.”

“Oh lord, that is just horrific – are you saying you haven’t left this awful room since they brought you in here?” Erin exclaimed in indignation and stroked up and down Jenna’s back in a soothing manner. 

Jenna shook her head in reply. “Please tell me I can go home.” She gave a deep sigh. “I’m so done with this country and these people.”

“Yes, of course you’re going home, but I think you need to sit down first, Jenna,” Erin said with her deep drawl.

“Do you want the good news or the bad news first?” Nick asked.

“The good news.”

“Okay… We’ve been in contact with Miranda, and as you can imagine she was ready to charge onto a plane and come get you out herself. Your father has been informed and he just plain called the president right away.”

Erin nodded, impressed. “I have to give it to ya, Jenna, you have the right people on your team. I didn’t know your father was a senator; that is really something.”

Nick continued. “Contact has been made from the White House to King Kopilus with the demand of letting you out, right away.”

“Then why hasn’t he released me yet?”

Nick wrinkled his forehead. “That leads me to the bad news. Insulting His Majesty is considered a severe crime in this country and the penalty is up to two years in prison.”

Jenna threw her hands in the air. “You got to be kidding me. What happened to freedom of speech? Don’t they have that?”

“If they do, it doesn’t include calling the king a monkey.”

“A baboon,” Jenna corrected him.

“Same, same.”

“But I didn’t know he was the king.”

“We know that, but here’s the next thing that’s really unfortunate.”

“What?” Jenna was afraid to ask.

“Our president is making this a political statement and it looks like you’re becoming a small piece in a big chess game.”

“What do you mean?”

“If Spirima wants to receive the two-billion dollar aid package from the US, the king will have to convince you to stay. Apparently it’s now a condition that you are in charge of the project you were assigned to.”

Jenna leaned her head back and covered her eyes with her forearm. “Oh, no.”

“Yes, I’m afraid so.”

“But I don’t want to stay.”

“We understand, but there’s no way our president can’t back down and give in to King Kopilus’ demand that a man is appointed to do your job. The US has to make a clear statement.”

“Then why not make it a condition that it was a female architect, but not me personally.”

“Yes, that would have been better for you.” Erin agreed. “It’s a shitty thing to do because if you accept his apology, you’ll have to stay six months in a place you detest. But if you go back, you take away schools, hospitals, and… well, basically a better future for millions of people.”

“When did the president make these demands?”

“This morning.”

“But it’s evening now… and I’m still here. Why haven’t they at least let me out of here?”

“We don’t know,” Nick said. “But my guess is pride. The king is furious at being dictated by foreign leaders.”

“Do you think he’s crazy enough to ignore her demands?”

“No,” Nick said firmly. “It’s all over the news, and Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany, and other heads of state in European countries are threatening to pull back their support as well, if this isn’t resolved quickly. King Kopilus has no choice.” 

Erin patted Jenna’s shoulder sympathetically. “Just hang in there, you are getting out… very soon. I’ve asked all my Facebook friends to pray for you.”

Jenna smiled. “That’s nice of you, Erin… What about my luggage, did it arrive?”

“I checked with the airline and they said it was delivered to the hotel, but no one has seen it. I’m so sorry, hon, but I brought you your yoga pants and sweater. I can’t imagine how uncomfortable and scarred you must have been in this soulless place.”

“Thank you.” Jenna was happy to get her comfortable clothes and didn’t care one bit how she would look in them, or even if they were dirty from her long journey. She felt like she couldn’t breathe in Erin’s clothes, and it had made it hard to sleep.

Nick and Erin stayed as long as they were allowed to but after an hour a guard came and signaled that it was time for them to go.

Alone again, Jenna took the chance to get out of her clothes and stripped down to her underwear. She washed herself by the sink, wishing she could have showered and washed herself more intimately, but there was a video camera in the top corner of the room and she didn’t know if anyone was watching her or not.

Wearing her comfy clothing made her feel a bit better. At least she could breathe now and she knew she wasn’t forgotten about. People cared and wanted her out. The king would have to let her go soon, but for now, all she could do was sit and wait, hoping that it would be minutes instead of hours or days until she was freed.

Without her cell phone or a watch, it was hard to tell time, but it felt like hours before the door finally opened and a guard came in, signaling for Jenna to follow him.

She walked in bare feet, carrying Erin’s clothes and pumps up the stairs. The higher up they got, the more majestic it became.

“Where are you taking me?” she asked the guard but received no answer until she was shown inside a huge, beautiful, and very masculine office where the two “runners” were waiting for her.

The king sat in a chair with a scowl on his scarred face. His friend stood by the window with his attention focused on her.

“Come closer,” the friend said and pointed to a chair next to the king.

Jenna was happy she knew about her president demands. Even dirty, annoyed, and hungry she still felt empowered, knowing that the most powerful president in the world had her back, and she understood that although it had never been her intention, she was facing the king on behalf of not only herself, but all women.

If the king wanted his country rebuilt, he needed her. 

Negotiations were her father’s specialty, and you couldn’t be a senator’s daughter without picking up a few things. She knew they had intentionally kept her down in the basement for as long as possible to make her soft; it was for the same reason they hadn’t allowed her to shower and dress better before this meeting. They counted on the imbalance between her physical state and theirs to make her feel inferior and more compliant. They were wrong!

Jenna looked at their expensive tailored suits and couldn’t help smiling when she saw the king had a red tie on. Her father always wore a red tie when he needed to signal strength and resolve. But the king could wear a bloody rainbow of colors for all she cared; she refused to be intimidated by him.

Jenna raised her chin and walked calmly over to stand next to the chair. She wasn’t making the mistake of sitting down, which would force her to look up at both men. She would not be made an inferior; she squared her shoulders.

“What are you two anyway? Brothers, friends, lovers?

The king’s scowl increased.

“Just old friends,” the man leaning against the window said.

She narrowed her eyes.
I will not be affected by his good looks. It’s what’s on the inside that counts and he is barbaric.

“Are you sure?”

His brows furrowed. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I don’t know… it’s just that when you asked me to have sex with you guys, I kinda got the impression you often had sex together… so what you’re saying is that it only happens when you can find a women who is willing.”

A low growl escaped the king in the chair and she felt energized by it. She was getting under his skin.
That’s right, you fucker, I can play mind games too, and after what you put me through, you’ve got it coming, big time.
 

“Ms. Davis, do you understand that you are in deep trouble and can face two years of prison?” the friend said with his arms crossed and a serious expression. “Do you think your rude questions are helping you?”

Jenna hid a yawn. “I’m sorry, I didn’t sleep well in that dirty place and the rubber mattress wasn’t comfortable at all – it was most traumatic, to be honest.”

The friend by the window narrowed his eyes. “We have decided to pardon you if you give us an official apology.” They both had the same peculiar accent that made her think of someone from South Africa.

So he wants an apology… fine.
Jenna shrugged at the friend and took a few seconds before she stepped really close to the king’s chair and slowly bent down getting almost nose-to-nose with the big man. “If I had known you were the king, I would
not
have been honest with you and told you what a primitive baboon you are – I sincerely apologize for my indiscretion.”

He pulled back in the chair, wrinkling his nose.

Jenna spoke in a breathy way. “Ohh, I’m sooo sorry if I have bad breath… you see, I haven’t been able to keep up my usual hygiene over the last few days.“ To her delight he was getting the full effect of her foul dragon breath and turned his head away in disgust.

“Ms. Davis,” the friend said behind her, and she turned to look at the undeniably handsome man who had now moved closer. “What do you think you are doing?”

“Apologizing, of course.” She smirked. “Wasn’t that what you wanted?”

She thought she saw a hint of a smile on his face but it was quickly gone.

“As heartfelt as your apology might have been intended, it actually came across as another insult.”

“I’m sorry, I think there is a language barrier here,” Jenna said with a serious expression. “I’m sure I explicitly said that I apologized.”

He arched a brow. “I assure you, Ms. Davis, we were taught by the best tutors in the world, and we master English well enough to hear an insult when it’s as badly concealed as yours was.”

She shrugged. “And I assure you, all I want to do is go back to Chicago and forget all about this. My team and I will leave on the first plane tomorrow, and then you can carry on as if none of this ever happened.”

He pushed out air forcefully through his nose.
He is trying to stay calm and not give away how desperate they really are to make me stay.

“Why don’t you try apologizing again, and then maybe we can also grant you our apology for detaining you for a few days.”

Jenna gave an innocent smile. “All right, then I suggest that you two start and show me how it’s done. That way I’ll know what a great apology sounds like.”

The king abruptly got up from his chair and grunted something in Spiri. Although Jenna didn’t understand the words, she understood the meaning. They knew she was playing with them, and that they couldn’t punish her for it like they normally would.

“Okay, then let me start,” the friend said with an exasperated sigh. “We apologize for assuming your appearance was an indicator of your willingness to have sex with us.”

He’s basically saying I looked like a hooker?
Jenna fumed on the inside but managed a cool: “Thank you.”

“And we apologize for letting you stay under primitive conditions while you were being detained.”

“Thank you.” Jenna smiled and waited, but he nodded as to say “Now your turn.”

“I appreciate your apology,” Jenna said looking over at the king, who was pacing the floor. “But I thought the king was old enough to apologize for himself.”

The king came to an abrupt halt and spun around to face her. For a moment she feared he would become aggressive when he walked toward her, but he stopped just in front of her.

“The king already apologized to you,” he sneered.

“Really? You know I love the idea of delegating the hard chores in life, but just because your friend says ‘we’ doesn’t mean you can avoid giving me a personal apology.”