King of Slaves (Jenna's Story) (The Slave Series Book 5) (8 page)

“Yes.”

“When?”

“Today.”

“Great!” Jenna couldn’t wait to see Erin, Nick, and the others, but she also needed badly to call her sister and dad.

She would have done so after her shower, but hadn’t seen her cell phone in the room despite the fact that the king had told her it would be there.

“Do you know where my phone is? I need to make it few calls.”

“In room.” Meme answered. “You want I take you back?”

“Yes, please, and will you be sure to come and get me as soon as my team arrives?”

He nodded. “No problem.”

Jenna turned toward Kalen and gave him a warm smile. “It was a huge pleasure meeting you,” she said.

He gave her one of his goofy grins and patted her hand.

“Goodbye, Kalen,” She waved and smiled before he resolutely headed down a corridor that she suspected would lead him to his beloved piano.

Back in her room, Jenna realized why she hadn’t seen her phone. It had been placed inside her handbag, and only after emptying the entire contents on the bed did she find it.

First she made a call to her sister, who pleaded with her to come back home, followed by a call to her dad, who understood why she chose to stay but still threatened to come over to personally make sure she was safe and being treated with the respect she deserved.

After she calmed him down he finally promised to stay away, at least for now. She honestly just wanted to focus on her work.

It took three hours before her team arrived at the castle, and to her surprise they were not just visiting, but staying.

Meme showed them rooms they could work in, rooms they could sleep in, and a large kitchen that would be at their disposal whenever the castle didn’t need it for large banquets.

Everyone was excited about the upgrade and honored to be guests at the palace. Everyone except Jenna, who kept to herself that she would have preferred to be accommodated somewhere else entirely.

Kioni

Late that evening Kioni was lounging on his bed when a knock on his bedroom door made him look up from his laptop. “Come in,” he called and watched Zurry walk in and close the door behind him.

“What happened to you today? I thought we were supposed to go running at seven; I waited for you.”

Kioni’s gaze lowered back to his laptop. “I’m sorry, something came up that needed my attention.”

“There’s always something that needs your attention,” A heavy sigh came from Zurry when he took a seat in a comfy chair close to Kioni’s big four-poster bed. He didn’t need an invitation to get comfortable, and leisurely stretched his long legs in front of him; they had been friends since childhood and shared a bond knitted tightly through youth and hardships.

“I heard what you did, Kioni. It’s generous, but even a king has his limits. You got to stop feeling responsible for every suffering person in this country or you’ll lose your mind.”

Kioni wrinkled his forehead. “What would you have me do? Leave children to die in the streets?”

“No, but how many orphanages are you sponsoring with your own money now?”

“I won’t let children starve, Zurry.”

“I know… and I admire you for it, but it’s not sustainable to drain your own resources to run the country. Why not raise the taxes a bit?”

Kioni scoffed. “The elite would start a new rebellion if I raised their taxes, I already took away their slaves and their precious religion. Most of them are convinced that Masi will punish them when they fail to deliver a human sacrifice again this year.”

“You take too much upon yourself, Kop.”

Kioni finally looked up. “I appreciate your concern, my friend, but having money means nothing to me if my children are starving.”

“Your children?”

Kioni gave him a grim stare. “These orphans may have lost their parents, but they still have a king, and I’m not going to allow them to starve to death.

Zurry gave him a long hard stare. “You’re really serious about this?”

A firm glance was all the answer he got.

“All right.” He sighed. “I’ll pitch in too.”

Kioni nodded. “Thank you.”

“I actually came by because I have something I think you need to hear.”

“What?”

“It’s that woman again.”

Kioni crossed his arms and rested his head against the headboard of his bed. “Jenna Davis?”

Zurry nodded and fished his cell phone out of his pocket. “She phoned her family and I’m told she mentioned both our names.”

“What did she say?”

“I don’t know yet, I just received the file from security.”

“Good, play it.”

Zurry pulled out his phone, found the audio file, and started playing the recording.

There were two loud rings before a female answered.

“Hello, Jenna?”

“Yeah, it’s me.”

“Oh my goodness, are you okay?“

“Yes I’m fine, sis. Did I wake you?”

“No, I mean yes, but… that’s okay, what on earth happened to you?”

Jenna made a small grunt. “You’re not going to believe me if I told you.”

“Try me.”

“Okay, long story short; I met the king, and when he bluntly came onto me, I rejected him in an equally direct manner.”

“The king came on to you? Are you kidding me?

“No.”

“That must have been one harsh rejection if it landed you in jail; what did you do – kick him in his nuts?”

“Tsk.” Jenna clicked her tongue. “I called him a baboon.”

Alex started to chuckle. “A baboon? Seriously… that’s… ehhm… I don’t even know what to say.” Her chuckle grew to laughter.

“It’s not funny, Alex.” Jenna’s voice sounded like she was smiling. 

“No, I’m sorry… but at least tell me if the guy is as hot as in his picture, then?”

“I wouldn’t know, since I didn’t see his picture,” Jenna answered dryly.

“But you saw him in real life.”

“Yes.”

“And was he worth his title?”

“What do you mean…? His title as king?”

“No, you idiot. He’s been selected the sexiest royalty alive – three times.”

Kioni’s vanity made him smile. He’d always found it ridiculous when magazines compared him to other princes and kings around the world, but right now he was somewhat pleased that Jenna’s sister knew this about him.

“Ohh… by whom,
Monthly Magazine for Blind People
?” Jenna snorted and Zurry’s head snapped up to look at Kioni.

The sister chuckled. “Ahhh, damn Photoshop. I should have known it; he was just too yummy to be real.”

Jenna sighed. “Well, if I have to be completely honest, he is very handsome.”

“Then why did you say no when he came on to you?”

“Ahh, come on Alex, either you are out of your mind or I woke you up in the middle of an erotic dream or something.”

“Why?”

“Because honestly, who sleeps with a guy just because he has gorgeous hair and dark chocolate brown eyes?”

Alex gave another low chuckle… “Ohh, so he has gorgeous hair?”

Zurry smirked and shook his head. “What is it about your hair, man?”

“Shhh,” Kioni hushed as Jenna responded on the recording.

“Why are we even talking about his looks?… The man is a tyrant, and he locked me up for two and a half days without access to a bathroom or the outside. Believe me when I tell you that he could be Mr. Universe and I still wouldn’t touch him even if I was hanging from a cliff and he offered me a hand.”

Both men frowned and exchanged glances.

“So when are you coming home?”

“I’m not.”

There was complete silence on the line and then Alex pleaded. “Jenna, you can’t stay, it’s not safe. Come home, please.”

“I’m fine now, just shocked and angry at Zurry and the king. I’m meeting with my team and then hopefully we can get to work.”

“Who is Zurry?”

“The king’s best friend and an even bigger asshole. I think he’s the war lord or something… the guy looks fierce, with battle scars and a constant scowl.”

“Sounds scary.”

Zurry growled and crossed his arms with a satisfied nod. “She’s damn right I’m scary.”

“Nah, I suspect that if I stay away from the king, Zurry won’t be a problem… Kioni said Zurry was just being protective of him.”

“Who’s Kioni?”

“Sorry, the king, I mean.”

“Ohh… so you’re staying away from him.”

“Yup, and Zurry… as much as possible, they can have their own little thing going – it’s really none of my business.”

“What are you saying? Are they romantically involved?”

“Not officially, but I’m pretty sure at least Zurry has the hots for the king.”

Kioni widened his eyes and looked at Zurry, who held up both palms and shook his head vigorously. “Not a chance.”

“It’s so unfair,” Alex continued. “Why do the sexy ones always have to be homosexuals? Remember that guy I had a huge crush on all through high school.”

“Yeah, Tim Beckmann, what about him?”

“I met him today and guess what? He was holding hands with Melanie’s older brother Kenneth.”

“Nooo.”

“Yup… it’s so depressing… I mean, what happened to all the good men who like women, Jenna? That’s all I want to know.”

“I don’t know, but if I find any, you can have them, I’m not interested anyway; men are too high maintenance.”

“You always say that… I wish you would stop being so cynical.”

“I love you, sis. I really do, but I need to call Dad and calm him down.”

“Good luck with that and promise that you’ll call me again soon… and, Jenna.”

“What?”

“Next time you meet the king, can you please take a picture so I can judge for myself.”

“What is your obsession with that guy?… I’m not asking him for a picture. Not in a thousand years.”

“Whatever…” She laughed. “Just promise to call me soon.”

“Okay, take care.”

“You too. Bye now.”

And then the audio stopped.

Kioni grinned at Zurry. “I think I like the sister better.”

“Ha…” Zurry snorted. “She’s probably just as crazy as Jenna.”

“I don’t understand why she would think that we’re into one another,” Kioni said with a puzzled expression.

“Yeah… I would be fucking insulted, if it wasn’t so ridiculous,” Zurry murmured and got up from the cozy chair.

Kioni grinned. “Go take your steam out on Nini; you know she likes it rough.” Nini was one of Kioni’s pleasers and he didn’t mind sharing her with Zurry.

“Thanks, man. I’ll see you tomorrow – and by the way, I made sure you got access to the recordings from her cell. There’s no need to watch it, but in case Jenna makes claims of physical abuse, we have proof that nothing happened.”

After Zurry left, his words stayed with Kioni, and he ended up clicking on the video file showing the surveillance footage from Jenna’s cell.

There she was, in that tight outfit he had found so sexy when he first saw her. She was walking around the cell, and he felt like a perverted voyeur when he fast forwarded and watched her sleep, pace the room, and lastly wash herself in her underwear, almost naked. He wished the footage was less grainy and of a better quality, but his body saw all it needed to see to respond with a hard erection, and that night Kioni fantasized about a blond woman with large blue eyes and soft curves sleeping under his roof, and he decided that tomorrow he would return her vibrator and have some fun with her.

CHAPTER 6

Curiosity

Jenna

The day went fast and kept Jenna busy. While her team impatiently oversaw their workspace being established, Jenna held individual meeting with each one of them to get to know them better and understand what role they had been promised by Kevin.

Her last meeting was with Daniel, a senior architect around forty-five who had worked with Kevin on the original pitch and had a deep understanding of the project. Jenna sensed Daniel wasn’t happy to have her as a manager, and with her direct fashion she called him out on it.

“Daniel, I think it would be much better for the both of us if we just addressed the elephant in the room.”

“What do you mean?” he asked and sat a bit straighter in his chair.

“Come on, I’m not stupid. You worked hard on this project, Kevin pulled out and you wonder why Miranda didn’t give it to you.”

Daniel paled a bit, but his jaws locked in a way that told her she was spot on.

“It’s okay, I completely get it, and to be honest, I wish she had given it to you. It would have saved me the two worst days of my life.”

He nodded and relaxed a bit.

“Now, there’s not much we can do about our roles since our president made me a bloody puppet in this whole fight for women’s right, and now I’m stuck.

“But we are both professionals and want this project to be successful and go as smoothly as possible, right?”

“Right.”

“I’m fully aware that you’re my key player on this team. No one has your experience, nor your specific insight into this project.”

Daniel smiled and visibly relaxed. “Thank you.”

“Not at all. I know Kevin intended for you to be his second in command. Are you still ready to take on that role?”

Daniel’s eyes lit up. “Of course, but I wasn’t sure, you wanted me to do that… someone said you preferred Eric, since you’ve worked with him before.”

Jenna shook her head. “I never said that, and it didn’t even cross my mind. So let’s agree that nothing has changed in regards to your role, except you lost Kevin and will now have to be patient with me getting up to speed.”

“I’ll help you get there, don’t worry, you have my word,” Daniel said.

“Great!” Jenna stood up. “I’m gonna need it.”

Daniel pushed up from his chair and walked to the door. “You know I have to admit I heard a lot of rumors about you.”

Jenna tilted her head. “Really? What did you hear?”

He chuckled a bit. “I heard you were sharp and talented of course, but I also heard that you have trust issues and don’t like men.”

She laughed. “Fortunately the disliking-men part is only related to my private life.”

“Oh… okay. I like how you don’t beat around the bush. I think you’ll come to appreciate that about the Spirimian people as well. If there’s one thing I’ve learned during these last three months working on the project it’s that they are unbelievably blunt and direct.”

She scoffed: “I’m not so sure it’s a good thing. Don’t forget that my directness with the king got me in trouble to begin with.”

Daniel opened the door and stepped out. “It’s late, I’m going to get some sleep but I’ll see you tomorrow.”

Jenna wished him goodnight and gathered her things. She had managed to meet with all nine team members and even though it was only nine p.m., she was exhausted.

Walking through the empty office space she was happy to see desks, printers, computers, and whiteboards all in place. Things were taking shape and she was starting to get a better picture of the project.

She picked up a file and tucked it under her arm, hoping she would find the energy to read it before she fell asleep.

For some reason Jenna was still in the guest room she had first been shown to, and not in the guest wing with the others. She figured it was an oversight, but with the palace staff trying to keep up with all the requests coming from Jenna and her team, she didn’t want to make it an issue. It was only a short walk, and at least she was able to find it by herself without getting lost.

When she returned, she found a note that asked her to call Coun Meme, who picked up on the third ring.

“Ms. Davis.”

“Yes, this is she.”

“Good… the king will seeing you.”

Jenna closed her eyes and bit her lip hard. So far things were going well with her work and unless she needed his help, she was hoping to avoid the king.
Control yourself, don’t kill the messenger
, she told herself, and used a calm voice. “Does the king wish to speak with me?”

“Yes.”

“I can meet with him tomorrow morning.”

“Yes, king come to you. Be ready.”

“What time?”

There was a pause. “When king come.”

Jenna sighed. She wanted to ask for a specific time, but speaking with Coun Meme face to face was hard enough; on the phone it was close to impossible.

“Okay,” she said, thinking that it really didn’t matter what time the king wished to see her as she had no external meetings tomorrow and could fit him in whenever he wished to talk.”

“Good night, Coun Meme,” she said.

“Good night, Ms. Davis.”

Jenna threw herself on the bed and with a large yawn she opened the file and started reading.

Her eyes were dry and she couldn’t focus; it only took a few minutes before she rested her head on the bed and fell asleep.

A loud knock woke her up.

Feeling disoriented she got up, not knowing if she had slept a minute or hours. A clock on the wall told her it was only nine thirty-five.

There was another knock, and this time she smoothed her hair and opened the door.

“Oh lord,” was the spontaneous outburst that came from her, followed by a long tired sigh.

“Not quite… actually, Your Majesty is the right form of address,” King Kopilus said with a humorous sparkle in his eyes.

“What do you want? Ehhh… Your Majesty.”

“A word, please.”

Jenna wondered if the right thing to do would be to step out in the hallway with him or to invite him inside.

“May I come in?” he asked politely and she found herself opening the door wider.

King Kopilus walked in as if he owned the place…
which, come to think of it, he does.
Jenna mused. 

“What can I do for you?” she asked and pointed to a small sofa. “Won’t you sit down?”

“I just wanted to assure myself that you are being treated kindly by my staff,” he answered in a friendly tone, sat down, and gestured for her to sit down beside him.

Jenna complied stiffly and assured him that everything was to her satisfaction.

“I’m pleased to hear that. You should know I’ve spoken to Zurry, and should the need arise you need only summon him and he’ll assist you as we discussed.”

“Excellent.” Jenna smiled politely.

The king started pushing up from his seat but then stalled and sunk back down, turning toward her. “Before I go there is another matter I need to address.” He suddenly looked very stern

“Is something wrong?” she asked, unnerved by the seriousness radiating from him.

“Yes, actually.”

A knot formed in her throat.
He must have found out I was in his room.

“As you can imagine, the security at the palace is rather high,” he said slowly.

Oh shit – oh shit – I’m so busted.

“I was hoping that you could explain to me…”

“I didn’t mean to do it,” Jenna interjected and dry washed her hands nervously. “I just followed him… I had no idea he would take me there and I would have never entered if not for him… I mean I didn’t touch anything… well, I almost didn’t touch anything and it won’t happen again, I promise.”

The king blinked a few times with both eyebrows raised high. “I want to understand, so take it slowly from the beginning.”

“Okay…” Jenna swallowed hard and cleared her throat. “I swear I was only trying to find someone to take me to my team, but then I got lost in this huge place and that’s when I heard the piano music.”

“Go on.”

“He played so well and was kind and he was the only person I could find to ask for directions. When I asked him to take me to you he knew your name and let me through the palace. I didn’t realize it was your bedroom until we stood inside the room.”

Kioni narrowed his eyes. “Kalen took you to my bedroom.”

“Yes.”

“And you went inside?”

“Yes.”

“I see.”

Jenna tilted her head. “But you knew that… right?”

“Actually I didn’t. I was talking about something else entirely.”

“Ohh.” In her mind Jenna banged her forehead hard.
How stupid can a person be?
It had to be because of her sleep deprivation and jet lag; normally she wouldn’t have been dumb enough to admit to anything until she knew how much her opponent knew.

“Then what is it?” she asked and wrinkled her forehead.

“It was brought to my attention that when security scanned your suitcases they found and confiscated an electronic device.”

Jenna’s eyes widened and she felt an acute acidic burn in her belly.
Oh my god,
this is not happening, not that, please… anything but that!

“Security has assured me that it’s not a bomb and since I was coming here to check up on you anyway, I offered to bring back your belonging.”

Kioni pulled out the small vibrator from his pocket and opened his large palm, offering the device to her.

Even without a mirror Jenna had a pretty good idea that her face was bright crimson in color. She sat frozen in place and starred at the rubber thing in his hand, wishing she could dissolve it with the power of her humiliated glance.

Obviously the thing stayed completely unharmed, and refusing to own up to the damn thing would only make her look infantile and ridiculous.

She composed herself, straightened her back, and reached for the vibrator. “Thank you.”

“No problem. To be honest, we’ve never seen such a thing and we’re all curious to understand what it is.”

Jenna forced herself to lift her head and face the king’s curious expression.

Either they don’t have sex toys or he’s messing with me. 

“It’s an… ehhm… it’s a personal article.”

“But what does it do?”

Jenna looked down at her hands clamped around the white oval shape. “It… ehhm… massages.”

“Ohh,” the king said. “We have excellent masseuses here at the palace, I’ll be happy to send one to you if you enjoy massages.”

“Sure… that’s sounds nice.”

“Could you demonstrate how it works, Jenna? If this is a new American thing, then maybe I should get one myself.”

Jenna exhaled loudly, feeling her heart pump gallons of blood too damn fast and her face flame up even more.  Somehow telling him the truth seemed a lot less awkward than trying to make him believe the thing was something it wasn’t. What if he asked where to get it and she would have to give him a link to an online sex shop?“

“Your Majesty.”

“Yes.”

“Today I was told that people in Spirima are generally very blunt.”

“I suppose that’s true.”

“Then allow me to be blunt for a moment.”

“Go ahead.”

“This thing” – Jenna opened her hands – “is called a vibrator and women use it for sexual pleasure.”

The king didn’t answer her but waited for her to continue.

“Don’t you have sex toys in Spirima?”

His lips pursed in a smile. “Of course.”

“Good, then you understand.”

He nodded. “Thank you for explaining. I’ll let the others know.”

Jenna stood up. “Wait, what? Who are the others?”

“I told you we were all mystified by the thing and when Zurry brought it to me…”

“Are you saying that Zurry touched my vibrator?”

“Yes,” The king stood up as well.

“That is so humiliating.”

“Why?”

“Because now everyone is going to look at me and know that I masturb–” She tried to swallow her words but it was too late, and the king was laughing.

“I like you, Ms. Davis… you are very entertaining, and if you think that any man here is going to think less of you because you have a sex drive then I don’t know what kind of men you usually surround yourself with.” 

She supported her elbow with one hand, while using the other palm to cover her face. “I would prefer if the men here didn’t think of sex at all when they look at me.”

He suddenly looked serious. “You don’t mean that.”

“I surely do.”

There was disbelief in his eyes. “What kind of men would we be if we didn’t appreciate a beautiful woman?”

Jenna let her hands fall down. “Everything isn’t about sex, you know.”