Submission and Addiction [ Part 14 - a ]
For Adam, the next few days were nothing short of drudgery and torture. All they did was walk, and walk, and walk, and walk, with minimal food provisions or rest. By the time they finally - at long last - reached the palace, Adam was too weak and tired even to take in the building’s splendor and beauty. All he saw was the floor ahead of him, the next tile before his foot came down on it.
He was led into the main, huge room of the palace that doubled as the reception hall and throne room. Dallon and Lord Merrick were already there. Lady Merrick was speaking in a low voice to her brother the Pharaoh, who was reclined in his throne with his attention absorbed by a scroll he had unrolled in his hands. His clothes were embossed in even more gold than his sister’s. When he lowered the scroll from in front of his face to take a look at the man who had caused Lady Merrick such trouble, his face was revealed to be young and handsome. The Pharaoh wore only a sheath that covered from his midsection down, and golden bands around his forearms. He went bare-chested, showing the strength and smooth muscles he had acquired in his time as a soldier. His long, black hair was held back by the red and white headdress atop his head, showing his sovereignty over all of Egypt. His features were chiseled and sharp, his face clean-shaven and his eyes a clear green.
“This is the man whose been causing my family to run around in a ruckus?”
Adam had already been pushed to his knees in front of the Pharaoh, and it wasn’t until now that he lifted his head to look at him. But Adam lacked the strength to do anything but just watch him blankly.
“When he’s well rested and his usual self, he’s sure to enthrall all our guests,” Lady Merrick remarked with a smirk. Adam’s face showed no change or emotion. The Pharaoh was unsettled watching him.
“Well, see that he’s taken care of,” the Pharaoh said. “Put him in one of the allotted rooms, and make sure he has a meal right away,” he instructed the guard who still had a grip on Adam’s arm. The guard nodded, and pulled Adam to his feet despite how Adam stumbled. As the guard led him out of the huge throne room, Adam had to muster every bit of strength he could find just to stay standing. He covered his mouth with his hands as he suddenly broke into a ghastly, violent coughing fit that shook his entire body. The coughing didn’t stop until the guard had brought him to the door of a bedroom in the wing of the palace devoted to the royal harem.
Behind the door, the room was spacious and luxurious, with a large bed, the walls adorned with mosaics of gods and goddesses, and another doorway that led to a small washroom. The only thing Adam wanted to look at was that beautiful, cushy bed. As soon as the guard released his arm, Adam stumbled over and fell face-first into it. He was sure he’d be content never to move from there for the rest of his life. The guard closed the door and left Adam alone in his room.
Adam had never fallen asleep more quickly, or slept more soundly. The march to the palace had been an incredibly long, multiple-day haul. The sun had been unforgiving, and there had hardly been any breaks. Somehow the guards had made it through without reaching the palace as weakened as Adam, but Adam was at a loss for how they’d done it, besides their physical shape and fitness. Adam coughed softly in his sleep, while he dreamt of torturous, never ending sand dunes.
Several hours later, there was a soft knock at Adam’s door. Adam didn’t stir. The door opened quietly, and a young servant girl carrying a tray of food tentatively poked her head in. She let herself into the room, and carried the tray over to the bedside table. Then, she gently shook Adam’s shoulder with a whispered exclamation of, “Mister Lambert!” to rouse him. It took her several tries, but eventually Adam began to wake up with a grumble, and roll over onto his back on the bed.
“I’m sorry to wake you,” she said to him gently, “But I brought your midday meal, and you’re to eat as soon as possible.”
Adam stretched, and sat up in bed with a yawn. After blinking his unfocused eyes a few times at the tray, he finally reached over and lifted it over onto his lap. He realized suddenly how hungry he was, and dug in to the food immediately. He was hungry, but the bit of sleep already had him feeling much better. He noticed gratefully that his cough had abated.
“Also,” the servant girl said, “I was instructed to tell you that you’re expected in the atrium.”
“For what?” Adam asked between bites of the delicious food.
“Proprietal training, with the slave keeper.”
The food-filled fork Adam had been lifting to his mouth froze in mid-air. “Proprietal training?” he echoed, his face looking a cross between enraged and trying to hold back laughter. “Please. I’ve learned more class working as a courtesan than any of the scum in this palace has ever had.”
“Well, please keep in mind that no matter whether you require the training or not, you’ll be punished if you do not attend.” Adam sighed as he speared another bite of food with his fork.
“Yes, I see that I have no control over any aspect of my life within these walls. I may as well become accustomed to it.”
The girl silently gathered the dishes Adam had already finished with.
Before she turned to leave, she said in an understanding, knowing voice, “It seems like that at first. But after a while, you learn how to live your life differently here. Learn other ways that you can be happy, without offending any of the royal family. Things are different, but they don’t always have to be worse.”
Adam said nothing, and the girl left. Adam just sat still in the bed for a while. He had no idea what to expect of life within the royal palace, but he knew enough to expect hardship. He had unintentionally slandered the name of the Pharaoh’s sister, and she would do everything in her power to torture Adam as best she could in retribution. Then there was Lord Dallon - the jilted suitor, and Kris’ former master. Dallon had every reason to be vengeful. While he didn’t have the same power as the Lady Merrick, his position did give him frequent audiences in the palace, as well as his own force of guards.
Adam knew the two would be at his back constantly. They were the worst enemies to have.
Adam figured, as much as he would love to sleep for another day or two, there was no sense in starting off his new life on a bad foot. He had to go to this damned, useless Propriety whatever it was. He climbed out of the bed with a groan and after a brief hunt for fresh clothes, pulled on clean robes he found in a cupboard in the corner of the room.
Thanks to force of habit, he examined himself briefly in the mirror. His face was flushed, hair disheveled past the point of salvation, but for once, he really could not care less. He left the room without a second glance to his appearance.
Kris and Michael didn’t know quite what to do without Adam around. Michael fielded off Adam’s customers. Kris spent most of his time just lying in Adam’s bed, taking in what was left of his scent in the blankets, and remembering what it felt like to lie in this same bed with Adam’s arms around him. Kris missed him so. And if that wasn’t already painful enough, he couldn’t rid himself of the thought that this was all his own fault. Adam wouldn’t have been forced into this unjust and unwarranted punishment if Kris hadn’t been his Achilles Heel. And Kris hadn’t ever wanted anything more than to try his best to help Adam out of the life that had caused him so much pain. Instead, Kris had been the catalyst for Adam’s delivery into an even worse lifestyle. Adam was now at the disposal of those in the palace. But as much as he blamed himself, Kris couldn’t bring himself to ever wish that he and Adam had never met. Adam meant too much to him. He’d changed Kris’ life too completely. In the months since Kris had risked his life and ran away from Lord Dallon’s household, Adam had always been there to take care of him. Without Adam there, Kris felt lost.
The tent was almost always silent. Michael would come inside when Kris had finished preparing meals, but they would more often than not, sit together in silence. It seemed like Adam’s absence was a physical thing in the room with them. They would exchange some friendly banter here and there, but they just didn’t have the will for much conversation. Adam had always been the one who talked the most.
As the days, then weeks, passed, word had spread that Adam Lambert was out of business. No one visited the tent anymore. Kris wasn’t sure whether he was glad for that or not. On one hand, Kris was thankful that Adam’s hopefuls weren’t nosing around anymore, and on the other hand, things were quieter than they’d ever been.
Midday through another uneventful day, Michael ducked inside carrying the water basin, after he had filled it with water from the well.
“Kris, here’s the water for your cooking.”
“Thanks,” Kris said from where he was sitting at the table, chopping up vegetables. Michael set the basin down on the table, and then sat down in the chair across from Kris.
“Kris,” Michael said with a sigh, “We’ve got to do something. We’re just wasting away here, not doing anything.”
Kris’ hands stilled, and he sighed. “What can we do, though?” he asked softly.
“We have to find some way to help Adam, break him out of there if we can. Listen, with all of Adam’s old customers gone and no one to chase off, I’ve been spending a lot of time in town. There’s always lots of talk about the palace and what’s going on there. I’ve heard that there are always banquets being held, and there’s a single banquet held on the final night of each moon cycle, that’s open to everyone. One needs only to show up in fancy enough dress, and gets in.”
“Do you think if one of us tried to get in to one of these, we would have a chance of getting Adam out?”
“I’m not sure about that. I imagine there would be a lot of attention on him, and it’ll be noticed if we try to get near him. For all we know, the Pharaoh’s sister could be sitting right there keeping surveillance herself the whole time.”
Kris set the knife down that he’d been chopping carrots with, and sat down in the chair, resting his chin on his hand. “Well even if we can’t get near Adam, we can see what they’ve got him doing, and we could seek out any future opportunities to get him out.”
Michael nodded. “Trying is better than sitting around here doing shit.”
Kris went back to chopping the carrots, just for something to occupy his hands so he wouldn’t start getting too excited or scared of his and Michael’s tentative plan. “Lady Merrick knows what both of us look like, and chances are she’ll be there at the banquet. It would be too conspicuous of both of us went. But if one of us goes, who should it be?”
“As much as I would love to get in there myself, I think it should be you. I would stand out right away, with my size. If you get some robes with a hood to cover up your face a bit, you would blend right in.”
“That’s true,” Kris mused aloud, thinking the plan over. The whole thing was downright terrifying to him, but if it would bring them any closer to saving Adam, Kris would do it.
“Okay,” Kris stated emphatically, plunking the knife down onto the table with aplomb. “The last day of the moon cycle is only five days away. I’ll go to the markets to get robes to wear, and I’ll need a camel or horse to get to the palace in time.”
“Do you know where Adam kept all the money and jewels he’s collected? I’m sure he wouldn’t mind you digging into them a little.”
“They’re in that chest in the back of his dresser, right?” Michael nodded. Kris took a deep breath to steady himself.
He was going to do this.
Adam made his way back to his room late at night, when the final, drunken revelers had at last left the grand hall. Adam had to lift a hand a feel his way down the hallway, he was so incredibly exhausted. He’d wrestled with too many sets of lips to possibly count, and had far too many bedmates.
Just before he finally pushed the door of his room open, he heard a voice from down the hallway, “Gotten your fill for the evening, Lambert?”
Even before the figure became visible out of the shadows, Adam closed his eyes and collapsed against the doorway to his room with a done in sigh.
“This isn’t the night, Abbas.”
“You always say it ‘isn’t the night',” the man leered as he encroached on the area where Adam was standing. Abbas wore armor, with a knife sheathed at his hip. He was one of the guards stationed in the royal harem quarters. Adam knew from far too much personal experience that Abbas cared nothing for his job. The same for Fadir, the second guard stationed at the same post. Adam expected it would only be a matter of moments before the second man made his appearance.
Abbas fisted a hand in Adam’s hair. Adam only winced the slightest bit. He was too tired to fight back, or even to react.
“You’re extra done-up. You had a lot of takers tonight, didn’t you?” Abbas sneered in Adam’s face. “I bet you’re all stretched and wet and ready.”
Adam heard footsteps from behind him, and then the laugh of someone standing just behind him.
“Don’t waste time, Abbas. Someone will see,” Fadir chided in a hushed voice. Abbas just gave a shrug of his shoulders. But he kicked open the door to Adam’s room, and pushed him inside. While Abbas locked the door, Fadir dragged Adam over to the bed. A rough shove to his back, and Adam tumbled onto the bed.
“Look,” Fadir noted in a voice filled with contempt. “He’s too tired to hardly even move.”
“Good,” Abbas said with a smirk. “For once, he won’t fight back.”
An hour later, and Adam never wanted to move again. Everything hurt, and it felt as if every single one of his muscles and joints were tired and weak. At least he was finally alone, and he knew that he wouldn’t be disturbed for the rest of the night.
It was several minutes before he could make himself sit up in bed, and reach for the robes that had been ripped from his body. He stood up slowly and shakily, pulling his robes on and tying them again. He then reached into the inside pocket. He hadn’t been quite as exhausted as Abbas and Fadir had thought. When the two men hadn’t been paying attention, Adam had slid the knife out from one of the sheaths on their clothing, and hidden it under his own discarded clothes. He didn’t know how much good it would do him in the future, but it was a better weapon than his fists.
He sat down in front of the mirror in his room. He looked hard at his own reflection. The bruise on his cheek that he’d gotten back at home from the man who wouldn’t take no as an answer, had faded long ago. While some of it was smudged, the makeup that had been carefully dabbed onto his face by servants earlier still made him look stunning. Dark lines of kohl rimmed his eyes perfectly. But Adam didn’t see the makeup anymore. He saw himself - the most wretched and despondent he had ever been. But Adam wouldn’t allow himself anywhere near tears. The monsters within the palace didn’t deserve that.
Adam dropped a washcloth into the wash basin on the tabletop before him, and then began wiping all the makeup away. And as he did, the bags under his eyes came into view, the permanent frown of his mouth, the melancholy in his features. He wondered what Kris had seen, what Kris had fallen in love with.
Kris.
What would he think if he saw Adam now? Adam unlocked the memories from just before he’d been taken to the palace, and allowed himself the short comfort of thinking on them. He tried to keep memories of Kris stored away, so they wouldn’t be tainted by this awful place Adam was imprisoned. Adam only took them out when he was sure he was alone - when no one could steal Kris from him.
Adam wrapped his arms around himself, imagining they were Kris’. He thought of what Kris’ lips felt like, of the way Adam had always been flooded with pure, indescribable joy when Kris told him he loved him. If Adam could only see him again, see his radiant smile and the way it lit up his whole face, Adam was sure he’d be alright, through whatever anyone threw at him.
The best part of the next day was the fact that Adam didn’t have to work. There was, thankfully, no banquet tonight where Adam had to entertain. Aside from going to the kitchens for his midday meal, Adam didn’t leave his room. He appreciated the time alone, the rare moments when he didn’t have to worry about pleasing anyone other than himself.
An ambassador from some foreign country, who had attended a banquet a few nights ago and taken up Adam’s company, had given him a necklace made of some curious kind of stones. Adam had never seen them before. Adam was sitting in front of the mirror examining them when there was a knock at his door. Adam’s eyebrows creased. The slave keeper wouldn’t knock. Abbas and Fadir weren’t on duty outside his room until after nightfall.
Before Adam had the chance to get up and open the door, the person who had knocked let themselves in. Adam froze in place when he saw the Lord Merrick slip inside. Merrick closed the door softly behind himself. Then he turned towards Adam, and smiled. Adam’s fists clenched painfully.
“Are you enjoying life in the palace? It’s splendid, is it not?”
Adam’s only response at first was a cold glare. Finally, he hissed emphatically, “How dare you come in here. How dare you even believe you have the right to speak to me.”
Merrick looked shocked, and then his expression changed to a frown. “Don’t be angry at me, please. I had no choice.”
“No choice but to throw me to the wolves when your wife found out you’d fucked me? Telling her I was some seductress, so you could get away with adultery? When you were the one who propositioned me?! But I suppose when your wife is the Pharaoh’s sister, some whore doesn’t much matter, am I right? Oh, and let me answer your previous question. No, life in the palace is not splendid. I don’t much enjoy having to sleep with at least five men almost each night, and then returning to my room and being brutalized by the so-called ‘guards’ stationed outside.”
Merrick was shocked into silence for a few seconds. “It can’t be much worse here than it used to be for you.”
“I lived a downright good life before, you selfish ingrate. I worked on my own terms, instead of being owned.”
“Things will get better for you, I’m sure,” Merrick said, walking into the room a little bit. “With your beauty, you could charm the Pharaoh himself.”
“Oh, spare me,” Adam barked, and then spit on the floor before Merrick’s feet. “Don’t you dare even try.”
Merrick did his best to ignore the stickiness on the floor that Adam had just spit at him. “I don’t think you realize, darling. I think that weekend I spent with you may have been the best of my life.”
Merrick reached towards where Adam was sitting, placed his hands on Adam’s waist, and pulled him up onto his feet. As soon as Merrick started pulling him in, Adam swung his arm and backhanded the man as hard as he could across the face. Merrick let go, and stumbled backwards a few steps.
“You better not even think about putting your filthy, lying hands anywhere near me.”
“Adam, you know your place here in the palace. I’m one of the royal family, whom you’re to obey fully.”
“Oh, is that so?” Adam grabbed for the sheathed knife on the table beside him, and quickly drew the blade out. “And I think you know your place against a vengeful man holding a knife.” Adam pointed the blade at Merrick, and Merrick took a few steps backwards slowly, his frightened eyes trained on the blade. Adam felt satisfaction when he saw a red, inflamed mark already making its way across Merrick’s face from where Adam had hit him.
“Get the hell out of my room, and don’t you ever even entertain the thought of coming anywhere near me again. Oh, and tell anyone of this encounter, and I’ll finally have enough reasons to genuinely want to kill you. Don’t think that I won’t.”
Merrick finally looked intimidated. Adam thrust the blade towards him in the air a little, just to send him scurrying out of the room.
Adam knew there would be repercussions somewhere down the road for what he had just done. But that didn’t stop him from curling up in bed, feeling very pleased with himself.
Of course, having a whole day off with no work was too good to be true. A servant dropped in Adam’s room, to tell him he was to be called on that evening to entertain a guest of Lady’s Merrick’s. As angry as he was to hear it, he knew he should have expected her to find something (or someone) for him to do today.
Adam called in the servants that helped with his appearance. He sat down, and one girl started with his hair, and another his complexion. His hair was brushed out to perfection, and a gold circlet fitted over his head to keep his long hair out of his face. He stepped behind the curtain in his room to slip on the work clothes Lady Merrick had given him specially. Of course, they were thinner and considerably smaller than what the other harem boys wore. It was only a thin sheath skirt that fit snugly around his waist. The skintight material only extended about three-quarters of the way down his thighs. The only good thing he had to say about the ridiculous garb was that its tightness kept anything underneath from being seen.
When Adam went back to sit in the chair, the servant girl who always took care of his makeup began painting intricate designs around the corners of his eyes in kohl. Foundations had already been dabbed on. She painted color onto his lips. Then, she shifted down to Adam’s bare chest, and began painting on hennas to match and complement the kohl around his eyes. She had the ability to make about a half-hour’s worth of work look like it had taken all day. When she finished, Adam thanked her before she left.
Now came the gritty part. Adam knew it was more than likely that Lady Merrick’s ‘guest’ would be interested in using him. Adam had learned quickly that in the palace, people were even more self-centered and quick about sex than his customers at home had been. No one here ever checked twice to see if he was alright, or prepared. It was no surprise - no one here was paying him. So to save himself a whole lot of torture, Adam had made it a habit to stretch himself before he went out to entertain. Once he’d figured out to start doing that, everything got a little less bad. But only a little.
When Adam was finally all ready and hadn’t been summoned to the grand hall yet, he sat down in front of the mirror to make sure everything about his appearance was perfect. He had once opted to leave off his heavy gold necklace for the night, and the slave keeper had had him lashed for ‘dissenting’. Of course, he’d had to work the next day as usual. Injuries across his back hadn’t deterred anyone. They only focused on what was below.
He covered his mouth as a sudden cough came on. He couldn’t ignore any more how the coughing was becoming a regular thing.
Adam’s door suddenly flew open with a bang. Adam whirled around in the chair. Lady Merrick was standing in the doorway, looking furious. She flew over towards him like a hurricane. Her hand gripped the back of Adam’s hair, and shoved his head down against the table. Adam gasped in surprise, and white-knuckled the edge of the table so he wouldn’t let out a single noise of pain.
“Why does my husband have a red mark across his face?!” she hissed near Adam’s ear.
His voice muffled by the table, Adam bit back, “Because your husband is a lying, selfish, egregious scum who deserved it.”
She hurled Adam’s head back by his hair, sending his chair toppling and Adam falling against the hard marble floor. “You know what I think?!” she screeched furiously, “I think you attacked him because he told me the truth about you! You wanted him to cover up for your crimes, but he would do no such thing!”
Adam wiped a bit of blood off his lip, from where his teeth had hit the inside of his lip when he’d fallen. He moved to sit up, glaring fire at the woman. He looked to the sheathed knife sitting up on the table. Before he could make any attempt to grab it, Lady Merrick grabbed Adam’s shoulder, digging her long nails into his skin.
“Now you listen to me, you dirty whore, and listen well. You better not ever come near my husband again.”
“I don’t plan on it,” Adam jeered.
She continued like he hadn’t said anything, “You may still want to seduce more out of him, but he doesn’t want anything to do with you. And tonight, I have a special guest who you’re going to make sure to please. I’ve already told him to keep you as long as he pleases, even if its all night. There’s no one else for you to work for tonight, so be glad I gave you something to fill your time.”
“How will I ever express my gratitude.”
Blood welled up on Adam’s skin where the woman’s nails dug in. She hissed right in his face, “I would hit you right this second if your face wasn’t the only thing of worth you’ve got.”
Adam said nothing, just glared. Lady Merrick gave him a shove in the direction of the door. “Get up off the ground, and go out to meet my guest.”
Adam got to his feet, and took his time smoothing his hair. When she looked about to advance on him again, Adam quickly said, “Ah! I have to look my best for your esteemed guest, don’t I?”
“Get. Out. There. Now.”
Adam made sure to adjust the sheath skirt around his waist before he finally made his way from his room and to the receiving hall.
Lady Merrick’s ‘guest’ was a man old, fat, and ugly. Adam had a hunch that she’d probably just snatched the first unfortunate-looking man she’d seen from the petitioners who had lined up that day for an audience with the Pharaoh.
“Good evening, sir,” Adam toned through clenched teeth. It was going to be a long, unpleasant night.
[[Continue : D ]]