The Handler
Part One| Part Two| Part Three| Part Four| Part Five| Part Six| Part Seven| Part Eight| Part Nine| Part Ten| Part Eleven| Part Twelve| Part Thirteen| Part Fourteen
Hadley stirred when Lisbeth was returned first and much later Daniel. The hall was quiet, but enough movement to know that no one was sleeping. When the pale light of dawn began peeking through the stingy window, Hadley watched as Cameron knelt beside Mia’s cot, close to her head and whispered to her. She nodded and he stroked her arm and finally pressed a soft kiss against her forehead.
Then Cameron met Hadley’s gaze head on as he sat on the edge of Cade’s bed. Hadley could tell that Cameron wanted to curl into the bed with Cade and provide empty reassurances. Cameron, being Cameron, no doubt remembered the last time Hadley had observed him in bed with the boy. Instead, he carded his fingers through Cade’s hair, continued to whisper where Hadley could not make out the words.
Daniel rolled out of his bed and placed a hand on Cameron’s shoulder, a look passing between them that Hadley could not discern. He watched Daniel disappear into the loo and when he returned his face was scrubbed, the ends of his hair wet.
Hadley was tired, eyes gritty from lack of sleep. Maybe it was the perfect time to take on Daniel while he was at loose ends and not as proper as he should be. He was so focused on opening his mouth and saying Daniel’s name that Mia clearing her throat quietly had Hadley jerking as if he had been struck.
She skittered backwards a couple of steps and seemed to collect herself. Hadley again blamed his tiredness on not being able to read the lines of her mouth, the bruised look in her eyes. He stared back at her blankly.
Mia looked pained as she licked her lips and said uncomfortably, “Sir?” Dressed in a tunic, she shifted her weight back and forth on slender bare feet.
Hadley watched her and the realization dawned slowly, Mia needed him. Oh.
“Yes, quite right.” He muttered and motioned for Mia to precede him into the training room.
Without being told, Mia took her place on the table, back straight and swinging her feet. Hadley watched her, trying to gather his addled thoughts when Mia just wilted, back curving, chin on her chest, arms wrapped around her middle.
In the back of his mind, his professional training broken and abstract said that this was a slave dealing with the aftermath of an event where the mind and body must reconcile and accept that rationalization was futile. Hadley was supposed to stare down on her and wait out the emotional messiness. Mia was a slave. Hadley was a free man and her handler.
Maybe it was exhaustion or the phantom feeling of Cameron leaning into Hadley, that had his professionalism sliding further down the slippery slope. He placed a careful hand on her shoulder, gave her time to accept his touch, and then gently coaxed Mia to lean into side. She needed to purge the night’s events and Hadley would let her.
“I’m not sure what happened, Sir,” Mia’s voice was low and husky, her soft curls tickling Hadley’s neck. “Having sex has been a part of my life since I was trained.” She looked up; the dead look from the night before replaced with bruised eyes. “It is not like it has not been rough before, or that Mistress gave me to a man. It had been a while but it should have been normal. Sex is my life.”
Hadley let his hand slide up and down the ridges of her spine.
“And it’s not like,” Mia’s hands flapped restlessly, “We know that a slave isn’t seen as a person, just a tight wet hole.” Hadley closed his eyes, his own words thrown back at him, the ones he used so callously with Cameron. “But Mistress, even rough, Lisbeth and I are hers. Even when she treats us like tight wet holes, we are hers.” She emphasized, “And maybe for a moment, yeah, I thought she would want me. Take me away from those hands that pawed at me.”
She blinked and sat back, “But then her favored pet was just a piece of flesh to poke and prod and talk about. Lisbeth hasn’t been treated like that before. And for a moment, well, more than that, I remembered how it felt in the beginning. It was me being touched; it was me being fucked even though I did not want it. It was me.” Blue eyes shimmered and she resolutely dashed them away. “I lost that place that I hide. I can find it. I will find it. But Lisbeth,” She looked away toward the doorway, “She’s going need to be taught to build that place, that to protect herself, she needs to remember that she is a slave, just a tight wet hole. And hide in that place that reminds people like us, slaves, that there is no love; there is no affection, even when Mistress says it. Because for the mistress, she means right now, not forever, until something else catches her eye.”
Mia moved out of his arms and slid off the table, “I usually talk to Cameron, but thank you, Sir.” She bowed her head demurely and slid past Daniel who lurked in the doorway.
His face was pale white and pinched, his lips in a flat tight line. His arms hugged around his chest. When Hadley met his eyes, he lifted his chin in defiance. “I’m not like them.” The last was almost spat contemptuously.
It was time, despite his fatigue, to slowly peel back the mystery that was Daniel.
*~*
As with Cameron, Hadley had to establish the power dynamics. There was something strange about Daniel, about Daniel’s relationship with Lord Barkley, about Daniel and his dynamics within the slave hall.
Hadley did not have the same history but within the hall, he was the handler and control went to him. Cameron had tried to challenge his authority. Daniel was challenging Hadley to break him, and he had a tough outer shell already highly developed.
So far, Daniel had been punished by his hands: for fucking Mia without permission and striking Cameron, Lord Barkley’s possession. Hadley would have to reach into his wealth of knowledge. For Daniel, techniques in punishment or discipline, or even simple training methods were not appropriate. Breaking him was the goal. Daniel was such a mystery as well, Hadley decided that denial, deprivation, and a little mind fucking would begin to crack the wall.
Blinking his eyes against the gritty feeling, he crossed his arms. Hadley was unsure of Daniel from the evening before, only observing him standing between Barkley and Orland, and servicing Barkley after the demonstration. Surely he had shared Barkley’s bed for a time, due to the lateness of the hour of Daniel’s return to the hall.
“You may think that, Daniel. But that kind of thinking will bring you untold pain and punishment.” Daniel frowned mulishly. “You are one of them, a slave, owned by Lord Barkley. Now strip.”
Daniel acted as if he wanted argue and Hadley had very little patience for his antics. He may have compassion and empathy, but he was also very tired, physically and of Daniel’s strange position among the Barkley slaves.
The two options he considered, one was basically a sleep sack. Hadley could enfold Daniel within it; fasten it closed where the only exposure would be his head and his cock. A sack would definitely help the sensory deprivation and denial in orgasm but would take some work on fucking with Daniel’s mind. Hadley was just too tired for the effort.
The second option, the one Hadley chose, took a bit of effort in hanging the sling from the hook. Daniel watched warily, hands behind his back, cock thickening in interest. Hadley took note of the reaction. Daniel probably knew discipline and definitely punishment from Barkley’s hand but not some of the more interesting forms that training could take on.
Daniel was stiff as Hadley positioned him into the sling. His bright green eyes darted from where his arms were stretched above his head, wrist manacled to the sling, the same for his legs and ankles. His legs were spread, Daniel’s ass was exposed, his opening clenching. Hadley tapped the bottoms of Daniel’s feet, the slave jerked, wiggling his ankles, but could not get away from Hadley’s touch.
“This is why you are one of them,” Hadley said conversationally. Daniel was frowning but there was interest lurking in his eyes. The boy had held onto his secrets for too long, his attitude wavering within the hall from wanting to be one of the slaves to thinking he could demand the position of Barkley’s favorites. He would feel much better letting go of whatever was eating at him, and it would be much better for everyone concerned as well.
Taking a simple blindfold, Hadley covered those green eyes. Pulling his chair next to Daniel’s suspended form, Daniel flinched at the sound of wood dragging against tile. “This is why you are a slave, you do what you are told because you cannot talk back to a free man, not your owner, not your handler, not your master’s guests. You especially cannot call your master by his given name.”
Daniel opened his mouth to speak but Hadley laid a finger against his lips, “Ah ah ah, you speak when I give you permission. You speak out of turn as it is, you fuck out of turn, and you seem to think you are still your own man. You are a slave how could you even begin to think that?” Hadley stood and began to gather other tools of his trade. Daniel tried to follow his movements, whipping his head side to side.
“That’s a question you are going to answer, in time.”
He lined up his items on a small tray. A crop, a feather, lubricant, and the mechanical toy he purchased from the gypsies.
Methodically, Hadley worked Daniel over. He brought Daniel’s cock to hardness with slippery lubricant. Wiping his hands, he whipped the crop through the air watching as Daniel flinched, thrashing wildly as if to predict where the blows would land. When Hadley did use the crop, it was just firm taps to the soles of Daniel’s feet, watching as toes curled and ankles twist. The firm pressure lulled Daniel into relaxing, thighs spreading just fractionally. Hadley laid a smart tap to the pink clenching hole, when Daniel spasmed, Hadley reminded him not to orgasm by resting the leather against the full tight sack.
Licking dry lips, Daniel choked, “Please.”
“Are you ready to talk?” Hadley asked. Daniel nodded his head wildly. “Too bad, I’m not yet ready to listen.” With a snap of the crop to Daniel’s trembling abdomen, Hadley moved on.
A feather could be deceptive. He tickled the soles of warmed feet, brushed over peaked nipples, and Daniel panted, jerking his hips to find friction. Turning the feather, using the sharper end, Hadley scratched the grooves of abdomen the delicate thin skin at hipbones, and finally every so slightly dipped the tip into Daniel’s leaking tip. Anticipating the orgasm, Hadley tightened his fist around the base of Daniel’s cock, ignoring the pleas.
Hadley kept up the pressure, tapping the tight sack with a fingertip until Daniel groaned in pain and his cock wilted slightly. Using the lubricant, Hadley stretched Daniel’s hole just enough where the dip of the device would slide within his body.
Daniel gasped. Holding the base of his cock once more, Hadley released the gears that caused the toy to begin to vibrate. He held on as Daniel tried to flex his hips, bear down the pleasure within his hole, and push into Hadley’s fist for friction on his cock.
“Now I am ready for answers,” Hadley said grimly. “You will answer every one of them, or I won’t allow you to come. You will not be able to come the entire time you are within my domain of the hall, only when your master calls, and that is after your master and I have a chat.” Daniel looked stricken despite the flush of arousal and straining cock in Hadley’s palm.
“How did you become a slave to Lord Orland?”
Daniel’s jaw went tense. Hadley merely pushed the toy in deeper and rotated the gears tighter intensifying the vibrations. He could here Cook open the hall, bringing the morning meal on her squeaky trolley. He could smell fresh sausages.
“My father sold me to Lord Orland.” Daniel bit out.
“That is much too easy. You were much too old for the traveling slave pens according to your file.” Hadley rubbed his thumb against the leaking head of Daniel’s cock. Daniel cried out. “Try again.”
“Please,” there were real tears sliding from beneath the blindfold, “I will tell you what you want to know, just make it stop.” Hearing the tremulous break in Daniel’s voice, Hadley gently removed the device.
“Tell me everything.”
“I was the son of the stable master at university. I helped out in the stable and was a general messenger about the grounds. I met Geor…” Daniel bit down hard on his bottom lip. “I met Master Barkley during his first term, we became friends.”
Daniel hesitated, gathering his thoughts. “Master Barkley’s marriage to the Mistress was arranged, and being away from home, he chafed under his father’s control.” Daniel relaxed into the hold of the sling, head tipped to the side exposing the column of his throat.
“Our friendship became more despite the heavy load of studies that Master Barkley had. He stayed at university during holidays and the summers based on his father’s agreement with the headmaster. We became lovers.”
At that, Daniel sounded impossibly young and naïve. “He wanted to be a scholar, to study the philosophers instead of business to become a merchant. He was restless and he had big dreams, he wanted me to be a part of those dreams.”
“Where does Lord Orland play into this tale?” Hadley asked quietly, as not to disturb the state of relaxation that Daniel had achieved.
Daniel frowned and the chains of the sling rattled. “Lord Orland was Master Barkley’s best friend even though they were studying to very different fields. Lord Orland comes from a long line of distinguished barristers. He studied law and understands how to make the law work for him.”
Hadley could see where the path was going. “Lord Orland found us in the stables. Master Barkley had kept our affair a secret. When Lord Orland found us, he was a giddy schoolboy, finally being able to tell his best friend his heart’s desire. A life away from King’s Cross and his father, with me, instead of marrying.” Daniel lifted his chin staring blindly at the ceiling from behind his blindfold. “The foolish dreams of youth, right?” The question was rhetorical, Daniel continued. “Master Barkley finished university and told me that he would have an audience with his father before the wedding that he would work everything out.”
Tears slipped silently from the blindfold. “Lord Orland had communicated with both his father and Geor…Master Barkley’s. Being astute in the law, Lord Orland drew up a slave contract and presented it to my father. Despite coming into my majority, the contract was retroactive. My father sold me or risked losing his position at the university, facing criminal charges of his son corrupting a nobleman.”
Hadley stood and removed the blindfold from glassy green eyes. “He forgot about me, Master Barkley. He married and I became the property of Lord Orland. He did not even know until Lord Orland returned from university and there was a party for celebrating graduation.”
Hadley had more questions but Daniel looked emotionally exhausted. Unsure of what to make of the revelations, he helped Daniel to his feet.
“I’m not one of them,” Daniel said vehemently, brokenly. He went to his knees and grasped at Hadley’s trousers. “He loves me still, the Master does, and this is the way we can be together. Not like we wanted but together at last.”
“Does Lady Barkley know all of this?”
Daniel crumpled. “No, the master said it was our secret. But I couldn’t hold it any longer, not after last night. Not after being used between the two of them. Not with your knowing eyes and questions. You knew I couldn’t hold it in any more.” Hadley thought Daniel was accusing him, but the words were broken and resigned.
Reaching down, Hadley drew Daniel to his feet. “Take to your bed and think about what you told me, where you are, what you are.” Hadley gripped his biceps and shook him slightly, “You do not come. That is not your right, your body does not belong to you. There is still much between you and I.”
Daniel nodded and stumbled out of the training room. Hadley collapsed against the oilskin-covered table. His mind was full of information and his body was threatening to shut down from sheer overload and exhaustion.
He left the training room and looked over the hall. Daniel was curled in his bed. Mia and Lisbeth sat side by side as did Cade and Cameron. Cameron looked over his shoulder and met Hadley’s gaze with a lifted brow.
Hadley decided to find his own bed for a short lie in, he simply did not have the energy for Cameron.
Hadley stirred when Lisbeth was returned first and much later Daniel. The hall was quiet, but enough movement to know that no one was sleeping. When the pale light of dawn began peeking through the stingy window, Hadley watched as Cameron knelt beside Mia’s cot, close to her head and whispered to her. She nodded and he stroked her arm and finally pressed a soft kiss against her forehead.
Then Cameron met Hadley’s gaze head on as he sat on the edge of Cade’s bed. Hadley could tell that Cameron wanted to curl into the bed with Cade and provide empty reassurances. Cameron, being Cameron, no doubt remembered the last time Hadley had observed him in bed with the boy. Instead, he carded his fingers through Cade’s hair, continued to whisper where Hadley could not make out the words.
Daniel rolled out of his bed and placed a hand on Cameron’s shoulder, a look passing between them that Hadley could not discern. He watched Daniel disappear into the loo and when he returned his face was scrubbed, the ends of his hair wet.
Hadley was tired, eyes gritty from lack of sleep. Maybe it was the perfect time to take on Daniel while he was at loose ends and not as proper as he should be. He was so focused on opening his mouth and saying Daniel’s name that Mia clearing her throat quietly had Hadley jerking as if he had been struck.
She skittered backwards a couple of steps and seemed to collect herself. Hadley again blamed his tiredness on not being able to read the lines of her mouth, the bruised look in her eyes. He stared back at her blankly.
Mia looked pained as she licked her lips and said uncomfortably, “Sir?” Dressed in a tunic, she shifted her weight back and forth on slender bare feet.
Hadley watched her and the realization dawned slowly, Mia needed him. Oh.
“Yes, quite right.” He muttered and motioned for Mia to precede him into the training room.
Without being told, Mia took her place on the table, back straight and swinging her feet. Hadley watched her, trying to gather his addled thoughts when Mia just wilted, back curving, chin on her chest, arms wrapped around her middle.
In the back of his mind, his professional training broken and abstract said that this was a slave dealing with the aftermath of an event where the mind and body must reconcile and accept that rationalization was futile. Hadley was supposed to stare down on her and wait out the emotional messiness. Mia was a slave. Hadley was a free man and her handler.
Maybe it was exhaustion or the phantom feeling of Cameron leaning into Hadley, that had his professionalism sliding further down the slippery slope. He placed a careful hand on her shoulder, gave her time to accept his touch, and then gently coaxed Mia to lean into side. She needed to purge the night’s events and Hadley would let her.
“I’m not sure what happened, Sir,” Mia’s voice was low and husky, her soft curls tickling Hadley’s neck. “Having sex has been a part of my life since I was trained.” She looked up; the dead look from the night before replaced with bruised eyes. “It is not like it has not been rough before, or that Mistress gave me to a man. It had been a while but it should have been normal. Sex is my life.”
Hadley let his hand slide up and down the ridges of her spine.
“And it’s not like,” Mia’s hands flapped restlessly, “We know that a slave isn’t seen as a person, just a tight wet hole.” Hadley closed his eyes, his own words thrown back at him, the ones he used so callously with Cameron. “But Mistress, even rough, Lisbeth and I are hers. Even when she treats us like tight wet holes, we are hers.” She emphasized, “And maybe for a moment, yeah, I thought she would want me. Take me away from those hands that pawed at me.”
She blinked and sat back, “But then her favored pet was just a piece of flesh to poke and prod and talk about. Lisbeth hasn’t been treated like that before. And for a moment, well, more than that, I remembered how it felt in the beginning. It was me being touched; it was me being fucked even though I did not want it. It was me.” Blue eyes shimmered and she resolutely dashed them away. “I lost that place that I hide. I can find it. I will find it. But Lisbeth,” She looked away toward the doorway, “She’s going need to be taught to build that place, that to protect herself, she needs to remember that she is a slave, just a tight wet hole. And hide in that place that reminds people like us, slaves, that there is no love; there is no affection, even when Mistress says it. Because for the mistress, she means right now, not forever, until something else catches her eye.”
Mia moved out of his arms and slid off the table, “I usually talk to Cameron, but thank you, Sir.” She bowed her head demurely and slid past Daniel who lurked in the doorway.
His face was pale white and pinched, his lips in a flat tight line. His arms hugged around his chest. When Hadley met his eyes, he lifted his chin in defiance. “I’m not like them.” The last was almost spat contemptuously.
It was time, despite his fatigue, to slowly peel back the mystery that was Daniel.
*~*
As with Cameron, Hadley had to establish the power dynamics. There was something strange about Daniel, about Daniel’s relationship with Lord Barkley, about Daniel and his dynamics within the slave hall.
Hadley did not have the same history but within the hall, he was the handler and control went to him. Cameron had tried to challenge his authority. Daniel was challenging Hadley to break him, and he had a tough outer shell already highly developed.
So far, Daniel had been punished by his hands: for fucking Mia without permission and striking Cameron, Lord Barkley’s possession. Hadley would have to reach into his wealth of knowledge. For Daniel, techniques in punishment or discipline, or even simple training methods were not appropriate. Breaking him was the goal. Daniel was such a mystery as well, Hadley decided that denial, deprivation, and a little mind fucking would begin to crack the wall.
Blinking his eyes against the gritty feeling, he crossed his arms. Hadley was unsure of Daniel from the evening before, only observing him standing between Barkley and Orland, and servicing Barkley after the demonstration. Surely he had shared Barkley’s bed for a time, due to the lateness of the hour of Daniel’s return to the hall.
“You may think that, Daniel. But that kind of thinking will bring you untold pain and punishment.” Daniel frowned mulishly. “You are one of them, a slave, owned by Lord Barkley. Now strip.”
Daniel acted as if he wanted argue and Hadley had very little patience for his antics. He may have compassion and empathy, but he was also very tired, physically and of Daniel’s strange position among the Barkley slaves.
The two options he considered, one was basically a sleep sack. Hadley could enfold Daniel within it; fasten it closed where the only exposure would be his head and his cock. A sack would definitely help the sensory deprivation and denial in orgasm but would take some work on fucking with Daniel’s mind. Hadley was just too tired for the effort.
The second option, the one Hadley chose, took a bit of effort in hanging the sling from the hook. Daniel watched warily, hands behind his back, cock thickening in interest. Hadley took note of the reaction. Daniel probably knew discipline and definitely punishment from Barkley’s hand but not some of the more interesting forms that training could take on.
Daniel was stiff as Hadley positioned him into the sling. His bright green eyes darted from where his arms were stretched above his head, wrist manacled to the sling, the same for his legs and ankles. His legs were spread, Daniel’s ass was exposed, his opening clenching. Hadley tapped the bottoms of Daniel’s feet, the slave jerked, wiggling his ankles, but could not get away from Hadley’s touch.
“This is why you are one of them,” Hadley said conversationally. Daniel was frowning but there was interest lurking in his eyes. The boy had held onto his secrets for too long, his attitude wavering within the hall from wanting to be one of the slaves to thinking he could demand the position of Barkley’s favorites. He would feel much better letting go of whatever was eating at him, and it would be much better for everyone concerned as well.
Taking a simple blindfold, Hadley covered those green eyes. Pulling his chair next to Daniel’s suspended form, Daniel flinched at the sound of wood dragging against tile. “This is why you are a slave, you do what you are told because you cannot talk back to a free man, not your owner, not your handler, not your master’s guests. You especially cannot call your master by his given name.”
Daniel opened his mouth to speak but Hadley laid a finger against his lips, “Ah ah ah, you speak when I give you permission. You speak out of turn as it is, you fuck out of turn, and you seem to think you are still your own man. You are a slave how could you even begin to think that?” Hadley stood and began to gather other tools of his trade. Daniel tried to follow his movements, whipping his head side to side.
“That’s a question you are going to answer, in time.”
He lined up his items on a small tray. A crop, a feather, lubricant, and the mechanical toy he purchased from the gypsies.
Methodically, Hadley worked Daniel over. He brought Daniel’s cock to hardness with slippery lubricant. Wiping his hands, he whipped the crop through the air watching as Daniel flinched, thrashing wildly as if to predict where the blows would land. When Hadley did use the crop, it was just firm taps to the soles of Daniel’s feet, watching as toes curled and ankles twist. The firm pressure lulled Daniel into relaxing, thighs spreading just fractionally. Hadley laid a smart tap to the pink clenching hole, when Daniel spasmed, Hadley reminded him not to orgasm by resting the leather against the full tight sack.
Licking dry lips, Daniel choked, “Please.”
“Are you ready to talk?” Hadley asked. Daniel nodded his head wildly. “Too bad, I’m not yet ready to listen.” With a snap of the crop to Daniel’s trembling abdomen, Hadley moved on.
A feather could be deceptive. He tickled the soles of warmed feet, brushed over peaked nipples, and Daniel panted, jerking his hips to find friction. Turning the feather, using the sharper end, Hadley scratched the grooves of abdomen the delicate thin skin at hipbones, and finally every so slightly dipped the tip into Daniel’s leaking tip. Anticipating the orgasm, Hadley tightened his fist around the base of Daniel’s cock, ignoring the pleas.
Hadley kept up the pressure, tapping the tight sack with a fingertip until Daniel groaned in pain and his cock wilted slightly. Using the lubricant, Hadley stretched Daniel’s hole just enough where the dip of the device would slide within his body.
Daniel gasped. Holding the base of his cock once more, Hadley released the gears that caused the toy to begin to vibrate. He held on as Daniel tried to flex his hips, bear down the pleasure within his hole, and push into Hadley’s fist for friction on his cock.
“Now I am ready for answers,” Hadley said grimly. “You will answer every one of them, or I won’t allow you to come. You will not be able to come the entire time you are within my domain of the hall, only when your master calls, and that is after your master and I have a chat.” Daniel looked stricken despite the flush of arousal and straining cock in Hadley’s palm.
“How did you become a slave to Lord Orland?”
Daniel’s jaw went tense. Hadley merely pushed the toy in deeper and rotated the gears tighter intensifying the vibrations. He could here Cook open the hall, bringing the morning meal on her squeaky trolley. He could smell fresh sausages.
“My father sold me to Lord Orland.” Daniel bit out.
“That is much too easy. You were much too old for the traveling slave pens according to your file.” Hadley rubbed his thumb against the leaking head of Daniel’s cock. Daniel cried out. “Try again.”
“Please,” there were real tears sliding from beneath the blindfold, “I will tell you what you want to know, just make it stop.” Hearing the tremulous break in Daniel’s voice, Hadley gently removed the device.
“Tell me everything.”
“I was the son of the stable master at university. I helped out in the stable and was a general messenger about the grounds. I met Geor…” Daniel bit down hard on his bottom lip. “I met Master Barkley during his first term, we became friends.”
Daniel hesitated, gathering his thoughts. “Master Barkley’s marriage to the Mistress was arranged, and being away from home, he chafed under his father’s control.” Daniel relaxed into the hold of the sling, head tipped to the side exposing the column of his throat.
“Our friendship became more despite the heavy load of studies that Master Barkley had. He stayed at university during holidays and the summers based on his father’s agreement with the headmaster. We became lovers.”
At that, Daniel sounded impossibly young and naïve. “He wanted to be a scholar, to study the philosophers instead of business to become a merchant. He was restless and he had big dreams, he wanted me to be a part of those dreams.”
“Where does Lord Orland play into this tale?” Hadley asked quietly, as not to disturb the state of relaxation that Daniel had achieved.
Daniel frowned and the chains of the sling rattled. “Lord Orland was Master Barkley’s best friend even though they were studying to very different fields. Lord Orland comes from a long line of distinguished barristers. He studied law and understands how to make the law work for him.”
Hadley could see where the path was going. “Lord Orland found us in the stables. Master Barkley had kept our affair a secret. When Lord Orland found us, he was a giddy schoolboy, finally being able to tell his best friend his heart’s desire. A life away from King’s Cross and his father, with me, instead of marrying.” Daniel lifted his chin staring blindly at the ceiling from behind his blindfold. “The foolish dreams of youth, right?” The question was rhetorical, Daniel continued. “Master Barkley finished university and told me that he would have an audience with his father before the wedding that he would work everything out.”
Tears slipped silently from the blindfold. “Lord Orland had communicated with both his father and Geor…Master Barkley’s. Being astute in the law, Lord Orland drew up a slave contract and presented it to my father. Despite coming into my majority, the contract was retroactive. My father sold me or risked losing his position at the university, facing criminal charges of his son corrupting a nobleman.”
Hadley stood and removed the blindfold from glassy green eyes. “He forgot about me, Master Barkley. He married and I became the property of Lord Orland. He did not even know until Lord Orland returned from university and there was a party for celebrating graduation.”
Hadley had more questions but Daniel looked emotionally exhausted. Unsure of what to make of the revelations, he helped Daniel to his feet.
“I’m not one of them,” Daniel said vehemently, brokenly. He went to his knees and grasped at Hadley’s trousers. “He loves me still, the Master does, and this is the way we can be together. Not like we wanted but together at last.”
“Does Lady Barkley know all of this?”
Daniel crumpled. “No, the master said it was our secret. But I couldn’t hold it any longer, not after last night. Not after being used between the two of them. Not with your knowing eyes and questions. You knew I couldn’t hold it in any more.” Hadley thought Daniel was accusing him, but the words were broken and resigned.
Reaching down, Hadley drew Daniel to his feet. “Take to your bed and think about what you told me, where you are, what you are.” Hadley gripped his biceps and shook him slightly, “You do not come. That is not your right, your body does not belong to you. There is still much between you and I.”
Daniel nodded and stumbled out of the training room. Hadley collapsed against the oilskin-covered table. His mind was full of information and his body was threatening to shut down from sheer overload and exhaustion.
He left the training room and looked over the hall. Daniel was curled in his bed. Mia and Lisbeth sat side by side as did Cade and Cameron. Cameron looked over his shoulder and met Hadley’s gaze with a lifted brow.
Hadley decided to find his own bed for a short lie in, he simply did not have the energy for Cameron.