You should be much more interested in what I intend to do with you after your appointment, Camilla.
I shiver. Interested isn’t the right term so much as concerned.
“There. I believe we’re all set.” He nods to my clothes. “Feel free to get dressed, Mrs. Graves.”
Those are words men never say to me, but Doctor Charleston has been the epitome of professionalism. He did a few things that hurt a little, including taking a sample of my cervix—or that was how it felt, anyway—however, he never once did anything inappropriate.
I pull on my dress and shoes, then fix my hair with my fingers while waiting for him to tell me what to do next. Instead, he walks to the door and tells Quinn it’s okay to enter. “I’m just going to have a quick word with Kaiden,” the doctor adds, his words for me before he steps into the hallway and leaves me alone with Quinn.
I take a step back, uncertain of what to expect from the officer. If he notices, he doesn’t comment on it, instead going to the cooler to pull out two bottles of water. He keeps one for himself and hands me the other. “When we’re done, I’ll get you some food,” he says.
“I thought you had questions for me.”
He snorts. “I just said that to get Gray to fuck off. He was acting like a damn vulture sniffing around his former master’s remains.”
I grimace at the visual of essentially being compared to roadkill.
Quinn takes another swig of his water, then sits in one of the chairs on the side of the room, falling quiet. I don’t follow suit, instead remaining by the wall, and take small sips from my bottle.
I really need to eat something. At the same time, I’m not quite sure if that’s a good idea. If Master Kaiden intends to sell my body tonight, then less food is a better idea.
The last thing I want to do is accidentally vomit all over his friends or business partners.
That happened once with Warren.
It wasn’t a good experience.
I start counting the minutes, the time functioning as a countdown to my fate. Whatever it entails.
Once upon a time, I considered running. I vaguely entertain that notion now, but I know it’s futile. I’ve seen what happens to elite females who run. They either die tragically or disappear. The latter is worse. It implies servitude somewhere within the circuit. At least as an Elite Bride, I remain a member of respected society.
That would be impossible now, though.
Doctor Charleston confirmed I wasn’t pregnant, which meant I would never bear an heir.
Which, I assume, was the purpose of all this—to confirm my continued infertility. Master Kaiden can’t sell a female pregnant with his brother’s heir. But a barren twenty-four-year-old woman skilled in the art of pleasure? Yeah, he can sell that.
My stomach sours at the thought.
Deep breaths, I tell myself, my mind venturing back to my wedding day, when I experienced a similar sensation of panic. I coached myself then, too. And look where I ended up.
No sense in reliving the past or dreading my future. I learned long ago that I have no control here. The elite men rule my world. They always have and always will.
I pull my shoulders back and stare at the door, waiting.
The only part I control here is my dignity. I won’t let Master Kaiden or anyone else take that away from me.
More minutes pass.
More silence.
Then finally the doctor returns, and Master Kaiden steps into the room behind him. His dark green eyes meet and hold mine for a beat, his lips curling at the edges at whatever resolve he reads from my face. Then he takes the medical files from Doctor Charleston and hooks them under his arm. “Time to go, Camilla,” Master Kaiden says. He glances at Quinn. “Claude says he can handle it from here.”
Quinn dips his head in a nod. “You know where I’ll be.”
Master Kaiden smirks. “Yes, I do.” He holds out his hand for me. “Now, Camilla.”
I swallow and step forward, doing my best to maintain my regal posture, and press my palm to his.
Warren would have squeezed my hand for hesitating. Master Kaiden merely runs his thumb across my skin in a tender caress and threads his fingers through mine. A strange sort of energy hums along my skin, warming the chill there.
Several staff members watch our departure, their tension and pity a palpable presence in the air. I refuse to let it suffocate me, instead keeping my head high as Master Kaiden leads me out the front door and down the brick stairs to the black car with tinted windows waiting at the curb. A male with salt-and-pepper hair meets us at the back door, opening it upon our arrival.
Master Kaiden hands him the files he carried in the hand not holding mine, then gestures to the back seat. “Ladies first.”
I unthread my fingers from his to comply.
A second later, he joins me in the back seat, his legs sprawling in a way that seems to take up two-thirds of the space.
The other male closes the door and walks around the car to take the driver’s seat. “Where to, K?” he asks as he sets the files on the floor of the passenger side.
“Home,” Master Kaiden replies as his palm settles on my thigh.
The driver nods, and the engine roars to life.
Master Kaiden’s thumb draws a circle against my leg, sending more of that delicious warmth through my veins. It’s been so long since someone elicited such a reaction from me. All Warren and his friends ever did was make me feel ill. But this touch evokes a subtle ache inside me that longs to be fulfilled.
It’s a cruel trick.
One I know he’s going to exploit later.
But
