I look at Cadee, and while she’s still holding it together, I can see her chest rising and falling quickly underneath her white nightgown.
Elizabeth slips her nightgown over her head without comment or hesitation and drops it to the floor at her feet. Then she sucks in a deep breath and walks into the pool of water until she is waist deep. Then she turns to face the crowd, waiting—we are all waiting—to see what comes next.
“Do you confess to your transgressions?” my father asks.
“Yes. I confess. I have sinned against the Order.”
“Do you submit to your new role in the Order?”
“Yes. I submit. I live now only to serve my new master.”
Jesus Christ.
“Please join Jack and display your commitment, Elizabeth.”
She nods and turns to us, her eyes locked on Jack’s now. Then she walks out of the pool. Dripping wet. Her nipples bunched up into tight peaks. Her body covered in goosebumps as she walks over to him and kneels at his feet.
She places both hands on his well-polished shoes and bends over until her face is pressed up against the floor.
“Jack,” my father says. “Does this display satisfy you?”
“No.” He says this without hesitation. “I think Elizabeth is capable of so much more. It’s unfortunate that Dane never gave her the opportunity to shine the way she could.”
My father nods his agreement. “Do you wish to challenge her?”
“Yes.”
“Proceed.”
Jack bends down. His fingers slip up into Elizabeth’s dark hair and he grabs it by the fistful. Then he whispers something in her ear. So softly, I can’t even pick out a single syllable.
Finally, she squeaks out a small, “Yes, Master.” And then he straightens up and she rises out of her bow, still on her knees, and begins to unbutton his belt.
Oh, fuck.
Moments later, she has his cock in her hand, pumping it as she stares up at Jack’s stoic expression. He gives her no directions. Maybe that’s what he was whispering to her? But she opens her mouth and begins to suck him off in front of all of us.
I look away. Find Cadee’s face.
She’s wide-eyed in surprise, but… I have to hand it to her. If she’s scared that this is where her night is also headed, she doesn’t show it.
My attention is drawn back to Leela as she moves closer to Elizabeth. Her fingers slip into Elizabeth’s hair, and she encourages her new—sister-wife? Sex slave? Whatever she is—to take him deeper. Then even deeper. Until Elizabeth is choking and frantically breathing through her nose as her mouth is forced up to the flat plane of Jack’s stomach.
Jack groans and then releases himself into her throat. She gags as his come spills out around her lips, but doesn’t even try to pull away.
That’s it, Elizabeth. Rise to the challenge.
Then Jack is bending down, his cock slipping out of her mouth as he kisses her on the cheek, and the head, and whispers something into her neck.
The room begins to clap. More enthusiastically this time.
But they stop when Jack and Leela extend their hands and Elizabeth allows them to pull her to her feet.
A man appears with a gold velvet pillow. Leela takes the iron collar off the pillow—a device that looks medieval in nature. Very crude. Very thick—and places it around Elizabeth’s neck. She clamps it shut and it’s so tight, Elizabeth gasps in pain as the mechanism is secured.
Jack takes a chain off the velvet pillow and snaps it on to the ring at Elizabeth’s throat. Then Elizabeth turns around in front of her new masters, and smiles for the crowd.
Applause erupts into the room comes with calls of “Bravo!” and “Good girl,” and “That’s how it’s done.”
Elizabeth kneels and bends over, pressing her face back to the floor. Only now she is facing my father instead of Jack.
My father is clapping too. And smiling broadly. “Well done, Jack. Well done.” Then he pats the air with open palms, asking for quiet. The room is immediately silent. Like his rule here is absolute. He sighs and looks me in the eyes. “Christopher.”
I nod at him. Because I don’t know what else to do.
“You are the Golden Son. Do you know what that means?”
“No, sir.”
He turns to speak to our audience. “My son, Christopher Valcourt, is only the third Golden Child of the Order of Fang and Feather. The two hundredth boy to be born since our inception.”
Soft clapping fills the room.
Then my father turns to Cadee. “Cadee, you are the Golden Legacy. Do you know what that means?”
“No, sir.” Cadee’s voice is strong and loud and I am suddenly swelling with pride at her strength.
He turns back to the crowd. “Cadee Hunter is the Golden Legacy. The two hundredth girl to be born in service to the Order since our inception.”
More soft clapping.
“Together, the two of you will take Fang and Feather into the future.”
I want to stop him. Ask questions. Questions like, What about Isabella? If Cadee is the one meant for me, why go through with the charade of making Isabella my wife?
The clapping becomes louder.
My father turns to face Cadee and lowers his voice. The clapping ceases immediately so they can hear him. “Cadee Hunter. Did you enter this tomb of your own free will?”
Cadee does not hesitate. “Yes.”
“Do you want to serve us?”
“Yes.”
My father turns to me. “Christopher. Do you accept this gift we bestow on you tonight?”
I want to hesitate. But I can’t. Not after Cadee was so willing. So ready to rise to the challenge. “Yes.”
“Good.” My father sighs. And I don’t think that was part of his script. He turns to Cadee. “Please walk into the pool to take your vow, Cadee.”
I think she and I are both surprised—in a good way—that she is not asked to remove her white gown.
She pauses for only a moment.
Maybe to let that sink in.
And then she walks towards the pool and steps in.
CHAPTER TWENTY - CADEE
I almost step back out of the pool when I realize how cold the water is.
Almost. But one quick glance in the direction of the Chairman, who is just a few feet away, and I reconsider.
I take another step, my body already stiffening up with the cold. Elizabeth made it all look so easy. But she’s done this before, I’m sure of it. Once upon a time in her past, she was me. Not the Golden Legacy, whatever the hell that is. But a new girl to be celebrated instead of an old one to be punished.
I take another step. Then another and another and soon the freezing water is nearly up to my breasts. I’m shorter than Elizabeth, so this pool is deeper for me. The space in the middle of the pool is only wide enough for one person to stand. I’m not sure what to do when I reach the last step, so I just turn and face the Chairman the way Elizabeth did.
He smiles at me. And it’s familiar now, so I actually smile back. “Cadee,” he says in a much softer voice than he used for Elizabeth. “Do you have any transgressions to confess?”
Jesus Christ. What does that mean?
“Cadee?”
“I’m sorry.” My teeth are chattering. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to say.”