Tattoos

When Gabriel, heir to his dead father’s Lordship over the costal province Glenwood, walked into his bedroom for the first time in four years, he was shocked to find a tattoo-covered girl in his bed. He recognized the tattoos, of course. They were the markings of a slave in the northernmost country on the continent, Saria. The woman also looked Sari. Her skin was fair and completely unblemished, aside from the tattoos and, he was sure, a few scars. Her black hair was thick and looked like satin. It was cut short, as was common among Sari slaves. Her eyes were the color of ice: vivid blue with flecks of green and violet when the light hit it right. They were open wide with terror. She wore a pale jade dress.

“Are you my new Master, Milord, or is it Milady, who bought me from the men who traveled to this country from my motherland with me and my traveling companions”

“Um-” He took a piece of parchment that the slave girl held out to him. It had his name on it, written in his stepmother’s handwriting.

 To my beloved son,

Welcome home and Happy Birthday! I hope you like you gift. I thought that you might have missed the domestic slave, Anne, who served as your governess before you went away to school in Nodias, where slavery is outlawed. This girl from Saria was born into slavery and as a small child worked in the mines of the North. She was pulled from the mines and trained as a domestic slave. Now that you are eighteen and are Lord Glenwood, you are allowed to own your own slaves and Vivian will be an excellent start.

                                                You Loving Mother,

                                                            Lady Cynthia Glenwood, Regent

 “Vivian?” The girl looked up, her eyes, sparkling like the ice of her motherland. “In Saria, what does it mean to be a domestic servant?”

“What does it mean in this country?” Vivian asked.

“In Corinth, a domestic slave is trained to cook, clean, take care of children, teach, do the shopping, and sew.”

“Yes, it is that way in my motherland as well. But we are also taught to please men. And women. Is that why I was purchased?”

“No. I don’t want a slave. In Nodias, where I attended school, slavery is outlawed, and I learned that it is wrong. Here in Corinth, slavery is legal and, what more, it is illegal to free a slave except as a dying wish, or, though rarely, by marriage.”

“So, you wish to sell me to a different Master?”

“I won’t do that, either, or else you may be bought by someone who will treat you cruelly. I will keep you, but treat you as a paid servant, not a slave. Tomorrow is my eighteenth birthday, and I will become Lord of this province, and when I move to my estate the capitol, nobody there will know you are a slave.”

“Except for her tattoos,” a voice behind him said. Gabriel turned around and saw his stepmother, Cynthia, in the doorway. “Those were put on her by a Sari shaman at her birth. They used to describe her duties as a mine-slave, but they changed when she was pulled. Now they denote her duties as a domestic. If she is ever freed, they will disappear. Vivian, come here.” The Sari girl rose from Gabriel’s bed and walked over to Cynthia. “How old are you, girl?”

“I have just seen my sixteenth winter, Milady.”

“Are you not pleased with your gift, my son? Perhaps it is because you have not seen her beauty. I have inspected her, and she is quite beautiful. See for yourself.” Cynthia ripped the dress down the front, exposing Vivian’s plump breasts. She started massaging them and fondling them. Vivian’s eyes closed and she could not help but moan with pleasure, but Gabriel could see a tear make its way down her cheek. “She’s quite mature for a girl of sixteen, isn’t she? And still pure. Don’t you want her?” Gabriel could feel himself harden.

“Yes, Mother. I apologize for not appreciating her more.”

“Would you like me to leave the two of you alone?”

“Please, Mother.” Cynthia pinched one of Vivian’s hard nipples, winked at her stepson, and left the room. Vivian fell to her knees, sobbing, clutching the tatters of her dress to try to hide her exposed chest.

“It’s ok, Vivian. She’s gone.” Gabriel tossed one of his shirts at the girl. “You can wear that over your dress until we can find you something more suitable to wear.” Vivian looked up at him, her face tearstained, her eyes wide with surprise.

“You do not want me? You lied to your Mother?”

“Cynthia is not my Mother, though she makes me say she is. And I didn’t lie. I do appreciate thought she put into my ‘gift’ and I know she must have spent a lot of money.”

“If you want me, why do you not exercise your rights as my owner and Master?”

“Because that would be immoral. If you are not willing, then neither am I.”

“As a slave, I am always willing.”

“Then why did you cry?” Vivian said nothing. “I don’t suppose Cynthia has prepared you a room, so you can sleep in here.” He took a pillow off the bed and two blankets out of the trunk at the foot of the bed. He laid one out on the floor. Vivian made her way to the makeshift mattress. “No, you take the bed.”

“But Milord-”

“If I am your Master, you must follow all my commands, correct?”

“Yes, but-”

“So get into the bed. And if you hear noises, don’t be alarmed.”

“Noises, Milord?”

“Good night, Vivian.” When the Sari girl finally got into bed, Gabriel blew out all the lamps. When he got to the last one, Vivian whimpered. “What’s wrong?”

“I-“

“Are you afraid of the dark?”

“No. I spent my first twelve winters in a mineshaft lit only by one lantern every fifty feet. The darkness is no problem for me. If it’s in a place I’m familiar with.” Gabriel smiled and carried the last lamp to the bedside table.

After a half hour, when he thought Vivian might be asleep, he closed his eyes and took his painfully hard erection in his hands and imagined that his own hand was Vivian’s small hand. He tried his best to be quiet, but he couldn’t help but moan a little. When he came to the edge, he groaned a little louder than he meant. When he opened his eyes, he saw Vivian sitting at the edge of the bed, watching with rapt curiosity. She blushed, and dove back to the head of the bed.

“Vivian?” She didn’t answer. “Vivian, I know you saw.” Vivian crawled back to the foot of the bed.

“I’m sorry, Milord, I was curious. At first I thought you might be hurt, you sounded… So I checked. Then I realized what you were doing… I had never seen a man pleasure himself before, and I watched, that I might better serve you when you exercised your rights as Master.”

“Vivian I told you-”

“You might change your mind. Good night, Milord.” She turned around back to the head of the bed and lay down. Gabriel turned on his side and fell asleep.