Subjugated

Chapter Fourteen: This Should Be Exciting

Finally, Zachary shatters the silence with some very tense words. I can almost physically feel the ice getting shattered, feel the tension in his words, when he says, “Do you even know his name?”

            I contemplate this for a moment, then hesitantly admit, “Well, no…” Oh dear Lord, maybe he’s right! Maybe I really am a harlot.

            A triumphant smile flashes across his face for a moment, and he thinks I don’t catch it. “His name is Lucas.”

            “Oh,” I say, feeling like not only a harlot, but an ignorant harlot. Lucas. I whisper the name to test it out, picturing his gray eyes. Somehow, it fits him.

            “Yes, I can see you fantasizing about him,” he says, breaking me out of my thoughts.

            “I wasn’t fantasizing!”

            “Yes, you were. I saw it in your eyes. The dazed, mesmerized stare, the glazed eyes- it was all there.”

            “I wasn’t! I was just thinking!”

            “What deep things were you contemplating, Ms. Maura? Perhaps how you shall drop me before moving on to the next boy that gets trapped in your web? No need to worry, I have already dropped you. Isn’t that convenient?”

            I gasp. He has just insulted me on more than one level. “Y-You scullion! How dare you!”

            He simply smiles devilishly and moves on, unpacking crates and setting the cheeses out on the table. Filled with indignation, I say, “If you don’t want my help, then I shall offer my services to Lucas! I shan’t stay one more moment with someone who degrades me so!”

            “I’m sure you’ll offer more than just one service to Lucas,” I hear him murmur, but I ignore him, turn on my heels, and walk over to Lucas’s stand.  

            When I get there, Lucas is smirking, an almost victorious look in his eyes. I lean over the table. “Is there perhaps an opening here?”

            “But of course! The help of a pretty girl is always wanted and needed.”

            I smile. “That’s what I thought.” I walk behind the rickety table and stand next to him. Immediately, an overwhelming mix of fragrances hits me. It smells like something close, something familiar. Suddenly, it hits me. Soap. It smells like the soap my mother used to use. That soap was her one little luxury. Made of a mixture of lavender, cocoa, and other sweet-smelling spices, she used to buy it in the market and make it last for two weeks. I take a deep breath, trying to capture the smell, to capture the memories of my mother.

            “Like the soaps?” he asks.

            “They smell amazing. They smell like…home,” I reply, my voice cracking a little.

            He either doesn’t catch the sadness in my voice, or is ignoring it. “I’m glad that you like my soaps.” Then he lowers his voice a bit. “Hope you’ll like some other things about me, too. Though maybe you liking the way I smell is a good thing, since we’re going to be getting awfully close.”

            I blush. No wonder everybody lusts after him. With the ability to make everything an opportunity for seduction, he must have all girls under his spell. Yet, I sense that he isn’t as cocky as he seems.

            “So, where do you live?” I ask.

            “Just down the road.”

            “Any parents or siblings?”

            “All dead.”

            I gasp. “You seem so calm about it! Why, I thought having a dead mother was terrible! Your situation is utterly awful.”

            “They all died when I was young, about nine years ago.”

            “How come you didn’t die?”

            “Listen, can we please talk about this later?”

            I nod. I know the feeling. It’s the worse feeling in the world, when someone starts asking you how your mother died. Does it really matter? All that matters is that she’s gone. On the other hand, it’s even worse when they don’t ask any questions and treat you like a precious coin, like something to be handled with care and precision.

            “My mother died too.”

            “It’s awful, isn’t it?”

            “What’s awful?”

            “Knowing that someone’s gone. That they can’t come back, no matter how much you want them to.”

            “It’s worse than awful. I think it’s so despicable that there is no word to describe it. It’s just…that feeling.”

            “I’ve never seduced a girl who knows what I go through. This should be exciting.”

            I smile. “More exciting than you thought. I’m a girl of many secrets, so you better watch yourself.”

            “Is that so?”

            “Indeed it is.”

            “So first, I must ask you why you took up with that weakling.”

            “Who?”

            “Zachary.”

            “Zachary looked sweet. I had no plans and nowhere to go. He liked me, I liked him. We kissed. I talked to you and he got angry.” I shake my head. “He’s not for me.”

            “Am I for you, my lady?”

            “The name’s Maura. I don’t know. We shall see, my good sir.”

            “How about starting here?”

            And with that, he scoops me clear off the floor, knocking out my breath and making me laugh uncontrollably. For a moment, I am happy.