The Man In Silk Chains {Historical Mystery/ #2 in Blake Series)

Chapter 8: A Free Spirit

Chapter 8: A Free Spirit

Mass land can be acquired when one has the power to do so. Not manual power, but a power so timeless it has been respected throughout history. Thought and wise decisions, the game of life could be played with eyes closed if a person wanted to play that way. Not all decisions benefit everyone; someone’s got to accept the shit at the bottom. 

There is a difference between stepping in a small puddle and drowning in one. Simon noticed that his slave was hysterical, when he only felt a twinge of regret. Not for a second did he think that this child could stay with his parents, not in the social difficulty Simon was in currently. Slaves becoming gifts were common practice, Ben just needed to accept that. 

“She’s my daughter!” Ben cried out.

“She’s my slave.” Simon grabbed Ben’s shirt. “You’re my slave too if you have forgotten Ben.”

The sun drummed down onto the plain of the plantation. The courtyard was usually empty but now had six people in it, slaves watching from the distance. It wasn’t friendly; Ben was being withheld by a slave and an indentured servant. Simon made sure the distance wasn’t enough for Ben to hold his girl and the white dress was stained with yellow, dried sand.

Ben struggled out of his grip and spat on the floor beside him. “I thought you were a good man. Underneath all the gambling, alcohol and the whores, maybe you had a little respect for me.” He looked at the woman holding his child. “I thought you understood the difficulties that men like me have. No. You don’t. You gave my child to your whore as a gift!” He screamed.

Guilt flickered in Simon’s eyes, but he looked to the beautiful woman beside him. His addiction to her, made him forget the nineteen years of friendship he had with the slave in front of him. Miss O Connor would return to him one day, maybe Ben could see his child then, but for now she needed to go. 

 “Your daughter is being given to Miss O Connor, as a gift.”

“A bribe,” The woman stated calmly, green eyes smiling menacingly. She barely looked at the wailing child, rather brushed off a curled red lock. It seemed the woman took everything in her stride, she knew she was the one with the power. 

She had just been called a whore by a slave, but she didn’t raise her voice higher than when she had been thanking her lover for the gift. Her white gown clung to her breast, adorned with red ribbons which were the same colour as her hair. The words rolled off her tongue and she licked her pouty red lips, before giving Simon a promising look. 

“Since Mr Carson is betrothed to the lovely Miss Watson, all mistresses need to be out of the way for a while. To avoid me coming back, he has shipped me off to England, given me a nice home in Liverpool and an annual allowance. Your daughter will be surrounded by other slaves, but she is my own personal one, it is the latest fashion accessory in Britain.”

Ben tried to breath, biting his lip and spilling a little blood. His body couldn’t sag in defeat, not now. The first proper achievement in his life, his little baby girl was being taken away from him. He had only briefly seen her, before Cook took her away to cleanse her. Sybil hadn’t even seen her because she had fallen asleep after, her body had been in too much pain to focus. 

“My Sybil, a sweet girl of fifteen, did not carry a child for nine months so she could become the latest fan, you bitch!”

The woman merely blinked and turned to her lover, knowing Grace could appear at any moment. She glowed because of the attention, and now she was always happiest after a gift. Simon was wasting her time, she would be late and couldn’t afford to. England was filled with men, wealthy landowners and heirs of Lords who did not know of her murky past.